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| Published by Carroll & Graf New York, New York |
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| Rothstein Photo Galleries: |
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| Excerpt from Rothstein: Charming, dapper, 6’6” Jules W. “Nicky” Arnstein (alias Nick Arnold; alias Nicholas Arnold; alias Wallace Ames; alias John Adams; alias J. Willard Adair) was the husband of musical comedy star, the 5’7” Fanny Brice. When Fanny sang her heart-wrenching “My Man” in the 1921 edition of Flo Ziegfeld’s Follies, she emoted about her troubles with Nicky—and all America knew it. Nicky didn’t rob with a gun. He used his wits, and made victims befriend him while fleecing them at cards or confidence games. Like Arnold Rothstein, Arnstein came from good stock. Like Carolyn Rothstein, he came from mixed stock. Nicky’s father, Berlin-born Jew Moses Arndstein, fought with distinction in the Franco-Prussian War. His mother, Thekla Van Shaw, was Dutch, and they raised Nicky as an Episcopalian. “No boy could have been brought up with more love and care than was I,” he recalled. “and I always have loved the beautiful things of life—beautiful pictures, good books, and birds and flowers. My fondness for gambling, however, led me to live a life rather apart from my family. It is one of the penalties I have paid for my fondness for the cards, the dice, and the horses.” “Nicky” was short for nickel plate, a sobriquet bestowed in the 1890s, when Arnstein raced a gleaming nickel-plated bicycle, in the then-popular bike racing craze. However, he spent more time throwing races than winning them. Before long he fell in with the legendary Gondorf brothers, Fred and Charley, master con-men who specialized in fleecing rich suckers in elegant settings. Arnstein graduated to gambling on transatlantic liners and in European casinos, eventually being arrested in all the best places: London, Brussels, Monte Carlo. By 1912, he met Arnold Rothstein. “I knew him,” Arnstein gushed in admiration. “not only as the king of the gamblers, but as the whitest [most honorable] of them all! . . . “He was interested in everything involving chance, to the point of a passion. Racing thrilled him . . . He never gave one a wrong tip in his life.” After A.R.’s death, when others uniformly derided him as a cheat and welsher, Arnstein held firm: |
| Arnold Rothstein. History remembers Arnold Rothstein as the man who fixed the 1919 World Series, the underworld genius, who as F. Scott Fitzgerald observed, played “with the faith of fifty million people—with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe." A.R. was so much more—and less. Loan Shark. Pool Shark. Gambler. Bookmaker. Operator of Illegal Gambling Houses. Thief. Fence of Stolen Property. Perjurer and Suborner of Perjury. Political Fixer. Wall Street Swindler. Real Estate Speculator. Labor Racketeer. Rumrunner. Mastermind of the Modern Drug Trade. Nicky Arnstein. Debonair international con man. Multimillion-dollar bond thief. Wandering husband of Fanny Brice. Arnold Rothstein’s admirer, partner, and fall guy. Fanny Brice. Broadway’s “Funny Lady” found husband Nicky Arnstein’s illegal schemes with A.R. no laughing matter, nor the collateral he demanded to provide bail for her incarcerated spouse. |
| Arnold Rothstein, Nicky Arnstein, and Fanny Brice |
| Chronology 1882- A.R. born, East 47th Street, New York City (Jan. 17). 1886 – Attorney William Joseph Fallon born--will represent Fallon on bond robbery charges (Jan. 23). 1891 - Fanny Brice (Fanny Borach) born (Oct. 29). 1904 - Nicky Arnstein marries Carrie Greenthal (May 5). 1910- Fannie Brice marries barber Frank White (Feb. 4). Fanny Brice first appears in Ziegfeld Follies. 1913- Fannie Brice divorces Frank White. Fannie Brice stars in The Honeymoon Express. 1915- Arnstein sentenced to prison on swindling charges (June 28). 1916- Arnstein arrives at Sing Sing (Mar. 18). 1918 - Mrs. Arnstein sues Fannie Brice (July 31). Arnstein and Brice marry (Oct.). 1919 - Arnold Rothstein fixed 1919 World Series. 1920- Liberty Bond robberies; Joe Gluck fingers Nicky Arnstein (Feb.). Arnstein in hiding (Feb-May) Arnstein surrenders to Police; Rothstein furnishes bail; Lower East Side hoodlum Monk Eastman steals Fanny Brice's car but return's it on the mention of Rothstein's name (May 16). Fallon represents Arnstein in first bond robbery trial (Dec.). 1921-Federal Judge Gould drops dead on day he is to sentence Arnstein (May 20). Fanny Brice sings "My Man" in Ziegfeld Follies in honor of Arnstein: "But whatever my man is, I am his—forever." 1924- Arnstein enters Leavenworth (May 16) 1927- Arnstein released from prison. - Fanny Brice divorces Nicky Arnstein (Sept. 17). 1929 - Fanny Brice marries showman Billy Rose. 1940- Fanny Brice settles Rose of Washington Square lawsuit (Dec.). 1951 – Fanny Brice dies of a cerebral hemorrhage (May 29). 1964 - Funny Girl, story of Fanny Brice and Nicky Arnstein, opens on Broadway; produced by Brice's son-in-law Ray Stark (March 26) 1965 – Nicky Arnstein dies (Oct. 2). 1966 – Billy Rose dies in Jamaica, West Indies (Feb. 10). 1968 - Funny Girl (film) opens. |
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| Nicky Arnstein |
| Fanny Brice |
| What an exceptional man! Can you picture or imagine a gambler with higher instincts? [He was] a real man and a human gentleman to the fingertips. I termed him a gambler. I guess he would not have denied it, but he was a shrewd businessman as well. I know that much will be said about him now that will not be pleasant with his memory. But to me he was an honest man, with an outstanding integrity. He had daredevil courage. I have seen him lose a cool half million dollars in one night, a fortune that would dwarf any of them at Monte Carlo. Rothstein lost this money one night without batting an eyelash, without flinching or showing any signs of being disturbed. . . . I know that he earned millions as a builder, in the insurance business and with a stable . . . of the finest race horses in the country. He was one of the most tireless workers I have ever known, for sixteen hours at work when I knew him was his average day. And in those sixteen hours he helped many people. I do not believe he ever said “No” to a friend. |