Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand (77 page)

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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“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.

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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.

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“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.

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“hot, clearly talented”: Spada,
Streisand: Her Life.

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Susan Belink: She later changed her name to Susan Belling and became a successful soprano at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere.

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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

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“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.

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Tony Franciosa might star: Hedda Hopper syndicated column, as in the
Hartford Courant,
August 9, 1961.
Arthur Laurents would direct: NYT, October 5, 1961.

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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.

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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).

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“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.

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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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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“undisciplined,” “another disappointment”:
Variety,
November 22, 1961.

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“had to be in the show”: Laurents,
Original Story By.
“the X quality”:
Holiday,
November 1963.

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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.

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“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.

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“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

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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.

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“A limited amount”: Laurents,
Mainly on Directing.

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“I hear you’re gonna”: Riese,
Her Name Is Barbra.

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“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.

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“You’re involved in this”: The anecdote comes from Gordon,
Alive at the Village Vanguard.

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“just another piece of furniture”:
Holiday,
November 1963.

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“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.

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“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.”