Hazel's Paris

Welcome, I am your host, Tara Jabbari. Who was she? Podcast will focus on the stories of women throughout history that were active in the Baha’i Faith. This season is about Hazel Scott, a talented musician and activist. 

Recovering from the dissolution of her marriage as well as a second suicide attempt, Hazel was determined to move on with her life in Paris. 

The French film industry was interested in Hazel. Now that she felt she had earned more maturity and life experience, she was comfortable actually acting in a role. So she went on set for Le Desordre et la Nuit (Disorder of the Night) where she played a supporting role as a dancer. It was the first time she was playing someone other than herself on screen. Her son shared that after the first day of filming, Hazel came home and announced, “Your Mother does not speak french!” According to Skipper, he knew there was trouble whenever she began a sentence with “your mother.” 

It turned out that her accent needed work, not necessarily her language skills so the studio got her a french dialect coach.  

That same day, they got the news that Harry Cohn, the president of Columbia Pictures had died. She explained to the cast and crew the whole story of Cohn and his promise that she would never make another movie until the day he died. And now, years after his promise, he died and she was on a set filming. It would become one of her favorite stories to tell, no longer would Cohn threaten her career on the big screen. 

Hazel went on to film a couple of other french films. Very nearly including Paris Blues  with Sidney Poitier & Paul Newman but ultimately the part went to another. She was still synonymous with being a musician even on the big screen. Hazel said, “Once you played the priest, you can never play the gangster…Everybody just wants me to come on and sing. And I can do so much more than that.” 

During her time in the french film industry, she also recorded a few albums in french. One was called Hazel Scott: Joue et Chante (Hazel Scott Plays and Sings). Reviews shared there was a difference in her french voice with a more deliberate sensual and sultry tone. 

Hazel was achieving a balance with work and a personal life. She said, “My Paris is like the very first time you realize you’re in love, like the very first time you’re kissed.”

Like her mother before her, Hazel’s apartment became “a mecca for musicians and artists.” There would be actor Anthony Quinn relaxing on her living room sofa and musician Quincy Jones in the kitchen tasting the latest dish. Lester Young, Billie Holiday and many others were regular guests. Actress, Sophia Loren even used to come and prepare her special dish, “Spaghetti Carbonari a la Ponti” - spaghetti with bacon, julienne ham, raw eggs and parmesan cheese. 

Then on July 17th, 1959, Billie Holiday died at the age of forty-four. It was also Skipper’s thirteenth birthday. Hazel remembered Lady Day by sharing: “I remember her one night, toward the end, singing a bitter blues, trying to say everything, trying to explain everything within the confines of twelve bars. She had been robbed again, and she was blue. Sitting there in the Mars Club in Paris, listening to this woman who represents (not represented) so many years of my life, sitting there remembering how she used to protect me and curse me and run me home when I was 15 and working on 52nd street in New York, I was overcome by all the tragedy, all the greatness and all the beauty of her life.”

Skipper would remember before she left Europe for the States, Lady Day, “was at our apartment in Paris, just before leaving to fly back to New York, and I remember telling her, “Oh please stay.” And I took this photograph of her which came out perfect with two pinpoint lights that were in the room. And my mother kept it, especially since she knew it was one of the last pictures taken of her.” Billie landed in New York with her health in serious disarray. Her drug addiction was taking a final toll on her body. She was hospitalized for a deteriorating liver and bad heart. While there, she was handcuffed to the bed, charged with drug possession. Two months later, she died. 

In the fall of 1960, Hazel filed for divorce and their divorce was finalized soon after with Hazel being granted full custody of their son. The former couple wasted no time finding new spouses. Adam went on to marry Yvette Diago a few weeks after his divorce with Hazel was finalized and he soon welcomed another son, Adam Claton Powell IV. 

Two months after the divorce, Hazel married comedian, Ezio Bedin. They met a year before in Rome when they were both performing at the Casina delle Rose.  Some thought it was a peculiar match, she was fifteen years older than him, she was 40 at the time and he was 25. Having grown up in Switzerland, Bedin barely spoke English. But they communicated in French and were instantly attracted to each other physically as well as artistically. When Journalists asked if Hazel was nervous of being in an interracial marriage, she said, “It doesn’t matter where we are as long as we’re together. Of course, we aren’t planning to settle in Alabama or Mississippi.” The new couple split their time between Manhattan, Paris and Switzerland. 

But the 1960s were proving difficult financially for Hazel. It was harder and harder to find steady work, especially in Europe. The added stress took a toll on the couple. Ezio said, “Sometimes our marriage was sweet then sour. Different ages, different colors.” 

Meanwhile, the civil rights movement was in full swing and while she was not physically in the States, Hazel was in full support but she also felt isolated in Paris. Her white husband didn’t understand the racism she experienced and her French friends didn’t understand why she was considering going back to a country that they saw did not want her. 

Skipper, who was now studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology advised his mother to stay in Paris and quote, “fight the battle from over there because you don't have the weapons that we need anymore.” Hazel said, “Skipper was telling me in a very sweet and extremely sort of tactful way, “Darling, this is a new generation.” 

Along with other Black Americans, Hazel helped organize a public demonstration before the American Embassy in Paris to coincide with the 1963 March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs led by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Hazel and Ezio continued having marital troubles. Two years after they married, Ezio took a job in Australia and they separated for four months. A divorce soon followed. When questioned if he regretted getting married so young, Ezio later confessed, “I learned a lot. Today I am glad that I had this experience. Hazel is a Maserati and I can only handle a Fiat!” 

Hazel commented, “Ezio was talented and kind but was insecure about following (Adam). People called him Mr. Scott. I saw him being destroyed. It cost me a lot emotionally.” 

In the final episode, we learn about Hazel’s unwelcome return to the United States and how she became a Baha’i. 

You can also find more information on our Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest @whowasshe podcast. And please, rate and subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast. Who was she was produced, written and edited by me, Tara Jabbari. Script editor is Angela Musacchio. Original music was composed and performed by Sam Redd. Resource material includes two biographies on Hazel, one 

Written by Karen Chilton, published by The University of Michigan Press and written by Susan Engle published by The Baha'i Publishing Trust, U.S.

Other music included Hazel Scott singing C'est divin with the Armand Migiani orchestra  I am your host, Tara Jabbari.