An okay transition to the silver screen. *PLEASE READ*

I have to honestly say that, after doing the stage version of Funny Girl in November, that the film was not really that great. Here is my little list:

1.) The opening number 'If a Girl isn't Pretty' was severely edited in the movie. The stage version actually has the old women, Eddie Ryan, a cabbie named Heckie (played by me), two workmen, and eventually the whole cast singing to her that she just doesn't have the right look. The film writes new verses and edits some verses to distribute to the old women. The entire opening number takes the first three scenes from the play, and a whole two minutes on film.

2.) The song 'I'd Rather be Blue' replaced a great number called 'Cornet Man.' The original song is about a woman whose husband, a cornet player, will leave his family at any given time to play his cornet. A very moving song and, on the original cast album, Barbara's voice is beautiful. The song used in the film wasn't even written when the film takes place.

3.) The film has a scens towards the end with a ballet number called 'The Swan.' this replaced a funny song called 'Rat-tat-tat-tat,' which was about kicking the Kaiser 'where he sat.' Showgirls dress as men in the army while others wear flashy flapper dresses, and Fanny presents herself as 'Private Schwartz from Rockaway.' The song is said to have been cut due to it being 'dated,' but a racial slur could have also contributed. There is a line in the song that goes, 'With every poppitty-pop...some *beep* took a drop! American boys are all such straight shooters!' There is also a sexual innuendo, 'We'll take care of him mother. We'll do everything that you would do...and more!'

4.) There were songs sung by other characters, Fanny's mother, Mrs. Strakosh, Eddie, etc., that were dropped for the film: 'We Taught Her Everything' is a touching and witty song that Eddie and Mrs. Brice sing as they fear that Fanny will forget them as she climbs the ladder to stardom. The feel that she will deny them credit for teacher her everything she knows: tapping her toes, singing like a bird, picking her clothes, her carefree attitude. As Mrs. Brice says, 'You don't pull such mannerisms out of the air.' Another fun song that was cut is called 'Find Yourself a Man.' Mrs. Strakosh and Eddie feel that Rose, Mrs Brice, is too busy worrying about Fanny to have a life of her own, so they urge her to find a man. Rose thinks them foolish, but thinks about it, eventually calling them foolish once again. The song is full of witty lines like, 'Just what a I need is a middle-aged sheik. Whose uppers and lowers will click when he'll speak!'

5.) There is a song that was vocally cut. It is called 'Henry Street' and is about the street that Fanny lives on. 'No, it ain't Broadway' but they are proud to know the 'greatest, most talented, glorified Ziegfeld satr!'

6.) The ending numbers were also changed. While the movie has Fanny sing 'Funny Girl' when Nick leaves her, the stage version has 'His is the Music that Makes Me Dance' which is actually better. The film then has Fanny sing 'My Man' at the end, which the real Fanny Brice was famous for, but the stage version has a little reprise of 'Don't Rain on my Parade.' The stage one starts with Fanny singing that in her dressing room, and in one quick drop of a robe, she is in her dress singing before a crowded house, which is really the audience. The reprise has a wonderful verse that goes: 'Yes here we go, Brice. Stiff upper lip. Let's give'm hell, Brice. We'll cray a little latter. Well, Brice, that's life in the theatre!' While the movie makes the viewer feel saddnes towards her, the stage show does the same, but let's us know that, 'Nobody, no, nobaody...is goanna rain on [her] parade!'

I believe that the many songs cut were to give Barbara more time on screen. She is what sells the movie.

The film also cuts some characters. The characters I played were not even in the film. Heckie, the cab driver, has no mention at all in the film. One of his singing lines is given to Mrs. Strakosh. I also played an actor who, at the train station in Baltimore, had forgotten his wife and crashes into Ziegfeld as he exits to retriever her, calling his boss stupid and quickly realizing his mistake. In that same scene, I played a ticket seller who sells Fanny her ticket to New York to be with Nick. Towards the end of the scene, I returned as the actor who has finally found his wife. In the second act, I played a theatrical agent named Mr. Renaldi who teams up with Fanny, in a non-existant off-stage scene, to try to get Nick to be his partner in a new agency he is opening up. Nick becomes suspicious when he learns that neither his wife or his money are required for such a high position in the business. Fanny revelas that she put $20,000 in for him and he bids Renaldi goodbye. Fanny says she was only trying to help him, but Nick says he doesn't need her help. So what does Nick do? He takes part in a phony investment scheme one of his friends put together and lands himself in prison. This leads to the Brice-Arnstein divorce. A similar scene is in the movie, but the character is not Mr. Renaldi nor is he a theatrical agent. I believe he is a friend of Nicks, but it has been a while since I have seen the movie. Other characters were cut but I can't name them all.

Again, cut to give Barbara more time on the screen alone that with other characters.


Anyway, the movie is great...if considered as a companion to the stage version and not as a superior film incarnation, which, with movie musicals, is impossible.I just wanted to share with everyone my reasons for finding the film inferior to the stage show. I also like Barbara's vocals better on the original Broadway cast album than I do on the film album.

JACK: Never let go, Rose
(she sneezes and drops him.)
ROSE: (after a pause) Oops.