# I saw the real Carmen Miranda for the first time! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278 "2006-04-26T12:10:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/1 "2006-04-26T12:10:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/2 "2006-04-26T12:33:42Z")
I’ve never seen a movie with Carmen Miranda, but I work with a guy named Carmine Miranda. I figure that’s close enough. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/3 "2006-04-26T12:37:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/4 "2006-04-26T13:24:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/5 "2006-04-26T14:34:17Z")
> [@](#): > > no one had a bad word to say about her. Except that on hot, humid summer days, her fruit fly entourage became unbearable. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/6 "2006-04-26T15:10:38Z")
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: ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/7 "2006-04-26T15:24:58Z")
Ah! But I have been to CM museum in Rio. I also (somewhere) have a copy of the photo that ended her career. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/8 "2006-04-26T15:52:00Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Ah! But I have been to CM museum in Rio. I also (somewhere) have a copy of the photo that ended her career. [/QUOTE] You mean the morgue photo? Because she worked almost literally up until the day she died. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/9 "2006-04-26T16:26:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/10 "2006-04-26T16:42:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/11 "2006-04-26T17:45:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/12 "2006-04-26T17:53:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/13 "2006-04-26T23:14:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/14 "2006-04-27T00:07:00Z")
If you want to see the picture, google **Carmen Miranda upskirt**. Don’t you love the internet? NSFW, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-the-real-carmen-miranda-for-the-first-time/354278/15 "2006-04-27T00:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] 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. [/QUOTE] And that, children, is when they invented the Brazilian wax.