This book is classic unfiltered, honest, candid Barbra, which is so consistent with her total career. I’ve read other autobiographies but they don’t read like this one. After Chapter 3, I thought, “Why did she wait so long to write this?” because it’s quite instructive for newbies just starting out, but then I thought, “Oh, who cares?” What is immediately notable is how funny she is. Of course, if you know anything about her, she is the exemplary Funny Girl, but her humor in this book is such a treat.
The audition for I Can Get It For You Wholesale is HYSTERICAL! And it’s so “shades of Fanny Brice” with her interactions with Ziegfeld. There she is, in the dark, and the voice of Arthur Laurents booms over the theatre, Can you sing? And she’s thinking, “So why else would I be here?” Understand, this is her first audition for a Broadway musical, a dream come true for anyone. But Barbra says, “So … what do you want to hear?” And she starts with that crazy song Value. Then does I Stayed Too Long at the Fair, which clinches the deal. Producers are impressed, ask for her to come back and here’s Barbra, “But I have to get my hair done before a singing gig that opens tonight. Why can't you decide now?" In every chapter, Streisand takes you with her and you feel like you're right there in the room, on the set, in the studio, at the theatre. She has a great talent for storytelling, no matter what the medium. And she's able to tell stories from multiple points-of-view. She also owns her mistakes, owns her decisions.
It’s the truth to herself that remains a vigorously consistent theme. She never, ever did or said what she thought people wanted to hear, even if it meant risking her goal at the time. That’s integrity. And of course, early in her career she lost plenty of gigs (here’s this teenager, telling casting directors anything but the standard answers). I wonder what the people who turned her town thought when she catapulted to stardom. By age 28: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy. Who does that? Barbra I guess -) When she first met with Jule Styne (for the stageplay, Funny Girl) her initial reaction is, “I’m not sure I’m right for this.”). The story of how these discussions ebbed and flowed ultimately toward Barbra is fascinating.
What’s revealing is that Marty Ehrlichman recognized this young talent when she was 18, when most people were saying things like, “she lacks discipline” or she’s kooky. Then there’s Doris Vidor (daughter of Henry Warner of Warner Brothers) who said, “Barbra is Fannie Brice.” Along the way, she does meet people that she finds very talented and important that can help her, and with these types (Jerome Robbins) she wants to impress them. But, she just can’t swerve from her creative instincts. In a Funny Girl audition, Robbins says, “You’re supposed to cry at that line.” And she says, “Sorry, but I can’t cry with these words.” Honesty trumps “what THEY want” again. Isobel, the writer, says “I agree, the words aren’t right, and they’re my words.”
What is also interesting, at least to me, is that business people in show business make decisions based on the past. Makes sense, they are paid to avoid risk. But art can’t move forward if you don’t break with the past, and break what you THINK are the rules. And it’s the risk takers that show up for Barbra and reap the payoff. I mean, this is a girl who rose to super stardom during the rock-and-roll rage by singing ballads (often those that were obscure, but perfect for Barbra’s voice, style and interpretation). I guess the moral of the story is: people will always respond to talent, but it better be extraordinary. What few people understand during her early years is how self-aware she is. Why? Because people at that young of an age are not … hell, neither are 50-year-olds. But somehow Barbra knew at age 7, who she was and what she wanted to be.
BTW, I hope Barbra knows her fans also tell people Strei-SAND like sand on the beach. When someone actually gets the chance to interview her, and says her name wrong I scream, My God, you can at least pronounce her name correctly? Would you say, “Here’s Emma Stones, or Julia Robert, or Brad Pidd?” Come on, people! And for the love of God, stop asking her the same old questions.
The stuff with Arthur Laurents, wow. The man was cruel and manipulative, even though now, we know he wrote The Way We Were for her. But, he trashed her first album, which won a couple of awards .Barbra doesn’t just tell us about it, but re-prints the nasty letter he wrote. So, she writes back and says “I agree” then expands on his criticism. But then, Laurents doesn’t even have the decency to congratulate her on winning two Grammys, Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance. Even with all the production issues, that raw talent came through and Barbra was on her way.
The details she provides regarding the making of The Way We Were are remarkable. So many challenges and differences of opinion, but Barbra, the diplomat was able to mediate between Arthur Laurents and Sydney Pollack (who didn't like each other) and of course, no one got along with Ray Stark. The deleted scenes are tragic, and I didn't realize that the blacklist activity continued into the early 1960s, not far from 1972 when this was filmed. People weren't ready for this topic and of course it offended the republicans. Hence Barbra admits she understands the pressure Pollack was under to delete the "red scare" scene where Katie's college chum informs on her. The scene explains the Katie/Hubble breakup, and it's deletion was a huge mistake evidenced by the critics who universally agreed it was a confusing decision.
Nevertheless it was one of Columbia's top grossing films (Pollack, in his biography, notes that Barbra single-handedly saved Columbia from going under, having done two of the industry (and Columbia's) biggest revenue generators: Funny Girl and The Way We Were.
My favorite sentence: “I was a star on Broadway, but I never thought of myself as a star. (I still don’t). “
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From the first page
I first fell in love with Barbra Streisand when I was ten years old. Our mom would take us to Radio City Hall in New York City for Easter to watch a movie and the famous Rockettes.And that movie was “What’s up Doc”. Imagine a ten year old so impressed with someone at that age. This book does not disappoint. It got me from page 1. I’ve purchased this book three times and given away to special friends and family.What a special read. If you are a Barbra Streisand fan, pick up this book. It will not disappoint.
Top reviews from other countries
Douglas Giltner
A delightfully detailed and very enjoyable autobiography
Reviewed in Canada on February 18, 2024Pepe Aguilar
Soy fan de Barbra de toda la vida
Reviewed in Mexico on December 4, 2023
N. Huhn
Toll zu lesen.... auch für nicht native speaker....
Reviewed in Germany on April 1, 2024
N. Huhn
Reviewed in Germany on April 1, 2024
Persönlich liebe ich es Biografien in Englischer Original Sprache zu lesen und sie hat viel zu erzählen..... Es schult insgesamt die Fremdsprache und durch die Kindle "Erklärhilfe" werden auch eventuell fehlende Vokabeln verstanden, meist erklären sich einzelne weniger geläufige Vokabel jedoch aus dem Zusammenhang.
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