Carmen Miranda

Carmen Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, 9 February 1909, near Porto, Portugal, in the town of Marco de Canavezes. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Brazil, where her father was involved in the produce business. The family settled in the then capital city of Rio de Janeiro. After leaving school, Carmen got a job at a local store, often began singing on the job. Before long she was discovered and got a singing job on a local radio station. She ultimately got a recording contract with RCA. By 1928 she was a genuine superstar in Brazil. As with other popular singers of the era, she eventually made her way into the film world. She made her debut in the Brazilian documentary A Voz do Carnaval (1933). Two years later she appeared in her first feature film, Alô, Alô, Brasil (1935). However. it was Estudantes (1935) that seemed to solidify Carmen in the minds of the Brazilian movie audiences. Now they realized she could act as well as sing. Although there was three years between "Alo, Alo Carnaval" and Banana-da-Terra (1939), Carmen continued to churn out musical hits in Brazil. The latter film would be the last in her home country. In late 1939 Carmen arrived, with much fanfare in the press, in New York City. She was now ready to capture Americans' hearts with her talent. She appeared in some musical revues on Broadway and, just as everyone thought, was a huge hit. In 1940 Carmen was signed to appear in the 20th Century-Fox production Down Argentine Way (1940), with Betty Grable and Don Ameche. The only complaint that critics had was the fact that Carmen was not on the screen enough. In 1941 she was, again, teamed with Ameche in addition to Alice Faye in That Night in Rio (1941). The film was extremely popular with the theater patrons. Her unique songs went a long way in making her popular. It was after Week-End in Havana (1941) that American cartoon artists began to cash in on Carmen's ever-growing popularity. In the 1930s and 1940s cartoons were sometimes shown as a prelude to whatever feature film was showing. Sure enough, the cartoon version of Carmen came wriggling across the screen, complete with her trademark fruit hat and wide, toothy grin. In 1942 Carmen starred in Springtime in the Rockies (1942) with Betty Grable and Cesar Romero, both of whom she had worked with before. It was shortly after this that America began adopting her style of dress as the latest fad. 1944 saw her in three films: Something for the Boys (1944), Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) and Greenwich Village (1944). The first two did well at the box-office, but the last one left a lot to be desired. It was her last busy year in film. Carmen made one film each year 1945 through 1948. After that she didn't make a film for two years, until Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), a production for MGM. Once again didn't make a film for several years, returning with Scared Stiff (1953). She did stay busy, singing on the nightclub circuit and appearing on the relatively new medium of television. 'Scared Stiff' was her final movie performance. On 4 August 1955, she unknowingly suffered a heart attack during a live broadcast of The Jimmy Durante Show. She went home to Beverly Hills after attending a party (she neither drank nor smoked). On 5 August, Carmen suffered a fatal heart attack. She was just 46 years old.

Friendly with endless energy the ENFP personality type will be at the heart of where the people are, future oriented looking far beyond the obvious often seeing things that others fail to. They are driven by the new and have an insatiable curiosity making them mercurial, fresh and enthusiastic. However, having so many interests can mean that, at times, the ENFP may have trouble keeping still, prioritising and focusing on the task at hand, especially if something more interesting is looming. The routine and detail bore the ENFP who wants life, work and social to merge into one stimulating environment with endless possibilities shared with people.

The ENFP personality type is the heady individual, creative, quick, impulsive who will get up in the morning thinking of how many possibilities the day may bring. They are excellent at devising new ways of doing things and bring a totally unique and fresh perspective to people, projects and situations. People-centred, caring and spontaneous, the ENFP will be excellent at getting things started and they'll do so with energy, enthusiasm and zeal. However, the ENFP may not be so good at follow-through as they are interested in exciting possibilities and may move on to 'the next big thing' before the 'previous big thing' is completed. They can find overwhelming and utterly compelling reasons to convince others of their point of view and will be animated, expressive and full of life.

The ENFP personality type cannot help but see possibilities. Future oriented they will look far beyond the obvious often seeing things that others fail to. They are driven by the new, the complex, the novel and people will see them as mercurial, fresh, and enthusiastic. Friendly with endless energy the ENFP personality type will be at the heart of where the people are, loving fun and a good drama. They will excellent team players and the one who will work hard at maintaining group morale and making people feel special. Unconstrained by rules, regulations or structures the ENFP will be expedient in their search for what pushes their buttons and every day is a big adventure. Being empathetic to the needs of others also means that ENFP can be sensitive the other way and can get hurt by slights or perceived criticism, especially so when they themselves worked so hard at relationships. They will discover, nurture and support talent in others, seeing the good in people and genuinely wanting to see others succeed. And the ENFP will know exactly which buttons to push to motivate each individual.

Having so many interests can mean that, at times, the ENFP may have trouble keeping still, prioritising and focusing on the task at hand, especially if something more interesting is looming. The routine, the detail and the mechanical, bore the ENFP who wants life, work and social to merge into one stimulating environment with endless possibilities and lots of people to share them with. The ENFP is impatient, wanting things to happen now, not comprehending deferred gratification, and usually have the determination to make it so.

Giving an ENFP targets, or rules will only make them think up original, inventive ways of breaking them and they will do this with such charm and ‘jois de vivre’ that others will be very forgiving. The ENFP personality type will see themselves as unique and will revel in this uniqueness finding creative and innovative ways of solving problems and overcoming obstacles. Being part of a group brainstorming possibilities is ENFP territory, but they won’t be the one who takes away the notes to type up as they’ll be off looking for the next thrill. So, follow-through tends to be a problem, as the ENFP will tend to get bored very quickly, especially if a newer, more interesting project comes along. They also tend to be procrastinators, both about meeting hard deadlines and about performing any small, uninteresting tasks that they've been assigned. The ENFP has great energy and enthusiasm but they tend to like the bits they like, which can mean that those issues they don’t like may not get the attention or discipline they require. It also means that the ENFP will be constantly on the look-out for the next adventure and may be tempted from the agreed route by something just a little more fascinating and fresh.