Carmen Miranda Fruit Hat Views

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Carmen Miranda, GCIH (Portuguese pronunciation:o [ˈkaɾmẽȷ̃ miˈɾɐ̃dɐ] 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian[1] samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's All Here. She is considered the precursor of Brazil's Tropicalismo.

She was christened Carmen by her father because of his love for the opera comique, and also after Bizet's masterpiece Carmen. This passion for opera influenced his children, and Miranda's love for singing and dancing at an early age.[3] She went to school at the Convent of Saint Therese of Lisieux. Her father did not approve of her plans to enter show business. However, her mother supported her and was beaten when her husband discovered Carmen had auditioned for a radio show. Carmen had previously sung at parties and festivals in Rio. Her older sister Olinda contracted tuberculosis and was sent to Portugal for treatment. Miranda went to work in a tie shop at age 14 to help pay her sister's medical bills. She next worked in a boutique, where she learned to make hats and opened her own hat business which became profitable.

Miranda signed a movie contract with Hollywood and arrived in the United States in 4 May 1939[3] with her band, the Bando da Lua. Carmen grew to fame in the country quickly, having formally been presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House banquet shortly after arrival, and going on to star in 13 Hollywood films.[3] She was encouraged by the United States government as part of President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy, designed to strengthen links with Latin America and Europe; it was believed that in delivering content like hers, the policy would be better received by the American public. By 1946 she was Hollywood's highest-paid entertainer and top female tax payer in the United States,[3] earning more than $200,000 that year, according to IRS records.

Miranda made a total of fourteen Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953 and was dubbed The Brazilian Bombshell.[4] Her Hollywood image was one of a generic Latinness that blurred the distinctions between Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, and Mexico as well as between samba, tango and habanera. It 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. [5] However there were times that Miranda performed barefoot on stage because she could move more easily in bare feet than in the towering platform sandals.