Did Josephine Baker really walk an ocelot down the Champs-Elysees?
Yes, though the sources still argue about whether Chiquita was an ocelot or a cheetah, and Chiquita is not telling. In this episode of Talking With Pets, the most imposing guest in the catalog explains the three lives of Josephine Baker that were always one life: the performer who conquered Paris at nineteen, the Resistance courier who hid messages in her sheet music, and the activist who never once performed for a segregated audience.
History remembers the famous. Their pets remember the person. On Talking With Pets, a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee runs a most unusual practice: he contacts the pets of history's greatest figures and lets them tell what they really saw. This episode is part of the Older Kids tier, for families ready to go a little deeper: same show, same honesty, told up a band and never grown-up. Tonight, two serious presences, one boulevard, and a person who knew exactly what to do when the world was watching.
This episode is fully scripted and has passed the Talking With Pets accuracy review. The recording is in production. The audio player and the full transcript will appear right here the day the episode goes live. Join the founding list below and we will write to you when it does.
From the episode
Chiquita: She walked down the Champs-Elysees with an ocelot on a leash because Paris would look. And Paris was looking. And so she walked.
Armando: (the formal farewell, but quietly) She used every room she walked into.
Chiquita: (a beat, precise, correcting something important) She never walked into a room she hadn't already decided to use.
Armando: That's a different thing.
What's true, what we filled in, what we imagined
Every episode of Talking With Pets is built in three honest layers. Here is how this one breaks down.
Documented in the historical record
Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis in 1906 and made her Paris debut at nineteen in 1925 with La Revue Negre, then the Folies Bergere. She refused to perform for segregated audiences, and her conditions desegregated The Last Frontier in Las Vegas in 1951. For the French Resistance she worked as an intelligence courier, hiding messages in invisible ink on sheet music and notes pinned inside her clothes, and France awarded her the Croix de Guerre, the Medaille de la Resistance, and the Legion d'Honneur. She was the only official female speaker at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, wearing her Resistance uniform. Carnegie Hall gave her a standing ovation before she sang in 1973, and she died in April 1975, two days after the sold-out opening of her fiftieth-anniversary show. Chiquita on a leash in Paris is documented; the species is not settled.
Grounded inference from the record
The episode's reading that the three lives, performer, Resistance member, and activist, were always one life, the same impulse running through all three, is a synthesis of the documented record. That Baker knew exactly what she was doing with every room's attention is inferred from a career of documented, deliberate choices, including a walk down the Champs-Elysees with a large cat, because Paris would look.
Story, voice, and feeling
Chiquita's voice, large and deliberate and unimpressed by almost everything except genuine excellence, the séance, and the interview are imagined. The episode is also honest about what the record does not settle: whether Chiquita was an ocelot or a cheetah. The sources disagree, the script says so, and Chiquita declines to resolve it, which is the correct answer. No song lyrics appear anywhere in the episode; Baker's documented quotes only.
Sources and further reading
- Josephine Baker: St. Louis, 1906; Paris debut 1925 with La Revue Negre at nineteen, then the Folies Bergere. The documented biographical record.
- Chiquita on a leash in Paris: documented; the species varies by account between ocelot and cheetah, and the episode acknowledges the inconsistency rather than resolving it.
- Resistance service: intelligence courier, invisible-ink messages in sheet music, notes pinned inside clothing; Croix de Guerre, Medaille de la Resistance, Legion d'Honneur, presented by General Valin in 1961 with congratulations from de Gaulle by letter.
- Refusal of segregated audiences, documented across sources and Baker's own statements; desegregation of The Last Frontier, Las Vegas, 1951.
- The March on Washington, August 28, 1963: the only official female speaker, in French Resistance uniform; her documented speech, including âYou know I have always taken the rocky path.â National Archives. archives.gov
- Carnegie Hall, 1973: the standing ovation before she sang; April 1975, her death two days after the sold-out fiftieth-anniversary opening in Paris. The documented record.
All historical claims above were checked in the Talking With Pets accuracy review, most recently the full editorial pass of July 2026.
Did Josephine Baker really walk a wild cat through Paris on a leash?
Yes. Baker walking her exotic cat Chiquita on a leash, including on the Champs-Elysees, is documented. The species is recorded inconsistently, some accounts say ocelot and some say cheetah, and the episode acknowledges the gap directly rather than pretending to certainty. Chiquita herself declines to resolve it.
Was Josephine Baker really a spy for the French Resistance?
Yes. She worked as an intelligence courier, using her celebrity as cover, carrying messages written in invisible ink on her sheet music and notes pinned inside her clothes. France awarded her the Croix de Guerre, the Medaille de la Resistance, and the Legion d'Honneur. Source: the documented record of her decorations and Resistance service.
What did Josephine Baker do for civil rights?
She refused to perform for segregated audiences, every time, even when it cost her money and bookings, and her conditions desegregated The Last Frontier in Las Vegas in 1951. At the March on Washington on August 28, 1963 she was the only official female speaker, and she spoke wearing her French Resistance uniform. Source: the documented record of the March; Baker's documented statements.
How did Josephine Baker's story end?
On a stage. In 1973 Carnegie Hall gave her a standing ovation before she sang a note, and in April 1975 she died two days after the sold-out opening night of the show marking her fifty years in Paris. The episode treats that as what it was: a finish, complete, with the audience still applauding.
What is Talking With Pets, and is this episode good for kids?
Talking With Pets is an educational history podcast where a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee contacts the pets of history's greatest figures, who tell the true story of the person they knew. The core episodes are for ages 6 to 10, and this one is part of the Older Kids tier for ages 9 to 12, for families ready to go a little deeper. Every episode is sourced and divided into what is documented, what was filled in, and what was imagined. It is a Talking With Pets production.
Talking With Pets · the true stories only the animals saw.
Chaco, Roxie, Moose, Prince MoRee, and Armando are getting the pilot ready. Join the founding list and we will write to you when the first episodes go live. Listen with someone you like.