Fanny Brice | |
|---|---|
 Brice circa 1920 | |
| Born | Fania Borach (1891-10-29)October 29, 1891 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | May 29, 1951(1951-05-29) (aged 59) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Comedian, song model, singer, actress |
| Years active | 1908–1951 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingWilliam Brice |
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951),[1] known professionally asFanny Brice orFannie Brice, was an American comedian,illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. She is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy seriesThe Baby Snooks Show.[2]
Her life story was loosely adapted into the stage musicalFunny Girl. Brice was famously portrayed byBarbra Streisand in both the originalBroadway production of the musical and its1968 film adaptation.
Fania Borach was born in Manhattan, New York City, United States,[1] the third child of Rose (née Stern; 1867–1941), aJewish Hungarian woman who immigrated to the U.S. at age 10, andAlsatian immigrant Charles Borach. The Borachs weresaloon owners and had four children: Phillip, born in 1887; Carrie, born in 1889; Fania, born in 1891; and Louis, born in 1893. Under the nameLew Brice, her younger brother also became an entertainer and was the first husband of actressMae Clarke.[3]
In 1908, Brice dropped out of school to work in aburlesque revue, "The Girls from Happy Land Starring Sliding Billy Watson". Two years later, she began her association withFlorenz Ziegfeld, headlining hisZiegfeld Follies in 1910 and 1911. She was hired again in 1921 and performed in theFollies into the 1930s.[1]
In the 1921Follies, she was featured singing "My Man", which became both a big hit and her signature song. She made a popular recording of it for theVictor Talking Machine Company. The second song most associated with Brice is "Second Hand Rose", which she also introduced in theZiegfeld Follies of 1921.[4]
She recorded nearly two dozen record sides for Victor, and also cut several forColumbia Records. She is a posthumous recipient of aGrammy Hall of Fame Award for her 1921 recording of "My Man".[5]
Brice'sBroadway credits includeFioretta,Sweet and Low, andBilly Rose's Crazy Quilt. Her films includeMy Man (1928, alost film),[6]Be Yourself! (1930), andEverybody Sing (1938) withJudy Garland. Brice,Ann Pennington, andHarriet Hoctor were the only original Ziegfeld performers to portray themselves inThe Great Ziegfeld (1936) andZiegfeld Follies (1946).
Brice's first radio show was thePhilco Hour in February 1930.[7] Brice's first regular radio show was probablyThe Chase and Sanborn Hour, a 30-minute program which ran on Wednesday nights at 8 pm in 1933.[8]
From the 1930s until her death in 1951, Fanny made a radio presence as a bratty toddler named Snooks,[1] a role she had premiered in aFollies skit co-written by playwrightMoss Hart.Baby Snooks premiered inThe Ziegfeld Follies of the Air in February 1936 onCBS, withAlan Reed playing Lancelot Higgins, her beleaguered "Daddy." Brice moved toNBC in December 1937, performing the Snooks routines as part of theGood News show, then back toCBS onMaxwell House Coffee Time, with the half-hour divided between the Snooks sketches and actorFrank Morgan.[citation needed]
By September 1944, Brice's sketch writers Philip Rapp and David Freedman brought in Arthur Stander and Everett Freeman, who developed a half-hour comedy program,Post Toasties Time, laterThe Baby Snooks Show. Produced by Everett Freeman, it launched on CBS in 1944, moving to NBC in 1948. Hanley Stafford played the Daddy and Fannie Brice the main character, Baby Snooks. Other co-stars included Lalive Brownell, Lois Corbet, andArlene Harris each in turn as her mother,Danny Thomas as Jerry,Charlie Cantor as Uncle Louie, and Ken Christy as Mr. Weemish.
She returned onTallulah Bankhead's big-budget, large-scale radio variety showThe Big Show in November 1950, sharing the bill withGroucho Marx andJane Powell.[9]
Fanny Brice's only appearance on television was on June 12, 1950, in a performance on CBS-TV'sPopsicle Parade of Stars, as Baby Snooks.[10]
Fanny Brice resided in a house built in 1938 on North Faring Road inHolmby Hills, Los Angeles, designed by the architectJohn Elgin Woolf (1908-1980).[11] The house was entirely gutted and rebuilt from the foundation up between 2001 and 2008.[12]
Brice had a short-lived marriage in her late teens to a barber, Frank White, whom she met in 1910 inSpringfield, Massachusetts, when she was touring inCollege Girl. The marriage lasted three years and she brought suit for divorce in 1913.[2]
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Her second husband was professional gambler and con manNicky Arnstein.[1] Brice and Arnstein lived together for three years before he was convicted of a wiretappingswindle in 1915. Brice visited Arnstein in prison every week during the 14 months he served inSing Sing, pawned her jewelry to pay for appeals and eventually secured him a pardon.[13] They were married in 1918, one week after Arnstein obtained a divorce from his first wife. In 1920, Arnstein was charged with conspiracy to sell $5 million of stolenWall Street bonds.[14] Brice insisted on his innocence and funded his legal defense at great expense and the case went to the Supreme Court while Arnstein remained free on bail.[14] Eventually Arnstein was sentenced to two years in the federal penitentiary atLeavenworth.[14] Arnstein was released December 22, 1925 with 72 days time off for good behavior and joined Brice in Chicago where she was performing.[15] Brice divorced him in Chicago on September 14, 1927 on grounds of infidelity and loss of affection.[16] They had two children: Frances (1919–1992), who married film producerRay Stark, andWilliam (1921–2008), who became an artist using his mother's surname. Ray Stark later went on to produce the stage musical and filmFunny Girl loosely based on the life of Fanny.[1] Stark also produced a follow-up filmFunny Lady.[1]
Brice wed lyricist and stage producerBilly Rose in 1929[17] and appeared in his revueCrazy Quilt, among others. Brice sued Rose for divorce in 1938.[18]
Six months after herBig Show appearance, on May 29, 1951, Brice died at theCedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood from acerebral hemorrhage at 11:15 am; she was 59.[2] She was interred atHome of Peace Memorial Park but in 1999 her remains were relocated toWestwood Village Memorial Park.[19][20]
For her contributions to the film and radio industries, Brice was posthumously inducted into theHollywood Walk of Fame with two stars. Hermotion-pictures star is located at 6415Hollywood Boulevard, while her radio star is located at 1500Vine Street.[21]
The Stony Brook campus of theState University of New York (SUNY at Stony Brook) had a Fannie Brice Theatre, a 75-seat venue that was used for a variety of performances, including a 1988 production of the musicalHair, staged readings, and a studio classroom space.[22]
Mexican comedianMaria Elena Saldana was influenced by Brice and created a character similar to Brice's Baby Snooks,La Guereja.[citation needed]
In 1991, theUS Postal Service featured Brice on a first-class stamp, the only woman included as part of a "Comedian Commemorative Issue", illustrated byAl Hirschfeld.[23]
In 2006, Brice was featured in the filmMaking Trouble-Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women, a tribute to Jewish women comedians produced by theJewish Women's Archive.[24]
"Fanny's", the restaurant in the Academy Museum in Los Angeles is named after Fanny Brice.[25]
The 1946Warner Bros.cartoonQuentin Quail features a character based on Brice's characterization of Baby Snooks.[26]
Barbra Streisand starred as Brice in the 1964Broadway musicalFunny Girl, which centered on Brice's rise to fame and troubled relationship with Arnstein. In 1969, Streisand won anAcademy Award for Best Actress for reprising her role inthe film version. The 1975 film sequel,Funny Lady, focused on Brice's turbulent relationship withimpresario Billy Rose and was as highly fictionalized as the original film. Streisand also recorded the Brice songs "My Man" and "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Happy with Somebody Else)"; and "Second Hand Rose", which reachedBillboard's top 40.[27]
Funny Girl, and its sequelFunny Lady, took liberties with the events of Brice's life. They make no mention of Brice's first husband 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, taking a toll on his wife's finances.[28]
Beanie Feldstein starred as Brice in the Broadway revival ofFunny Girl, which opened in April 2022.[29]Lea Michele replaced Feldstein on September 6, 2022.[30]
Though an actress does not portray Brice, her name is mentioned in three scenes of a movie that was successful at the box office and merited two Academy Award nominations:Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). The protagonist,Lee Israel, portrayed byMelissa McCarthy, is a biographer who hopes she can get paid to work on a project about Brice's life. Her literary agent Marjorie, portrayed byJane Curtin, tells her sharply that that is not going to happen. Marjorie shouts at Lee, "Nobody wants a book about Fanny Brice! There is nothing new or sexy about Fanny Brice! I couldn't get you a ten-dollar advance for a book about Fanny Brice."[citation needed]
Kimberly Faye Greenberg originated the role of Fanny Brice in "One Night With Fanny Brice" Off-Broadway at St. Luke's Theatre, NYC (2011).[31][32] Greenberg has also played Brice in three other shows. These portrayals of Fanny Brice include "Speakeasy Dollhouse: Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic" at Broadway's Liberty Theatre, NY (2015);[33]
Other recent portrayals of Fanny Brice were in "Ghostlight" at the New York Musical Theatre Festival at the Signature Theatre, NYC (2011);[34] and in the solo show "Fabulous Fanny: The Songs & Stories of Fanny Brice",[35] which has been touring the United States since 2014 and is streaming on the Stellar Platform.[36]
Fanny Brice, stage and screen comedienne and the Baby Snooks of radio, died at 11:15 am today at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. Her age was 59. Miss Brice suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage last Thursday morning and was rushed to the hospital from her home in Beverly Hills. She never again regained consciousness, although she was placed in an oxygen tent. ...
