Funny Lady
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''Funny Lady'' is a 1975 American
biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film and the
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to the 1968 film '' Funny Girl''. The film stars
Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...
,
James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...
,
Omar Sharif Omar Sharif (, ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s. He is bes ...
,
Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was a British-American actor whose career spanned over 270 screen and stage roles across over 60 years. Born in London, he began his acting career as a child in his n ...
and
Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (né Middleton; October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. He gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received ...
.
Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...
, who helmed the musical sequences for ''Funny Girl'' (which had been directed by
William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born American film director and producer. Known for his work in numerous genres over five decades, he received numerous awards and accolades, including three Aca ...
), serves as the director. The screenplay, written by Jay Presson Allen and Arnold Schulman as based on a story by Schulman, is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne
Fanny Brice Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedian, Illustrated Songs, illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. Sh ...
and her marriage to songwriter and impresario
Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman, lyricist and columnist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainm ...
. The primary score was by
John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Cab ...
and
Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita ...
. The film was nominated for numerous awards including Golden Globe nominations for Streisand as Best Actress and Best Actor for Caan. Streisand revisited the soundtrack to the film in her 2016 concert.


Plot

Fanny Brice, now finishing her Broadway show after its success has come and gone in the midst of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, finds only flowers and a divorce decree from her estranged husband Nicky Arnstein. Fanny and her confidant Bobby Moore are now out of work since
Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the '' Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He al ...
is not available to produce a new musical show. During a meeting with
Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...
, her financial advisor, she meets his former secretary Billy Rose. When Fanny and Bobby go into nightclubs looking for material to "borrow", they hear a torch song in "More Than You Know" that was written by Rose. Although irritated by his pushy nature in trying to sell the song to her, Fanny soon records the song at a studio before being shocked to read in the newspaper that she will star in a show by Rose called Crazy Quilt. The show ends up getting $50,000 from Buck Bolton when Rose promises to cast Bolton's mistress Norma Butler as one of the stars. Despite having a big number for Fanny in “I Found A Million Dollar Baby In A Five And Ten Cents Store”, opening night proves to be a disaster in terms of collapsing sets and more. Fanny considers leaving the production but stays when hearing that Billy borrowed money from mobsters that would kill him if he can't make the money back. The two work together to scale down the show. The improved show opens in New York to applause and great reviews before Fanny sees Nicky backstage with a ring on his finger from a rich woman, to whom he's now married. Billy, ready to travel to
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
for a new show, offers to marry Fanny beforehand. She accepts only to find that Billy was bluffing about borrowing money from the mob to keep her close. The wedding party finds Billy treated roughly by Fanny's society friends before the honeymoon in Texas turns to bickering between the newlyweds. During the next few years their careers are so busy that they only talk to each other when they telephone their publicist at the same time. Billy does a show called Aquacade, featuring
Eleanor Holm Eleanor Grace Theresa Holm (December 6, 1912Social Security Death Index: HOLM, ELEANOR H. was born 6 December 1912, received Social Security number 559-12-4524 (indicating California) and, Death Master File says, died 31 January 2004 Source: Dea ...
, a 1932 Olympic gold medalist as the star. Later on, Fanny encounters Bobby Moore and Norma Butler in Los Angeles and sees Nicky on the field of a polo game in Beverly Hills and feels that her friends tricked her. She calls Billy, but he cannot leave his Aquacade show. While Fanny and Nicky reminisce about old times, Fanny notes that Nicky hasn't asked about their daughter Frances, whom he hasn't seen in six years. Fanny travels to Cleveland only to find Billy in bed with Eleanor. She goes to the train station where Billy arrives to apologize. She states that her love for Nicky was gone for good while blaming herself for Billy's infidelity. She then asks him to leave her alone to wait for her train. Years pass and in the 1940s Fanny is starring in The Baby Snooks Show on radio while Billy works as a writer of popular songs and plays. They meet each other again and he plays " Me And My Shadow", a song he tells Fanny he wrote about their marriage. He tells her about his recent purchase of the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and an idea for her to star in his new show. Fanny says she will think it over as the two kiss and part once again.


Cast

*
Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...
as
Fanny Brice Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedian, Illustrated Songs, illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. Sh ...
*
James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...
as
Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman, lyricist and columnist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainm ...
*
Omar Sharif Omar Sharif (, ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s. He is bes ...
as Nick Arnstein *
Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was a British-American actor whose career spanned over 270 screen and stage roles across over 60 years. Born in London, he began his acting career as a child in his n ...
as Bobby Moore *
Ben Vereen Benjamin Augustus Vereen (né Middleton; October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer and singer. He gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', for which he received ...
as Bert Robbins * Carole Wells as Norma Butler * Larry Gates as
Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...


Uncredited

*
Jack Angel Jack Angel (October 24, 1930 – October 18, 2021) was an American voice actor and radio personality. Angel voiced characters in shows by Hasbro and Hanna-Barbera such as '' Super Friends'', '' The Transformers'' and '' G.I. Joe'' and was involve ...
as the voice of Radio Announcer


Production


Development

Although contractually bound to make one more film for producer
Ray Stark Raymond Otto Stark (October 3, 1915 – January 17, 2004) was an American film producer and talent agent. Stark's background as a literary and theatrical agent prepared him to produce some of the most profitable films of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, ...
(Fanny Brice's one-time son-in-law), Streisand balked at doing the project. She told Stark "that it would take litigation to make her do a sequel." However, Streisand liked the script, which showed Fanny to be "...tougher, more acerbic, more mature...", and she agreed.Funny Lady history
tcm.com, accessed March 4, 2009


Casting

The first to read for Billy Rose was Robert Blake. Other actors were mentioned, including
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...
and
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...
, but ultimately
James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...
was chosen. Streisand explained: "It comes down to whom the audience wants me to kiss. Robert Blake, no. James Caan, yes."


Filming

Stark, unhappy with the scenes shot by original cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, lured an ailing
James Wong Howe Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most so ...
out of retirement to complete the film. It proved to be his final project, and it earned him an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
nomination.


Post-production

Studio executives forced Ross to trim the film to a manageable 136 minutes before release. Much of Vereen's performance ended up on the cutting room floor, together with a recreation of Brice's ''
Baby Snooks ''The Baby Snooks Show'' was an American radio program starring comedian and '' Ziegfeld Follies'' alumna Fanny Brice as a mischievous young girl who was 40 years younger than the actress who played her when she first went on the air. The series ...
'' radio show and dramatic scenes involving her and her daughter. In addition to Howe, Oscar nominations went to Ray Aghayan and Bob Mackie for Best Costume Design, Kander and Ebb for Best Original Song ("
How Lucky Can You Get "How Lucky Can You Get" is a song recorded by American vocalist Barbra Streisand for the official soundtrack to the 1975 film '' Funny Lady''. It was released as a 7" single in April 1975 through Arista Records. The song was written by Fred Ebb ...
"), Peter Matz for Best Scoring of an Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, and the sound team. Streisand, Caan and Vereen all received
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
nominations, as did Kander and Ebb and the film itself, but it was shut out of any wins in both competitions.


Reception


Box office

''Funny Lady'' opened Wednesday, March 12, 1975 and grossed $2,254,3851 in its first five days from 111 theatres to be number one at the US box office. It went on to gross $40,055,897 at the U.S. and Canadian box office, making it the seventh highest grossing picture of 1975. It was one of Caan's most successful films at the box office.


Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote, "As long as Miss Streisand as Fanny is singing the blues, or singing anything else, ''Funny Lady'' is superb entertainment, but the minute she stops the movie turns into a concrete soufflé. It's heavy and tasteless ... Moments meant to be dramatic are embarrassingly bad."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave the film one star out of four and called it "a big, messy flop of a movie that's almost cruel in the way it invites our memories of ''Funny Girl'' and doesn't match them."
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' awarded two and a half stars out of four and wrote, "It takes few chances and delivers mostly what you'd expect ... What was missing, for me at least, was a sense of surprise, of unpredictability—the sort of wit or pacing that separates a memorable musical like ''
Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
'' from the merely tuneful."
Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
of ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' wrote, "Streisand is in beautiful voice, and her singing is terrific—too terrific. It's no longer singing, it's something else—that strident overdramatization that turns a song into a big number. The audience's attention is directed away from the music and onto the star's feat in charging it with false energy. Streisand is out to knock you cold, and you get cold, all right." Kael also criticized the plot as "right out of those terrible forties movies in which couples who break up spend a lifetime thinking about each other, with encounters every five or ten years. And we get a double load of it here, with two graying ex-husbands." Arthur D. Murphy of '' Variety'' wrote, "Barbra Streisand was outstanding as the younger Fanny Brice in ''Funny Girl'', and in ''Funny Lady'' she's even better ... However much of a letdown the plot becomes, there's no denying the superior integration of drama, comedy, show music and personal dramatic music en route."Murphy, Arthur D. (March 5, 1975). "Film Reviews: Funny Lady". '' Variety''. 20.
Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' wrote, "Barbra Streisand, like the picture, extends the characterization she launched so dazzlingly in ''Funny Girl'' ... What I find most impressive and likable about the performance is the softened, bittersweet maturity that Streisand lets us see in Fanny Brice. You sense that Streisand understands the star as well as she understood the impetuous young hopeful. An extraordinary presentation is the power and delight of both movies." Gary Arnold of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' called it a "lavish but uninspired" film that "seems to be celebrating stardom for stardom's sake. It's a joyless, mechanical Big Movie Musical." Caan thought there were "too many cooks messing around", although he liked his performance.


Accolades


Soundtrack

The soundtrack peaked on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart at number 6 and was certified gold. A majority of the songs were written by Kander and Ebb."Tracks"
barbra-archives.com


See also

* List of American films of 1975


References


Bibliography

* Nickens, Christopher and Swenson, Karen (2001). ''The Films of Barbra Streisand'', Citadel Press, * Waldman, Allison J. (2001). ''The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook'', Citadel Press,


External links

* * * *
Barbra Archives Page on Funny Lady film, including cut scenes


{{Authority control 1975 films 1975 musicals American musical films American biographical films American sequel films Columbia Pictures films 1970s English-language films Films about musical theatre Films directed by Herbert Ross Films produced by Ray Stark Films set in New York City Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Musical films based on actual events 1970s American films English-language musical films 1975 musical films Films with screenplays by Jay Presson Allen