Copacabana (film)
Encyclopedia
Copacabana is a 1947 musical
comedy film
starring Groucho Marx
and Carmen Miranda
.
The film is a showcase for Miranda, who performs several numbers in her usual style, including a high-energy rendition of "Tico-Tico
". Groucho, as Lionel, her fiance and agent, by then was wearing a normal mustache in real life, but he also sings a song, "Go West, Young Man", wearing his traditional greasepaint brows and mustache, and baggy suit. This was Groucho's first significant film appearance as a solo act, minus Harpo and Chico. Anne (Gloria Jean), at the urging of Andy, sings a song called "Stranger Things Have Happened", admitting her unrequited love for her employer, Steve.
Mlle Fifi becomes more successful than Carmen and Lionel decides to 'kill her off'. She disappears, but then makes a sudden return and all is revealed.
Kay Mavis, Groucho's then-wife, has a small role as a clerk from whom Groucho tries to mooch a cigar.
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
and Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
.
The film is a showcase for Miranda, who performs several numbers in her usual style, including a high-energy rendition of "Tico-Tico
Tico-Tico no Fubá
Tico-Tico no Fubá is the title of a renowned Brazilian choro music piece composed by Zequinha de Abreu in 1917. Its original title was Tico-Tico no Farelo, but since Brazilian guitarist Américo Jacomino Canhoto had a work with the same title, Abreu's work was given its present name in 1931.Choro ...
". Groucho, as Lionel, her fiance and agent, by then was wearing a normal mustache in real life, but he also sings a song, "Go West, Young Man", wearing his traditional greasepaint brows and mustache, and baggy suit. This was Groucho's first significant film appearance as a solo act, minus Harpo and Chico. Anne (Gloria Jean), at the urging of Andy, sings a song called "Stranger Things Have Happened", admitting her unrequited love for her employer, Steve.
Synopsis
Lionel Devereaux and Carmen Navarro (who have been engaged for ten years) are highly unsuccessful nightclub performers, due to Lionel's total lack of talent. In desperation, he pretends to be a successful show business agent and tries to persuade a nightclub owner to engage Carmen. But Steve, the owner, isn't interested in a dancer and wants a chanteuse. Carmen pretends to be an exotic veiled French singer 'Mlle Fifi' and gets the job, but then the club also engages Carmen in her real persona.Mlle Fifi becomes more successful than Carmen and Lionel decides to 'kill her off'. She disappears, but then makes a sudden return and all is revealed.
Cast
- Groucho MarxGroucho MarxJulius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
as Lionel Q. Devereaux - Carmen MirandaCarmen MirandaCarmen Miranda, GCIH was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was, by some accounts, the highest-earning woman in the United States and noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's...
as Carmen Navarro / 'Mademoiselle Fifi' - Steve CochranSteve CochranSteve Cochran was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1939...
as Steve Hunt - Andy RussellAndy Russell (singer)Andy Russell was an American popular vocalist, specializing in traditional pop and Latin music.He was born Andrés Rabago Pérez in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles. He was one of ten children born to parents who were Mexican immigrants of Spanish descent...
as himself - Gloria JeanGloria JeanGloria Jean is an American singer and actress who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959. She also made radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances.-Career:...
as Anne Stuart - Abel GreenAbel GreenAbel Green was an American journalist best known as the editor of Variety for forty years. Sime Silverman first hired Green as a reporter in 1918, and Green's byline first appeared on May 30, 1919....
as himself (editor of VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine) - Louis Sobol as himself, columnist
- Earl WilsonEarl Wilson (columnist)Earl Wilson , born Harvey Earl Wilson, was an American journalist, gossip columnist and author, perhaps best known for his nationally syndicated column, It Happened Last Night....
as himself - Ralph SanfordRalph SanfordRalph Sanford was an American film actor. He appeared in over 200 films between 1930 and 1960.He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* In the Dough...
as Liggett
Kay Mavis, Groucho's then-wife, has a small role as a clerk from whom Groucho tries to mooch a cigar.