Happy 125th Birthday, Fanny Brice!
Image by Wikimedia Commons
By Talya Zax October 28, 2016
Fanny Brice, the legendary comedienne and songstress immortalized by Barbra Streisand in the musical and film “Funny Girl,” would have been 125 years old today. Brice, born Fania Borach on the Lower East Side’s Forsythe Street, captured hearts as a star member of “The Ziegfeld Follies,” the character of Baby Snooks on the radio, and in films including “The Great Ziegfeld” and the silent “My Man.”
As a member of the Follies, Brice’s best-loved acts included her rendition of the song “My Man,” Channing Pollock’s English version of the French “Mon Homme,” her Yiddish-inflected characterization of Irving Berlin’s “Sadie Salome,” and her farcical take on Ethel Barrymore’s “Camille.” She tried her hand at straight drama once, with the 1925 Belasco production “Fanny;” critics didn’t take to the performance, and Brice returned to comedy.
As the Forward’s Chana Pollack wrote in 2014, Brice “opened her career-making act as the Yiddish ‘Salome’ with this line: ‘I’ve been a bad woman, but such good company, Nu?’” Such good company, indeed.
Listen to Brice sing “Second Hand Rose” in the video below.
Talya Zax is the Forward’s culture fellow. Contact her at zax@forward.com or on Twitter, @TalyaZax
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
