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True Crime Historian

The Showgirl & The Conman

True Crime Historian

Richard O Jones

True Crime, Documentary, Arts, Society & Culture, Performing Arts

4.4729 Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Complicated Romance of Fannie Brice and Notorious Nicky Arnstein 

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In Episode 60, we take a little break from murderous mayhem for a love story with a different kind of mayhem. The world of Broadway was quite aghast when Fannie Brice, a star of the Ziegfield Follies, took up with New York gambler Julius Wilford Arnstein, better known as Nicky, whose story was adapted into the musical “Funny Girl.” The first act is a Sunday magazine article that was published while Nicky was serving time in the Leavenworth prison, and act two is a telling of the conclusion of the romance by Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s star reporter Alice Cogan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Popular.com.

0:12.0

Saturday, May 15th, 1920.

0:27.3

10,000 regulars and reserves of the New York Police Department, with Mayor Highland and Police Commissioner Enright at their head, started up Broadway from the Custom House at

0:32.6

1130 o'clock today in the annual police parade. Six regiments of reserves were in line. In double-breasted

0:42.5

blue coats, trousers that looked like new, polished boots and regulation caps, they looked ready

0:49.4

for anything. Every man in line carried what was called a baton, but looked like a fancy billy.

0:56.8

The police reserves, by act of the recent legislature, a permanent auxiliary body of 5,000 citizens, wore a little more gold than the regulars.

1:06.6

The reserves had floats to exhibit cavalry, aviation, hospital, machine guns, and marine divisions.

1:16.1

Nikki Arnstein, after three months of fooling the New York police, gave himself up today after a

1:23.1

joyous automobile ride in a conspicuous green automobile down Fifth Avenue and past police headquarters.

1:30.3

He waited at the district attorney's office patiently until somebody could be found to arrest him

1:36.3

and then entered on a series of legal and physical misadventures.

1:41.3

Arnstein, accompanied by his wife, the Broadway star Fannie Bryce, and his attorney

1:47.9

William J. Fallon, arrived in an automobile. He walked through the cordon of detectives unnoticed,

1:55.1

and obviously peevish, went to an elevator and up to the district attorney's office.

2:00.9

An elevator man recognized him and asked from whence he came.

2:05.4

From 90th Street in Columbus Avenue, he said shortly.

2:09.4

His indignation increased when he learned that there was no one in the office to meet him,

2:14.0

and he had to wait for five minutes before Detective Raines happened to pass through the

2:19.2

office and put him under arrest. Mickey told Raines he had been in Pittsburgh most of the time

2:26.0

during the noisy search for him since his disappearance. The judge fixed bail at $75,000.

2:37.3

Fannie Bryce in the criminal courts building said, I am the happiest Jewish woman in New York today.

...

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