Sweetie Suz: Carmen Miranda Lamp

Carmen Miranda. I'm sure this is a name you have either heard of before or are some what familiar with. I'm sure you might remember or may have watched Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck imitate her in some classic cartoons; that is of course if you grew up watching the same ones I did.

She was a popular samba singer movie star in the 1940's from Brazil. I was surprised to find out that she actually originated from Portugal!! I found that pretty exciting, being that I'm of Portuguese decent myself as well. If you are interested in learning more about Carmen, I suggest you check out my pal Mr. Tiny's, of the blog Wacky Tacky, excellent blog about the songstress. Wacky Tacky Icon Carmen Miranda There is also an excellent BBC documentary you can watch below as well.

Dave and I were on day one of our recent California cross road trip (see previous blogs) when we came across what ended up being my best find and purchase for our entire road trip. Dave was actually the first to spot it when we were shopping in an antiques store in my hometown of Turlock, CA. I could not believe my eyes!! A Carmen Miranda figurine lamp!

This was a no brainer. I was going to purchase it and take it home! I purchased the lamp without a shade and ended up finding the black one at a thrift store in Mariposa, CA. I had hoped to find a fiber glass whip shade but I'm really happy with this black one as it forces the light down onto Carmen and the Plexiglas base helps illuminate her even more. We were however at the beginning of our road trip, with a packed car load of things to be delivered to my family in Northern California. The shop keepers were very nice and said they would gladly hold it for me to pick up on our way back home towards the end of the trip. After doing some extensive research on the Internet I discovered that I now own a Moss Company lamp. They were manufactured and distributed in San Francisco, CA starting in 1938 to 1968. The owners decided that Plexiglas was a better alternative for the base of their lamps as metal was very scarce during World War II. Some of their lamps have the figurines on a platform that spin. Mine is the spin less version but a remarkable piece no less. It's such an awesome lamp and I'm honored to own a this piece of history that honors this truly amazing woman.