1933 : Joséphine Baker’s First Television Appearance in BBC Tests

At the beginning of October 1933, Joséphine Baker was in London, where she was scheduled to perform at the Prince Edward Theatre. This gave the BBC an opportunity to invite her to appear on its National Programme. On Monday, October 2, she sang three songs at 10 p.m. in a slot that usually featured half an hour of dance records.

However, Baker, sometimes nicknamed “the Creole” by the British press, also appeared in front of the camera of early experimental television. It was a first for the artist.

Regular Television Experiments

In 1933, broadcast experiments were increasing in both France and Great Britain. At that time, the BBC conducted television tests from Monday to Friday, from 11:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., after the end of radio programming. The image was transmitted via the London transmitter (261.6 meters, 1147 kHz), while the sound required tuning into the Midlands regional transmitter (398.9 meters, 752 kHz). The system used was developed by one of television’s pioneers, John Logie Baird.

“J’ai deux amours” on Television for the First Time

At the end of 1932, the BBC built a studio in the basement of its building. A set specially designed for the Parisian star was installed there, evoking the tropics with a palm tree and a view over a bay. It was in front of this backdrop that Baker was filmed for the very small audience able to receive these experimental broadcasts (only a few hundred viewers).

On Wednesday, October 4 at 11:30 p.m., she performed the song that made her famous, J’ai deux amours, on television for the first time.

To understand the very low image quality of the time, reconstructions of early broadcasts show how primitive the visuals were. The BBC would only properly launch regular television programming, with a different system, from 1936 onward.