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.
Ziegfeld Follies, Everybody Sing, Be Yourself!, My Man
#
Quote
1
You give the audience everything you need. They tell you. There is no director who can direct you like an audience. You step out on the stage and you can feel it is a nervous audience. So you calm them down. I come out before an audience and maybe my house burned down an hour ago, maybe my husband stayed out all night, but I stand there. I'm still. I don't move. I wait for the introduction. Maybe I cough. Maybe I touch myself. But before I do anything, I got them with me, right there in my hand and comfortable. That's my job, to make the comfortable, because if they wanted to be nervous, they could have stayed home and added their bills.
2
There is no thrill more wonderful than that which comes with the feel of a friendly audience, and it is a thrill that comes more than once in a lifetime. It is subconscious but powerful, much like sensing the presence of a friend in the darkness. An audience reflects an actor's attitude as faithfully as a mirror. If he is relaxed and sure of himself his audience gives him its heart. But if he feels fear or works too hard for his effects there is thrown over the house the chill of discomfort.
[summing up her career] Listen, kid. I've done everything in theatre except marry a property man. I've been a soubrette in burlesque and I've accompanied stereopticon slides. I've acted for Belasco [David Belasco] and I've laid 'em out in rows at the Palace. I've doubled as an alligator; I've worked for the Schuberts; and I've been joined to Billy Rose in the holy bonds. I've painted the house boards and I've sold tickets and I've been fired by George M. Cohan. I've played in London before the king and in Oil City before miners with lanterns in their caps.
5
I am not sorry. I will tell anybody that, and it is the truth. I lived the way I wanted and never did what people said I should do or advised me to do. And I want my children to do the same. Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?
6
With Nick Arnstein, I was miserably happy. With Billy Rose, I was happily miserable.
7
Men always fall for frigid women because they put on the best show.
#
Fact
1
Became pregnant by her future husband Nick Arnstein prior to his divorce and their 1919 marriage, but she had an abortion.
2
Was a staunch liberal Democrat.
3
Was three months pregnant with her son William when she ended her run on the Broadway production of "Ziegfeld Follies of 1920".
4
Returned to work two months after giving birth to her son William in order to begin performing on the Broadway production of "Ziegfeld Follies of 1921".
5
Returned to work two months after giving birth to her daughter Frances in order to begin performing on the Broadway production of "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic".
6
Profiled in the book "Funny Ladies: 100 Years of Great Comediennes" by Stephen M. Silverman (1999).
7
She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6415 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Radio at 1500 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
Dropped out of school after the eighth grade to work in a burlesque revue, "The Girls from Happy Land Starring Billy Watson".
10
The birth name of her second husband, better known as Nick Arnstein, was actually Jules W. Arndt Stein.
11
Following the death of her daughter Frances, she was reinterred at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
12
Following her death, she was interred in the Chapel Mausoleum at the Home of Peace Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
13
Children with Arnstein: Frances (August 12, 1919-May 31, 1992) and famed abstract artist/painter William (April 23, 1921-March 3, 2008). Mother-in-law of Ray Stark.
14
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 60-61. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
Believed that pearls should not be taken off and needed to be lived in and so she would sleep in hers at night.
17
Pictured on one of five 29¢ US commemorative postage stamps celebrating famous comedians, issued in booklet form 29 August 1991. The stamp designs were drawn by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The other comedians honored in the set are Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy; Edgar Bergen (with alter ego Charlie McCarthy); Jack Benny; and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
18
Starred in the widely popular 1940s' US radio comedy series as its title character, "Baby Snooks".
19
Starred in every Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway from 1910 until 1936.
Actress
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Popsicle Parade of Stars
1950
TV Series
Baby Snooks
Ziegfeld Follies
1945
Norma Edelman ('A Sweepstakes Ticket')
Everybody Sing
1938
Olga Chekaloff
The Great Ziegfeld
1936
Fannie Brice (as Fannie Brice)
Crime Without Passion
1934
Extra in hotel lobby (uncredited)
The Man from Blankley's
1930
Be Yourself!
1930
Fannie Field (as Fannie Brice)
My Man
1928
Fannie Brand
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
2008
Video documentary performer: "Unidentified Song", "My Man" - uncredited
performer: "Yiddle on Your Fiddle" 1910 uncredited, "Queen of the Jungle" 1936 uncredited, "My Man"
Be Yourself!
1930
performer: "When a Man Loves a Woman" 1930, "Cookin' Breakfast for the One I Love" 1930, "Is There Something the Matter with Otto Kahn?" 1930, "Kickin a Hole in the Sky" 1930, "It's Gorgeous to Be Graceful" 1930 - uncredited
My Man
1928
performer: "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You", "My Man", "Second Hand Rose", "If You Want the Rainbow You Must Have the Rain", "I'm an Indian", "I Was a Floradora Baby" - uncredited
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Goes to Town
1938
Short documentary
Herself
Night Club
1929/I
Short
Herself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Panic Is On: The Great American Depression as Seen by the Common Man
2009
Documentary
Herself - Singer (segment "Knitting Sweaters for the Unemployed")
$10 Million
