Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (1909–1955), who became famous in the United States under the screen name Carmen Miranda was born in Portugal but she grew up in Brazil. As a young woman she designed hats but she became famous as a samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress, and film star beginning in 1929. "The Brazilian Bombshell" spent a decade building a career in Brazil before beginning work in the United States in 1939, performing in the Broadway show, "The Streets of Paris." She made made 14 Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953 becoming, at one point, the most highly paid woman in the United States while popularizing Brazilian music and Latin culture. In 1944 cartoonist Dik Browne was commissioned by the United Fruit Company to draw a character named "Miss Chiquita" to give "a friendly personal face to the Chiquita brand." In print advertisements and an animated cartoon shown in theatres this character echoed the Latin American images and rhythms popularized by Carmen Miranda. She was one of four celebrities from Brazilian cinema honoured on a set of four stamps issued on June 19, 1990. She is also honoured on an American stamp issued in 2011.

Excerpt from "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" performed by Carmen Miranda from the
1943 American Twentieth Century Fox Technicolor musical film, "The Gang's All Here."

The United Fruit Company's "Senorita Chiquita Banana" plays upon the
same Latin American rhythms and images popularized by Carmen Miranda.

Complete block of the "Brazilian Cinema" Issue of June 19, 1990.