The New York Times and the [UK] Guardian both published articles commemorating the 60th anniversary of Carmen Miranda's (1909-55) death on August 5. Although her indelible Hollywood image is one of flamboyant camp, her legacy is more complex and controversial in Latin America, especially in Brazil.
To North American audiences, she personified the sounds, rhythms, and dress of South America. Upper-class white Brazilians, however, were embarrassed because the music she made famous and the costumes she designed and wore were associated with Afro-Brazilian descendants of slaves. Many North Americans thought she was Spanish. Hollywood paired her with gay Cuban-American actor Cesar Romero or had her sing with Spaniard Xavier Cougat's orchestra. Spanish-speaking South Americans felt she perpetuated the "spitfire" stereotype.
She was born in Portugal, but her family moved to Rio de Janeiro when she was about a year old. She sang and danced as a child, and by 1930 was Brazil's most popular recording star, a position she kept for a decade. She made a few Brazilian movies, and while appearing in an elaborate stage show, was seen by producer Lee Shubert, who offered to star her in his Broadway revue, The Streets of Paris. She accepted, but only if he hired her band as well, which he did. Her samba music, sung and danced to while she wore elaborate hats decorated with a cornucopia of fruits, bare midriff gowns, and amazing platform heels (she was five feet tall), created a sensation.
Hollywood beckoned. She appeared, as herself, singing "South American Way" in 20th Century Fox's Down Argentine Way (1940), starring Betty Grable. The public's response was overwhelming, and 20th signed her to a contract, christening her "the Brazilian Bombshell."
She returned to Brazil, was greeted by cheering fans, and invited by the President's wife to entertain at a swank charity event. Miranda finished singing, but was met by silence from the wealthy white audience. As she left the stage, she was booed, causing her to weep in her dressing room.
Despite that humiliation, she returned to Tineseltown. 20th showcased her in two hit Alice Faye musicals, That Night in Rio and Weekend in Havana (1941). In the former, she unforgettably sang "Chica Chica Boom Chic" and "Ay Yi Yi Yi Yi, I Like You Very Much." She performed the title song in the latter film. The popularity of Latin American music, especially Brazilian music, soared. The Samba became the rage. Mickey Rooney donned drag and brilliantly impersonated her in 1941's Babes on Broadway, performing "Mama Yo Quiero."
Miranda spent Springtime in the Rockies , superbly singing a Portuguese version of Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo," and hit the pinnacle of her Hollywood career in Busby Berkeley's extravagant The Gang's All Here (1943). In the latter, she sang "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat" while dancing between rows of animated, phallic bananas. She wore an extraordinary fruit-laden hat. That hallucinatory number became a favorite of pot-smokers during San Francisco's Hippie era. She became the inspiration for Chiquita Banana.
She played herself in Four Jills in a Jeep, moved to Greenwich Village, and offered Something for the Boys (1944), the film version of Cole Porter's hit Broadway musical. The next year she was in Doll Face and was the highest-paid woman in America, although her phenomenal popularity was abating. She was billed fourth in If I'm Lucky (1946), but was well-teamed with Groucho Marx in the manic Copacabana (1947), playing both a Brazilian singer and a French chanteuse.
MGM gave her a good part in A Date with Judy (1948). Jane Powell thought her father, Wallace Beery, was having an affair with Miranda, whose costumes were chic and soigne, different from those she had previously worn. Backed by Cugat, Miranda memorably performed the jazzy "Cooking with Gas" and "Cuanto le Gusta" in this wholesome musical, which also featured 16-year-old Elizabeth Taylor. She was back home in Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), and made her final big-screen appearance opposite Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in Scared Stiff (1953). At one point, Lewis gets into full Miranda drag and lip-synchs "Mama Yo Quiero."
As Hollywood lost interest, she began to resent having been typecast. Still, nightclub audiences flocked to see her and she worked steadily on television. While taping a Jimmy Durante Show, she suffered shortness of breath and fell to her knees after completing a number. The next day she was found dead from a heart attack.
The Brazilian government declared her burial date a national day of mourning. An estimated 60,000 people attended her funeral. Approximately 500,000 mourners accompanied her funeral cortege.
Many Brazilians still have mixed feelings about her image, but Rio boasts the Carmen Miranda Museum, which chronicles her short life and contains many of her celebrated hats, gowns, shoes, and a great deal of memorabilia. It's worth a visit.
Miranda respected the traditions she made famous. That respect is now more common than it once was. She was a gifted singer whose colorful persona continues to delight. She remains instantly recognizable. People who saw her perform in person inevitably say she made them feel happy. That's a terrific legacy.