[>] Diana Kind was hopping mad: I have based my account of Diana’s reaction to Paar’s insult of her daughter on anecdotes shared with me by three of her friends, two of whom asked for anonymity. The third was Stuart Lippner, who heard the story from both Diana and Roslyn Kind.
Barbra on the Paar show: This appearance is not always listed among Streisand’s credits, but television listings reveal she appeared on the Paar show for a second time on May 22, 1961, again billed as “Barbara Strysand.” As she wasn’t using “Strysand” in her concurrent appearances at the Bon Soir, I suspect this was an error on the press release sent out by NBC to the newspapers, which seems to have been using the same spelling Streisand had given them a month earlier.
[>] Did Barbra ever know: It’s possible she did find out later, or that there was a similar incident when Diana defended her daughter to a critic. In the May 1965 issue of Cosmopolitan, Streisand told an anecdote about her mother writing a letter objecting to some reporter who’d said the young singer had “Fu Manchu nails.” According to Streisand, Diana signed the letter “Barbra’s mother.”
6. Summer 1961
[>] the studio technicians to stop: Interview with Don Softness.
[>] A week or so before Barbra: The Clancy Brothers appeared on the June 22 show; Streisand first appeared on July 12.
its debut on June 12: Background on PM East comes from various newspaper coverage, particularly the NYT, June 3, June 11, June 13, and June 22, 1961.
Parading into the studio: I have based my description of Streisand’s first appearance on PM East on interviews with Don Softness, Bob Schulenberg, and Ted Rozar, as well as Mike Wallace’s memoir, Between You and Me (New York: Hyperion, 2005).
Mike Wallace was aggressive: For background on Wallace, see Between You and Me.
[>] “self-absorption”: Wallace admitted during his 1991 60 Minutes interview with Streisand that he “really didn’t like her” during their time on PM East and that he found her “totally self-absorbed.”
“the demeanor of a diva”: Wallace, Between You and Me.
“New York is just full of unusual”: Just for the Record DVD.
“more like the studio mail girl”: Hartford Courant, June 24, 1962.
[>] old friend from acting school: Rick Edelstein was interviewed on WNYC radio, September 30, 2009, and recounted the story of sneaking Barbra into the Vanguard and serving her a ginger ale because she didn’t drink.
[>] “an eye for promising”: Gavin, Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret.
When Edelstein suggested: The story of Streisand’s tryout at the Village Vanguard has been extremely difficult to pin down. Much misinformation has been written about it, turning the tryout into the stuff of myth and legend, especially in light of Streisand’s much-heralded “return” to the club in 2009. Max Gordon, in his memoir, Live at the Village Vanguard, remembered that she sang three numbers at the club during a Sunday matinee that Miles Davis headlined. Gordon’s wife, Lorraine, in her own memoir, Alive at the Village Vanguard, recalled that when Streisand tried out there she had been “singing off and on” at the Bon Soir. This dates Streisand’s appearance at the Vanguard to 1961. That year, Davis performed at the club in February, July, September, and December. In February, Streisand was in Detroit, and by September she had already gotten the job at Gordon’s other club, the Blue Angel, which had been an indirect result of her tryout at the Vanguard. So that dates her one-time appearance at the Village Vanguard to July 1961, and almost certainly to July 2, since she was in Winnipeg from July 3 to July 15. (By the time she got back to New York, Davis was gone from the Vanguard.) Along with the Gordons’ recollections, I have used Edelstein’s interview on WNYC to reconstruct this rather mythic performance. Bob Schulenberg also contributed to my understanding of the experience.
His name was Stanley Beck: My account of the Stanley Beck romance comes from Spada, Streisand: Her Life, as well as from the recollections of various friends.
[>] “You are fantastic”: Rick Edelstein interview, WNYC, September 30, 2009.
“Beautiful,” “very posh”: Streisand made this statement on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, October 4, 1962.
[>] taken her out horseback riding: Kaufman Schwartz and Associates interview transcript, August 14, 1963, Sidney Skolsky Collection, AMPAS.
both dull and noisy: Elaine Sobel told James Spada for Streisand: Her Life that Streisand found the audiences at the Town ‘n’ Country “emotionless and dull,” and several accounts attest to their noisiness.
“Miss Streisand is the type”: Winnipeg Free Press, July 4, 1961.
[>] she went on the next night: It is a myth that Streisand was fired from her gig at the Town ‘n’ Country in Winnipeg. Newspaper advertisements from July 1961 show that Streisand played out her entire two-week engagement. “Last time tonite Barbara [sic] Streisand,” reads the Town ‘n’ Country ad in the Winnipeg Free Press from July 15. This was supported by Helen Chandler, a waitress at the club, who told Winnipeg columnist Morley Walker in 2006 that Streisand “played out her whole two weeks” (Winnipeg Free Press, November 11, 2006). While agreeing that the firing was merely a legend, Walker suggested that Streisand may have left early to take “a big gig in the U.S.,” and that singer Mary Nelson replaced her at the Town ‘n’ Country. This is not true, either. Again looking at contemporary newspaper ads, Mary Nelson played the Town ‘n’ Country in February, not July. Final proof, if any is needed given the irrefutable evidence of the July 15 newspaper ad, comes from an interview Streisand gave to Johnny Carson a year later, when she spoke about appearing in Winnipeg. She wouldn’t have been so fond in her recollections if she had been fired.
“What’s she doing?”: Streisand made this statement to Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, October 4, 1962.
“I’ve seen her act”: Hoffman recalled watching Streisand on PM East in the National Enquirer, January 2, 2005.
“beauties of New York”: The Daily Review, July 12, 1961.
[>] “Let us get this straight”: Vanity Fair, September 1991.
Yet Marty’s shrewdness: I am indebted to several people for sharing with me insights into Erlichman’s brilliant management of Streisand’s career. These include Don Softness, Ted Rozar, Phyllis Diller, and Orson Bean. Others, very close to the people involved, have asked for anonymity. Letters from and references to Erlichman in the collections of William Wyler, Herbert Ross, Jerome Robbins, Smith and Dale, and Richard Lewine also reveal his management skills.
[>] “buy him off”: Spada, Streisand: Her Life. The rest of my description of the scene with Rozar comes from a personal interview with Rozar.
“one of his cyclical”: San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 1963.
the question was “a bit”: Rogue, November 1963.
[>] His mother kept mispronouncing: Background on Another Evening with Harry Stoones comes from an undated, unsourced article, authored by Jeff Harris, found in the clippings collection for the show at the NYPL.
[>] “people who hate revues”: Publicity for Another Evening with Harry Stoones, September 3, 1961, NYPL.
“epidemic”: Undated press release for Another Evening with Harry Stoones, NYPL.
managed to raise $15,000: Press release, “Sunday Drama,” August 27, 1961, NYPL.
[>] “hot, clearly talented”: Spada, Streisand: Her Life.
[>] Susan Belink: She later changed her name to Susan Belling and became a successful soprano at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere.
[>] he thought she’d fit in: “I put her into the Blue Angel later,” Gordon wrote of Streisand in Live at the Village Vanguard.
into Goddard Lieberson’s office: I have based my account of this meeting on interviews with Columbia employee Lynnie Johnson, as well as two anonymous sources. In addition, various newspaper articles on Lieberson, and Shaun Considine, Barbra Streisand: The Woman, the Myth, the Music (New York: Delacorte, 1985), and Spada, Streisand: Her Life.
“own fiefdom”:
Walter Yetnikoff, Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess (New York: Broadway Books, 2004).
“Listen to her when the phones”: Considine, Barbra Streisand: The Woman, the Myth, the Music.
7. Fall 1961
[>] “so enthusiastic”: Wallace, Between You and Me.
marveled at the way the kid: Don Softness’s observations and recollections of working with Streisand on PM East come from a personal interview with him, as well as his unpublished manuscript, “My Life with Barbra,” used here courtesy Softness.
[>] Tony Franciosa might star: Hedda Hopper syndicated column, as in the Hartford Courant, August 9, 1961.
Arthur Laurents would direct: NYT, October 5, 1961.
[>] the Softness Group: Miami News, December 8, 1963; NYT, July 23, 1973; September 21, 1974; March 5, 1979; March 29, 1987; April 29, 1987.
her picture in the New York Times: NYT, October 15, 1961.
[>] Jerome Weidman’s mood: Weidman’s perspective on Streisand’s audition comes from a first-person piece he penned for Holiday, November 1963.
Laurents was already at the theater: Laurents’s perspective on Streisand’s audition comes from a personal interview as well as his memoir, Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood (New York: Hal Leonard/Applause Books, 2009). Quotes not cited in the notes come from the personal interview.
“must have been turned down”: Laurents, Original Story By.
“flawed,” “unmarked for success”: Laurents, Mainly on Directing: Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals (New York: Knopf/Borzoi Books, 2009).
[>] “calculated spontaneity”: Laurents, Original Story By.
She was nervous: Streisand remembered: “At my audition, I was asked to sit in a chair because I was nervous and because I thought it was an interesting concept.” (TV Guide, January 22–28, 2000.) Laurents said it was she who asked for the chair. Her statement that she thought sitting in it was an “interesting concept” was more telling, Laurents believed. “She knew exactly what she was doing,” he said.
[>] this “fantastic freak”: Life, May 22, 1964.
“the weirdo of all times”: Time, April 10, 1964.
“None too stimulating”: NYT, October 23, 1964.
“quick, flippant”: New Yorker, November 4, 1961.
“gleeful,” “riotous”: Women’s Wear Daily, November 5, 1961.
“quite strong enough”: Village Voice, October 30, 1961.
[>] “excellent flair for dropping”: Variety, October 28, 1961.
Barbra briskly replied: Weidman wrote a highly romanticized account in Holiday of Streisand’s audition, with whole pages of fabricated dialogue. He had Barbra saying things such as “Can I sing? If I couldn’t sing, would I have the nerve to come out here in a thing like this coat?” and when asked if she could come back to sing for David Merrick, “Gee, I don’t know. Marty, what time’s my hair appointment?” When he read this dialogue, Arthur Laurents replied: “Legend!” Although Streisand was eccentric and even a little cocky in her audition, just as she was on PM East, she would never have been so blunt or so rude when auditioning for a major Broadway show. “She would have killed her chances right there,” Laurents said, if she’d hesitated about returning to sing for Merrick or mouthed off the way some accounts portray. Weidman’s account, published in November 1963, was written after Streisand had become well-known. It remarkably resembled a scene in her upcoming musical, Funny Girl—almost certainly an intentional connection. Similarly, the description of the audition from Merrick’s casting director, Michael Shurtleff, given to Anne Edwards for Streisand: A Biography, seems equally fanciful, part of a post-1964 phenomenon that turned every account of Streisand’s life into a mirror of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. This phenomenon, both unconscious and deliberate, found its way into many sources, including Howard Kissel’s David Merrick: The Abominable Showman (New York: Hal Leonard/Applause Books, 2000) and most Streisand biographies.
[>] they might call her back: Although most accounts say Streisand came back that same day, Laurents said that wasn’t the case. “Not how it worked,” he said. She would have been called in for a second audition at a later date. Besides, it wasn’t “very realistic,” he said, to believe she came back later that same afternoon when she had her opening at the Blue Angel to prepare for. But again, “that’s how myths are made,” he said. “And a lot of myths were made about Barbra Streisand.”
“You said you wanted”: Life, May 22, 1964. Streisand also told the story in Playboy, October 1977.
There’d been no real feeling: On the Let’s Talk to Lucy radio show that aired October 7, 1964, host Lucille Ball asked Streisand if she’d fallen for Gould the first time she saw him. “No” was the plain and simple answer. Ball then tried to get Streisand to say something romantic about their first meeting, or at least to say that she’d found Gould attractive right from the start. But Streisand seemed to reject the whole line of questioning and changed the subject.
[>] Lorraine had also involved Barbra: Lorraine Gordon, Alive at the Village Vanguard.
The team from What’s in It for Me?: According to an article in the Saturday Evening Post, July 27, 1963, David Merrick “strolled in” one night to hear Streisand before signing her for Wholesale. Laurents, however, said Merrick never went to see her and based his judgments of her solely on her auditions.
[>] “undisciplined,” “another disappointment”: Variety, November 22, 1961.
[>] “had to be in the show”: Laurents, Original Story By.
“the X quality”: Holiday, November 1963.
[>] David Merrick was one of those: I have based my description of Merrick on an interview with Arthur Laurents, as well as Kissel, David Merrick: The Abominable Showman and Merrick’s NYT obituary by Frank Rich, April 27, 2000.
[>] “didn’t sing unless she was paid”: I have based my account of Streisand’s impromptu performance of “Moon River,” her eviction from her apartment, and Don Softness’s influence on her public persona on a personal interview with Softness, as well as his unpublished manuscript, “My Life with Barbra,” used courtesy Softness. Quotes used in this section come from both sources.
“You can’t see them”: Hartford Courant, June 24, 1962.
[>] “The uphill grind”: This was printed in various newspaper television listings, including the Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle-Telegram, December 21, 1961.
“as a young performer aspiring”: www.barbra-archives.com.
8. Winter 1962
[>] stepped into the Fifty-fourth Street Theatre: Rehearsals were held here according to Whitney Bolton’s syndicated column, as in the Cumberland Evening Times, February 14, 1962. Other descriptions of the rehearsal come from an undated, unsourced newspaper article, circa 1965, David Merrick file, NYPL.
“a young Fagin,” “funny looking”: Life, May 22, 1964.
[>] “A limited amount”: Laurents, Mainly on Directing.
[>] “I hear you’re gonna”: Riese, Her Name Is Barbra.
[>] “very bad neighborhoods”: PM East, October 1961, as recorded on the DVD Just for the Record.
“a loner”: Time, April 10, 1964.
“like a little kid”: Life, May 22, 1964.
she didn’t inhale: Streisand said she didn’t inhale on Let’s Talk to Lucy, October 7, 1964.
Barbra was also scheduled: In Alive at the Village Vanguard, Gordon implied she was responsible for Streisand’s getting hired for PM East, stating that it was her suggestion to Wallace, at the time of the January 2 show, that he bring “this young singer” on the show that secured Streisand a running gig. But Streisand had already been appearing on PM East for several months by the time Gordon appeared on the show.
[>] “You’re involved in this”: The anecdote comes from Gordon, Alive at the Village Vanguard.
[>] “just another piece of furniture”: Holiday, November 1963.
[>] “Too many twitches”: Laurents, Original Story By.
; “she was different”: Laurents, Original Story By.
“on blueprinting exactly how”: Unsourced article, July 26, 1962, www.barbra-archives.com.
But when she argued: Accounts that portray Streisand as openly defiant or contemptuous of the director, writers, or producers of Wholesale are inaccurate, Laurents insisted. She did not ignore direction. She had “her own mind,” but she was not belligerent. Such tales come from a later image of Streisand being projected back to her early days and are quite simply wrong.
“low threshold”: Laurents, Original Story By.
[>] “ungrateful,” “arrogant”: Interview with Arthur Laurents.
“got something out of it”: www.barbra-archives.com.
“too special for records”: Laurents, Original Story By.
“I want to be a straight”: Hartford Courant, June 24, 1962.
It took choreographer Herbert Ross: Streisand has insisted that it was her idea to sing the song in the chair all along. “They wouldn’t let me do it,” she said in an interview with TV Guide, January 22–29, 2000. “But the number wasn’t working, so before opening night they finally said—the director said—‘do it in your goddamn chair.’” Arthur Laurents said it was true that she had auditioned that way, but there had been no suggestion, from her or from him, to do the number similarly until Herbert Ross conceived of it as a way “to give the song some structure.”
[>] “fascinated,” “to be protected”: Time, April 10, 1964.
a full-scale snowball fight: Gould described the snowball fight in Time, April 10, 1964. Streisand also described the snowball fight in Life, May 22, 1964. She conflated this event with another date she had with Gould, when they saw the film Mothra, describing both events as occurring on the same night. But Mothra did not show in New York until that summer.
Barbra was a combination of . . . “most innocent thing”: Life, May 22, 1964.
Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand Page 58
