The Dad That Got Away
Last week TCM , Turner Classic Movies, showed Funny Girl , a sixties throwback musical. (There will be spoilers.) The Broadway smash/film is a fictional take on the life of Fanny Brice, the Ziegfield Follies star. The film and Broadway musical are highly romanticized. In reality, the Brice (Borach) family owned a string of saloons in Newark, NJ, and lived in Manhattan. They did okay. They didn't buy fruit at the stands in crowded Brooklyn, weren't a part of the lower class, colorful Jewish neighborhood on Henry Street. Also, in real life, Nicky Arnstein, Fanny's true love, courted her for her money and cheated on her. He was a far cry from the handsome, proud, and elegant man in a tux, played by Omar Sharif, who would rather divorce Fanny than depend financially upon her. Barbra Streisand, the ultimate funny girl Who cares? Funny Girl , is so politically incorrect by now. Zeigfield, the man Ms. Brice most admires and wants as her boss, is the ultimate...