Vauxhall or Little Portugal, as it is sometimes referred to, ought to have displayed a little something in her honour. Marco de Canaveses is a city and municipality of the Porto district in northern Portugal and has a population of about 9000. It is traversed by the Douro River which emanates from Spain and beside which grow some of the finest wines from both countries.
The Douro valley near Regua.The Spanish side of the border hosts a fantastic group of bodegas
Getting back to Carmen, she unfortunately never really lived in Portugal, her family having emigrated to Brazil in the 1910. She grew up to be dubbed by Hollywood as the Brazilian Bombshell. There is even now a square bearing her name in Hollywood, and intersection really, at Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive across from Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
This structure could have easily figured on one of Carmen's extraordinary headdresses. It only needs a banana hanging from the side of the pagoda. Carmen put her hand and footprints in cement on the patio in front of the theatre on the 24th March 1941. She gave an impromptu performance on VJ day August 15th 1945 in that square which now bears her name where she was joined by a whole load of people from the USO nearby, the famed Hollywood Canteen.It was also on this day in 1964 that the Beatles first appeared on American television, on the Ed Sullivan Show. I can remember sitting with my brother in our house in LA watching the show that Sunday evening. It was only five month after my 21st birthday and I could legally buy the beer.
This piece is full of topic drift. Memories are very strange indeed. Have a glass of wine and listen to Carmen Miranda sing Chica Chica Boom Chic
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