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Fanny Brice, 1891-1951
Recalling how she had once reduced co-workers to tears with false tales of her poverty, Fanny Brice knew early on that the stage was her proper milieu. But when she finally entered the world of professional entertainment, it was comedy, not pathos, that proved to be her forte. Upon seeing her parody of the dance of Salome, producer Florenz Ziegfeld immediately hired her for his Follies of 1910, where her genius for satiric mimicry won her overnight stardom. Of the many characterizations Brice created, the most famous was "Baby Snooks," an incorrigibly demonic child that she first played in 1912 and would later reprise on the radio. This photograph by Ziegfeld Follies photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston shows Brice in a glamorous light that is at odds with the cross-eyed, grimacing awkwardness that was the trademark of her stage persona.
Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1918 |