HERE COME THE BRIDES

I am not a huge Barbra Streisand fan in the least so of course my favorite number from Funny Girl (1968) is "His Love Makes Me Beautiful" featuring a plethora of leggy starlets as the Winter, Springtime, Summer, and Autumn Brides. See the below clip:



The scintillating Winter Bride was Inga Neilsen whom I interviewed for my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood. Other brides included are Thordis Brandt (Winter), and Bettina Brenna and Alena Johnston(Springtime). Below are Inga's comments about making Funny Girl .


"I love Barbra Streisand and think she is fantastic. She was always very friendly to me and suggested me to Gene Kelly for a part in Hello Dolly. On Funny Girl I don’t think she had any say in casting or editing but if she didn’t like the way a scene was lit I know the next day they would re-shoot it. She was very fussy about her hair and makeup. I remember one day I came into costume and my hair was done a certain way. She stared at my hair for the longest time across the room. The next thing I knew my hair came down and her hairstyle became what I originally had. Nothing was said of course."

"I wasn’t friendly with any of the girls except for Thordis Brandt and Mary Jane Mangler. I remember Alena Johnston was a beautiful quiet girl who stayed pretty much to herself. I think she was the youngest of us. Bettina Brenna and I didn’t know each other that well. Of the brides I was the only one who was married. Most of them were jet setters. One gal was dating Tony Franciosa and another one was dating a judge. I really didn’t get to know them as I came to work, did my job, and left."