MISS CHIQUITA'S MISSION: FIND A NEW BANANA JINGLE : TROPICAL TUNE WITH A TWIST.Byline: Glenn Gaslin Daily News Staff Writer She's exotic! She's saucy sauc·y adj. sauc·i·er, sauc·i·est 1. a. Impertinent or disrespectful. b. Impertinent in an entertaining way; impossible to repress or control. 2. ! She's got a giant bowl of fruit on her head! She's Miss Chiquita Banana, and she wants you to put words in her mouth. Since 1944, the semi-fictional corporate spokeswoman has drilled that catchy little Chiquita banana tune into the collective head of America. And now, in her second incarnation as played by New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of actress Elizabeth Testa, she's touting a contest in which you, the fruit-munching public, update her jingle. And so we asked the vitamin-rich Latin miss to let us peek under her hat for a little wisdom on those long, yellow banana things. Q: What do I call you? Miss Banana? Chiquita? A: Well, we're on a first-name basis, so, yeah, just Chiquita. Q: Tell me about your hat. A: Well, it's 17 inches from the tip of the pineapple to the base of my neck. It's a big fiesta bowl The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Tostitos tortilla chips (a Frito-Lay product), is a United States college football game played annually since 1971. Originally, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium where it remained until 2006. of fruit, and, of course, the Chiquita bananas are prominently displayed. There's also pomegranate pomegranate (pŏm`grănĭt, pŏm`ə–), handsome deciduous and somewhat thorny large shrub or small tree (Punica granatum , there's kiwi, raspberry ... Q: How much does it weigh? A: Let's just say it gives my neck muscles a workout. Q: Does it ever get itchy itch·y adj. Having or causing an itching sensation. ? Sweaty? A: It depends on how tropical the environment is. But in Miami and L.A., it's been known to make me a little on the hot side. Q: Does the fruit ever rot? A: Kids always ask me that: ``Is the fruit real?'' And I tell them that with all the traveling I have to do, it couldn't be. Q: Do people ever confuse you with Carmen Miranda '' Carmen Miranda, pron. IPA: ['kaɾme͂j mi'rɐ͂dɐ], (February 9, 1909 – August 5, 1955); birth name Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, GCIH) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian[1] ? A: Well, you know Carmen Miranda was the inspiration for the original Miss Chiquita Banana. She was a great icon, and I'm proud to be associated with her. Q: How about Minnie Pearl Minnie Pearl was the stage name of Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 - March 4, 1996). She was a country comedian who, along with friend Roy Acuff, was an institution at the Grand Ole Opry, and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991 . ? A: I'm happy to say, no. I don't have a price tag hanging off the fruit bowl. Q: Tell me about the contest. A: Chiquita Banana has launched a national search to update the jingle for the '90s. Should I tell you about the prize? The winner gets a trip for four to Disney World, and Chiquita plans to use the new jingle in their PR efforts and on their Web site. Q: People love the old song. Why change it? A: Well, this is the thing: Chiquita has actually changed the jingle throughout the decades. For example, when New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. had a big water shortage, they added: ``Don't waste a drop, no, no, no ...'' to the end. It was very cute. Originally, the basic idea was to teach people how to eat a banana, which was a real exotic fruit back then. They want to update the song to the '90s lifestyle, but it still needs to include that famous first line, ``I'm Chiquita Banana and I've come to say ...'' Q: How many times have you sung that song? A:Thousands of times. Many, many times. Sometimes when I travel, I have a little Chiquita banana karaoke karaoke (Japanese; “empty orchestra”) Use of a device that plays instrumental accompaniments to songs with the vocal tracks removed, permitting the user to sing the lead. machine and I invite people to come sing with me, and that could happen maybe 200 times a day. Q: How many bananas have you eaten in your lifetime? A: I eat a banana every day (a Chiquita banana to make you feel better, a little plug there), so that's 365 days in a year ... Q: Can monkeys survive on a diet of strictly bananas? A: We don't like to talk about monkeys too much. Monkeys are big fans, of course, of Chiquita bananas. Like babies. A lot of parents will tell you this, that bananas are one of the first foods they feed their kids. Q: Why don't you like to talk about monkeys? A: Chiquita likes to associate their bananas with being eaten by humans. Q: Do you find the term ``chiquita'' to be sexist? A: Actually, it's an endearment en·dear·ment n. 1. The act of endearing. 2. An expression of affection, such as a caress. endearment Noun an affectionate word or phrase Noun 1. , so, no it's not sexist. As the Miss Chiquita Banana of the '90s (That's me!), I've had to take a lot of people's perceptions and take them away from the ``cha-cha girl'' image. I've enjoyed combining intelligence and wit to change the image of the woman in the big fruit hat. Q: Do you look good in yellow? A: Yeah, of course. Q: Have you ever watched the hit Australian children's television show ``Bananas in Pajamas''? A: Aren't they so darling? I look at them as my little brothers. Q: Do you shop at Banana Republic banana republic n. A small country that is economically dependent on a single export commodity, such as bananas, and is typically governed by a dictator or the armed forces. ? A: Actually, I just gave a friend a gift certificate there for his birthday. Q: Which, if any, of the Fruit of the Loom Fruit of the Loom is an American company which manufactures clothing, particularly underwear. The company's world headquarters are based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. One manufacturing facility still remains in Jamestown, Kentucky, and several other facilities are located across the guys is sexiest? A: I'm a big fan of the um, the ... uh, the grapes, actually. When I was in high school, my friends and I were the Fruit of the Loom guys in the costume contest, and I was the grapes, and we won. That was my first fruit role, I guess. Q: What's the stupidest question a journalist has ever asked you? A: What was that one you asked me about five minutes ago? Just kidding. Let's see Let's See was a Canadian television series broadcast on CBC Television between September 6, 1952 to July 4, 1953. The segment, which had a running time of 15 minutes, was a puppet show with a character named Uncle Chichimus (voice of John Conway), which presented each . What's a doozy doo·zy or doo·zie n. pl. doo·zies Slang Something extraordinary or bizarre: "Among the delicious names taken by, or given to, minor political parties in the United States . . . ? People ask if I sleep with the hat on. People always ask me if I sleep with that hat on. Q: Do you? A: No. But actually, the other day, when I was announcing the contest, I was being driven around in a big stretch limousine and the hat was sticking out Adj. 1. sticking out - extending out above or beyond a surface or boundary; "the jutting limb of a tree"; "massive projected buttresses"; "his protruding ribs"; "a pile of boards sticking over the end of his truck" the top of the sunroof. Usually I drive a gold station wagon. What else should Miss Chiquita Banana drive, eh? Q: I've read that the banana plant reproduces asexually a·sex·u·al adj. 1. Having no evident sex or sex organs; sexless. 2. Relating to, produced by, or involving reproduction that occurs without the union of male and female gametes, as in binary fission or budding. 3. . A: Does it now? It seems that you know more than I do. Q:Does this mean that there's no Mr. Chiquita Banana? A: There are ... how can I put this? Let's just say that Miss Chiquita has ... how can we be coy about that? Well, let's just say, hmmm ... Can we just not answer that? The Chiquita Banana jingle has changed a few times since 1944, but the original lyrics tried to educate the American public about that strange, new, exotic fruit, that crazy banana: ``I'm Chiquita Banana and I've come to say, Bananas have to ripen rip·en tr. & intr.v. rip·ened, rip·en·ing, rip·ens To make or become ripe or riper; mature. See Synonyms at mature. rip in a certain way. When they are fleck'd with brown and have a golden hue, Bananas taste the best and are good for you. You can put them in a salad. You can put them in a pie - aye. Any way you want to eat them, it's impossible to beat them. But bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator. So you should never put bananas in the refrigerator.'' To enter the contest: Write a new set of lyrics to the song, keeping the original first line and then explaining why eating the fruit every day will make you feel better. Call (800) 827-9054 or visit the Web site (www.chiquita.com) for an entry form and send it to the Chiquita Banana Jingle Contest, P.O. Box 1906, New York, N.Y. 10156-1906. Deadline is Aug. 15. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box Photo: (1) Elizabeth Testa travels the country as Miss Chiquita Banana. (2) The Chiquita Banana Jingle Contest invites the public to submit new lyrics for the popular promotional song first heard in 1944. Box: Tropical tune with a twist (See text) |
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