Ziegfeld Follies
18
MENTIONS
10
EPISODES
9
PODCASTS
Search complete. 18 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Ziegfeld Follies".
Oct 10, 2026
speaker_0NARRATOR
She goes home to try America.
speaker_0NARRATOR
She is cast in the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway, and it does not go well.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The reviews are cold, some of them cruel, and the hotels will not take her.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The most celebrated woman in France cannot get a room in New York.
31 MINS LATER
speaker_0NARRATOR
Fast-forward to 1936.
speaker_0NARRATOR
She goes home to try America.
speaker_0NARRATOR
She is cast in the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway, and it does not go well.
speaker_0NARRATOR
The reviews are cold, some of them cruel, and the hotels will not take her.
AdrianHOST
The real-life inspiration for Susan Alexander was Marion Davies.
AdrianHOST
She was a showgirl in the Ziegfeld Follies 35 years younger than Hearst.
ClaraHOST
When Hearst fell in love with her, he moved mountains.
ClaraHOST
He funded her films, built a massive production company specifically for her called Cosmopolitan Pictures, and demanded that his vast network of newspapers praise her constantly.
Chris PlanteHOST
Karen Marsh Doll was, and, well, uh, was an actress, I guess she's not acting anymore.
Chris PlanteHOST
She was a Ziegfeld girl in the, the Ziegfeld Follies in 1941 and, and she was in the, well, in The Wizard of Oz, during The Wizard of Oz, she was Judy Garland's stand-in 'cause she's same size and shape and approximate everything.
Chris PlanteHOST
Judy Garland.
Chris PlanteHOST
So she was Judy Garland's stand-in.
Logan CrawfordHOST
Why was that move such an important turning point in her life?
C.M. GordonGUEST
She is, um, famous, and it was a great time for her to move because she's part of the Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld Follies, which was kind of a dance troupe back in the day, uh, so it was quite influential for her career.
C.M. GordonGUEST
It kind of launched her career with her to get into movies and, uh, to be, uh- Inspirational to other younger women as well at that time.
C.M. GordonGUEST
So she was enjoying herself being a mother as well as being a dancer and an actress, and, uh, she was just...
Logan CrawfordHOST
Exactly.
C.M. GordonGUEST
Yeah, and that's, that's how life was.
Logan CrawfordHOST
Major milestone in Jessica's career is being cast in the Ziegfeld Follies, uh-
C.M. GordonGUEST
Yeah
ChrisHOST
knock it out of the park.
ChrisHOST
Yeah, as Krisha said, this is a film based on the life of... 1930s comedian fanny brice if you have not heard of them i don't think you're alone i had i not besides this movie i did google them briefly um but yeah it follows her rise from uh the you know jewish slums of new york is what letterbox says i didn't necessarily get slum vibes but the jewish part of new york uh uh and the working class to the height of her career uh as she joins the ziegfeld follies huge deal at the time and becomes something of an overnight sensation in a very unexpected way.
ChrisHOST
And she meets a gambler, Nick, played by Omar Sharif.
ChrisHOST
Fanny is played by Barbara Streisand, should have said that off the top, if you didn't know.
ChrisHOST
This was very much, I knew Ziegfeld.
ChrisHOST
That was really the only character I think I knew going in.
ChrisHOST
Florence Ziegfeld in this play by Walter Pidgeon, who, you know, is the show business entrepreneur that runs the Ziegfeld Follies and puts on these shows starring these women.
CarishaHOST
What's Ziegfeld and Roy? Is that a thing?
Adam Tex DavisHOST
The highest grossing film is also one of the most nominated films, and that is The Great Ziegfeld, which chronicles the extravagant life and career of Broadway producer impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, AKA Ziggy.
Adam Tex DavisHOST
Most notably created the Ziegfeld Follies, and it tied for the most nominations with seven, and it was the top grossing movie with just over $3 million.
Bruce VilanchHOST
Hmm.
Adam Tex DavisHOST
Then you had a movie, Anthony Adverse, which is a convoluted story about the son of a nobleman who's abandoned at birth.
Adam Tex DavisHOST
Right.
Bruce VilanchHOST
So it doesn't really...
Bruce VilanchHOST
But that kind of does reflect the, the, what the Ziegfeld Follies were on a much smaller sc- uh, level, and that stuff is fun.
Bruce VilanchHOST
And, and then there's a, a really bizarre, uh, uh...
Paul LazarusHOST
You first heard In Honeysuckle Time performed by lyricist Noble Sissle himself, followed by I'm Just Wild About Harry, performed by Linnie Godfrey, Janet Powell, and the girls' chorus of a revue that was recently on Broadway, uh, of Eubie Blake's music, entitled Eubie.
Paul LazarusHOST
One of the features of the Ziegfeld Follies was always the use of, uh, the headliners of the day.
Paul LazarusHOST
Many, many big stars.
Paul LazarusHOST
And one of those, those stars that is most identified with the Ziegfeld Follies is Fanny Brice, who was born on New York's Lower East Side in 1891 to parents who were saloon keepers, and her first performances were in those saloons warbling for pennies.
Paul LazarusHOST
She was discovered by George M. Cohan, who fired her from the chorus of his show, The Talk of New York.
Paul LazarusHOST
Uh, many people feel that he fired her because she couldn't dance, but some have insisted that it was her clownish antics that lost her the job.
7 MINS LATER
Fanny BriceSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
[instrumental music]
Paul LazarusHOST
You're listening to Anything Goes with Paul Lazarus and guest Alfred Simon, with the first part of our four-part series examining Broadway of the 1920s.
Tara RedfieldHOST
Yeah.
Kristina MartinHOST
Okay, and then her just very basic backstory, she was, this is interesting, educated in a religious convent, left school, um, as a chorus girl, went on to Broadway, featured performer in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Kristina MartinHOST
Um, then while she was there, met Randolph Hearst, became his mistress.
Kristina MartinHOST
He took over management of her career and promoted her as this major massive film actress, right? Silent film actress, and then eventually, um, doing voice acting as, or, well, acting as we know it now.
Kristina MartinHOST
Exactly.
Kristina MartinHOST
Yeah, and actually there was something about that.
Kristina MartinHOST
She, uh, she si- she was signed as a featured player in the Ziegfeld Follies, but then she encountered difficulties with her career as a Ziegfeld girl because of her persistent stammer, which prevented her from pronouncing any lines.
Kristina MartinHOST
And so then she was relegated only to the dancing routines.
Paul LazarusHOST
And we mentioned many things.
Paul LazarusHOST
For example, the proliferation of the kind of review show, the Ziegfeld Follies, the George White scandals.
Alfred SimonGUEST
Yes, well, lots of costumes and scenery.
Paul LazarusHOST
Right, and not a lot of book.
Frank ParkerPANELIST
And come back again A pretty girl is just like a pretty man
Jack BennyHOST
That was Frank, that was Frank Catherden singing A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, a melody from the Ziegfeld Follies.
Don WilsonHOST
And now,
Jack BennyHOST
and now for that battle of wits with the underworld, Don't Kill Mr. Seuss.