Fanny Brice

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Fanny Brice bigraphy, stories - Comedians

Fanny Brice : biography

October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951

Fanny Brice (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951) was a popular and influential American illustrated song model, comedian, singer, theater and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show. Thirteen years after her death, she was portrayed on the Broadway stage by Barbra Streisand in the musical Funny Girl and its 1968 film adaptation.

Marriages

Brice had a short-lived marriage in her teens to a local barber, Frank White, whom she met in 1910 in Springfield, Massachusetts, when she was touring in "College Girl." The marriage lasted three years and she brought suit for divorce in 1913. from "On This Day", May 30, 1951 from The New York Times Her second husband was professional gambler Julius W. "Nicky" Arnstein. Prior to their marriage, Arnstein served fourteen months in Sing Sing for wiretapping. Brice visited him in prison every week. In 1918 they were married, after living together for six years. In 1924, Arnstein was charged in a Wall Street bond theft. Brice insisted on his innocence, and funded his legal defense at great expense. Arnstein was convicted and sentenced to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth where he served three years. Released in 1927, Arnstein disappeared from Brice’s life and that of his two children. Reluctantly, Brice divorced him. She went on to marry songwriter and stage producer Billy Rose and appeared in his revue Crazy Quilt, among others. Their marriage also failed.

Legacy

Two children were born of the Brice-Arnstein marriage. Daughter Frances (1919–1992) married Ray Stark, while son William (1921–2008) became an artist of note, using his mother’s surname.

The Stony Brook campus of the State University of New York (SUNY at Stony Brook) formerly had a Fannie Brice Theatre, a small 75-seat venue which has been used for a variety of performances over the years, including a 1988 production of the musical Hair, staged readings, and a studio classroom space. The building was razed in 2007 to make way for new dormitories.

Mexican comedienne Maria Elena Saldana was influenced by Brice, and would create a character similar to Brice’s Baby Snooks, La Guereja.

In 2006 Brice was featured in the film Making Trouble, a tribute to female Jewish comedians, produced by the Jewish Women’s Archive.

Brice portrayals

Although the names of the principal characters were changed, the plot of the 1939 film Rose of Washington Square, in which the principal characters were portrayed by Tyrone Power and Alice Faye, was inspired heavily by Brice’s marriage and career, to the extent it borrowed its title from a tune she performed in the Follies and included "My Man." She sued 20th Century Fox for invasion of privacy and won the case. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck was forced to delete several production numbers closely associated with the star.

Barbra Streisand starred as Brice in the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl, which centered on Brice’s rise to fame and troubled relationship with Arnstein. In 1968, Streisand won an Academy Award for Best Actress for reprising her role in the film version (sharing the Oscar with Katharine Hepburn, for The Lion in Winter). The 1975 sequel Funny Lady focused on Brice’s turbulent relationship with impresario Billy Rose and was as highly fictionalized as the original. Streisand also recorded the Brice songs "My Man," "I’d Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Happy with Somebody Else)" and "Second Hand Rose," which became a Top 40 hit.

Funny Girl, and its sequel Funny Lady, took liberties with the events of Brice’s life. They make no mention of Brice’s first husband at all, and suggest that Arnstein turned to crime because his pride would not allow him to live off Fanny, and that he was wanted by the police for selling phony bonds. In reality, however, Arnstein sponged off Brice even before their marriage and was eventually named as a member of a gang that stole $5 million worth of Wall Street securities. Instead of turning himself in, as in the movie, Arnstein went into hiding. When he finally surrendered, he did not plead guilty as he did in the movie, but fought the charges for four years, taking a toll on his wife’s finances. It is thought that Ray Stark, the producer of the play and both movies and Brice’s son-in-law, changed Arnstein’s story in order to avoid a lawsuit, as Arnstein was still alive at the time. Brice’s son William was not mentioned in the play or movies by mutual agreement; other changes – such as the portrayal of Brice’s mother as living in modest means rather than well-off or the omission of Brice’s first husband – may have been done in the interest of compelling storytelling.