No close family anniversaries. On this date in 1907, on the roof of the New York Theater on Broadway Avenue in Manhattan, Floren Ziegfeld launched the Ziegfeld Follies. The Follies became an entertainment juggernaut that rolled on for fifteen years, profoundly influencing the history of musical theater in America. They also launched or boosted the careers of dozens of Broadway stars of the early twentieth century. Some of the household-names-to-be who appeared in the Follies were W.C. Fields, Bob Hope, Will Rogers, and Fanny Brice, who was portrayed by Barbra Streisand in the 1960s hit Broadway musical and film, “Funny Girl.”
Fanny Brice – c. 1915-1925 – Ziegfeld by Alfred Cheney Johnston
Top photo: Chorus line of the Follies of 1927. Below: original chorus line of 1907.
