Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisa Part 56

"losing touch with reality": Family Weekly, February 2, 1964.

strode over to Burke McHugh: Riese, Her Name Is Barbra; interview with Tom Hall.

"the only Barbra in the world": AP wire story, as in The Derrick (Oil City, Pennsylvania), October 11, 1963. Note that in his memoir My Life with Barbra, Dennen wrote that he changed the spelling of his name to Barry around the time Barbara became Barbra, and most accounts of her life have used the latter spelling for his name after this point. But newspaper notices of Dennen's appearances in theatrical productions reveal that he was still spelling his name with an "e" instead of a "y" as late as September 1961.

3. Summer 1960

[>] "as funny as Shakespeare": NYT, June 30, 1960.

[>] "promised partic.i.p.ation": Theatre Studio pamphlet, 1960, Curt Conway file, NYPL. Although it was established works such as The Boy Friend and Look Homeward, Angel that paid the bills, the Cecilwood served primarily to try out new work. That summer Conway was presenting Cry of the Raindrop, written by his Theatre Studio partner Lonny Chapman, as well as the Studs Terkel drama Amazing Grace, featuring Peter Fonda in one of his first roles.

He desperately wanted: I've taken my account of Streisand's late arrival at Henry V from personal interviews with Dennen and Schulenberg, as well as Dennen's My Life with Barbra, attempting, as ever, to establish the most accurate narrative.

[>] "to keep one hand": Look, April 5, 1966.

[>] Not long after: Interviews with Barry Dennen, Bob Schulenberg, and Dennen's My Life with Barbra.

[>] "change the tilt": Playboy, October 1977. In a personal interview, Barry Dennen also reported having essentially the same conversation with Streisand in the summer of 1960.

"loved her b.u.mp": Playboy, October 1977. Streisand also told Oprah Winfrey she'd always liked her b.u.mp. O, The Oprah Magazine, October 2006.

her father's nose: Pageant, November 1963.

[>] "They're not ripped": Time, April 10, 1964.

Ben Sackheim, Inc.: Information on the company comes from the NYT, August 28, 1941; July 12, 1951; August 18, 1959; October 20, 1959; April 18, 1960; November 16, 1960; July 26, 1965; and January 3, 1966, as well as the online magazine Postscripts, October 31, 2009.

[>] "acting alive": Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, BBC, October 2, 2009.

"made-up foreign languages": Time, April 10, 1964.

[>] "Greenwich Village version": Variety, February 27, 1952.

"one of the lead funspots": New York World-Telegram, November 11, 1959.

"wanted to do something": Rogue, November 1963.

[>] "Kid, you are going": All About Barbra, undated clipping, Barbra Streisand file, AMPAS.

$108 a week: This is the figure reported in a profile of her career in the Sat.u.r.day Evening Post, July 27August 3, 1963. In Streisand: Her Life, James Spada gives the figure as $125 a week.

"It just seems": syndicated UPI article, as in the Press-Courier (Oxnard, California), July 26, 1962, and elsewhere.

[>] "chauffeured around": This Week, February 5, 1966.

Since returning to Manhattan: In My Life with Barbra, Dennen described Streisand as moving in with him earlier than this point. Although there were likely overnight stays, Bob Schulenberg, whose memory is uncannily accurate, insisted that it was not until right before her appearance at the Bon Soir that Streisand moved in with Dennen.

[>] "French from the moon": Spada, Streisand: Her Life.

Barre's apartment: Dennen, My Life with Barbra, as well as interviews with Dennen and Schulenberg.

[>] "If I can identify": CBS Sunday Morning interview, September 27, 2009.

[>] "once again throbbing": NYT, October 20, 1960.

"Box offices are busy": Dorothy Kilgallen's syndicated column, as in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal, September 30, 1960.

"tucked behind a facade": NYT, October 13, 1960.

[>] "Customers who jam": NYT, October 13, 1960.

[>] "far-out females": Variety, January 4, 1962.

"all the gay guys": Quotes and observations from Kaye Ballard come from a personal interview as well as her memoir, How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years (New York: Back Stage Books, 2006).

"the funniest woman": Dorothy Kilgallen's syndicated column, as in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal, September 30, 1960.

[>] the size of a peapod: Quotes and observations from Diller come from a personal interview as well as her memoir, Like a Lampshade in a Wh.o.r.ehouse (New York: Penguin, 2005).

Around eleven, the place started: Various sources report that the Three Flames began playing around ten pm, but a contemporary account of evenings at the Bon Soir in the NYT, November 10, 1960, when Streisand was on the bill, reported that the place didn't begin to fill up until eleven thirty and that Tony and Eddie went on at midnight. I've calculated that the band probably started the evening's entertainment closer to eleven than to ten. The Three Flames played a half-hour set.

[>] "a-twinkle with glow worms": NYT, November 10, 1960.

"Keepin' Out of Mischief Now": Anne Edwards in Streisand: A Biography wrote that her first number was "A Sleepin' Bee," calling it "a brave opening," since most cabaret acts began with "a spirited number to catch the audience's attention." According to Barry Dennen, who has tapes and notes from that performance, her first song was "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now," exactly the sort of spirited number that could, and did, grab the audience's attention. Edwards also reported that she sang "When the Sun Comes Out," but Dennen refutes that. In Streisand: Her Life, Spada reports that among the numbers she sang that first night was "Who Can I Turn to Now?" but Dennen also denies that. That song was added, however, to the repertoire before the Bon Soir run ended.

[>] "triumphant roar": Pageant, November 1963.

4. Fall 1960

[>] "one of the biggest": NYT, September 13, 1960.

"the find of the year": New York World-Telegram, September 16, 1960.