April 10 Omar Sharif

Happy Birthday to Henry Morgan, Omar Sharif and Max von Sydow.

To celebrate Omar Sharif’s birthday I watched Funny Girl. This is very much Barbra Streisand’s film. When the two of them are on screen together, I kept watching Barbra. I had to force my attention to Omar and Omar is a very handsome man. In one scene Omar is sitting on the left side of the couch, Barbra on the right, both facing the camera, with a man in the middle of them sitting opposite with his back to the camera. Omar is talking with the man and Barbra is reading a magazine. That is it. My eyes would keep straying to Barbra. I am going to focus on Omar for his birthday.

Omar makes his appearance as Barbra states “There will be a knock on the door and there will be Mr. Ziegfeld”. She opens the door and there Omar stands. “Sorry to disappoint you” he states and introduces himself as Nick Arnestein. He plays a very charming smooth talking man. As they talk a man comes up and offers Barbra $25 a week. Omar negotiated with him stating he is acting on behalf of someone else. He was bluffing, but Barbra got $50 a week from the man. Omar asks her out to dinner stating that her mother is expecting her to work at her saloon. After her opening night with Ziegfeld (the famous pregnant bride number) Omar comes backstage. He invites her for dinner she declines and off handedly asks him to her mother’s saloon for a party. To her surprise he accepts. At the party they dance, Omar states that he is a gambler, like she is. He plays cards with some of the older ladies and he lets them win. Barbra sings People during this meeting. He leaves to earn his living. They meet at a train station (6 months to a year later) while she is on tour and he is collecting his new horse. He invites her to dinner, she declines. She dresses for dinner and goes to his hotel room. He is waiting for her with a table set for two and dressed in a tuxedo. When he starts to sing I could not believe it, I thought his character would not be musical. He sings very will. He uses his song to seduce Barbra. He chases her around the room. When they finally come together on a lounge he holds her in his arms and spends a long time looking at her breasts. It is a very sexy scene. He tells Barbra that he has lost almost everything and has to go to Europe to gamble to get some money. He doesn’t want her to meet him at the station because it will make him cry.

The next day Barbra is getting ready to leave with on her tour and she gets flowers from Omar. She decides that she would rather be with him than the tour. Barbra sings Don’t Rain On My Parade. The ship has left the dock and she takes a tug out to the ship. He is standing at the window looking sad. When he sees her he does a double take, stunned, but happy to see her. Marriage is proposed. Who asks is hard to tell. Omar did not want to offer marriage until he had a bank roll. There is a game on board and he plays. He wins a lot of money and the two marry. The come back to the states and Omar has bought a huge house that Barbra furnishes during her pregnancy and while Omar works on a Florida deal. After the child is born Barbra gets in shape for a new show and Omar goes to Oklahoma for an oil deal. When Omar comes back he is happy to see his family but is very low key. Barbra realizes he has lost gambling. He lost the house. They move to New York City. On Barbra’s opening night he spends the evening gambling waiting for his luck to change. Barbra’s dance and song number is Swan Lake (this version is my kind of ballet). During the ballet the camera swings sideways in an almost vertigo affect. He is offered a managerial position for a casino, he realizes he does not have to put up an owners share because Barbra put up the money. When he goes to work he calls up a character and states to tell him about the bond deal. He finds out that the police have an warrant for him due to a phony bond deal. He turns himself in. During the trial he pleads guilty to the charges, he knew what he was doing. They have a few minutes alone. He wants her to divorce him. They hug and kiss and he leaves the room.

18 months later Barbra is in her dressing room getting ready for a show. Omar comes to see her. He has done a lot of thinking in the 18 month he is in jail. He is distant, both literally and figuratively. Barbra realizes that he does not want to continue their marriage. They talk and then he leaves. The film closes with Barbra singing My Man.

This is a really great film. It is based upon real life of Fanny Brice. Even if you do not like musicals there is a great historical aspect of the film.