Fanny, a daughter of Jewish immigrants was born on 29 October 1891, New York East Side. She grew up in Newark and Bergenstreet/St. Mark's Avenue in Brooklyn. As toddler, she drew attention to herself, singing and dancing on the billiard-table in the free lunch saloon bar of her parents.

Her first stage performance was in Frank Keeney's theater on Fultonstreet in Brooklyn. This was probably on 16 january 1906. On tuesday nights he organised performances for amateurs. On that same Keeney stage, Al Jolson brought his first blackface act in 1904. Fanny won, by singing the coonsong When you know you're not forgotten by the girl you can't forget, the first prize of 10 dollars. That night she got involved with the theater public.

In 1910, 18 years of age, Fanny performed in Max Siegel's Collage Girl burlesque-show for 25 dollars a week. Irving Berlin gave her the Irish song Sadie Salome for that show. Before that time, she never sang with an accent and she would be an Irish comedian the rest of her life, had Irving not sang to her that song with a Jewish accent instead of an Irish accent. Now she was Sadie, a Jewish comedian, according to Fanny. This performance influenced Florenz Ziegfeld, the revue king of Broadway, to contract Fanny for his 1910 Follies. This time for a wage of 75 dollars a week. She was to become Broadway's highest earning performer.

The name Fanny Brice is closely connected with Florenz Ziegfeld, and the name of Florenz Ziegfeld with that of Fanny Brice. After the great successes of the Follies, Ziegfeld asked her "Do you think you can make them cry?" With that he handed her the song My Man, which was translated from the French Mon Homme, to sing in the 1921 Follies. She sang it gently, night after night in the same way, with her eyes closed, and everytime it was as if Nick was with her. Nick Arnstein, her husband, whom she married in 1918, was the mastermind of a 5 million dollars, questionable Wallstreet stock-deal. In February 1920 this was front-page news, called The Mastermind Case. Nick was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. Although Nick, gentleman and gambler, was still the man of her dreams, Fanny started to lose control over him. This, and the fact of Fanny's love for the theater that stood betweem them, eventualy caused them to divorce.

Two years after her divorce she met and fell in love with Billy Rose. They married in February 1929. But a songwriter was of no account in the society to which Fanny belonged, and Billy soon was known as Mister Brice. "If you want to have your name back," said Billy to himself, "you will have to become a producer." This resulted in the Broadway hits Sweet and Low and Crazy Quilt, created by both of them.

Another big hit for Fanny was the creation of Baby Snooks. This character was based on an ever "why" asking little daughter, and performed by Fanny in the 1934 and 1936 Follies. Baby Snooks was also to be seen as a comic act together with Judy Garland in the 1928 film Everybody Sing. Until the very end of her life she performed Baby Snooks weekly on radio, together with Hanley Stafford as Daddy.

Fanny Brice died 29 May 1951 in Beverly Hills, California.

www.brice.nl (I highly recommend it!)

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