February 09 |
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Maria do Carmo
Miranda da Cunha's Birthday
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Carmen made a total of fourteen Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953 and was dubbed "The Brazilian Bombshell." Her Hollywood image was was carefully stylized and outlandishly flamboyant. She was often shown wearing platform sandals and towering headdresses made of fruit, becoming famous as "the lady in the tutti-frutti hat." In 1945, Carmen Miranda was the highest-paid woman in the US But she was also increasingly trapped, as the roles grew more caricaturish and the hats reached unparalleled heights of camp craziness in films like The Gang's All Here (1943). During a visit to Brazil in 1940, Carmen was heavily criticized for giving in to American commercialism and projecting a false image of Brazil. She responded with the Portuguese language song "Disseram que Voltei Americanizada," or "They Say I've Come Back Americanized." Another song, "Bananas is My Business," was based on a line in one of her movies and directly addressed her image. The woman whose lyrics "Her skin is hot and dark, her heart beats for Brazil" seemed autobiographical was no longer welcome there.She was stunned and deeply hurt by the criticism and did not return to Brazil again for fourteen years. In the
later years of her life, Carmen, began drinking heavily, suffered clinical
depression, overused
amphetamines and barbiturates., and had electroshock therapy. On August 4, 1955,
Carmen suffered a heart
attack during a segment of the live TV broadcast of The Jimmy Durante
Show, and nearly collapsed. She quickly pulled herself together and
finished the show. Carmen died later that night after suffering a second heart
attack at her home. Her body was flown back to Brazil where the Brazilian
government declared a period of national mourning. Despite the controversy
surrounding her career in her adopted Brazil, more than a million Brazilians
stood on the funeral procession's route to mourn her death.
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© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes |