what is accurate

Just about everything in the film is not quite accurate. Fanny's mother was a prosperous woman, owning a chain of saloons, affording them much more than the lower east side immigrant life shown in the film. In fact they lived in an upper middle class New Jersey suburb with servants. Fanny enjoyed European vacations. Her friendship with Irving Berlin, who wrote special material for her, helped her to become a headliner.

Arnstein's character was really cleaned up. He was more of an international criminal, than a gambler. Arnstein was linked to major crime boss Arnold Rothstein, who fixed the 1919 World Series. After meeting Fanny, in 1915, Nick was convicted of Swindling, and the following year started serving his 14 month prison sentence in Sing Sing. Fanny visited him every week. Arnstein's then wife Carrie sued Fanny for Alienation of Affection, and divorced him. "Funny Girl" doesn't mention any of this, or of Fanny's first three year marriage to Frank White, opting to give her a fake virginal persona when she met Nick. Nick and Fanny didn't marry until a couple of years after his release from prison. The "bond deal" in the play and film, was a more serious crime than depicted. Arnstein was named as a member of a gang that stole $5 million worth of Wall Street securities. He didn't turn himself in immediately. For four months, while she was pregnant with their son William, Fanny had to fight off the police and the press, until Nick finally turned himself in. Then he lived off of her money for the next four years while he fought the charges, with very expensive lawyers. This took a tremendous toll on Fanny's finances.

After Nick was found guilty and sentenced to three years at Leavenworth, Fanny also paid for his special treatment while he was in prison. Fanny divorced him in 1927, after his three year sentence ended, and she found out that he was having an affair with a very wealthy older woman. The only accuracy is that she met Nick, she loved and supported him, had children with him (though the film only mentions daughter Frances), he went to prison, and she sang MY MAN while he was in prison. Even at the end of his life, Nick was still sponging off of Fanny. When Ray Stark was producing the Broadway musical "Funny Girl," even though the character of Nick Arnstein was whitewashed into being a likable love interest, Stark had to pay Arnstein money allowing for the show to open. After the show opened in March of 1964, and was a huge success, Arnstein showed up asking for more money. Nick Arnstein died in October of 1965, two months before Barbra Streisand finished her almost two years of eight live performances a week in "Funny Girl," and three years before the release of the 1968 film version.

More on REAL Fanny and Nick at:

http://www.musicals101.com/brice.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Arnstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Brice