Casino de Paris: La Revue de Paris qui Remue / Josephine Baker Cover Design; en 2 actes et 25 tableaus. Production 1930-31

Paris: Willy Fischer, 1930. 12mo, 7 x 5 3/8 inches (180 x 134 mm), 48 pp., stapled. Original color printed wrappers, cover depicting Josephine Baker, scantily clad onstage with her Cheetah "Chiquita" presenting her a bouquet of flowers; illustration by Zig. Photographs and advertisements throughout, with a publicity photo of Josephine Baker. Text in French, minor edge tears and edge wear, small chip at spine extremities. Overall a well-preserved example of a fragile ephemeral item.

Program for Paris qui Remue (“Paris in Motion”), the lavish 1930–31 Casino de Paris revue presented by impresario Oscar Dufrenne (1875–1933) and producer Henri Varna (1887–1969). Combining music, comedy sketches, and visual spectacle, the production featured Josephine Baker, then at the height of her international fame.

Baker’s Paris career had begun with La Revue nègre at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where her performances coincided with the cultural moment of the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs and the rise of Art Deco, as well as a broader fascination with non-Western artistic forms that she came to embody for European audiences. By this period, she was often accompanied onstage by her cheetah, “Chiquita,” who appears with Baker on the present cover design.

The striking cover, adapted from the show’s original poster, was designed by Zig (Louis Gaudin, 1882–1936), a prolific illustrator associated with Art Deco poster design and Parisian music-hall culture, known for his work for performers such as Mistinguett and Baker. Programs of this kind—containing cast lists, production details, and period advertisements (here including Cunard Line, Rigaud perfumes, and His Master’s Voice)—are increasingly scarce survivals of an ephemeral form, particularly in such well-preserved condition.

Condition: Very Good+.

Item number: 2373

Price: $125.00

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