1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: On a Sunday night in October nine two once in 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: a lifetime talents Ye teamed up for an unforgettable duet 3 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: on National TV. Twenty one year old Barbara Streisand was 4 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: a guest on The Judy Garland Show. Garland was then 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: forty one. Their medley of Happy Days, Are Here Again 6 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: and Get Happy was sheer perfection, an instant classic. Garland, 7 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: already in decline, though she didn't sound like it that night, 8 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:47,599 Speaker 1: would die. Just six years later, Streisand was just breaking 9 00:00:47,640 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: out two story ships passing in the night? What'd she do? Snooks? 10 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: I've been your books away? Twenty five years earlier, a 11 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: very different duet, It was Garland who was on the 12 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: rise and singing with an established star. Still a year 13 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: away from her trip down the Yellow Brick Road. Teenage 14 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: Judy was starting to make a name for herself, appearing 15 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: in a movie musical called Everybody Sing. In this number, 16 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: she argues in song with a little girl played by 17 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: a fortysomething woman named Fanny Bryce, why because because where 18 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: you are, Let's play cops and Clothes. At the time, 19 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: Fanny Bryce was one of the biggest stars in the country. 20 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: Lady and Gentlemen present Miss Fannie Bryce. Fanny Bryce Bryce 21 00:01:52,120 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: had conquered Broadway, headlined movies You're gonna Hear what I've 22 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: got to say, and created one of the most popular 23 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: characters on radio. Fanny Bryce was also a history maker 24 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: in original one of the first great female comedy stars. 25 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: She was so famous that one day an entire musical 26 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: called Funny Girl would be written about her life, a 27 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: musical that would star Barbara Streisand. But while Funny Girl 28 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: would help turn Streisand into a supernova, the real Fannie 29 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: Bryce would fade from memory. It made people remember her 30 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: longer than I'm sure they would have had there not 31 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,639 Speaker 1: been a musical. But the life as she lived it 32 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: is not the life story that we get in Funny 33 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: Girl from CBS Sunday Morning and I Heart I'm Morocca 34 00:02:54,639 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: and this is mobituaries. This moment Fanny Bryce, death of 35 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: the original Funny Girl. Don't tell me not to live 36 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: just sitting pudder Life's candy in the suns of Balla Budda, 37 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: don't bring around a clout to rate on my parade. 38 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: That's Barbara streisand knocking them dead. As Fanny Bryce in Broadways, 39 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: Funny Girl in Fast forward fifty eight years to April, 40 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: Hello Gorgeous and the show's first ever Broadway revival, starring 41 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: Beanie Feldstein. Alas, the reviews for this production were less 42 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: than stellar, the show was hobbling along until michell Is 43 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: getting rave reviews. Lee star Leah Michelle was brought into 44 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: play Fanny, and the revival itself was revived. It's ready 45 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: for me because I said, I saw Leah and the 46 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: show and she was terrific. But make no mistake, the 47 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: lead role in Funny Girl is indelibly connected to Really 48 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: owned by Barbara streisand people, people need people, Ah the Peple. 49 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: After all, she won an oscar when she starred in 50 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: the movie version, just to few years after her Broadway run. Now, 51 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: to be clear, this is not a mobituary for streisand 52 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: I mean, she's kind of immortal. We'll talk more about 53 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: her in Act two, but this episode is about the 54 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: woman she came to eclipse Fanny Bryce. Funny Girl, in 55 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: many ways is a sanitized life story. The story that 56 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: the family wanted to tell in Bryce's career was much 57 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: more a fever chart, up and down and up and 58 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: down and up and down. Barbara Grossman is a theater 59 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,720 Speaker 1: professor at Tufts University and wrote an in depth biography 60 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:38,239 Speaker 1: on Bryce entitled Funny Woman. She didn't simply will herself 61 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: to be the greatest star and everyone accepted it and 62 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: that was it. Well, she willed herself to do it, 63 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: but it took her a while to find her footing 64 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: and to figure out actually who she was as an entertainer, 65 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:54,799 Speaker 1: and to accept her great comic gifts. Bryce was born 66 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: Fannie a Borak to a Jewish immigrant family in As 67 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: a small child, she lived in Newark, New Jersey, where 68 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: her mother Rose ran a saloon and her father, known 69 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: as Pinuckle Charlie, drank and played cards and did pretty 70 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: much nothing else. After her parents split up, Fanny moved 71 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: with her mother to Brooklyn, where her career began. She 72 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: was not yet fifteen when she stepped on stage to 73 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: perform at a vaudeville house called Kenney's. It was amateur night, 74 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: and she later wrote that when the audience saw a 75 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: quote gawky, nondescript girl in a rumpled linen dress and 76 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: cheap sailor hat, they started booing and shrieking. This was 77 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: the kind of place where they gave performers the hook 78 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: literally a big iron one. If the audience didn't like them, 79 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: then Fanny began singing a sentimental ballad of the time, 80 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: and as the performance went on, the crowd fell silent. 81 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 1: There was just something about that teenage girl singing so seriously. 82 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: Banny's brother Lou would later give this rather delightful description. 83 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: The theater quieted down like somebody had hung a smallpox 84 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: sign over the door. When the crowd started throwing money 85 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: at Fanny, she knew she was a hit. She even 86 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: got a few laughs while pausing her dramatic song to 87 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: pick up her money. Soon after that night at Keeney's, 88 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: she quit school to pursue a life in show business. 89 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: When she auditioned for one show in nine she was 90 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,679 Speaker 1: asked if she had a specialty number. After confidently saying 91 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: she did, she didn't, she went running to a young 92 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: man named Irving Berlin. Now you might know Berlin as 93 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: the writer of White Christmas Easter Parade, God Bless America, 94 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: But this was before all that. At that point, he 95 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: is writing Italian dialect songs, Irish dialect songs, and he said, Fanny, 96 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: with your face, you should do a Yiddish dialect song, 97 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: all right, let's talk about her face. Well. She had brown, 98 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: curly hair, green eyes, a wide mouth, and a prominent nose. 99 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: More on that later, Fanny would describe hers as a 100 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,679 Speaker 1: quote Jewish face. She was also tall for the time, 101 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: standing five ft six and painfully thin, as she put it, 102 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: with legs that looked like two slats. These features made 103 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: her stand out and would become tools for her comedy. 104 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: She knew she was a site gang, and she played 105 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: up that aspect of her physicality. That she knew she 106 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: couldn't be the prettiest goal on the stage. She was 107 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: going to be the funniest. The dialect songs that Irving 108 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: Berlin and others were writing were tied to a boom 109 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,599 Speaker 1: in ethnic comedy fueled by the huge numbers of immigrants 110 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: coming to America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 111 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,319 Speaker 1: While some of this material might seem offensive today, immigrant 112 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: communities of the time ate it up. One of those communities, 113 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: comprised of Eastern and Central European Jews, was a Yiddish 114 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 1: speaking There were Yiddish newspapers and a thriving Yiddish theater scene, 115 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: which isn't surprising. Nia means rosadas, bubbs. The Yiddish language, 116 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: a combination of German and Hebrew with a few other 117 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,320 Speaker 1: linguistic ingredients thrown in. Has a kind of musicality, with 118 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: words that are kind of fun to say, like schlamil, schlamozel, 119 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: bobby and book kiss. Why did people consider the Yiddish 120 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: accent funny? Well, if you don't know Yiddish, it kind 121 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:55,719 Speaker 1: of sounds funny. And if you combine it with gestures 122 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: and manners, I mean, it's like anything you can exaggerate it. 123 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: And when you combine it with her zany flair for 124 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: physical comedy, it was just an irresistible combination. Fanny took 125 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: Irving Berlin's advice and created her own comedic Yiddish accented persona. 126 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: How are you to say? How marry you win? You 127 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: might be a month. But here's the thing, Fanny didn't 128 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: actually know Yiddish. Most people would think, oh, Fanny Bryce, 129 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: she probably grew up speaking Yiddish. Well, she liked people 130 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:46,319 Speaker 1: to think that, but she didn't. But she could put 131 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: on the accent just like a mask and take it off. 132 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 1: By this time, Fanny was performing in burlesque houses. Burlesque 133 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: was I suppose the lowest rung on the show business ladder. 134 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: If you're talking about American popular and pertainment. When we 135 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 1: tend to think of burlesque, we think of stripped tease. 136 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,719 Speaker 1: But burlesque wasn't just stripped tease. It included singers, dancers, 137 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: and comedy acts. For somebody like Bryce who was really 138 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: trying to break into show business, it was easier to 139 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: get into you didn't have to be quite as pretty. 140 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: It's around this time she changed her name from Fannie A. 141 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: Borak to Fanny Bryce, but she kept her comedic style, 142 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: which would be epitomized by later hits like Secondhand Rose, 143 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: about a poor Jewish girl from the Lower East Side. 144 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 1: All that fighting. She was fast making a name for 145 00:11:53,400 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 1: herself in burlesque, but her big came in when she 146 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: was cast in the zig Feld Follies. The Follies started 147 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: the greatest entertainers of the day in a live review 148 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: that was nothing short of spectacular. You had the zig 149 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: Feld Girls, these statuesque women who created in and out 150 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: with beautiful costumes. The show was also renowned for its comedians, 151 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: the cowboy humorist Will Rogers, the curmudgeon le W C. Fields, 152 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: whom my father always loved you like children I do 153 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:36,680 Speaker 1: if they're probably cooked. And the beloved Apostle of pep 154 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,440 Speaker 1: Eddie Canter, whose greatest hits I still listen to, How 155 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: are you going to keep him down on the farm 156 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: after they've seen Harry? How are you going to keep 157 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: them away from? I think it was Eddie Cander who said, 158 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: when you make it into the Follies, it's like when 159 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: you're a baseball player and you make it into the 160 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: World Series. It's the top. It's the top of the show. 161 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: Is this career? The screw winning movie The Great Zigfeld 162 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: starred William Powell as impresario forlorenzig Felt and depicts his 163 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: discovery of Fanny Bryce ms Brice. I am really here 164 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: to offer you a great opportunity. That's what they all 165 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: say in the movie. Fanny plays herself. Everyone was singing 166 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: fancyne screening at a wedding yesterday, Heed on his feetle 167 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:32,240 Speaker 1: late some rag time, and after accepting Zigfeld's offer, we 168 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: see her make it to the big time. Look at you. 169 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: You're working for Zigfelt now and you look like a 170 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: million dallars the first time in your life. You clash. 171 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: The Folly's made Fanny a major star. By nine six, 172 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,199 Speaker 1: the New York Tribune was calling her the funniest woman 173 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: on the stage today. Eventually she was pulling in three 174 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: thousand dollars a week, making her one the highest paid 175 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: women in show business, a yearly income, one newspaper would 176 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: later note, said to be an excess of that of 177 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: the President of the United States. But more than all that, 178 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: she was an original, a great female clown, and a pioneer. 179 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: Many of her fans had probably never even met a 180 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: Jewish person or a woman of any background who was 181 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 1: so uninhibited by turns, goofy and body, unconcerned with society's 182 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: notions of how a lady ought to behave. In contrast 183 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: to the statuesque beauties parading across the Folly stage, Fanny 184 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: was the anti Ziegfeld girl. She would go on to 185 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 1: satirize performers like modern dancer Martha Graham and theatrical grand 186 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: Dame Ethel Barrymore, and she became the master of the 187 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: parody number, turning the hit song the Chic of Araby 188 00:14:53,840 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: into the chic of Avenue b Unfanni ahead. How did 189 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: Jewish audiences feel about her performances? They loved her Fanny 190 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: knew who she was representing and what she wanted that 191 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:17,360 Speaker 1: representation to mean, later saying, I never did a Jewish 192 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: song that would offend the race. In anything Jewish I 193 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: ever did, I wasn't standing apart making fun of the race. 194 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 1: I was the race. And like my own favorite performers, 195 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: she had a natural warmth. You can hear it in 196 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: her real voice in a p s A she did 197 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: during the Great Depression, encouraging people to help the unemployed. 198 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: What are you doing, Fanny didding a sweater? They unemployed? 199 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: My relation, all my uncle, not one of them, are 200 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: working one more stitching habby even all kidna side folks. 201 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: This is really a serious matter. As for her romantic life, well, 202 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: if you've seen Funny Girl, you know the name Nick. 203 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: What a beautiful, beautiful name. When she's twenty one, she 204 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: meets Nick Arnstein. Who is he? That's a good question. 205 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: I mean he was basically a gambler, a con man, 206 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: a criminal. Was he Omar Shariff good looking? I don't 207 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: know that anybody's in Omar Sharif category, but he was 208 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: good looking. Egyptian actor Omar Shariff played Nick Arnstein in 209 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: the Funny girl movie. Look at pictures of the real 210 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: Nick Arnstein, and I'm pretty sure you'll agree that casting 211 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: Shariff was generous. Regardless, Bannie Bryce fell for the real 212 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: Arnstein hard. She talks about kind of love at first sight. 213 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: He ended up taking her up to his hotel room, 214 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: where she saw his monogram bathro even his toothbrush she 215 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: found elegant, and she just was really swept up by 216 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: this man who appreciated of the finer things in life, 217 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: and I think she really did love him. Never mind 218 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: that Arnstein was married when they met and didn't obtain 219 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,199 Speaker 1: a divorce until Fanny was seven months pregnant with their 220 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,880 Speaker 1: first child. That detail isn't in the musical. They ended 221 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: up having a daughter and son. Arnstein was also pretty 222 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: much constantly engaged in criminal activity, doing time at Sing 223 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: Sing for wire tapping and leaven Worth for bank theft. 224 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: The two were finally married in nineteen nineteen in between 225 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: prison terms. Fanny stood by Nick through most of these 226 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: ups and downs, which led to one of her biggest 227 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: career moments. When she was in the fallies of ninety one, 228 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: it was actually Zigfeld who gave her a number that 229 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: became really wonder her signature songs. The song was My Man, 230 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:51,199 Speaker 1: the English adaptation of a French song made famous by 231 00:17:51,200 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: the great Shantouse Westing Gay. She said to down, the 232 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:06,119 Speaker 1: French version is a much rougher song. I mean, it's 233 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: really about a prostitute who's singing about her pimp who 234 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: beats her and you know, abuses her. And the American version, 235 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: of course, was sanitized. Call me love it, mamma. Fanny's 236 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: performance of my Man was unlike anything else she'd ever done, 237 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: raw and without a Yiddish accent. She wore a torn 238 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:41,360 Speaker 1: dress and leaned forlornly against a lamp post. No cookie 239 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: hand gestures, just stripped down, just singing the song. And look, 240 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,160 Speaker 1: I'm sure she was singing from her own pain. At 241 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: the time Fanny performed the number, Arnstein had been found 242 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: guilty of bond theft and would soon be sentenced. Front 243 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: page news. Oh My Lanny's why My Man became Fanny's 244 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: signature song, and for several more years, Fanny stood by 245 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: her man until she couldn't. I do think that she 246 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:37,400 Speaker 1: would have stayed with him, probably forever, but he committed 247 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 1: the cardinal sin. She learned of his infidelity, and she 248 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 1: was done. She stood by him, she loved him, but 249 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: when he was unfaithful to her, she was done. There 250 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: was no coming back from No, there really wasn't. My 251 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 1: man was a breakthrough moment for Fanny. It gave her 252 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,119 Speaker 1: hope that audiences could see her as more than just 253 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:02,159 Speaker 1: a clown, and to that end, she was about to 254 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: make a very big change. I want to how much 255 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,640 Speaker 1: what it costs, because these an't fixed stuff. I mean, 256 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,959 Speaker 1: by one of those pick surgeons. Well, I wouldn't want 257 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: an old carpenter doing it. I have a confession to make. 258 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: When I am thinking about Funny Girl, as I often do, 259 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: I sometimes forget that it's not the Barbara Streisand story. 260 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: Does that make me crazy? No, You're absolutely on target. 261 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: In fact, I think it actually is the Barbara Streisand 262 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 1: story in many ways. In some ways, it's more the 263 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,879 Speaker 1: Barbara Streisand story than it is the Fannie Bryce story. 264 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: This is my friend Eric Near. He's a contributing editor 265 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: to the literary and arts journal The Hudson Review, and 266 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: he knows more about musical theater than I could ever 267 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: hope to know. Will return to the story of the 268 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:09,199 Speaker 1: real life Fanny later in the episode, But first I 269 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 1: wanted to talk with Eric about how with Funny Girl 270 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,199 Speaker 1: Barbara streisand came to eclipse the memory of Fanny Bryce. 271 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,640 Speaker 1: The depiction of Fanny ultimately ends up being a little 272 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: closer to Strei's end than it does to the real 273 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: Fanny Bryce. And was that intentional? Well, I don't think. Originally, 274 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: Fannie Bryce had been dead for over a decade when 275 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: a powerful Hollywood producer named Ray Stark set about telling 276 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: her story. Ray Stark happened to be married to Fanny's daughter. 277 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,040 Speaker 1: The idea was to create a show about the story 278 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: of Fannie Bryce and the broad outlines of her life 279 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: working for Ziegfeld and her marriage to Nick Arnstein, which 280 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 1: was of course very troubled, And they went through a 281 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 1: lot of sort of potential Fannies, you know. Carol Burnett 282 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: was considered interesting, and Bancroft was attached for why she 283 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: was really hot after just winning an oscar for the 284 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 1: Miracle Worker? Did she singing the Miracle Worker? Sullivan singing? 285 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: Carol Burnett and Anne Bancroft were already big names, but 286 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: Bunny Girl's composer, a man named Julie Stein, was writing 287 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: the show's score with a lesser known talent. In mind three, 288 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: what you study Rooster is Dustina. At the time, Barbara 289 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: Streisand was just twenty and performing in downtown Manhattan clubs 290 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: like The Village Vanguard and the Bonsar described back then 291 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: as Kookie. Streisand had stolen the show in her first 292 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: Broadway role in two as the secretary Miss Marmelstein and 293 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 1: I can get her or your wholesale Stane, you think 294 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: at least missing I could die. Julie Stein saw her 295 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,119 Speaker 1: and said, Okay, here's a girl who can really sing, 296 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: who is clearly Jewish and will be convincing playing Fanny Bryce, 297 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,680 Speaker 1: and who is also a comic and has a wonderful 298 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,439 Speaker 1: sense of humor a wonderful sense of stage comedy. It 299 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,199 Speaker 1: was inevitable casting. There was really no one else at 300 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,360 Speaker 1: the time who would have been so perfect for the role. 301 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: With a new, exciting and volcanically talented performer in the role, 302 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: the show's focus started to shift, and so Funny Girl 303 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,400 Speaker 1: started to bend in a way to be really much 304 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,679 Speaker 1: more about Streisand and her talent than it did about 305 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: Annie Bryce. Streisand's take on Fanny Bryce was entirely her 306 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 1: own as she discussed in this backstage radio interview from 307 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: the opening night of Funny Girl in four, did you 308 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: research the life of Fanny Boys at all? No, I 309 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: didn't want to approach it is an invitation or anything 310 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,360 Speaker 1: like that. I mean, they hired me because whatever organic 311 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: things we had similar, you know, they'll work for themselves. 312 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: I understand that you purposely kept yourself away from looking 313 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: at movies of hers, hearing programs of hers, and so forth. 314 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:34,600 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm approaching it as a character in a 315 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: play who could have been any woman who was torn 316 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,680 Speaker 1: between a career marriage and has problems of her own. 317 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: As for what the two women had in common, well, Streisand, 318 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: like Bryce, wasn't Broadway or certainly Hollywood's definition of beautiful. 319 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: Early on, critics had no compunction writing about her nose, 320 00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: speculating on whether she'd ever get it fixed. Variety even 321 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: recommended a quote corrective schnaz Bob Eric says that kind 322 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: of criticism may have only made Streisand more determined to 323 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: make it, a determination that served her well in the 324 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: role of Fanny. What we see and Funny Girl is 325 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: Fanny sort of using that insecurity about her looks and 326 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,719 Speaker 1: about not being taken seriously and channeling that into this 327 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: kind of fierce ambition that is this sort of incredibly 328 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: exciting mix of anger and insecurity that drives her on 329 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: and streisand just really embodies that in an incredible way. 330 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: Let's listen to streisand as a young Fanny singing, I'm 331 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 1: the greatest star in the movie version of Funny Girl, 332 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: Because the greatest star I am by far in a 333 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 1: case of art imitating life imitating arts, stay with me here, 334 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: this number becomes as much a declaration by Barbara streisand 335 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: herself as it does by the character she was playing. 336 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: That's a fascinating song because it kind of starts a 337 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: little bit as if she's trying to please. She's kind 338 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: of doing a little sticky stuff and funny voices and 339 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: trying to ingratiate herself. Why they're going to hear of 340 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: a silver flute? Belcher reached to a terrific when I exposed. 341 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: And then something happens kind of midway through that song 342 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:37,040 Speaker 1: where she kind of steps away from that and just says, 343 00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: all right, hold on, listen up, I am the greatest star, 344 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: and I don't have any qualms about saying that yes, 345 00:26:47,920 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: who's the best year? Yeah, it's a gutsy kind of 346 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 1: thing to say in the heroine's first big number in 347 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: the show, because it could come off as you know, 348 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:26,880 Speaker 1: a little egotistical and pushy and a little obnoxious. But 349 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:31,200 Speaker 1: when it's performed in the way it's performed, certainly by 350 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: strikes out, as we see in the film, there's no 351 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: other response but yes, you're right, which brings us to 352 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: a key difference between the two women they're singing voices. 353 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:44,439 Speaker 1: I don't want to be unfair to Fanny, she's not 354 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: here to defend herself. But let's do a little compare 355 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: and contrast. Let's listen to Fanny singing my man man 356 00:27:54,920 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: I oh now, let's listen to Barbara's ng my man 357 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: so is just as fakay when it takes me and wrong. 358 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: Even accounting for differences in audience tastes, there's really no 359 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,400 Speaker 1: comparison that's right. The way that Fanny sings it is 360 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: full of heart and full of warmth and richness and character, 361 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: but it is a style that sounds pretty dated to 362 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: us now, and the way that Straison sings my man 363 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: has not dated at all. In fact, it's as powerful 364 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,080 Speaker 1: as it was when she recorded it, you know, over 365 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: fifty years ago. And the secret to Straysand's power, says Eric, 366 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: has more to do with her treatment of the words 367 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: than music. She's really acting the song. It's as if 368 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: she is making up the song as she goes along. 369 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: Strist And really brings together a lot of different kinds 370 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: of vocalism and then puts this whole gloss of incredible 371 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 1: sort of sensuality and eroticism over it, which may surprise 372 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: people because we don't think of her as being sort 373 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: of a sexy performer. But when you hear her sing, 374 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 1: she is cressing every phrase with an incredibly sensual approachest 375 00:29:47,360 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: of love, soundistan, wist of your love. Only just listen 376 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,520 Speaker 1: to Streisand on a personal favorite of mine, Alan and 377 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: Marilyn Bergman and Michelle Legrands, what are you doing the 378 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: rest of your life? She is able to open her 379 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: voice up at the top of the range in a 380 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: way that lets it really blossom into this kind of 381 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: soaring sounds. What God. And It's just so important I 382 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: think for people to understand that it was knew what 383 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: she was doing, like all great artists, was new because 384 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,040 Speaker 1: she's such a fact of life. I think it's easy 385 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: to take for granted that's absolutely true. And of course 386 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: the sad fact is that she had this incredible success 387 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: with Funny Girl and then never did a Broadway show again. Indeed, 388 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: streisand would go on to conquer Hollywoo what but rather 389 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: than replace Fanny Bryce, Eric believes Barbara's performance and Funny 390 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: Girl is the reason we remember Fanny Bryce's name at all. 391 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: Without Funny Girl, I think she'd be basically a forgotten 392 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: a performer at this time. Funny Girl has kept her 393 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: name alive in ways that the surviving fragments that we 394 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: have of video or audio footage have not. Really who 395 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: can we compare Fanny Bryce to that might give people 396 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: a sense of the kind of performer that she was. 397 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,880 Speaker 1: I think there's definitely a bit of Fanny Bryce and 398 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: Bette Midler ther John. So some lastness, my face is 399 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: Matt barg that's broke that sense of zane nous and 400 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 1: the broadly funny faces that she makes, combined with a 401 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: warmth and good natured nous. Another heir to Bryce, the 402 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: aforementioned Carol Burnett, who's long running and completely wonderful variety show, 403 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: was big on parody. I love you that that that 404 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: gown is gorgeous, thank you Stan Wind and I just 405 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 1: couldn't resist it. No question that Carl Burnett was influenced 406 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: by Fanny Brice. You see it in the facial expressions 407 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: that she makes, the willingness to put on any kind 408 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: of outrageous costume, the willingness to look incredibly silly and ridiculous, 409 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: all in the service of humor. To give her her props. 410 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: Fanny did do that thing of being a big star 411 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,720 Speaker 1: comic who kind of in an act of performance jiu Jitsu, 412 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: made you cry with a song like my Man. That's 413 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: part of her appeal is that she's zany and cookie 414 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: and will do anything of her laugh. But always at 415 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: the core there's this sense of a true and real 416 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: and kind and loving person behind everything that she does. 417 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: Final question. Barbara spells her first name b A R 418 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 1: B R A. When you see younger gay men spell 419 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 1: her name with three a's, how does it make you feel? 420 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: It makes me feel a little bit how I feel 421 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: when I hear people refer to cast albums as soundtracks. Oouch, 422 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,479 Speaker 1: that hurts. It's like a night It's painful, but you know, 423 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: What drives Barbara even more crazy is when people mispronounced 424 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: her last name. It was a z sound instead of 425 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: an asset, right. And perhaps you've heard the story that 426 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,719 Speaker 1: when Apple launched Siri, Sirie was pronouncing her name Barbara 427 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: streisand Barbara picked up the phone and called Tim Cook 428 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: to ask him to fix the pronunciation of her name 429 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: by Sirie. And I'm sure they did it right away, 430 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 1: no doubt. When I see that extra a, I mean 431 00:33:50,600 --> 00:34:08,040 Speaker 1: to me, it's tantamount to a hate crime. Mmh. You 432 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: even made me feel sort of beautiful, you know, for 433 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: for a very long time, beautiful. The musical Funny Girl 434 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: ends with Fanny Bryce saying goodbye to her gambler ne'er 435 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: do well husband, Nicky Arnstein for the very last time. 436 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: But that's not where Fanny's story ended. It's around this 437 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 1: time that Fanny did something that stray Sand famously did 438 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 1: not do. In she had what was announced as facial sculpture. Yes, 439 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: she had a nose job. She did. That's Fanny Bryce. 440 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: Biographer Barbara Grossman. Again, as much as we talked about 441 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:54,760 Speaker 1: she knew who she was, and she knew what she wanted, 442 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: and she'd never thought of herself as pretty. She didn't 443 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: fit the established beautiful type, and so she saw having 444 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,400 Speaker 1: a smaller nose is not just making her pretty, but 445 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 1: allowing her to do the kind of dramatic work that 446 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 1: she thought she would be better suited for if she 447 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:20,399 Speaker 1: looked different. A different, less ethnic look, her thinking went, 448 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: might also help her appeal to a wider range of 449 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:28,399 Speaker 1: audiences around the country. Writer Dorothy Parker acidly equipped that 450 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: Fanny quote cut off her nose to spite her race. 451 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: Now I have to confess I didn't even realize people 452 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,799 Speaker 1: got nose jobs back then. But plastic surgery had advanced 453 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: during World War One as the doctor's developed new methods 454 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:47,800 Speaker 1: to reconstruct the faces of disfigured soldiers. In the years 455 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,560 Speaker 1: after the war, those methods would be used for cosmetic surgery, 456 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:57,719 Speaker 1: or what some called facial renovation. When you look at 457 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 1: pictures of Fanny post nose job, the change doesn't look 458 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: that dramatic. Still, the procedure made national news, mostly because 459 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:11,560 Speaker 1: Fanny never publicity shy, let reporters see her swathed in 460 00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 1: bandages after the surgery. Fanny referred to her nose job 461 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,040 Speaker 1: as a return to normalcy, a play on Warren Harding's 462 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:25,399 Speaker 1: presidential campaign slogan. In an interview, Fanny acknowledged it might 463 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: take a couple of seasons for the public to get 464 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: used to my new nose. But I'm ambitious. Like every actress, 465 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: I know I can act, and I want to show 466 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,760 Speaker 1: the public what I can do with a new nose 467 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:41,160 Speaker 1: in front of her. Fanny was ready for Hollywood, which 468 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 1: was just entering the sound era with the success of 469 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,920 Speaker 1: Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer. Wait a minute, Wait a 470 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: minute Yet, movie studios were on the hunt for entertainers 471 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: who could talk and sing, and so Warner Brothers signed Fanny. 472 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: Her first film, My Man, featured her singing the now 473 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: famous title tune, plus some new songs. She was even 474 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: marketed as the female Joelson, But audiences didn't respond to 475 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:29,560 Speaker 1: Fanny in the same way My Man was a flop. 476 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: Did some parts of the country just find her too Jewish? Well? 477 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:39,360 Speaker 1: Variety seemed to think so, writing bluntly and disturbingly in 478 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:43,400 Speaker 1: its review of the film, quote, certain localities are apt 479 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:48,319 Speaker 1: to chill on the stars distinct Hebrew clowning. Now some 480 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: of you may be thinking, wait a minute. The Jazz 481 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,279 Speaker 1: Singer is the story of a canter son who abandons 482 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,160 Speaker 1: the synagogue for show business, only to return in a 483 00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:00,640 Speaker 1: climactic scene to chant yam ki poor prayer while his 484 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:14,839 Speaker 1: father is on his deathbed. That was pretty Jewish and 485 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 1: audiences loved it. But that movie may have been more 486 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 1: of an exception to the rule, not to mention it 487 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 1: was ultimately a story of assimilation. Fanny's movie career was 488 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 1: coinciding with what would end up being a disappearance of 489 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: sorts of Jews in the stories being told by the 490 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:38,440 Speaker 1: entertainment industry. The nativism and anti immigrant sentiment of the 491 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties and thirties was leading to a desemitizing of 492 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 1: mainstream culture. Studio bosses, many of them Jewish themselves, seemed 493 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,480 Speaker 1: to believe that movies playing to the whole country needed 494 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:56,960 Speaker 1: to downplay Jewish faces, accents, and themes. Characters and plots 495 00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: featuring Jewish people were minimized or ate it entirely. Many 496 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,120 Speaker 1: Jewish film actors would leave the business or try to 497 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:11,360 Speaker 1: assimilate as best they could. For example, a decade or 498 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:16,760 Speaker 1: so after Fanny, actress Lauren Bicall born Betty Joan Persky 499 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: would be marketed by studio publicists as being from society. Interestingly, 500 00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:27,200 Speaker 1: Bicall would play Barbara Streisand's mother in the film The 501 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,879 Speaker 1: Mirror Has Two Faces. Mother, I made dinner, Why don't 502 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,319 Speaker 1: you put the coffee on? I raised two daughters, I 503 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:36,719 Speaker 1: buried a husband. I've made my coffee. Another issue might 504 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,319 Speaker 1: have been Fanny's over the top stage persona. Look, I 505 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:44,359 Speaker 1: love Broadway, but sometimes the energy is just too much 506 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 1: for the big screen. There's a reason why ethel Merman 507 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 1: barely had a movie career. Will you just shut up 508 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: and let me talk? Whatever it was, it wasn't working. 509 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:57,920 Speaker 1: Fanny would go on to make just six movies, but 510 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,120 Speaker 1: her star would rise again in a print medium. It 511 00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:05,239 Speaker 1: was the nineteen thirties radio's golden age, and Fanny had 512 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: the perfect character. Yes, Dying Fanny with handle s is 513 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,520 Speaker 1: Daddy Baby Snooks was a character Fanny developed for the 514 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:19,280 Speaker 1: stage back in her early performance days, and this is important. 515 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 1: The character didn't rely on a Yiddish accent. You can't 516 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,680 Speaker 1: really do Yiddish accent a comedy on the radio because 517 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:30,880 Speaker 1: it's so physical. It demands the gestures, the manners, and 518 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,880 Speaker 1: the whole stick if you will, And with Hitler's Germany 519 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 1: posing an increasing threat and anti Semitism rampant on the 520 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:43,000 Speaker 1: home front. Fanny likely reasoned that her Jewishness was not 521 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 1: something to emphasize, not if you were trying to appeal 522 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: to a national radio audience. The Baby Snooks show was 523 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:54,400 Speaker 1: pretty standard sitcom fair episodes would revolve around Stooks causing 524 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:58,440 Speaker 1: trouble or asking too many questions, and her ever exasperated 525 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: father having to deal with her in Calfornia? Where were 526 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:08,520 Speaker 1: you born in Denver? Mommy? Mommy was born in New York? Dinner? 527 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,720 Speaker 1: Her catchphrase became the question she would keep asking throughout 528 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,759 Speaker 1: each episode, setting her father over the edge. Why did 529 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,200 Speaker 1: I have to put on my new great daddy because 530 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:24,480 Speaker 1: my boss is coming for dinner and listen to Snooks. 531 00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:27,200 Speaker 1: You're not to come into the dining room while we're 532 00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:31,840 Speaker 1: having dinner, not even if my boss asked you too. Why? Why? 533 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,840 Speaker 1: I think in a way, Snooks was easy. It was 534 00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: bread and butter for her. She didn't have to contort 535 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: her body doing acrobatic leaps, and you know, for somebody 536 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:48,160 Speaker 1: who was getting older, it was probably less demanding than 537 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:51,560 Speaker 1: some of her parts, and audiences enjoyed it. Banny and 538 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 1: Snooks were on the radio for over fourteen years. Future 539 00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,960 Speaker 1: I Love Lucy producer Jess Oppenheimer was a writer for 540 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,640 Speaker 1: the Baby Snooks Show and would take some of the 541 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,120 Speaker 1: Snooks traits with him when he went to write for 542 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 1: My Favorite Husband, the radio predecessor to I Love Lucy. 543 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:18,239 Speaker 1: Oppenheimer wrote in his memoir that he decided to make 544 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:22,160 Speaker 1: Balls radio character quote a little bit more childlike and 545 00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:26,920 Speaker 1: impulsive and short, more like Baby Snooks. Traces of Snooks 546 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:31,040 Speaker 1: carried over to TV when Lucille Ball became Lucy Ricardo. 547 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: Sure I wanted him to forget my birthday, but he 548 00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 1: forgot my birthday. But while Lucy transitioned to the exciting 549 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: new medium of television, Fanny and Baby Snooks would not 550 00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:50,960 Speaker 1: make that leap. She had been offered a Baby Snooks 551 00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:55,480 Speaker 1: show on television, and she said no because she was 552 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:59,440 Speaker 1: self aware enough to realize that on radio, the audience, 553 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,319 Speaker 1: because they didn't have to look at her, they could 554 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: just hear and her voice, she could sound like the 555 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:07,399 Speaker 1: Baby Stocks. But on TV it's a cruel I it's 556 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:13,320 Speaker 1: the camera. Fanny was getting tired, bored by the routine 557 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:16,719 Speaker 1: of radio work. She wanted to enjoy life in the 558 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:20,960 Speaker 1: California Sunshine, spend time with her grandkids, and enjoy her 559 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 1: hobbies like painting and interior decorating. She decorated the homes 560 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,720 Speaker 1: of friends like Catherine Hepburn and Eddie Cantor. For years, 561 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 1: she was also on her own after another failed marriage. 562 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:38,800 Speaker 1: Following her divorce from Nick Ornstein, she'd married showman Billy Rose. 563 00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:42,719 Speaker 1: By most accounts, the two were a mismatch and the 564 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,400 Speaker 1: marriage was not a happy one. It also inspired a 565 00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:50,000 Speaker 1: sequel to Funny Girl called Funny Lady that We're not 566 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:54,080 Speaker 1: going to talk about. The marriage ended after nine years. 567 00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:02,160 Speaker 1: In November newspaper interview, she shared her plans to retire 568 00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:05,560 Speaker 1: from show business the following year. You can tell that 569 00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:08,600 Speaker 1: the Fannie who had hustled and strived for so long 570 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,359 Speaker 1: is gone. The beginning of a career is the most 571 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:16,239 Speaker 1: exciting anyway. It's fun and wonderful. After you get there, 572 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 1: it's tough to stay there. That's when you have to fight, 573 00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,719 Speaker 1: she says. There's always people to take your place, and 574 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:30,560 Speaker 1: they're always better. Six months later, in May, Fanny Bryce 575 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: died following a cerebral hemorrhage. Fanny's Rabbi Max Nossbaum, poignantly 576 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:41,680 Speaker 1: noted Fanny Brice inherited from our tradition not only the 577 00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:45,719 Speaker 1: capability of moving people to laughter and two tears, but 578 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:54,880 Speaker 1: also she inherited the heart that ennobled her calling don't 579 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 1: if you want. Thirteen years later, Barbara Streisand would make 580 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:10,640 Speaker 1: Fanny Bryce a household name again when Funny Girl opened 581 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:14,240 Speaker 1: on Broadway. I'm a bagel and a plateful of onion rolls. 582 00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:17,279 Speaker 1: If you ask most people today who Fanny Bryce is, 583 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,160 Speaker 1: they probably don't know, or they might conflate her story 584 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:26,040 Speaker 1: with Barbara Streisand's. But Fanny was a true comedy pioneer 585 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 1: for women and Jewish entertainers, paving the way for Streisand 586 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:44,600 Speaker 1: and so many others the whole body else. Wouldn't it 587 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,240 Speaker 1: be great if one day somebody made a movie about 588 00:45:48,320 --> 00:46:07,120 Speaker 1: Fanny Bryce. I certainly hope you enjoyed this mobituary. May 589 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,759 Speaker 1: I ask you to please rate and review our podcast. 590 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:13,759 Speaker 1: You can also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and 591 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:17,120 Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at Morocca. Here all 592 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:21,760 Speaker 1: new episodes of mobituaries every Wednesday. Wherever you get your podcasts, 593 00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:25,759 Speaker 1: and check out Mobituaries Great Lives Worth Reliving the New 594 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:30,440 Speaker 1: York Times best selling book, now available in paperback and audiobook. 595 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:38,160 Speaker 1: It includes plenty of stories not in the podcast. This 596 00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:42,520 Speaker 1: episode of Mobituaries was produced by Zoe Marcus. Our team 597 00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:47,800 Speaker 1: of producers also includes Aaron Shrank, Wilcome, Martina Scacero, Ja Curnis, 598 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:51,560 Speaker 1: and me Morocca. It was edited by Moral Walls and 599 00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:55,400 Speaker 1: engineered by Josh Hahn, with fact checking by Naomi Barr. 600 00:46:55,680 --> 00:47:00,000 Speaker 1: Our production company is Neon Hum Media. Our archival produce 601 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:03,080 Speaker 1: sir is Jamie Benson. Our theme music is written by 602 00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:09,080 Speaker 1: Daniel Hart. Indispensable support from Craig Swaggler, Dustin Gervais, Alan Pang, 603 00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:13,600 Speaker 1: Reggie Basio and everyone at CBS News Radio. Special thanks 604 00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:19,000 Speaker 1: to Jonathan Greenberg and Alberto Robina the Indisputable. Aaron Shrink 605 00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:23,440 Speaker 1: is our senior producer. Executive producers for Mobituaries include Steve 606 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:27,360 Speaker 1: Raises and Morocca. The series is created by Yours Truly 607 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,920 Speaker 1: and as always undying gratitude to Rand Morrison and John 608 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:35,800 Speaker 1: carp for helping breathe life into Mobituaries.