Gay icon Carmen Miranda got mentioned in relation to the opening of a museum
in her honor in Rio de Janeiro. If you've never seen The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat
production number from the film The Gang's All Here, you've missed one of the most
amazingly trippy technicolor dreams ever produced. Many say it was Busby Berkeley
at his best. There's a screen grab below, and here's a link to the entire sequence:
Jerry, great minds think alike. I just watched The Gang's All Here yesterday. Just as trippy is the final sequence with the flourescent lights. And this was 1943!-Dee Exx
ReplyDeleteI need to go back and see the whole movie again.
DeleteThe legend Carmen Miranda.
ReplyDeleteMy grandad met her during WW2 when he was an inspector for the Federal Government. He was stranded in Kansas City waiting for a standby flight to go to Los Angeles to inspect war material factories. Standby because troops and war supplies had top priority. Finally he got a flight after waiting two days. Who’s on the plane, Carmen Miranda ! She had been on a war bond drive across the country and was going back home. He said she was a hoot with the same endearing personality you saw in her movies. Sadly that great personality came to an end in 1955 from a heart attack. Carmen Miranda had been on the Jimmy Durante Show and had collapsed complaining of shortness of breath. She got on her feet, seemed to be fine and continued with the show. Afterwards she went out to dinner with friends and then went home and died that night :(
Her final performance with Jimmy Durante is on YouTube. In Brazil she was given a state funeral attended by half a million of her countrymen and is held in great esteem to this day….:)
Thank you for sharing your grandfather's story and the other details. Yes, Miss Miranda died too young, and there's a reason they have a museum in her memory. A true entertainer and character!
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