Friday, March 20. 8:30pm
Classic Romance...

Barbara Streisand makes her film debut in a reprisal of her Broadway role as Ziegfeld star Fanny Brice. Brice, a poor Jewish girl from New York’s Lower East Side, rose to fame and won audience’s hearts everywhere with her comic antics and powerful singing. Unfortunately, she had far less success in her personal life, and the film focuses on her doomed romance with her first husband, gambler Nicky Arnstein. The story opens with Fanny awaiting the return of husband from prison and then moves into an extended flashback of their story which is the bulk of the film. The movie is presented in two acts, the first following Fanny from a star struck teenager landing her first job in vaudeville through her rise to a start with the Ziegfield Follies.

The second act opens with the couple on the ship. Fanny reveals to Arnstein that she’d like to become a Sadie—her name for a married lady. Arnstein, however, needs to make his fortune from a poker game before he’ll agree to marry her. Fanny cannot take the tension of the game and goes back to their cabin to await Arnstein who returns in the morning, calling her Sadie before revealing all the money he has won. They marry, move into an expensive house and have a baby girl. Fanny goes back on stage with Ziegfield, and life appears very rosy. However Nick’s business ventures fail and they have to move into a smaller apartment. He refuses financial help from Fanny, instead getting involved in a bonds scam which goes bad and he is imprisoned for embezzlement. The film now returns to Fanny in the theatre awaiting Arnstein. When he arrives the couple agree to separate.

Source: RottenTomatoes, Wikipedia, IMDB