In Defense of Ska Ep 100: Who inspired the Beat Girl? (with Joanna Wallace director of Blue Beat Baby)

Walt Jabsco, the iconic dancing ska guy logo that came to symbolize the Specials and 2 Tone ska, was inspired by a photo of Peter Tosh from his '60s ska years. The Beat Girl, which the English Beat created as a logo for their band (though also came to symbolize 2 Tone ska) was inspired by a photo of a woman dancing with Prince Buster in 1964. Very little was known about the woman in this photo. Recently, Joanna Wallace, long-time ska fan and operator of Miss Upsetter Designs decided to learn more about Brigitte Bond, the woman in the photo. She dug in deep for 5 months and created a 30-minute documentary (Blue Beat Baby) of her findings. Joanna discovered a lot! Her research revealed Brigitte to be a transgender bluebeat singer, dancer, actor and stripper. And Joanna found a handful of movies Brigitte acted, that she danced all over the world, that she was briefly engaged to Sir John Waller and that she even harassed Billy Graham when he came to the UK. All of this is discussed in Blue Beat Baby. Joanna's film (and our conversation with Joanna) also sheds light on the London Soho scene in the mid-60s and how ska developed in the UK in general. We talk about the Flamenco Jazz Club, Prince Buster's role in spreading ska globally and we even try to understand the difference between "ska" and "bluebeat." You can watch Blue Beat Baby here!Support the show Support In Defense of Ska by checking out StubHub: https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/DLXVmMB Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy