Producer Ray Stark was forced to sue Barbra Streisand to make this movie after she refused; Streisand had only one film left on her contract with him. Reportedly, upon completion of filming, she presented him with a mirror on which she'd written in lipstick, "Paid in full".
The book "Barbra: The Second Decade" features stills from a number of scenes cut from the final film; these include: more/longer scenes with Ben Vereen and scenes of her as Fanny Brice's popular "Baby Snooks" radio character a dramatic scene with Brice and her very young daughter
After the scene of Brice doing her radio show, there is a shot supposedly of the NBC building in Los Angeles. The building shown is actually the redressed Pan Pacific Auditorium which, while of the correct period, looks nothing like the actually NBC building.
Barbra Streisand was considering Robert Blake for the role of Billy Rose, whom he resembled more than the actor who eventually played him in the film, James Caan. Streisand had Blake come to her house and read the script with her. After the read-through, an impressed Streisand asked Blake if he's like to do the part. "I just did," said Blake, miffed that he had been made to audition. He walked out of Streisand house, and the role was given to Caan.
Producer Ray Stark was unhappy with the work of the original cinematographer and begged ailing 75-year old James Wong Howe to come out of retirement to shoot the picture. It was the last film he ever worked on.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the "How Lucky Can You Get?" musical number, when Fanny is turning on the stage lights she is clearly not singing, although Streisand's singing voice is heard on the soundtrack.
Follows
Funny Girl (1968)
Referenced in
Funny Girl to Funny Lady (1975) (TV)
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996)
In & Out (1997)
Adam & Steve (2005)
- Michael says he prefers Funny Girl to Funny Lady