Hollywood Memorial

American comedienne, primarily on stage (with a long run in the ‘Ziegfeld Follies’) and radio (‘Baby Snooks’). She dropped out of school after the eighth grade to take a job as a chorus girl in a burlesque. Showman Florenz Ziegfeld hired her for the ‘Follies’ and she continued to appear in the ‘Follies’ until Ziegfeld’s death in 1932 (and even after: 1934 and 1936 versions were produced by the Shuberts). Despite her flair for manic comedy, she made one of her biggest marks in the ‘Follies’ with the torch song ‘My Man,’ standing nearly motionless and singing in a clear, unaccented voice (perhaps some of the depth of the performance came from her rocky relationship with small-time con-man and second husband Nicky Arnstein). Brice played herself in the 1936 biopic ‘The Great Ziegfeld,’ and was played by Barbra Streisand in both the stage and film version of ‘Funny Girl’ and ‘Funny Lady’ which portrayed Brice’s relationship with third husband Billy Rose. (A 1939 film musical, ‘Rose of Washington Square,’ so closely paralleled the events of Brice’s life that she sued 20th Century-Fox for invasion of privacy and won.) Cremated and put on a shelf in Home of Peace Memorial Park, she was later moved to Westwood Memorial, both in Los Angeles.