Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisa Part 62

[>] Rent was sixty dollars: In other accounts, the rent has sometimes been reported to be somewhat more than sixty dollars, but according to a letter from Evelyn Layton, who was trying to arrange for a friend to sublet the place, the rent was sixty dollars even. Evelyn Layton to Tom Higgins, July 8, 1963, Higgins Family Collection, NYPL.

[>] a disagreeable man: Softness, "My Life with Barbra." According to various online sites, Oscar Karp was also the inspiration for Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street.

[>] declared the composition "beautiful": Redbook, January 1968.

"things [she] could never afford": Us magazine, October 9, 2000.

"the more money you make": Kaufman Schwartz and a.s.sociates interview with Streisand, August 15, 1963, submitted to Sidney Skolsky, Skolsky Collection, AMPAS.

"What is this?": Us magazine, October 9, 2000.

[>] what really made her happy: syndicated article that ran in various papers in late May through the middle part of June, as in the Danville (Virginia) Register, May 31, 1962, hereafter syndicated, May 31, 1962.

"What does it matter": syndicated, May 31, 1962.

"jolly-dollying": Walter Winch.e.l.l's syndicated column, as in Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina), April 7, 1962, and elsewhere.

[>] "the Mayor of Forty-second Street": NYT, January 30, 1994.

[>] "reading all the casting reports": Leonard Lyons's syndicated column, as in the San Mateo Times, April 23, 1962.

"strange color lipstick": syndicated, May 31, 1962.

[>] "Instead of giving me": Edward Robb Ellis, A Diary of the Century (New York: Kodansha, 1996).

"I used to baby-sit for a": The New Yorker, May 19, 1962.

[>] "You know, like in": syndicated UPI article, as in the Press-Courier (Oxnard, California), July 26, 1962, and elsewhere.

"not there at all": Riese, Her Name Is Barbra.

[>] "world's greatest gate-crasher": Bridgeport Post, April 30, 1962.

"never heard of her": Scott Schechter, Judy Garland: The Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Legend (Boulder, CO: Cooper Square Press, 2002).

[>] "Streisand's going to win": Kissel, David Merrick: The Abominable Showman.

[>] "Barbara Streisman": Undated list in the Jerome Robbins Collection, Jerome Robbins Dance Division (hereafter JRC), NYPL.

[>] had soured on Bancroft: Many accounts of Streisand's life have stated that Stark wanted Bancroft, but after at least late 1961, he was arguing against her, according to the Jerome Robbins Collection.

"new character based on": Ray Stark to Jerome Robbins and Jule Styne, October 25, 1961, JRC, NYPL.

"the most exciting girl": Ray Stark to Jerome Robbins, October 24, 1961, JRC, NYPL.

"a Spanish exclamation point": Jim Bishop's syndicated column, as in the Newark (Ohio) Advocate, May 5, 1963.

[>] bombastic and overwrought: I have based my descriptions of Robbins on a thorough review of his papers at the NYPL, as well as on Greg Lawrence, Dance With Demons: The Life of Jerome Robbins (New York: Penguin, 2002); Deborah Jowitt, Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004); and Amanda Vaill, Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins (New York: Random House, 2008).

"that out of the fires": John Huston, An Open Book (Boston: Da Capo Press, 1994).

"Commit": LAT, August 27, 1967.

[>] had "more infectious enthusiasm": Laurents, Original Story By.

"to see her in person": Ray Stark to Jerome Robbins, November 24, 1961, JRC, NYPL.

[>] "a natural comedienne who has been": NYT, May 6, 1962.

she'd told her mother: Life, May 22, 1964.

[>] Bob Harris: He was also the father of actor Ed Harris.

[>] he'd accepted Jule Styne's invitation: Most accounts of Streisand's life have stated, or implied, that Stark first saw her perform at the Bon Soir in November of 1962. But it is clear from correspondence in the Jerome Robbins Collection that he had seen her by the spring of that year. Stark said, "Barbra was an unknown when she was first brought to my attention in I Can Get It for You Wholesale and at the Bon Soir in New York." (LAT, August 27, 1967.) Since the Robbins correspondence shows Stark was sold on Streisand as the best choice to play f.a.n.n.y Brice by the early summer of 1962, he must have seen her in these two places before that time. We know that Styne first saw Streisand at the Bon Soir in the spring, and we know that he brought Stark to see her, so it seems safe to conclude that it was sometime in the spring that Stark first saw her. He was back in Los Angeles by early June, when Hedda Hopper wrote in her column that he attended a party thrown by David Merrick at Chasen's, having just returned from Europe (Hartford Courant, June 18, 1962). So it seems likely he would have seen Streisand in Wholesale and at the Bon Soir in late May. I am also grateful to Suzanne Merrill, widow of Bob Merrill, for her insights on the chronology.

[>] "a literal biography": NYT, September 15, 1968.

[>] Stark's grandfather had emigrated: The Stark family history comes from the U.S. Census, New York, New York, 18801930, as well as military and immigration records. Also see the NYT, April 18, 1925; February 25, 1996.

[>] "inattention to his studies": Hal Boyle's syndicated column for the a.s.sociated Press, as in the Long Island Star Journal, March 25, 1965.

"There's something about having": NYT, September 15, 1968.

[>] "decided to make a stab": Hal Boyle syndicated column for the a.s.sociated Press, as in the Long Island Star Journal, March 25, 1965.

[>] "100 percent sole star billing": a.s.sociated Booking contract, www.barbra-archives.com.

"terse, mocking intros": New York World-Telegram, January 4, 1962.

[>] "Twenty-year-old Barbra": Variety, May 30, 1962.

[>] "Do you know how wonderful": "A Love Song for Barbra," posted August 3, 2011, on the Huffington Post. Although the Bergmans wrote that this occurred when Streisand was eighteen, at her first Bon Soir appearance, she did not sing "My Name Is Barbara" until May 1962.

"a ma.s.seur, an a.n.a.lyst and a wife": NYT, September 29, 1960.

[>] "of anyone else in the part": LAT, August 27, 1967. It has become part of Streisand lore that Stark opposed her in Funny Girl right from the start, and only after much effort was he finally persuaded to cast her. But the Jerome Robbins Collection reveals that this was not the case at all. Although it seems to have taken Fran Stark longer to come around, Ray Stark was strongly in Streisand's corner by the late spring of 1962.

10. Summer 1962

[>] thought the outfit was horrible: Spada, Streisand: Her Life.