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##### May 30, 1951 OBITUARY ## Fanny Brice Dies at the Age of 59 ##### Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES Hollywood, Calif., May 29--Fanny Brice, stage and screen comedienne and the Baby Snooks of radio, died at 11:15 A. M. today at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. Her age was 59. Miss Brice suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage last Thursday morning and was rushed to the hospital from her home in Beverly Hills. She never again regained consciousness, although she was placed in an oxygen tent. With Miss Brice when she died were her son, William Brice, and her daughter, Mrs. Frances Stark, the children of her marriage to Jules W. Arnstein, and her son-in-law, Ray Stark and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Shirley Brice. Also surviving are a brother, Lew Brice of Hollywood; a sister, Mrs. Caroline Russak of New York, and three grandchildren, John Brice and Peter and Wendy Stark. Torch Song Brought Fame Although known chiefly as a comedienne, Fanny Brice first became internationally famous for singing a torch song, "My Man." Channing Pollock wrote English words to the French tune, "Mon Homme," which Miss Brice introduced in "The Ziegfeld Follies." It proved a "natural," since it appealed to every woman who had ever been in love. Her classic burlesque and pointed satire formed a hardy perennial of the "Follies" almost every year starting in 1916, when she first did a comic version of a dying swan ballet. Her lampoon of sultry Theda Bara, her take-off of "Camille," with W. C. Fields as the maid, and her travesty on fan dancers and the modern dance, were part of the repertoire of the actress whom Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times described as "a burlesque comic of the rarest vintage." She was billed with Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, W. C. Fields, Willie Howard and other top Broadway performers through the years, in which she appeared in such shows as the "Follies," "Music Box Review of 1924," "Sweet and Low" and Billy Rose's "Crazy Quilt." She also put across the song, "Rose of Washington Square." She created the character Baby Snooks, originally acting the part of the annoying little girl at parties for the entertainment of friends. Later Snooks was regularly featured in sketches in the "Follies" and was introduced to radio in 1938. After an eleven-year run, Baby Snooks went off the air when its sponsorship on the Columbia Broadcasting System network was withdrawn by General Foods. In November, 1949, however, Miss Brice resumed the role under a long-term contract with the National Broadcasting Company. The company announced yesterday that the program would be off the air for the remainder of the season, the spot being filled by an orchestra. Born on East Side She was really Fannie Borach, daughter of a saloon-keeper on Forsythe Street in the crowded Lower East Side, where she was born in 1892. Her first appearance on any stage took place when she was 13 at Keeney's Theatre in Brooklyn, where she won an amateur night contest singing, "When You Know You're Not Forgotten by the Girl You Can't Forget." The prize was $5 and numerous coins hurled by the audience, and from that night on Miss Brice gave up school for the stage. Then followed a job as jack-of-all-trades in a movie house, playing the piano, singing and helping out in the projection room. When she was 16 she applied for the chorus of the George M. Cohan-Sam Harris review, "Talk of New York." She remained in the chorus until Mr. Cohan found out she could not dance and fired her. She then sang in various burlesque houses in New York. One night Florenz Ziegfeld "caught" her act and offered her a job at $75 a week. When she left the stage after introducing "My Man," Ziegfeld gave her a check for $2,500 and said, "You've earned it." Her weekly salary soon reached $3,000. Only once did she try straight drama. In 1925 she was starred in the Belasco production, "Fanny." It was unsuccessful. The critics called for Fanny the comedienne, not the dramatic actress. She first went to Hollywood to appear in the silent film, "My Man." She returned to Broadway only to find herself in Hollywood again when talkies came in, playing herself in "The Great Ziegfeld" and appearing in "Everybody Sing" and "Be Yourself." She was married three times. Her first husband was Frank White, a barber, whom she met in 1911 in Springfield, Mass., when she was touring in "College Girl." The marriage lasted only a few days and she brought suit for divorce. In 1918 she was married to Jules W. (Nicky) Arnstein, only to divorce him in Chicago in 1927, after she had stood by him during his two years' imprisonment, starting in 1924, in Leavenworth, in connection with the mysterious disappearance of $5,000,000 worth of securities. Two years after her divorce she was married to Billy Rose, the showman, by Mayor James Walker in New York. In 1937 she sued Mr. Rose for divorce, and shortly after it was granted he married Mrs. Eleanor Holm Jarrett, swimming champion.
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