Born: April 24, 1942
The greatest singing talent to come along in many a moon is kookie Barbra Streisand. Tampa Bay Times, Florida, April 14, 1963.
Streisand was a bit kooky (or kookie), in a delightfully fun way as captured in some of the earliest newspaper stories about the talented newcomer from Turkey or maybe Madagascar, but really Brooklyn.
Here’s one of the first feature stories about Streisand, who at the time was performing at the Caucus Club in Detroit …
Barbra Streisand is a young singer in a big hurry. And, ironically enough, just 12 weeks ago the Turkish-born, Brooklyn-raised songstress would never have guessed that her totally untrained but remarkably true voice would be her claim to fame! … She entered and won a local talent contest in a small club in Greenwich Village and was immediately booked into the Bon Soir in New York … The girl with the wistful face has more ambitions than she may ever find time enough to accomplish. The Windsor Star, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, March 6, 1961
A ”wistful face?” Anyway, Streisand enjoyed putting on reporters from the start. She was born in Brooklyn; her father, Emanuel Streisand, died when she was a baby and her mom struggled to make ends meet (before eventually remarrying). Soon after Streisand graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1959, she moved to Manhattan to pursue a career as an actress and she learned to live thriftily …
She combs the thrift shops and costume stores of New York, selects dresses and costumes in rich, heavy materials and has them converted into contemporary ensembles which meet the approval of the most fastidious agents and audiences. Most of her dresses and shoes (which she has re-heeled) date back to the 1880’s and ‘90’s. Her most valued possession is a caracle coat with a fox collar which she obtained in a thrift shop “for a mere $10.” The Windsor Star, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, March 6, 1961
A caracle coat? The caracle is a wild, African cat. That must have been some coat. Streisand worked as a switchboard operator and landed a role in the off-Broadway play The Insect Comedy. It closed after three performances. The talent contest mentioned in the story above was held at the Lion, a Greenwich Village club. This led Streisand to the Bon Soir and a new career as a singer.
Singer Barbra Streisand left her wallet in a Third ave. bar. It was returned intact, with the note: “From neighbors we don’t steal.” Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, December 1, 1961
Her birth name was Barbara. At some point in 1961 she changed it to Barbra. As she later explained …
Barbra dropped the middle “a” out of her name because she likes musical names like Angelina or Francesca. “But I’d never change Streisand. That’s my father’s name,” she said. “He was a Ph.D. in English literature. He died when I was little.” Daily News, New York, June 10, 1962
Streisand’s next break came when she landed the role of Miss Marmelstein in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Miss Marmelstein was the secretary of Harry Bogen, played by newcomer Elliot Gould. It opened on Broadway at the Schubert Theatre on March 22, 1962 …
She’s a harried, frantic, put-upon, homely frump of a secretary, and she is hilariously played by 19-year-old newcomer to Broadway, Barbara Streisand. Daily News, March 24, 1962
I guess the Daily News didn’t get the memo about the name change. Or read the Playbill, which spelled it Barbra and said Streisand was born in Madagascar and raised in Rangoon, which back then was in Burma. It’s now Yangon in Myanmar. Here’s how Streisand got the part and had some fun with her biography …
In between playing the Bon Soir and taping a Garry Moore TV show, Barbra Streisand told me she really didn’t want her first Broadway role as the hilarious Miss Marmelstein in “I Can Get It for You Wholesale.”
“I had a chance to go out to play a club date at a place called the hungry i,” Barbra said. “But I’d never been on Broadway, so I decided to audition for ‘Wholesale.’ I’d been up pretty late the night before, at a party or something, and I was an hour late for my audition. I was so beat I asked if I could sing sitting down.”
The director not only hired Barbra, he insisted she sing her show-stopping Miss Marmelstein song slumped in a chair in the same so-what mood she was in when she auditioned. Barbra’s biography in Playbill says she was born in Madagascar and reared in Rangoon. But ‘taint so. She’s a Brooklyn girl who has come a long way from the kookie kid who wore purple lipstick at Erasmus Hall High School. Daily News, June 10, 1962
The Daily News had earlier reported that …
Elliot Gould and Barbra Streisand, both from the “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” cast, were smooching like mad at the Harwyn the other night … Daily News, May 13, 1962
They married in 1963 (and divorced in 1971).
Streisand was nominated for a Tony for her performance as Miss Marmelstein. She lost, but was suddenly a hot property. News stories followed …
NEW YORK, July 21 – This might be the quickest way of conveying an idea as to what Barbra Streisand, 20-year-old comedienne sensation of “I Can Get It for You Wholesale” is like. “I bought a nightgown the other day,” said the slim, brown-haired singing actress. “Cotton. It was cut lower in the back than the front, so I turned it around and wore it backward. Gave me an Empire bustline – you know, like in Napoleon’s time. Well it was so pretty that I couldn’t resist wearing it where people could see it. I went out with it on as though it were a blouse. It attracted attention. Somebody remarked that it looked like a nightgown. I said that it was.”
In short, Miss Streisand is an “original” a “natural,” a person who knows what she likes, satisfies her whims if she can afford them, and doesn’t care what others may think. The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, July 22, 1962
The movers and shakers of Broadway took notice of this original, natural talent …
Furthermore, she’s being considered for a title role in an upcoming musical based on the life of Fanny Brice. “She’s the hottest thing in town,” says her agent. “Everybody wants her – for everything from tragedy to slapstick.” Newsday, New York, August 14, 1962
The Fanny Brice musical, Funny Girl, opened on Broadway on March 26, 1964. It was a huge hit, and a star was born …
A new musical and a new musical star came to town last night. The musical is called “Funny Girl” and that is a major understatement, for Barbra Streisand in the title role is much more than funny. She is as good a comedienne as Fanny Brice, whom she is portraying. She can put over a song with the power and assurance of Ethel Merman. She can dance, she can act, she can make you howl with laughter and a moment later break your heart. Newsday, March 27, 1964
From Unknown To Famous 