Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisa - Part 70
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Part 70

"no big thing": Playboy, November 1970.

"consistent discouragement": Playgirl, May 1975.

[>] "d.a.m.nedest not to take seriously": Playboy, November 1970.

"I get worried about such": Walter Winch.e.l.l's syndicated column, as in the Sarasota Journal, October 2, 1963.

"The public throws": Van Nuys News, November 19, 1963.

[>] "the younger-looking buyers": UPI syndicated article, as in the Redlands (California) Daily Facts, November 13, 1963. The benefit fashion show was announced on November 8 in the NYT.

[>] "A kook is a person": a.s.sociated Press syndicated article, as in The Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania), October 11, 1963.

"Anyway, here I was": Pageant, November 1963.

[>] "A hoax," Barbra thought: My description of Streisand's reaction to Kennedy's death comes from Spada, Streisand: Her Life; Considine, Barbra Streisand: The Woman, the Myth, the Music; and an undated newspaper clipping, "Barbra and JFK," in the Streisand file, NYPL.

[>] "Controlled hysteria": San Francisco Chronicle, December 6, 1963.

[>] "one-girl concert": Billboard, November 30, 1963.

There hadn't been a lot of publicity: Streisand had been scheduled to appear on The Jack Paar Program on November 29, apparently hoping to tape it right before heading out to Chicago. Her name was included in hundreds of TV listings for that date. Liberace was also scheduled to be a guest. It's not clear if Streisand appeared, however; no video has surfaced, and the Internet Movie Database does not list her as a guest for that date, although it does list Liberace. Perhaps Streisand cancelled at the last minute in order to get to Chicago on time.

[>] "Not me": Script for Funny Girl, dated December 1963, Bob Merrill Collection, LoC.

[>] "This is worse than opening night": Earl Wilson's syndicated column, as in the Reno Evening Gazette, December 16, 1963.

"life is too short to deal": Kissel, David Merrick: The Abominable Showman.

in excess of $100,000: Louis Sobol's syndicated column, as in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 1, 1964.

[>] she wanted a raise to $7,500: Some reports have said that Streisand was originally signed for $1,500; however, Mike Connolly reported in his column that she was being paid $3,500, ten times what Merrick had paid her for Wholesale. As in the Pasadena Star News, October 29, 1963.

$350 a week, singing in clubs: Contracts between Lainie Kazan and the Colonial Tavern and Huddle's Embers, May 21, 1963, and September 27, 1963, respectively, Lainie Kazan Collection, NYPL.

[>] specially tailored trousers: UPI syndicated article, as in the Wisconsin State Journal, January 19, 1964.

"vocal and dramatic coaching": Contract between Seven Arts and Lainie Kazan, 1964, Lainie Kazan Collection, NYPL.

[>] "said very little": Personal interview with Sharon Vaughn.

"reportedly getting the biggest": Dorothy Kilgallen's syndicated column, as in the Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune, January 29, 1964.

"artistic responsibility": Playboy, October 1977.

"affected by things": Kaufman Schwartz interview.

[>] "didn't think she wanted": Vanity Fair, September 1991. Suzanne Merrill also provided additional information and confirmation of this episode.

"Don't tell me not to fly": Bob Merrill notebooks, Bob Merrill Collection, LoC.

[>] "in a desperate race": NYT, May 24, 1964.

[>] "very probably made it difficult": Boston Herald, January 9, 1964.

"This play is really about": a.s.sociated Press story, as in the Hartford Courant, January 26, 1964.

"Ten years ago they started": Oakland Tribune, December 13, 1963.

[>] "I don't want to imitate": a.s.sociated Press story, as in the Hartford Courant, January 26, 1964.

"Little girl": Sheilah Graham's syndicated column, as in the San Antonio Express, December 2, 1963.

"We hate each other": Boston Globe, December 29, 1963. I am also grateful to Orson Bean, a close friend of Chaplin's, for background on the relationship between Streisand and Chaplin.

[>] "very chummy": Spada, Streisand: Her Life.

"a note to the show": The Garson Kanin papers at the Library of Congress do not contain any material on Funny Girl. Apparently Kanin or his widow, Marian Seldes, withheld these when the donation was made, for the material does exist, or at least, it did exist when Kanin shared the letter he wrote to McLerie, dated February 28, 1964, with Anne Edwards for her Streisand: A Biography. Kanin also supplied McLerie's reply, which shows her to have been very gracious, calling her firing part of "the hazards of the trade." McLerie had, perhaps, reason to be gracious: she'd been signed to a one-year contract, so unless a settlement was arranged, she'd still be paid her full year's salary.

"the length of the musical": NYT, December 30, 1963.

"a little Burmese idol": Cecil Beaton, Photobiography (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1951).

[>] Barbra was "on fire": Theodore Taylor, Jule: The Story of Composer Jule Styne (New York: Random House, 1979).

"was to attempt to get her": Players Magazine, Spring 1965.

"The actor has to have some": Playboy, October 1977.

"loved [her] ... wanted to make": New West, November 22, 1976.

[>] "Whatever happens to the show": Boston Globe, December 29, 1963.

[>] Louis Sobol's column featuring: Louis Sobol's syndicated column, as in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, November 15, 1963.

no longer had any real friends: Vanity Fair, November 1994. In this piece, Streisand talked about the Cormans being her only friends, not accepting invitations, and not having people at her place.

[>] "encamped there like a pair": Time, April 10, 1964.

remained very simple: Playboy, November 1970.

"I am now a mature": Pageant, November 1963.

"And that's what one year": Earl Wilson's syndicated column, as in the Reno Evening Gazette, January 10, 1964.

[>] "Streisand is an original": Cue, December 28, 1963.