Carmen Miranda, known as "The Brazilian Bombshell", was the original Chica Chica Bum Chic gal of forties musicals a large swash of Rousseau on the movie screens, a festive explosion of outrageous razzmatazz that may not have added much to culture but did add a lot to one's enjoyment of it
Everything about this happy demon (except her height) was larger than life: her behavior; her struggles with the English language as it tripped its way into her head and out through her mouth in accents thick and hilarious; her eyes as they shrank into slits and lost themselves behind her cheeks rising and swelling through the effort required to pronounce her tongue-twisting lyrics at rapid speed; the continual motion of eyes, mouth, shoulders, hips, arms, hands, fingers and feet, the latter supported by elevated platforms that heightened her appeal, and the ever more extravagant gowns that have inspired nightclub performers ever since garlands of sequins, bowers of living blooms around her hips and breasts, and orchards of fruit growing out of her turbans
The total effect was that of some medieval fertility ritual goddess whose presence was a promise of fruitfulness
Everything about this happy demon (except her height) was larger than life: her behavior; her struggles with the English language as it tripped its way into her head and out through her mouth in accents thick and hilarious; her eyes as they shrank into slits and lost themselves behind her cheeks rising and swelling through the effort required to pronounce her tongue-twisting lyrics at rapid speed; the continual motion of eyes, mouth, shoulders, hips, arms, hands, fingers and feet, the latter supported by elevated platforms that heightened her appeal, and the ever more extravagant gowns that have inspired nightclub performers ever since garlands of sequins, bowers of living blooms around her hips and breasts, and orchards of fruit growing out of her turbans
The total effect was that of some medieval fertility ritual goddess whose presence was a promise of fruitfulness