the1920sand30s | Fanny Brice - My Man (1921) @the1920sand30s | Uploaded August 2014 | Updated October 2024, 6 minutes ago.
Performed by: Fanny Brice & Rosario Bourdon
Full Song Title: My Man
Recorded in: 1921
On the stage and on the radio, Fanny Brice was one of America's favorite comics for more than four decades. Born Fanny Borach on October 29, 1891, she grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where her parents owned seven saloons. She had an early taste of show business while performing impromptu song and dance numbers on tables at the Borachs' establishments.
Fed up with her husband's gambling, Brice's mother, Rose, left him and moved her children to Brooklyn, New York. There, at 14, Brice made her performing debut at Keeney's Theater, where she won first prize in a talent contest. She made the rounds at other amateur night competitions before landing parts in several burlesque shows. Afraid that her skinny frame would keep her out of chorus lines, Brice found a better outlet for her talent while appearing in a show titled The College Girls (1909–10). Performing "Sadie Salome," a comic song by Irving Berlin, she sang in the character of a Jewish girl whose family was appalled by her pursuit of a stage career. The act established Brice as a comedian and introduced audiences to her comically exaggerated Jewish accent, which would become one of her trademarks.
While touring in The College Girls, Brice met and married Frank White, a barber. The couple stayed together for a mere three days. They were not officially divorced until 1913.
Having established herself in burlesque, Brice was hired in 1910 to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies. She would remain associated with the vaudeville extravaganza on and off for 14 years, eventually becoming the Follies' biggest star. Brice became well-known for her comic singing routines. Particularly popular was her performance of "Second Hand Rose," a song about the hapless daughter of a secondhand goods dealer, and her parodies of celebrities such as screen vamp Theda Bara.
Brice was also renowned for the emotional singing style she reserved for serious ballads. One of her signature songs was My Man, in which she sang of being loyal to her lover despite the pain he caused her. The lyrics were generally thought to refer to her romance with con man Nick Arnstein, whom she married in 1919 after a lengthy love affair. They had two children before Arnstein was sent to jail on a fraud charge in 1924. Although she never fell entirely out of love with him, Brice divorced Arnstein in 1927 for adultery.
After leaving the Follies in 1924, Brice made appearances in several films, including My Man (1927) and The Great Ziegfeld (1936). She also appeared regularly in Broadway shows. Among the most notable were Sweet and Low (1930) and Crazy Quilt (1931), both produced by songwriter Billy Rose, whom Brice married in 1929. In Sweet and Low, Brice developed the character of "Babykins," a wisecracking baby who proved wildly popular with her fans. Renamed "Baby Snooks," the character made her radio debut in 1936 and became a regular on the program Good Times the following year. In 1944, Baby Snooks received her own show, and on it continued to delight audiences until Brice's death on May 29, 1951, of a cerebral hemorrhage.
For the next generation, Brice was reborn in the popular stage musical Funny Girl (1964), which made Barbra Streisand a star. It and the subsequent film adaptation told of Brice's career with the Follies and her ill-fated romance with Arnstein, while a film sequel, Funny Lady (1975), focused on her marriage to Rose. Both films presented Brice as a confident, charming woman with a genius for parody. Her influence both as a verbal and physical comedian continues to be felt today.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.
Best wishes,
Stu
______________________
Please Note: I do not claim copyright or ownership of the song played in this video. All copyrighted content remains property of their respective owners.
Performed by: Fanny Brice & Rosario Bourdon
Full Song Title: My Man
Recorded in: 1921
On the stage and on the radio, Fanny Brice was one of America's favorite comics for more than four decades. Born Fanny Borach on October 29, 1891, she grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where her parents owned seven saloons. She had an early taste of show business while performing impromptu song and dance numbers on tables at the Borachs' establishments.
Fed up with her husband's gambling, Brice's mother, Rose, left him and moved her children to Brooklyn, New York. There, at 14, Brice made her performing debut at Keeney's Theater, where she won first prize in a talent contest. She made the rounds at other amateur night competitions before landing parts in several burlesque shows. Afraid that her skinny frame would keep her out of chorus lines, Brice found a better outlet for her talent while appearing in a show titled The College Girls (1909–10). Performing "Sadie Salome," a comic song by Irving Berlin, she sang in the character of a Jewish girl whose family was appalled by her pursuit of a stage career. The act established Brice as a comedian and introduced audiences to her comically exaggerated Jewish accent, which would become one of her trademarks.
While touring in The College Girls, Brice met and married Frank White, a barber. The couple stayed together for a mere three days. They were not officially divorced until 1913.
Having established herself in burlesque, Brice was hired in 1910 to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies. She would remain associated with the vaudeville extravaganza on and off for 14 years, eventually becoming the Follies' biggest star. Brice became well-known for her comic singing routines. Particularly popular was her performance of "Second Hand Rose," a song about the hapless daughter of a secondhand goods dealer, and her parodies of celebrities such as screen vamp Theda Bara.
Brice was also renowned for the emotional singing style she reserved for serious ballads. One of her signature songs was My Man, in which she sang of being loyal to her lover despite the pain he caused her. The lyrics were generally thought to refer to her romance with con man Nick Arnstein, whom she married in 1919 after a lengthy love affair. They had two children before Arnstein was sent to jail on a fraud charge in 1924. Although she never fell entirely out of love with him, Brice divorced Arnstein in 1927 for adultery.
After leaving the Follies in 1924, Brice made appearances in several films, including My Man (1927) and The Great Ziegfeld (1936). She also appeared regularly in Broadway shows. Among the most notable were Sweet and Low (1930) and Crazy Quilt (1931), both produced by songwriter Billy Rose, whom Brice married in 1929. In Sweet and Low, Brice developed the character of "Babykins," a wisecracking baby who proved wildly popular with her fans. Renamed "Baby Snooks," the character made her radio debut in 1936 and became a regular on the program Good Times the following year. In 1944, Baby Snooks received her own show, and on it continued to delight audiences until Brice's death on May 29, 1951, of a cerebral hemorrhage.
For the next generation, Brice was reborn in the popular stage musical Funny Girl (1964), which made Barbra Streisand a star. It and the subsequent film adaptation told of Brice's career with the Follies and her ill-fated romance with Arnstein, while a film sequel, Funny Lady (1975), focused on her marriage to Rose. Both films presented Brice as a confident, charming woman with a genius for parody. Her influence both as a verbal and physical comedian continues to be felt today.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.
Best wishes,
Stu
______________________
Please Note: I do not claim copyright or ownership of the song played in this video. All copyrighted content remains property of their respective owners.
![Josephine Baker - Nuit DAlger [Night Of Algiers] (1936)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mV_vxq_1Scc/hqdefault.jpg "Josephine Baker - Nuit DAlger [Night Of Algiers] (1936)
Performed by: Joséphine Baker
Full Song Title: Nuit DAlger
Recorded in Paris, October 1936
Flip side of: https://youtu.be/6sT6575GpPs
Josephine Baker (born 3 June 1906 - died 12 April 1975) (born Freda Josephine McDonald, naturalized French Joséphine Baker) was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent and civil rights activist. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.
To say that Josephine Baker was ahead of her time is a grand understatement. Her success as a dancer and singer as an entertainer, electrified Europe in the 1920s. There, she became the queen of the stage, the most photographed woman in the world. However, critical and public response in her homeland, the United States, was far less enthusiastic. Mired in racial prejudice, both overt and covert, American society could not tolerate the concept of a strong, sophisticated black woman commanding so much attention. In a review, following a particularly sensual performance with the Ziegfeld Follies in 1936, the venerable New York Times called Josephine Baker a negro wench. Sadly, it would be many more decades before she would find any acceptance in her native country.
But, in Europe, her career flourished. She was a great star. In addition, she lived a life of intrigue and espionage during World War II. She aided the French Resistance by carrying secret messages written on her sheet music, as she traveled on singing tours across Europe. For this she received several medals and awards from the French government. Beyond that, Josephine Baker was an independent woman, who never felt compelled to rely upon a man for financial support. Though married and divorced four times, and despite countless other, more transitory relationships, she raised twelve adopted children, whom she referred to as her Rainbow Tribe. They were children of different races and ethnicities, whom she was determined to prove could live together in harmonious kinship.Her unbridled sexuality and the unrestrained abandon of her erotically charged dancing style caused an immediate sensation with the Parisian public, who were neither as prudishly conservative nor as racially discriminatory as their American counterparts. Josephine Baker became the talk of Paris, soon commanding the regal salary of $250 a week.
After the run of La Revue Negre ended, Josephine subsequently starred in a show at the Folies Bergere music hall entitled La Folie Du Jour. In that revue she amazed audiences by performing an aggressive Charleston, the Banana Dance, and swinging from a trapeze, dressed in a skirt comprised of sixteen bananas hanging from a G-String. All of Paris fell under Josephine Bakers exotic spell. Her striking facial features and cross-eyed poses charmed the hearts of the city and the French nation. They called her La Perle Noire, the Black Pearl.
Paris in the mid-20s was alive with the spirit of the Jazz age. Josephines stunning performances elicited artwork from Alexander Calder and Georges Roualt among many others. It is said that an original print run poster of Le Revue Negre today commands a price as high as $45,000. In 1926, she opened her own nightclub, Chez Josephine, on the rue Fontaine. She also began her recording career, cutting a number of sides for a French label. By 1927, she was earning more money than any other entertainer in Europe, rivaling Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson as the most photographed woman in the world. She made her first movie, La Sirene des Tropiques. Josephine Baker was only twenty-one years of age. Described by Pablo Picasso as a black Venus, a true cabaret star and exotic dancer Josephine Baker was certainly one of the 20th centurys most extraordinary characters. Her act wouldnt raise an eyebrow these days but, in the Twenties and Thirties, her unconventionality and sensuality was legendary. She is one of my favorite singers/entertainers of that period. Too bad, they dont make stars like her anymore!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.
Best wishes,
Stu
Please Note: I do not claim copyright or ownership of the song played in this video. All copyrighted content remains property of their respective owners.")
