Top 10 Things Funny Girl Gets Right & Wrong About Fanny Brice
#10: The Musical’s Narrative Wrong (Mostly)
Top 10 Things You've Been Doing Wrong Your Whole Life
Ray Stark was one of the most outstanding indie movie producers in the mid-to-late-twentieth century. His credits would eventually include several major American classics like “The Goodbye Girl,” and “Annie.” However, in 1964 his sights were set on telling his mother-in-law's story. Yes, Ray was married to Fanny's daughter Frances, who was very protective of her mother's legacy. To appease her and the extended family, Brice's biography had to be toned down a lot. A more accurate depiction would have been far more scandalous, as we'll soon discover. Stark realized that the safest way to avoid unnecessary complications was to rely more on fiction than fact.
#9: Fanny’s Mother, Rose Borach Wrong
In the musical, Fanny's mom is supportive, protective, and loving; we'll give them that. But you'd be unlikely to see the real Rose Borach sitting around keeping house and playing cards. Instead, she worked hard to support her four kids and an alcoholic gambling husband. While the family lived in New Jersey, she had huge success as a realtor, only for her husband to squander their earnings. Rose left him, taking the kids to New York where her business savvy allowed them to live at a number of upscale addresses, including one in Beekman Place, one of Manhattan’s most high-end apartment blocks. Also, she allegedly didn't like Fanny's second husband, Nicky Arnstein. Well, you know what they say, mother knows best.
#8: The Pregnant Bride Routine Wrong
Top 10 School Trips Gone Wrong
Believing that she isn't beautiful, Fanny worries about getting laughed off the stage. She decides to get ahead of the joke in a move that probably would've gotten her fired in reality. In a nutshell, the pregnant bride gag was fiction. In real life, "Baby Snooks" (like cooks) was Fanny Brice’s most iconic character. However, she didn’t debut the routine until a year after the creator of the Ziegfeld Follies died - in 1933. “Funny Girl” does reference other episodes in Brice’s life, though. Supposedly, Brice was previously fired from a Broadway show due to a lack of dance talent. Instead of admitting the real reason though, she’d instead imply that she was dropped due to her “skinny legs.” The Broadway musical took inspiration from this real-life experience for this scene at Keeney’s..
#7: Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Right
Ziegfeld was one of the most prolific Broadway impresarios of his time. He garnered a reputation as the "glorifier of the American girl" and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. The showman ran the “Ziegfeld Follies," a theatrical vaudevillian extravaganza, between 1907 and 1931. It featured elaborate choreographed numbers to the music of prominent composers like Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. The fictional character is stern but genuinely cares for our funny girl, although he claims that her argumentative nature adversely impacts his health. In reality, their relationship was much more professional, and it's doubtful that she'd quarrel with her employer..
#6: How Fanny Met Nicky Wrong
Top 10 Things You Have Been Told That Turned Out To Be Wrong
The musical romanticizes Fanny and Nick Arnstein's first meeting, perhaps because the truth just didn't scream Hollywood love story. In the show, they share their first moments backstage at Keeney's, but in actuality, they met in Baltimore in 1912. Nicky was betting on horses and Fanny was on tour with the Shubert Brothers. Scandalously, he was using a fake name as he already had a criminal record. Also, Arnstein was married during this time - not that his vows stopped him from pursuing Fanny anyway. He followed her on tour, enjoyed spending her earnings, and soon moved in with her. What a stand-up guy, right?
#5: Consummating Their Relationship Before Marriage Right (Mostly)
The happy couple shares a non-marital bed, as we see in the musical. The exact timeline of events isn’t made clear, so we don’t know if their daughter was conceived before or after wedlock. However, little Frances Arnstein does seemingly join the family pretty soon after her parents' wedding. As such, we can draw some real-life parallels. Six years into his relationship with Fanny, Nicky finally got his divorce sorted out, freeing the pair to tie the knot. Two months later, they welcomed a baby girl. However, the musical and subsequent movie don't tell you that they also had a son named William. This is because he requested to be left out of the musical. He was a respected artist and professor so, we can imagine why he'd distance himself from this story.
#4: The Real Nicky Arnstein Wrong
Did Scientists Just Discover Cosmology Is ALL WRONG? | Unveiled
"Funny Girl's" Nicky Arnstein is undoubtedly a flawed character. He gambles excessively and struggles with living in his wife's shadow. He doesn't hold a candle to the actual man though. Julius "Nicky" Arnstein was an unscrupulous conman with several aliases and multiple arrests. While living with Fanny, he served time in Sing Sing prison for wiretapping. The musical also skims past his biggest crime, stealing more than $5 million of Wall Street bonds. This prompted Nicky to go into hiding, leaving his pregnant wife to face the media. Arnstein allegedly threatened to sue the production if he disapproved of his portrayal, which would explain why this character is heavily fictionalized.
#3: The Character of Fanny Brice Wrong
10 YouTube Pranks Gone Horribly Wrong
Many excellent actresses have embodied this funny girl. But would the actual Brice recognize herself had she gotten the chance to see the show? Answer: unlikely. Fania Borach was born in Manhattan's Lower East Side to Jewish immigrant parents like her fictional counterpart. But apparently, the Yiddish accent was just part of her act rather than how she actually spoke. Supposedly Brice was pluckier, more daring and down-to-earth, and her comedy styling was considered more clown-like. She also wasn't the chaste flower we see. After all, Arnstein wasn't her first husband. Still, the film’s Fanny Brice is a great character, and who are we to "Rain on Her Parade"?
#2: Fanny’s Career Right & Wrong
Today, as the story suggests, Brice is remembered as a Vaudevillian star. What it doesn't tell you is that she started in burlesque and simply fell into comedy. She made her amateur debut as a solo singer at Keeney's, but there wasn't a roller skate in sight. It proved to be a solid start to her career. Indeed, she was spotted by Ziegfield, but she wasn't an overnight sensation. Instead her rise to fame took approximately a decade. Of course, the show only touches on her impressive career, which included a plethora of characters, accents, and songs. Nevertheless, it's still a fitting celebration for "The Greatest Star" to grace the comedy world.
#1: Fanny Left Her Marriage Right & Wrong
Fanny's a loyal wife, but the show's bittersweet ending sees her finally leave Nicky and start over. The real Brice was just as devoted, pleading his innocence, visiting him in prison, and paying his legal bills. The show suggests he fell into crime due to his insecurities about his wife being the primary breadwinner. In actuality, he had no qualms about spending her money. He also had a poor track record with fidelity, as we’ve discussed, and Fanny’s unswerving faithfulness didn’t affect his ways. In the musical, she ends her marriage because he makes life too complicated, but the real story was that Fanny discovered his affair. Years later, he reportedly tried to reconcile, but she'd already moved on.
