Any thoughts of these vivid pastel artsy backgrounds ?
For a definitive answer we'd have to consult Wayne Fitzgerald, who created the title design. I can only say I was in my mid-teens when the film was released (1968), and the artistic mood in the late 60s was very "pop art," with psychedelic designs and fluorescent, day-glo colors; it was a period when Andy Warhol and Peter Max were very influential. Here's a famous Warhol painting from 1968, and it was typical of the artwork that was prevalent at the time:
https://thelionslife.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/andy-warhol-che-guevara.jpgI know this type of approach may seem at odds with the film version of a Broadway musical, but maybe they felt if it worked for Che Guevara, there's no reason it shouldn't work for Fanny Brice. We should also remember that "Funny Girl" was being targeted at every possible demographic, and that included the youth market. Columbia Pictures didn't want their film to come across as too stodgy or "establishment," so they used a cutting-edge approach whenever they could. And the opening credits were one place when they could remind the audience that the filmmakers were telling a story from yesterday with the sensibility of today (or at least the "today" of 1968). The photographs suggested the 20s, but the color scheme was definitely late 60s.
Long story short, the opening credits seemed very much a part of the cinematic landscape of 1968 - visually interesting, although the color scheme sometimes made the names onscreen difficult to read.
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