Here's some more info...
My Man (or, Mon Homme) was indeed written by Maurice Yvain, with the English lyrics by Channing Pollock (1921).
Mon Homme was introduced in the U.S. by Irene Bordoni (1895-1953) Corsican born French Broadway star who made her NY debut in 1912. Her last stage appearance was as a replacement Bloody Mary in the U.S. tour of
SOUTH PACIFIC in 1951.
My Man was meant for the American debut of French music hall star Mistinguette in the
Ziegfeld Follies of 1921, however by the time Mistinguette arrived in New York Ziegfeld had lost interest in her and she was dropped from the show. (That’s show biz, folks!)
Brice was given
My Man by Ziegfeld to perform in the
Follies. It was Ziegfeld, the consummate Producer, who insisted that Brice sing the number not in an evening gown as originally rehearsed but instead costumed as a gamin and leaning against a lamppost. She did as she was told and created a furor because up to that night she always performed as a comedienne. Explaining her own poignant rendition she is quoted as saying, “In my mind, I think of Nick leaving me, and the tears just came.”
Brice sang
My Man in her talking picture debut,
MY MAN (Warner Brothers, 1929); this was the first time she sang the song after her divorce from Arnstein.
My Man was later used in the film
ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE (Paramount, 1939), a loose thinly disguised biography of Fanny Brice.
ROSE starred Tyrone Power (as Arnstein), Alice Faye (as Brice) and Al Jolson as Al Jolson. Faye sings
My Man, and Jolson shines as he puts across
Mammy, California Here I Come and other classics of The Great White Way during the early 1900s.
Subsequently,
My Man was sung by Streisand as Brice in the final performance of
FUNNY GIRL on Broadway, and interpolated in the film version.
Updated On: 7/25/04 at 04:51 PM
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