[KS] Jazz in Korea--Josephine Baker

[Steven Capener]

Dear all,
 
Thanks to Antii Leppanen, who provided me with an online link to the Josephine Baker article in the Dong-ah Ilbo, I can revise some of what I posted. I have a grainy copy (the soldiers in the background are hard to make out) with a Hangeul translation of the Chinese characters in the article that states that she is entertaining "Joeson" soldiers but, seeing a clear copy of the article, what it states is that she is entertaining "Jeonseon byeongsa," or soldiers along the line, obviously in Europe (the most obvious soldier in the picture is clearly western). Why the Dong-ah Ilbo would publish this after the outbreak of hostilities in Europe is interesting in and of itself and her visit to Manchuria via Korea in 1936 raises several more intersting lines of inquiry. 
 
All the best,
 
Steven Capener

From: Steven Capener <sotaebu at yahoo.com>
To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws> 
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: [KS] Jazz in Korea--Josephine Baker

Dear all,
 
Yi Hyoseok published an essay in Jo Gwang (1936. 08) titled "Memories of that Time at the Port." He referes to the port as C port. He was teaching at Soongshil College in Pyeongyang at the time and mentions that it took them about an hour to drive to the port. There, he saw a performance by Josephine Baker at the theater. He says she was stopping by on a tour of Manchuria. He doesn't say that she was coming from Japan but that seems obvious. 
   After digging up the Dong-ah Ilbo article, I find it is from the 8th of February, 1940. It has a picture of Josephine Baker on  what looks like a stage holding up a cigarette with a big smile on her face. In the background very near are Korean troops of (what one must assume is) the Japanese Imperial Army. The large title reads "Josephine Baker  Encouraging the Troops on the Line" (전선위문의 죠세핀 베이커). The very short article says "The brown queen of the screen Josephine Baker on an entertainment tour for Joseon troops (조선 병사 위문의 길) last Christmas gave an outsatnding song and dance performance that was a huge hit (써-비스 만점이엇습니다). As can be seen in the picture she is handing out cigarettes to the troops." 
   I have a xerox copy of the article and the very bottom is cut off so I can't be sure if there is any more text but it doesn't look like it. In what I can see, it makes no mention of where this took place. I will go to the Dong-ah building to look up the origianl and follow up on this point. 
   I'm not sure what this does to theories of Josephine Baker's anti-Axis resistance activities, but I imagine it does something. Quite interesting stuff in any case. 

All the best,

Steven Capener
From: Judy A VanZile <zile at hawaii.edu>
To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws> 
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2011 7:29 AM
Subject: [KS] Jazz in Korea--Josephine Baker

If Josephine Baker had, indeed, performed in Korea in 1938, she would not have encountered Ch'oe Sûng-hûi.  Ch'oe departed Korea in December of 1937 for three years of performing in the US, Europe, and Latin America.
Judy Van Zile Department of Theatre and Dance University of Hawaii at Manoa> > > ----- Original Message -----> From: Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann at koreaweb.ws>> Date: Friday, November 18, 2011 5:08 am> Subject: Re: [KS] Jazz in Korea> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Josephine Baker performed in Nampo in (I believe) 1938 on her way from Japan to Manchuria where she performed in several other cities. The Dong-ah Ilbo published an article on her visit and included a picture of the performance.Steven, are you sure? And not possibly mixing up Ch'oe Sûng-hûi with Baker -- e.g. because some author is comparing the two and their roles? When it comes to *politics*, however, it is a bad comparison, as Baker had been very engaged for the French resistance (and not just that), went even as far as to work as a spy for them, had always been very outspoken, while Ch'oe Sûng-hûi (Jap. name Sai 
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