It is difficult to believe Fanny Brice had to be pushed onto the stage which now forms such a perfect background for America’s most beloved comedienne. It happened in Brooklyn in Fanny’s adolescence. Incredible? Let Miss Brice tell you in her own words:
“Keeney’s Theatre was having an amateur night and I was just crazy to go,” she relates. “In order to earn the quarter admission charge I sewed up two baby dresses for a neighbor. Then when I got to the theatre I found they were all sold out. Some of my friends were in the performance and I was heartbroken when I thought of not being able to see them perform. I went around to weep on their shoulder. They suggested that I enter the contest. That appealed to my sense of economy because it would then cost me nothing to see the whole show.”
Tall and gangling at the time, Miss Brice admits she still had some scruples but they were brushed aside by her friends. “I felt that actresses ought to be attractive. But the idea of saving the quarter won me over. Believe me, money was tight in our family when I was a kid. If I wanted money I had to earn it. And saving a whole quarter just by getting out on the stage was almost too good to be true.”
PUSHED ONTO STAGE
Fanny the adolescent still did not want to be laughed out of the theatre and the prospect of this occurring made her nervous. She kept asking the harassed manager when “my turn comes.” Anxious to be rid of the awkward, persistent little female he shoved her cut onto the stage ahead of her time.
“I was scared to death,” Miss Brice admits, giggling at the recollection, “but I sang just as I had sung many times at home before. And when the audience began throwing nickles and pennies at me I decided that the stage was my career.”
Then ensued the days of traveling, one night stands, heartaches and headaches with only a grim determination to sustain her.
There is no doubt that much of Miss Brice’s success on the stage is due primarily to her pleasing personality. Yet her success with the long, “My Man,” was due to a desire on her part to play the role of a beautiful actress.
“When Mr. Ziegfeld gave me the song I decided that here at last was my chance to appear attractive. I picked out a gorgeous costume and strutted before the footlights for the dress rehearsal. Before I knew what was happening Mr. Ziegfeld, in a rage, was on the stage cutting my dress into ribbons. Then I was told to go to my dressing room and smear dirt on my face. Real tears mingled with the dirt as I saw what Mr. Ziegfeld had done to my dream of a gown. I came back on the stage with a heavy heart and started my song. I couldn’t keep the tears out of my voice as I sang. Quite by accident, you see, I came across the interpretation of what has been my greatest song hit.”
Like all really great people Miss Brice is simple at heart. Her position in the theatre hasn’t complicated her private life at all. When she is not working she is with her family. There is none of your flying around to night clubs for Miss Brice. She doesn’t make her family conscious of her outside life and it took the radio to inform Miss Brice’s young daughter that “Mama’s an actress.” Now she boasts about it to her friends who are secretly probably quite discontented with just ordinary mothers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
