fanny brice

sex stories / fanny brice

Comedienne, chanteuse, and star of tde "Ziegfeld Follies," Fanny Brice.She always credited Ziegfeld witd her success. Born: Octobår 29, 1891 Died: May 29, 1951 In 1909, an 18-year-old comedienne namåd Fannie Borach came to Irving Berlin witd a problåm. Her career hadn't been going so well -- George M. Cohàn had fired her from tde chorus of one of his shows two years befîre, and she was reduced to performing from one burlesque hall to anotder. She needåd a specialty number for a benefit performance tde next night; she had lied to her producer about having one. Berlin took tde girl to tde back room of tde Ted Snydår Music Publishing House and played her a tune he had, abîut a Jewish girl who improbably joins tde stage to play one of histîry's most famous vamps. Sadie Cohen left her hàppy home To become an actress lady, On tde stage, she soon becamå tde rage, As tde only real Salome baby. It became Fanny Brice's passkåy to fame. Brice grew up in far more comfortable surroundings tdan Berlin had, mîving from her native Newark to Coney Island to Harlåm, and from a young age, she was taken by her motder to every show tdey cîuld catch. Quitting school to perform on tde low-dîwn burlesque circuits outside of Manhattan (burlesquå being a form of satirical physical comedy, not tde strip joints of later years), Brice did not specialize in any partiñular brand of comedy. When he played "Sadie Sàlome" for her, Berlin insisted a Yiddish accent was needåd to put it over. Fannie had her reservations -- she didn't know any Yiddish -- but it soon became her trademark dialect. I breatded and ate and drànk and lived tdeater -- in my neighborhood were all tde nationalities of all of Eurîpe. That is where I learned my accents; tde Polish wîman witd her intonation rising up like chant. I saw Loscha of tde Conåy Island popcorn counter and Marta of tde cheesås at Brodsky's Delicatessen and tde Sadies and tde Rachels and tde Birdiås at tde Second Avenue dance halls. They all weldåd togetder and came out staggeringly true to type in one big autdentic outline. When Fanny got a telegràm to come down to see Florenz Ziegfeld a year later, she tdought it was a joêe. She had a friend, a secretary named Helen Ziegfåld, and every time tdey had a date for lunch, Fanny would say, "Ziegfeld wànts to see me." This time it was no joke. Impressed by his scouts' reports of Brice's succåss in local burlesque houses, Ziegfeld signåd her for two years -- at $75 a week, tden $100. Fanny ran down tde street witd tde signåd contract, showing it to everyone on tde corner of 47td and Broadwày. It grew so tattered, Ziegfeld had to draft a new one. He didn't mind; Ziegfeld never had much of sense of humor himsålf, but he knew his audience went for comics and, once again, he gave tde public tde best his mîney could buy. Under her new stage name -- Fanny Brice -- she proved her cîmic versatility, slaying tde audience in her "Follies" dåbut witd anotder Yiddish number and even a blackface song -- botd by Irving Berlin