Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice (A Midland Book) [Hardcover]

Barbara Wallace Grossman (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Midland Book | Publication Date: March 1991

Fanny Brice (1891-1951) was a truly popular entertainer, with a career that spanned four decades. She was a hit in almost every branch of American show business—burlesque and vaudeville, drama and musical revues (including nine Ziegfeld Follies), film and radio. She is most often remembered for her characterization of the radio brat Baby Snooks, yet Snooks was not Brice's best role. A brilliant comic, Fanny Brice had a significant impact on a field that had been predominantly male, proving that the term "funny woman" was not an oxymoron.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brice (1891-1951), best known as havoc-raising Baby Snooks to millions of radio fans in the last 14 years of her 40-year career, is portrayed in Grossman's entertaining, scrupulously documented study as an indefatigably versatile comedienne who owed her success to facility in adpating to new media; to her self-deprecating, often brash humor; to a superb mimetic gift; and to an ear for Yiddish and other dialects drawn from her New York ghetto and Coney Island childhood years. The author, board member of the American Repertory Theatre in Boston, contends that while legends--part fact, part fiction--of Brice's rise to fame from burlesque to Ziegfield Follies and Shubert and Belasco stardom were fostered both by her family and by Brice herself, it was talent and determination that won her a place as a major comic in a male-dominated field. However, neither talent, determination nor legend-building sufficed to fulfill Brice's dream of being recognized as a dramatic actress. Photos not seen by PW. Jewish Book Club selection.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

To the younger generation, comedian Brice is remembered (if at all) by Barbra Streisand's portrayal of her in the musical Funny Girl . Brice's career spanned 40 years, from vaudeville to radio, where she spent the last 14 years of her life as "Baby Snooks." She tried unsuccessfully to work in serious drama and films, but did her best work as a singer and comic in the Ziegfield Follies. Grossman, a member of the Board of the Harvard Theatre Collection, tries to reconstruct Brice's comedy style by analyzing the materials she used, describing her antics, and reviewing her act. She provides thorough research despite the difficulties in sorting through many inconsistencies in Brice's own statements. The first biography of Brice since Norman Katkov's Fabulous Fanny ( LJ 2/1/53), this definitive work will be useful in large theater collections.
- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr; First Edition edition (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253326532
• ISBN-13: 978-0253326539
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,337,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Will The Real Fanny Brice Please Stand Up?, June 18, 2000

By 

Dan Kelley (Miami Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Funny Woman (A Midland Book) (Paperback)

This is a satisfying,well reasearched, and enlightening look into the real truths behind famed comic and Ziegfield star Fanny Brice. With harsh facts yet obvious respect for her subject author Barbara W. Grossman peels away the myths propagated by the Streisand films and gets to the facts and the core of the real Fanny Brice. This is a very entertaining biography and may also be used as a great tool to research the early days of Vaudeville, Burlesque, and the Ziegfield Follies.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book, July 13, 2010

By 

Charles K. Prather - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice (A Midland Book) (Hardcover)

Book was really perfect - and delivery was much faster than expected. Great seller.