Fannie Brice (Library of Congress)

Name: FANNIE BRICE (1881-1951)

Born: FANIA BORACH, New York City (Hungarian Jewish Descent)

Occupation: COMEDIAN, SINGER, THEATRE, AND FILM ACTRESS

Born in the Lower Eat Side of New York City, Brice never learned Yiddish, but her comedy career was based on Yiddish dialect comedy to please both her Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. She was famous for imitating ‘characters’ from the ghetto, which stirred nostalgia for the Lower East Side for Jews.  She brought the ghetto all over the world with her. She was made famous with “Sadie Salome, Go Home” by Irving Berlin about a girl from the Bronx who become a hula dancer, which she sang in a Yiddish accent.  She claims she “never had any idea of doing a song with a Yiddish accent.  I didn’t even understand Jewish, couldn’t talk a word of it.  But, I thought, if that’s the way Irving sings it, that’s the way I’ll sing it” (Merwin 31).  Singing about the ghetto allowed Brice to recover the memories of the ghetto, as she did for the poor working women of the audience.  She distanced herself from her subjects, saying, “I do not bother with the Jewish types who have been in this country long enough to be Americanized”.  (Merwin 32).   Of course, she was one of these Jews who had been Americanized, but she associated herself with those who still respected their old culture.  A profile of Brice written in 1932 says, “this colorful character, Fannie Brice, is lugged up to her quarters a large parcel of the ghetto including the courage, the wit, the stamina, the honesty and the real values of the Jewish slums” (Merwin 34).

Brice first came to stardom in 1910 when she head-lined Ziegfeld Follies for a year where premiered her signature song, “My Man”.  In the 1930’s, she had a major radio presence as a bratty toddler named Snooks.  Her Broadway credits include Fioretta, Sweet and Low, and Billy Rose’s Crazy Quilt. Films include My Man, Be Yourself!, and Everybody Sing. She was one of the only performers to portray herself in The Great Ziegfeld and Ziegfeld Follies.