I saw the real Carmen Miranda for the first time!

Cafe Society
1

I recorded “That Night in Rio” a few nights ago, and watched it. Although I was familiar with Carmen Miranda (who isn’t!), I had never seen any of her movies. I had only seen the parodies. Specifically, Janet Burston from “Our Gang” doing an impression of Ms Miranda in the short “Calling All Kids.”

Well, as is often the case, the original was much better IMO. But for me, the original was Ms. Burston in Our Gang! Anyway, the movie was not bad. I’m just surprised that I’ve lived this long and never seen the real thing.

2

I’ve never seen a movie with Carmen Miranda, but I work with a guy named Carmine Miranda. I figure that’s close enough.

3

I got the same impression when I first saw Miranda in Springtime in the Rockies. None of the imitators capture her charm, or how much fun she is having on screen. She knows that she seems a bit goofy, and has a great time with it.

4

I have some of her albums, and she was an amazing singer, too. Great gal, from everything I’ve read, no one had a bad word to say about her.

5

Except that on hot, humid summer days, her fruit fly entourage became unbearable.

6

Hollywood Babylon has a picture of her being swung high into the air by her dancing partner and incidentally demonstrating that she wasn’t wearing any underwear that day. :eek:

7

Ah! But I have been to CM museum in Rio. I also (somewhere) have a copy of the photo that ended her career.

8

You mean the morgue photo? Because she worked almost literally up until the day she died.

9

First off, I lied. I checked and do not have the photo in question. Still a few years ago Playboy republished it I saw it there.

CM in a publicity shot for some project or another. She is in a guys arms, he is sweeping her off her feet. The long CM skirt goes up, the legs swing apart. ‘Penis ensues.’

This of course was long before Basic Instinct and was apparently quite a scandal.

10

So you’re talking about the same photo that Rocketeer referenced, that’s reproduced in Hollywood Babylon? I’m curious as to how this ended her career. Wikipedia doesn’t reference it and Kenneth Anger is [del]a damn liar[/del] a notoriously unreliable source.

11

Yes, the same photo. Of course nowadays who can say what is real and what is not? Still I saw it in Playboy a couple of years ago.

12

Kenneth Anger is a damn liar, but that’s a real photo: Cesar Romero lifting Carmen Miranda in a dance, and you can see her, ummm, South American Way.

It did not end her career, though, which is where the disagreement comes in here: typecasting limited (kind of ending) her career, though as noted she died in the saddle, the night after a TV appearance.

13

I love Carmen Miranda. She was extremely aware of her public persona, and played it to the hilt. I have a CD of a bunch of her songs and play it pretty frequently. Way too much fun.

14

If you want to see the picture, google Carmen Miranda upskirt. Don’t you love the internet? NSFW, BTW.

15

And that, children, is when they invented the Brazilian wax.