"Funny Girl"

The auditorium of the Warner Downtown, at 7th and Hill, was used extensively for the interiors of Ziegfeld's New Amsterdam Theatre in William Wyler's "Funny Girl" (Rastar/Columbia, 1968). The exteriors, most of the backstage shots, and the bigger production numbers were studio creations. The film stars Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice, Omar Sharif as Nicky Arnstein and Walter Pidgeon as Florenz Ziegfeld.

 

 

The opening scene: 

 

Fanny's a big star as the film opens, coming in early on a show day. After stopping in a mirror backstage to take a look at herself and say "Hello, gorgeous," she comes out onstage. We get a peek backstage at the Warner's rigging. 

 

 Another shot of the proscenium. Note the touched up paint just to the left of the red drape. 

 

 

 

We cut to a wider shot including a piano onstage. But this shot wasn't done at the Warner. They've duplicated the proscenium but note the slight differences in the plasterwork. The rosettes here in the studio version don't each have 4 little protruding "ears" like the ones at the theatre. The drapes are different in this shot - no yellow leg behind her. And a big change is the rigging. Here it's up on a bridge, not at stage level. 

 

 

 

Back to the real Warner for a bit more proscenium hugging.

 

We start a pan out into the auditorium.

She walks out onstage to look at the house.

A look down from the top of the balcony. The shot is seen again when we pick up the rest of this scene near the end of the film. 

 

 Fanny takes out an imaginary gun to mow down the audience. 

 

A few shots to the balcony as well. 

 

 

 

We get this shot to the stage and Fanny heads out to sit in row 3. Then it's flashback time to when she's just starting out. 

 

This shot was not done at the Warner. Presumably we're on a soundstage. We already saw a bit of this location in the shot at the proscenium looking offstage where the rigging was up on a bridge. Note that the seats here don't match those at the Warner. Darker, older style arm rests, different end standards, and upholstery that sticks up a bit above the wooden backs.

 

 

The Ziegfeld audition:    

 

 

Singing "Second Hand Rose" for her audition with Ziegfeld. We're looking at the same set that appears several times in the opening scene. Shots for this scene looking into the auditorium were done at the Warner, shots looking at the stage were not. 

 

 

 

A reaction shot of Ziegfeld enjoying Fanny's performance. Note the 40s seats and light colored armrests at the Warner.  

 

 

 

Another reaction shot done at the Warner for the audition scene. 

 

Ziegfeld heads up the aisle at the Warner after hiring Fanny. He wants to see how a number looks from up top. Note the ragged condition of the seats.

 

 

 

Fanny heads off right following this guy we see who is going to teach her a number. On the way we get an interesting look at two stagehands at the lockrail. Note the bridge above, where we'll see a guy standing in a later shot in this scene. This has a nice real-theatre look but is the wrong rigging for the Warner. Their system was by Armstrong-Power with arbors tracked both front and back. 

 

 

A look behind the T-Wall seen in the previous shot as Fanny heads offstage.

 

 

Back onstage looking at the lyrics. Fanny takes exception to singing certain lines in the song "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" and wants to talk it over with Flo. It's the Warner's auditorium behind the guys rehearsing their number. Or at least a blue screen simulation of it. Thanks to the Barbra Archives for the screenshot, appearing on their main "Funny Girl" page. A shot of Ms. Streisand in this same costume in front of a blue screen is at the bottom of the page.  

 

 

 

Looking upstairs trying to see where Ziegfeld is. Note the cutout in the front of the balcony at center where there's a covered up TV projector. 

 

 

Another view of the "not-the-Warner" set with a nice glimpse off right. Note the man up on the bridge back in the upstage corner. On the index strip light it says "McDonald & Son Fort Lee New Jersey" as the installer of the rigging. Fanny is yelling, trying to get Ziegfeld's attention. 

 

 

 

He's back down with a little continuity issue. We see him take a couple steps onto the soundstage version of the Warner stage then cut to this shot where he's back outside the real Warner proscenium. Note the peeling paint.

 

Opening night:

 

A number onstage at the Warner just before the finale with all the brides. The auditorium is the Warner all right but this has the look of a matte shot.

 

Fanny comes on as a pregnant bride for the "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" number. Ziegfeld isn't amused and heads down the Warner's house left aisle to get backstage. The big production number itself was shot on a soundstage.

 

 

Getting back to work in act two:  

 

An interesting scene on a soundstage pretending to be a theatre. It has the look of the "not-the-Warner" set that's seen in the opening and audition scenes. Fanny's had a baby and is trying to get back in shape for her numbers in a new Ziegfeld show. The scene starts with her on the floor and old choreographer buddy Eddie Ryan (played by Lee Allen) is having her do sit-ups.

 

 

 

In the scene's first shot we see a lockrail behind her. Then we get this wider view with a bit of the upstage wall at the right. Note what looks like a spiral staircase behind the T-wall.

 

 

 

A detail from another frame a moment after the previous shot. Thanks to Rick Boychuk for his Facebook post of this where he calls our attention to the "McDonald & Son Fort Lee New Jersey," the same data on the index light that we saw off right in earlier backstage scenes not shot at the Warner. Rick's post generated all sorts of comments and questions about that name and whether or not it was real or the work of a production designer to convince us we were at an east coast theatre.  

 

 

 

And here in a production shot of a bit that was cut but intended to be in the middle of the scene, we get more of the adjacent wall, looking like a typical theatre back wall. Note a bit of the little bridge up at strip light height, as seen in a shot in the audition scene. Thanks to the Barbra Archives for the photo. This and other views appear on the site's "Funny Girl: The Cut Scenes page 7."  

 

 

 

Yet, the film then gives us this shot. If that's the back wall we now have rigging stage left instead of stage right. Other than being flipped, this venue has the same general look and a similar, though slightly different, rigging system. Obviously there was some rewriting of the scene and maybe the end was a re-shoot on a different stage and they figured we wouldn't notice the change of direction.

 

 

Nicky Arnstein gets arrested:  

After this number Fanny gets accosted by reporters about Nick's arrest for involvement in a fraudulent bond scheme. Nope, we're not at the Warner. They used a replica of the theatre's proscenium so this number could be shot on a soundstage. 

 

 

In the Warner auditorium near the end of the film:  

 

This scene picks up where the first scene of the film left off before the flashback began. Yes, it's a repeat of the shot we saw in the first scene.

This time as we pan down to the main floor we get a better look at the Warner's balcony. Note the wall separating the deluxe balcony loges from the cheaper seating section behind. Instead of theatre seats, that front section originally had loose chairs and was partitioned with brass rails into a series of boxes. 

A better look at the front section. The shrouded item at center is a closed circuit TV projector.

 

 

 

A balcony view down to the main floor and the pit. Fanny is in row 3.

 

 

The view from row 3 toward the stage. Nope, not the Warner. Fanny's maid comes looking for her. 

 

 

"What are you doing out there?" Fanny replies: "Sitting someplace I never sat before." Note the non-Warner seats. 

 

 

 

Fanny in row 3, a shot done at the Warner. Over on the right note duct tape holding a seat together. Earlier we saw Flo sitting in row 1 on the aisle, a seat seen at the bottom of the frame with very worn upholstery. 

See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on the Warner Downtown for a history of the building and hundreds of photos. The theatre is basically intact but in recent decades the main floor has functioned as a jewelry mart. Thanks to Bill Gabel for mentioning the use of the Warner in the film.

 

A rehearsal shot:

Ms. Steisand ready for filming a number in front of a blue screen. Note the replication of the Warner's proscenium on the right. Thanks to the Barbra Archives site for the image, one appearing on the first of many pages the site has about "Funny Girl."

On IMDb: "Funny Girl"