Carmen Miranda

At 46 years old, Carmen Miranda has this physical status:

Carmen Miranda (born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha; February 9, 1909 – August 5, 1955), was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress, and film star who was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", Miranda is noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in her American films.

As a young woman, she designed hats in a boutique before making her first recordings with composer Josué de Barros in 1929.

Miranda's 1930 recording of "Taí (Pra Você Gostar de Mim)", written by Joubert de Carvalho, catapulted her to stardom in Brazil as the foremost interpreter of samba. During the 1930s Miranda performed on Brazilian radio and appeared in five Brazilian chanchadas, films celebrating Brazilian music, dance, and the country's carnival culture.

Hello, Hello Brazil! and Hello, Hello, Carnival! embodied the spirit of these early Miranda films.

The 1939 musical Banana da Terra (directed by Ruy Costa) gave the world her "Baiana" image, inspired by African-Brazilians from the northeastern state of Bahia.In 1939, Broadway producer Lee Shubert offered Miranda an eight-week contract to perform in The Streets of Paris after seeing her at Cassino da Urca in Rio de Janeiro.

The following year she made her first Hollywood film, Down Argentine Way with Don Ameche and Betty Grable, and her exotic clothing and Lusophone accent became her trademark.

That year, she was voted the third-most-popular personality in the United States; she and her group, Bando da Lua, were invited to sing and dance for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1943, Miranda starred in Busby Berkeley's The Gang's All Here, which was noted for its musical numbers with the fruit hats that became her trademark.

By 1945, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States.Miranda made 14 Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953.

Although she was hailed as a talented performer, her popularity waned by the end of World War II. Miranda came to resent the stereotypical "Brazilian Bombshell" image she had cultivated, and attempted to free herself of it with limited success.

She focused on nightclub appearances and became a fixture on television variety shows.

Despite being stereotyped, Miranda's performances popularized Brazilian music and increased public awareness of Latin culture.

In 1941 she was the first Latin American star to be invited to leave her hand and footprints in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and was the first South American honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Miranda is considered the precursor of Brazil's 1960s Tropicalismo cultural movement.

A museum was built in Rio de Janeiro in her honor, and in 1995 she was the subject of the documentary Carmen Miranda: Bananas is My Business.

Early life

Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha in Várzea da Ovelha e Aliviada, a village in the northern Portuguese municipality of Marco de Canaveses. She was the second daughter of José Maria Pinto da Cunha (17 February 1887 – 21 June 1938) and Maria Emília Miranda (10 March 1886, Rio de Janeiro – 9 November 1971). In 1909, when Miranda was ten months old, her father emigrated to Brazil and settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he opened a barber shop. Her mother followed in 1910 with their daughters, Olinda (1907–1931) and Carmen. Although Carmen never returned to Portugal, she retained her Portuguese nationality. In Brazil, her parents had four more children: Amaro (born 1911), Cecília (1913–2011), Aurora (1915–2005) and Óscar (born 1916).

She was christened Carmen by her father because of his love for Bizet's Carmen. This passion for opera influenced his children, and Miranda's love for singing and dancing, at an early age. She was educated at the Convent of Saint Therese of Lisieux. Her father did not approve of Miranda's plans to enter show business; her mother supported her, despite being beaten when her father discovered that his daughter had auditioned for a radio show (she had sung at parties and festivals in Rio). Miranda's older sister, Olinda, developed tuberculosis and was sent to Portugal for treatment; the singer worked in a tie shop at age 14 to help pay her sister's medical bills. She then worked in a boutique (where she learned to make hats), and opened a successful hat business.

Personal life

Desiring creative freedom, Miranda decided to produce her own film in 1947 and played opposite Groucho Marx in Copacabana. The film's budget was divided into about ten investors' shares. A Texan investor who owned one of the shares sent his brother, David Sebastian (23 November 1907 – 11 September 1990), to keep an eye on Miranda and his interests on the set. Sebastian befriended her, and they began dating.

Miranda and Sebastian married on 17 March 1947 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, with Patrick J. Concannon officiating. In 1948, Miranda became pregnant, but miscarried after a show. Although the marriage was brief, Miranda (who was Catholic) did not want a divorce. Her sister, Aurora, said in the documentary Bananas is My Business: "He married her for selfish reasons; she got very sick after she married and lived with a lot of depression". The couple announced their separation in September 1949, but reconciled several months later.

Miranda was discreet, and little is known about her private life. Before she left for the US, she had relationships with Mario Cunha, Carlos da Rocha Faria (son of a traditional family in Rio de Janeiro) and Aloísio de Oliveira, a member of the Bando da Lua. In the US, Miranda maintained relationships with John Payne, Arturo de Córdova, Dana Andrews, Harold Young, John Wayne, Donald Buka and Carlos Niemeyer. During her later years, in addition to heavy smoking and alcohol consumption, she began taking amphetamines and barbiturates, all of which took a toll on her health.

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Career

When Miranda was working at her family's inn, she was introduced to Josué de Barros, a writer and singer from Bahia. In 1929, she recorded her first single (the samba "N'o vs. Simbora") with support from de Barros and Brunswick Records. "Prá Voce Gom" (also known as "Ta") and released in 1930, Miranda's second album, "Prê Você Gostar de Mim," was a collaboration with Brazilian composer Joubert de Carvalho and has sold a whopping 35,000 copies in the year. In 1930, she signed a two-year deal with RCA Victor, giving them exclusive rights to her image.

Miranda signed a two-year deal with Rádio Mayrink Veiga, the most popular Brazilian radio station of the 1930s, in 1933; for a year, 1937, she migrated to Rádio Tupi. She later signed a deal with Odeon Records, making her Brazil's highest-paid radio artist at the time.

Miranda's ascension to fame in Brazil was attributed to the emergence of a Brazilian style of music: the samba. During President Getlio Vargas' government, the samba and Miranda's rising career contributed to the revival of Brazilian nationalism. The name "Cantora do It" was given to her gracefulness and vitality in her recordings and live performances. The singer was later known as "Ditadora Risonha do Samba" and in 1933 radio announcer Cesar Ladeira christened her "A Pequena Notável."

Her Brazilian film career was linked to a variety of musical films that drew on the country's carnival roots and the annual celebration and musical style of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's capital at the time. Miranda appeared in O Carnaval Cantado no Rio (1932, the first sound documentary on the subject) and three songs in A Voz do Carnaval (1933), which combined footage of street celebrations in Rio with a fictitious plot, giving a context for musical numbers.

Miranda's next film role was in the musical Hello, Brazil! (1935), in which she was in charge of the marcha "Primavera no Rio," which she had won in August 1934, was the longest in the march. "Carmen Miranda is now the most popular figure in Brazilian cinema, judging by the enormous correspondence she receives a few months after the film's debut, according to Cinearte magazine. For the first time in her forthcoming film, Economist (1935), she had a speaking role. Miranda, a young radio singer (who appears in two numbers in the film), falls in love with a university student (played by singer Mário Reis).

Hello, Carnival! She appeared in the new co-production from the Waldow and Cinédia studios, the musical Hello, Hello, Carnival! (1936), which featured a call for famous-music and radio stars (including Miranda's sister, Aurora). A typical backstage plot allowed 23 musical performances, and the film was a big success by Brazilian standards. Its set recreated the inside of Rio's wealthy Atlântico casino (where some scenes were shot) and served as a backdrop for some of the city's musical performances. Miranda's success is evident in a film poster with a full-length snapshot of her and her name on the cast list.

Although she became well-known for colorful fruit hats in her later years, she began wearing them in 1939. Miranda appeared in the film Banana da Terra last year, a glamorous interpretation of a poor black girl's traditional costume in Bahia: a flowing skirt and a fruit-hat turban.

She sang "O que é que a baiana tem?

"Which meant to support a social group that had traditionally been marginalized."

After seeing her perform in 1939 at Rio's Cassino da Urca, producer Lee Shubert gave Miranda an eight-week contract to perform in The Streets of Paris on Broadway. Despite being keen on performing in New York, she refused to participate in the contract until Shubert promised to also recruit her band, the Bando da Lua. He denied, saying that there are many talented musicians in New York who could support her. Miranda stayed steadfast, fearing that North American musicians would not be able to capture Brazil's sounds. Shubert compromised, promising to recruit the six band members but not paying for their transportation to New York. President Getlio Vargas, who was aware of Miranda's tour's value to Brazil, has informed the Brazilian government that the band will travel between Rio and New York on the Moore-McCormack Lines. Miranda is expected to promote ties between the northern and southern hemispheres, as well as serve as a goodwill ambassador in the United States, according to Vargas, who is also increasing Brazil's share of the American coffee market. Miranda accepted the formal punishment of her trip and her role in Brazil's foreign affairs. She left for New York on the SS Uruguay on May 4, 1939, a few months before World War II was announced.

Miranda came from New York on May 1839. On the 19th of June 1939 in The Streets of Paris, she and the band appeared for the first Broadway performance. Miranda's role was small (she only spoke four words), but she received positive feedback and became a media sensation. According to New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson, the majority of the musical numbers "ap[e] the dullness" of authentic Paris revues and "the chorus girls, skin-deep in atmosphere, strike what Broadway thinks a Paris pose should be like." "South American contributes [revue's] most magnetic personality," Atkinson said (Miranda). Shesches heat is projected on the Broadhurst [theater] air-conditioning plant this Summer, singing "rapid-rhythmed songs to the accompaniment of a Brazilian band. Although Atkinson gave the revue a lukewarm review, he said Miranda produced the performance.

Walter Winchell, a syndicated columnist, told the Daily Mirror that a celebrity had been born who would save Broadway from the 1939 New York World's Fair's Decline in ticket sales. On his Blue Network radio show, Winchell's praise of Carmen and her Bando da Lua was repeated daily. Miranda "the girl who saved Broadway from the World's Fair," the newspaper called her. Her fame grew quickly, and she was officially introduced to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House banquet soon after she was welcomed.

According to a Life magazine reviewer:

Twentieth Century-Fox began to produce a film starring Miranda when news of Broadway's new star (known as the Brazilian Bombshell) made it to Hollywood. The South American Way (the name of a song she had performed in New York) was its working title, and it was later released as Down Argentine Way (1940). Although the film and cast were based in Los Angeles, Miranda's scenes were shot in New York due to her club commitments. Since the singer had no contact with the other cast members, Fox could use the footage from both cities. Down Argentine Way was a hit, grossing $2 million at the US box office in 2008.

Miranda in the musical revue Sons o' Fun on December 1, 1941, the Shuberts brought Miranda back to Broadway, teaming her with Olsen and Johnson, Ella Logan, and the Blackburn Twins. According to New York Herald Tribune theater critic Richard Watts, Jr., "Mis Miranda is by way of being an artist, and her numbers give the show a touch of distinction." On June 1, 1942, she left the company when her Shubert deal came to an end; in the meantime, she appeared on Decca Records.

Miranda was encouraged by the US government as part of Roosevelt's Good Neighbor program, which aims to improve ties with Latin America. Performers such as her were thought to give the policy a positive reputation in the American public. Miranda's relationship with twentieth Century Fox spanned 1941 to 1946, coinciding with the establishment and operation of the Office of Inter-American Affairs's Internation and Operations. The OCIAA's aim was to obtain funding for the United States from Latin American society and its governments.

The Good Neighbor program had been attributed to US interference in Latin America; Roosevelt sought improved diplomatic relations with Brazil and other South American countries, and promised to refrain from military involvement (which had occurred to shield US business interests in industries such as mining or agriculture). Hollywood was offered to assist, and Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox were among the many guests. Miranda was regarded as a goodwill ambassador and a promoter of international culture.

Although Miranda's fame in the United States soared, she began to lose favor with some Brazilians. She returned to Brazil on July 10, 1940, and was welcomed by adoring followers. Miranda's arrival, however, the Brazilian press began criticizing American commercialism and projecting a negative image of Brazil shortly after. Members of the upper crust feared that her image was "too black," and she was chastised in a Brazilian newspaper for "singing bad-taste black sambas." Miranda was chastised for portraying a stereotypical "Latina bimbo" in her first interview after her arrival in the United States in the New York World-Telegram interview: "I say money, wealth, and resources," she said in her first interview after her arrival in the United States: "I say money, time, and treasure." I say twenty words in English. "I'm out of money, time, and money, and I'm hungry."

Miranda appeared in a charity concert arranged by Brazilian First Lady Darci Vargas and attended by Brazilian High Society members on July 15th. She welcomed the audience in English but was met with silence. The audience started to boo her as Miranda began to perform "The South American Way," a song from one of her club appearances. Despite attempting to end her show, she bowed out and left the stage when the audience refused to obey her. Miranda, who wept in her dressing room, was greatly distraught by the incident. The Brazilian press chastised her the following day as "too Americanized."

Miranda responded to the admonition by releasing the Portuguese song "Disseram que Volte Americanizada" ("They Say They've Come Back Americanized"). "Bananas Is My Business," another song based on a line from one of her films, it specifically addressed her image. Miranda did not return to Brazil for 14 years after being upended by the criticism.

Latin American audiences scrutinized her films for portraying Central and South America in a culturally homogeneous way. Miranda's films were seen as representing Latin American cultures through the lens of American preconceptions when they were shown in Central and South American theaters. Some Latin Americans believed that their cultures were misrepresented, and that someone from their own region was misrepresenting them incorrectly. Down Argentine Way was chastised, with Argentinas claiming that it failed to represent Argentina's history. Its lyrics were said to be replete with non-Argentine themes, and its sets were a mash-up of Mexican, Cuban, and Brazilian history. In Argentina, the film was later banned for "wrongfully portraying life in Buenos Aires." Following Miranda's debut of Miranda's Weekend in Havana (1941), similar sentiments were expressed in Cuba, with Cuban audiences offended by the portrayal of a Cuban woman by Miranda. An import from Rio could not properly portray a woman from Havana, according to reviewers, and Miranda did not "dance anything Cuban." Her appearances were arguably hybrids of Brazilian and other Latin cultures. Miranda's other films misrepresented Latin locales, according to critics, who believed that Brazilian culture was a representation of Latin America.

Miranda appeared in eight of her 14 films during the war years; though the studios referred to her as the Brazilian Bombshell, the films blurred her Brazilian identity in favour of a Latin American image. According to a Variety review of director Irving Cummings' That Night in Rio (1941, Miranda's second Hollywood film), her character upstaged the leads: "Don] Ameche is very adaptable in a dual role, but it is the tempestuous Miranda who gets off to a flying start from the first scene." "If one or another Ameche character gets out of the way and [Miranda] gets the picture, the film sizzles and scorches brilliantly," the New York Times article said. "That Night in Rio was the definitive Fox wartime musical," Clive Hirschhorn wrote, "an over-blown, over-produced, and utterly irresistible cornucopia of escapist ingredients." Miranda was one of the first Latinas to imprint her hand and footprints on the pavement of Grauman's Chinese Theatre on March 24, 1941.

Walter Lang and William LeBaron directed Week-End in Havana, her next film. Alice Faye, John Payne, and Cesar Romero were among the cast members. By Bosley Crowther, Fox was dubbed "Hollywood's best good neighbor" after the studio's third attempt to bring the "Latin hot blood." The film topped the box office during the week (surpassing Citizen Kane, which was announced a week earlier).

Lee Shubert, a 42-year-fox, fortuto, to end his relationship with Miranda, who ended her Sons o' Fun tour and began filming in the Rockies in 1942. The film, which grossed about $2 million, was one of the year's ten most popular films at the box office. It was "senseless," according to a Chicago Tribune essay, but eye revealing... Carmen Miranda's basic plot is swath of song and dance, as well as the delectables and eye and hand crafts, who's sure will be up a tree if she had to sing in the dark."

In 1943, she appeared on Busby Berkeley's All Here. Berkeley's musicals were known for lavish production, and Miranda's appearance in "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" was lauded. Her fruit-bedecked hat seemed larger than normal due to a special effect. By then she was considered a rare songstress, and under her studio deal she was obligated to make public appearances in her ever-more outlandish film costumes. "I Make My Money With Bananas," one of her songs, seemed to pay homage to her typecasting. All Here was one of 1943's top-grossing films and Fox's most expensive production of the year. It received rave reviews, but a New York Times film critic wrote: "Mr. Berkeley has some sly thoughts under his busby." Freud's one or two of his dance performances appear to have originated straight from Freud.

Miranda made a cameo appearance in a Jeep based on a true story of actresses Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair; Alice Faye and Betty Grable made brief appearances in Four Jills. Miranda also appeared in Don Ameche's Greenwich Village in 1944, a Fox musical with William Bendix and Vivian Blaine in supporting roles. According to The New York Times, "Technicolor is the picture's greatest asset," the film was poorly received, but it's still worth a look at Carmen Miranda's presence. "Unfortunately for Greenwich Village, the photo is made in Technicolor and features Carmen Miranda," Peggy Simmonds wrote in her Miami News article. Carmen Miranda's production is unfortunate, as the overall result is disappointing, but the photo still looks beautiful, but it does make her appearance." Greenwich Village was less popular at the box office than Fox and Miranda had hoped for.

Something for the Boys, Miranda's third film, was based on the Broadway musical, with songs by Cole Porter and starring Ethel Merman. It was Miranda's first film without William LeBaron or Darryl F. Zanuck as producer. Irving Starr, the studio's second-string film, was the producer. According to Time magazine, the film "turns out to have nothing particularly notable for anyone." Miranda was Hollywood's highest-paid entertainer and the country's highest female taxpayer by 1945, earning more than $200,000 per year ($2.88 million in 2020, adjusted for inflation).

Miranda's films at Fox were shot in black-and-white, reflecting Hollywood's growing obsession with her and Latin Americans in general. Carmen Miranda's monochrome brought the backstage musical, Doll Face (1945), to the box-office, where she came fourth on the bill. Miranda portrayed Chita Chula in the show-within-the-film as "the little lady from Brazil"—from a joking sidekick to leading lady Doll Face (Vivian Blaine) with just musical number and no dialogue. "Carmen Miranda does what she always does, but not well," a New York Herald Tribune article said; "Carmen Miranda does what she always does, but not well"; "Carmen Miranda appears in a straight part with just one singing number." The innovation isn't a success, but it is the director's not Carmen's fault."

Miranda was still fourth on the bill in If I'm Lucky (1946), her Fox sequel before she was no longer under control; her savvy turbans were also in evidence: strongly accented English, comedic malapropisms, and bizarre hairstyles reminiscent of her legendary turbans. Miranda decided to pursue an acting career free of studio constraints when her Fox deal came to an end on January 1, 1946. Miranda's dream was to play a leading role in Copacabana (1947, an independent film starring Groucho Marx) and a young girl. Although her films were modest hits, journalists and the American public did not embrace her new appearance.

Though Miranda's film career was waning, her musical career remained stable, and she was still a popular nightclub attraction. She appeared on three Decca singles from 1948 to 1950. Miranda's first appearance on ABC's The Andrews Sisters Show was on radio in 1945. The first single from the company, "Cuanto La Gusta," was the most famous and debuted at number ten on the Billboard chart, with the most popular and debuting at number twelve. In 1950, "The Wedding Samba" became the most popular show on television, followed by a number 23.

After Copacabana, Joe Pasternak invited Miranda to produce two Technicolor musicals for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1948) and Nancy Goes to Rio (1950). MGM wanted to create a different image in the first film, allowing her to remove her turban and reveal her own hair (by Jack Dawn). Miranda's wardrobe for the film substituted sophisticated dresses and hats created by Helen Rose for "baiana" outfits. Rosita Cochellas, a rumba instructor who first appears about 40 minutes into the film but has no dialogue, was fourth on the bill. Despite MGM's attempts to change Miranda's image, her appearances in both productions were secondary, watered-down caricatures relying on stalemated English and over-the-top musical and dance figures.

Miranda's appeal was reiterated in her last film, Scared Stiff (1953, a black-and-white Paramount film starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis). Down Argentine Way, she had virtually no narrative role in her first Hollywood film. Lewis parodies "Mame Eu Quero" (which is playing on a shaky track) and a banana he plucks from his turban. Miranda starred Carmelita Castilha, a Brazilian showgirl on a cruise ship, in her costumes and performances bordering on self-parody.

She began a four-month European tour in April 1953. Miranda collapsed from exhaustion while performing in Cincinnati in October; her husband, Dave Sebastian, was rushed to LeRoy Sanitarium and cancelled four following performances.

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