CARMEN MIRANDA - CONTRACT SIGNED 01/10/1949 - HFSID 263140

CARMEN MIRANDA. Carbon Partly Printed Contract signed: "Carmen Miranda" in ink as Artist on last page, 4p, 8½x11, front and verso. Beverly Hills, California, 1949 January 10. Headed: "American Federation of Radio Artists/Standard AFTRA Exclusive Agency Contract/Under Rule 12-A". Miranda employs the William Morris Agency, Inc. as her "sole and exclusive Agent in the broadcasting industry within the scope of the regulations of the American Federation of Radio Artists...." The contract was for a term of one year, beginning on January 1, 1949. Miranda was to pay a commision of ten percent for the Agency's services. Also signed by an Agent of the William Morris Agency. Miranda did not appear in any films in 1949. In 1948, she was seen on the big screen in A Date With Judy, and she made her next film appearance in Nancy Goes to Rio in 1950. Portuguese-born samba singer and actress Carmen Miranda (1909-1955), born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, who was known as "the Brazilian Bombshell", was a superstar in Brazil by 1928. Invited to New York to appear in a Broadway show, she arrived in the U.S. with her band, the Bando da Lua, in 1939. Miranda, was the highest-paid entertainer in the U.S. for several years during the 1940s, sold over 10 million copies of her records worldwide, and she made 14 films between 1940-1953. In many of her films, which include The Voice of the Carnival (1933, her debut), Hello, Hello, Brazil (1935), Bananas of the Land (1939), Down Argentine Way (1940), Weekend in Havana (1941) and Springtime in the Rockies (1942), she appeared in platform sandals and towering headdresses made of fruit, earning another nickname, "the lady in the tutti-frutti hat". During an appearance on The Jimmy Durante Show in 1955, Miranda unknowingly suffered a mild heart attack after completing a dance number. When she nearly collapsed, Durante helped keep her on her feet. Miranda, who smiled, waved to the crowd and walked off the stage, died the next day at age 46. Slightly creased. Staple holes at upper left corners, two sets of file holes at upper blank margin. Fine condition.