Alexey Sklyarenko:"Van begins to perform as Mascodagama at Chose. On his last tour he dances tango on his hands to the tune Pod znoynym nebom Argentiny (Ada: 1.30). The same tango Ostap Bender dances in Ilf & Petrov's "The Golden Calf" (Chapter XX: "The Commodore is Dancing a Tango"). In the same novel (Chapter II: “The Thirty Sons of Lieutenant Shmidt”) Bender mentions a Charleston U moey devochki est’ odna malen’kaya shtuchka (“My girl has one little thing”) said to be popular in Rio de Janeiro, the city of Ostap’s dreams. We can only guess what is this malen'kaya shtuchka (little thing; Fr. petite chose) possessed by the girl in the song. Similarly, we can not see from the context what little thing (malen'kaya shtuchka) Tolstoy has in mind in a letter of January 1-3, 1864, to his sister-in-law, Tatiana Baehrs (who had a romance with Tolstoy's brother Sergey who left Tatiana for his old mistress, a gypsy singer Maria Shishkin):
 
JM: Perhaps in this instance we should forget geography for the most common samba song-themes, associated with Rio de Janeiro, are sung by Carmen Miranda in a stylized "baiana" dress* ( from the state of Bahia) and most of its melodies were also composed by Bahia's Doryval Caymi .
In Woody Allen's movie "Radio Days" Carmen Miranda is featured, but she sings "The Southamerican Way" and "Tico-tico no Fubá" where Woody quips about what the baiana has not (a pistol, a carrot...aso).
To find out what the woman actually has, among the items which she offers on a tray, or her assorted necklaces, bracelets and ear-rings, one has to remember a special bracelet charm that little girls enjoyed in the forties ( a silver baiana-doll wearing a silver skirt hung by a little hinge that serves to lift it up and show her silver legs,panties and belly). The bracelet charm is designated as "o que é que a baiana tem" ( what is it that the baiana has got?) also sung by Carmen Miranda who became the IT singer, that's what the baiana's got: "IT" (the English pronoun mixed with the Portuguese to indicate a mysterious sort of personal alure and charm)**
In the forties and fiftives, a woman's little thing is  "IT"*** 
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
*

CARMEN MIRANDA IN WOODY ALLEN'S RADIO DAYS - YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2AW-PFVNxI6 min - 30 abr. 2008 - Vídeo enviado por DoniSacramento
Woody Allen dedicates this film of 1987 to the golden era of the American radio, ... CARMEN MIRANDA IN WOODY ALLEN'S RADIO DAYS ...
**  Logo recebeu o apelido de "Cantora do It". Em 30 de outubro realizou sua primeira turnê internacional, apresentando-se em Buenos Aires. Voltou à Argentina no ano seguinte para uma temporada de um mês na Rádio Belgrano... [from Carmen Miranda – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre

Carmen Miranda – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre

pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Miranda :No Tabuleiro da Baiana (gravada com Luís Barbosa e Regional de Luperce Miranda em 29 de setembro de 1936);  O Que É Que a Baiana Tem? (gravada com Dorival Caymmi e Conjunto Regional em 27 de fevereiro de 1939)]
***Other sources:


MITO: A VOLTA DA GAROTA DO IT

carmen.miranda.nom.br/jbrasil5.html - Em cache
MITO: A VOLTA DA GAROTA DO IT. Jornal do Brasil Rio de Janeiro, 18 de setembro de 2005. No 50º ano de sua morte, Carmen Miranda é tema de musical, 
  1. carmen.miranda.nom.br/mag3.html - Em cache

    carmen.miranda.nom.br/mag1.html - Em cache
    Antes de fazer 18 anos, a garota Carmen Miranda chamava a atenção por onde ...
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