Portugal

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PORTUGAL IN DEPTH
2
LOOKING BACK AT PORTUGAL
The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat
She was called “The Brazilian Bombshell.” In the 1940s, one critic labeled her
Brazil’s most famous export. Ah, but there’s a secret here: The great Carmen
Miranda, the star of all those big Hollywood musicals in the 1940s and 1950s,
was actually Portuguese. In 1909 she was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da
Cunha, in the little village of Marco de Canavezes, in the north of Portugal.
Costumed garishly, with bowls of fruit perched on her head, she wriggled
outrageously through such kitschy numbers as “Tico Tico,” in such 20th Century
Fox films as Downstairs Argentine Way and The Gang’s All Here. Although she
appeared with a number of other stars, fans most remember her for her
appearance with co-stars Cesar Romero and Alice Faye. Today an entirely new
generation of young people is discovering this Latin bombshell as her old hits
are revived on TV.
In 1911, she moved with her family to Rio de Janeiro, where in time she
learned to make outrageous hats for wealthy customers. One of them asked
her to sing at a party. With her sambas and tangos, she was an immediate hit.
At age 19, she made her first record on the RCA Victor label. Called Tai, it sold a
record-breaking (for the era) 35,000 copies. Her career was launched, eventually
leading to 140 records and six films produced in Brazil.
The United States soon discovered her and she was lured to Hollywood,
where her career soared. By 1943, she (along with Barbara Stanwyck and Bing
Crosby) was one or the highest paid performers in the United States. Her act
captured the fantasy of drag queens around the world (and still does!). With her
colored dresses, stylized bananas, turbans, outrageous platform shoes that
made Joan Crawford look flat-heeled, dangling earrings, and a shimmering
dance step, Carmen Miranda emerged as an ambassador of the Portuguese
world like no star before or since.
Although a hit with American audiences, she did not always meet with
approval in her native Latin world. Many Latin Americans objected to the stereotype
she projected—that of an oversexed, vivacious, and clownish cartoon
of a Brazilian woman.
Regrettably, her career also degenerated into caricature. After a failed marriage
and a severe bout of depression, she ended up making farcical appearances
in the 1950s. She made appearances on TV with Milton Berle (also
dressed in Carmen Miranda drag). On August 5, 1955, she collapsed on the set
of “The Jimmy Durante Show” and died of a heart attack shortly after.
Today, decades after her death, the memory of this Portuguese-Brazilian
legend is kept alive by her legions of impassioned fans. A biography, Carmen
Miranda, by Cássio Emmanuel Barsante, has been published, with 900 photos
and illustrations, the result of 20 years of exhaustive research. A film was made
of her life, Bananas Is My Business. Even the Film Forum in New York has honored
her with retrospectives.
Coveted, adored, ridiculed, and eulogized, Carmen Miranda will no doubt
remain a legend as long as there’s a late show on TV.