The Carmen effect on Hollywood
Where did you get that hat? MARION McMULLEN looks back at how flamboyant Brazilian actress Carmen Miranda took the samba route to stardom 80 years ago
LATIN AMERICAN star Carmen Miranda made Hollywood sit up and take notice when she arrived in Tinseltown. She stood barely 5ft tall, but with her three inch platform heels and her towering headgear she cut a striking figure.
“I have never followed what people say it is ‘fashionable,’” she once explained in her broken English. “I think that a woman must wear what fits her. That is why I created a style appropriated to my type and my artistical genre.”
Carmen was already a major star in Brazil before heading to the US and was discovered singing at her hat-making job. She was a singing sensation at 15 and had a recording contract, before going on to appear in films like Alo Alo Brasil and Bananada-Terra. By 1939 she was ready to conquer America.
It did not matter that her English was not perfect. Carmen knew her destiny was to be a big star. She said: “I say 20 words in English. I say money, money, money and I say hot dog. I say yes, no, and I say money, money, money and I say turkey sandwich and I say grape juice.”
Her towering platform shoes were no obstacle when it came to delivering dazzling high-energy samba dance routines and Carmen took Broadway by storm when she made her debut in the musical The Streets Of Paris 80 years ago.
Her first Hollywood movie, Down Argentine Way, was released the following year and saw her in a nightclub setting as herself singing South American Way alongside film favourites Don Ameche and Betty Grable.
Movies like That Night In Rio and Weekend In Havana followed and by 1945 the performer known as The Brazilian Bombshell was the highest-paid performer in America and one of the world’s best known stars.
The tiny artiste with the big talent was born Maria do Camo Miranda da Cunha in Portugal and moved with her family to Brazil when she was still
a baby. The nickname Carmen came from the alluring temptress from Bizet’s famous opera.
“Look at me and tell me if I don’t have Brazil in every curve of my body,” she once said.
Carmen was invited to meet American president Franklin D Roosevelt and was the first Latin American star to have her hands and footprints immortalised in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
Of course, her distinctive choice of headgear added to her notoriety and her fruit-laden hats often included everything from bananas to pineapples. On other occasions she opted for turbans with feathers, lace and lots and lots of bling.
Carmen’s iconic “fruit hats” helped propel the performer to fame and were inspired by Afro-Brazilian fruit sellers in Rio de Janeiro known as baianas. She wore her first “fruit salad” hat in the Brazilian movie Banana-da-Terra and they quickly became her trademark.
Hats decorated with fruit soon began appearing in American shops – she also sparked a demand for platform shoes – and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City started selling turbans and jewellery inspired by the colourful performer.
Songs like Chica Chica Boom Chic and I Yi Yi Yi Yi Yi also brought the vivacious star international fame. She made 14 Hollywood films and even starred with Groucho Marx in 1947 comedy musical Copacabana.
The sparkling icon once declared: “Hollywood, it has treated me so nicely, I am ready to faint! As soon as I see Hollywood, I love it.” Comedy horror movie Scared Stiff in 1953 was to be her final film outing. It was a remake of the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby 1940 hit The Ghost Breakers set on a spooky Caribbean island and starred Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
Tragically, the star died suddenly in 1955 at the age of 46. She unknowingly suffered a heart attack while performing a dance number with comedy entertainer Jimmy Durante on his NBC variety TV show and then later suffered a second, fatal heart attack at home. The Brazilian government declared a national day of mourning and her body was flown back to Rio de Janeiro in accordance with her wishes.
More than half a million people lined the streets to pay their final respects as the funeral procession took Brazil’s famous daughter to her final resting place at San Joao Batista cemetery.
The Carmen Miranda Museum opened its doors in Rio de Janeiro in 1976 to mark the 21st anniversary of her death. The collection, featuring her famous hats, shoes, scripts and music scores has now been moved to the city’s new Museum of Image and Sound which is scheduled to open in October.