"My Name Is Barbra" - A Star Has Bombed

This doesn't bode well for my planned movie adaptation.

[quote]So what went wrong with Barbra's memoir ?

Please note that the correct Datalounge phrasing should have been, "Why did Barbra's book go straight into the shitter?"

Does that include audio and kindle editions?

R2, DOWN the shitter!

R3 no. It says hard copies, meaning it’s not counting digital copies or audio.

I think a 900+ page book can be a hard sell.

It probably needs a bit more promotion, and it likely would have helped if she'd had a new movie or album coming out at the same time.

I didn't see a huge amount of promo on this, and the one I did see (CBS Sunday Morning) - Babs seemed to me, for the first time, to be old. So maybe all her old book loving fans died on her.....

I would guess the number for Streisand is only hard cover (as mentioned), not digital or audio, and the number for Britney is all inclusive, since her fan base would likely do digital than buy a hard copy. So Streisand's sales are likely larger than quoted.

R7 no. NYTimes doesn’t count digital sales. It’s always hard copy.

The book is still considered a bomb, no matter how many other copies it has sold on audible, etc, considering the huge advance the publisher paid. It's an enormous disappointment and coincidentally or not, the editor just retired from the company.

Thank you r4! I was about to rush to comment about PRECISELY THAT!

Why would anyone not want to eagerly consume a thousand pages of “what Babs wore to the 1967 Oscars”?

R8 NYT counts eBook and Hardcover formats for its 'Best Seller List'. However, this is PW and they go by hardcover sales.

R9 Who was her editor who just retired ?

She’s 85 and old news. No one cares what she ate for dinner in 1969.

People would be interested if the book was interesting. Everyone who read it says it’s boring with no scoop.

She really is. She should have written this 30 years ago. She might’ve gotten something out of it then but now?

Boring.

[quote]r9 coincidentally or not, the editor just retired from the company.

Oh, is that what they call CRACKING and being sent off for a Rest Cure now?

[quote]R16 She should have written this 30 years ago.

She was busy preparing for GYPSY.

I threw out STEEL TRUE, a biography of Barbara Stanwyck (you know, the actress who had three 'a's' in her name the way nature intended) She's my absolute fave Golden Age actress, but it was unreadable. Unnecessary details and minutae that exhausts even the most fervent fan. I ended up putting it on a bookshelf outside a neighbor's house, where people exchange books. No bio should be more than 500-600 pages.

And Barbra wrote it? As highly as she thinks of herself, it has to be dull and self-serving. Faye Dunaway's autobio was like that - deathly dull and soporific.

Lost by a nose.

I'm pretty sure everyone knew there wasn't going to be any real dirt or anything revealing or shocking. Barbra is much too much of a control freak and has been her entire career. She wants the public to see only what she wants them to see, and everyone by now knows this, so they likely assumed (rightly so) that this would be a dull read.

I guess people assumed that in her old age she would actually spill the beans because what does she have to lose at this point?

Big mistake during the whole fall/winter book promotion: While Babs was out there promoting the book, either she or the person interviewing her was also discussing the length of the book. So it was kind of like this career culmination, which is something to celebrate...but then in the next breath, they would start talking about the book being more than 900 pages and how long and hard it was to write.

Also--and I love Barbra--many of her stories about her mother, her father who died when she was young and that she couldn't get a job as a serious actress when she was 19 and instead she had to sing for her supper...have been told before. I'm sure she has a thousand other stories in the book that are fascinating, but those time and again "go to" stories have been rehashed so many times before.

Lastly--and again I love Barbra--but it gets a bit wearing when she talks about how she doesn't like to work and that it's all a big effort. No one wants to hear than. And instead of stories about her mother who never told her that she loved her, Barbra should have talked about in her promotional interviews about some behind-the-scenes stories about Omar Sharif, Ryan O'Neal, dates with Pierre Trudeau, some of her show biz girlfriends, meeting Queen Elizabeth, etc. Perhaps some of those stories are in the book, but she should have talked about them in her interviews instead of "my dead father and then my mother married a guy who didn't like me." We've heard that all before.

I was excited when I first cracked it open. The beginning was pretty fascinating - her Brooklyn childhood, her 'Funny Girl' big break, moving on to movies. Then somewhere along the lines - may have been when she met Peters - it became dull and repetitive. How many times can she tell us how misunderstood she's always been and play 'the victim'?

The level of detail she goes into in the book just shows how out of touch with the rest of the world she is, and nobody gave a fuck.

Why didn't she divide the book into two (or more) parts? Or do beginning, middle and late stages of her career, with each volume having a tantalizing cliffhanger? I have a digital copy but not sure I want to devote myself only to it for 900 pages or whatever it is. She's been around since the early 60s and her level of fame seems to warrant more than one book.

There was no juicy gossip. Just what she wore and who designed it, what she recorded and who arranged it, blah blah. I'm sure she had a lot of tea to spill but she just skimmed over all her relationships. The only thing that came close to gossip is when her and Brolin were dating and they went out to the theater/opera/wherever and she walked out on him because he wouldn't hold her hand!! Oooh scandalous! Honestly, it was boring as fuck.

Britney on the other hand, had good gossip. She was very honest about how Justin broke her heart and she had aborted his baby, how her husband Kevin used and mistreated her, her breakdown, etc. She really laid it all out there.

"My Name is Barbra" will jump to #1 on all the bestseller lists next month when lovebird readers discover that it makes the perfect Valentine's Day gift for all the romantic Evergreen couples from coast to coast! 25% off Sweethearts' Sale at the Malibu Mall starting February 1st!! One book that is shared by two -- on a loveseat!! Ms. Streisand's tastefully curated memories of the way love was and her sizzling erotic anecdotes of serial passion through the decades are sure to spark a raging fire for you and your own Greatest Star on February 14th!!!

Being over 900 pages didn't help matters. Most people nowadays can't be bothered to read an article that would take 5 minutes.

The Dietrich bio by her daughter Maria Riva (now 99 years old!) was a bit too long at about 900 pages, but it was pretty enjoyable nevertheless.

Well, r30, in my case it helps that I find Marlene Dietrich much more inherently interesting than Babs.

The main audience for Barbra's memoir is dead. In many cases, long dead.

r30 that is the best celebrity biography I have ever read. Maria Riva is an incredible writer and Dietrich's whole story was fascinating.

R31, did you read the Maria Riva book? It was lacerating. Dietrich came off as a fascinating but ultimately pathetic character. In her prime, though, she held an allure that was nearly unmatched.

R32 No excuse - their heirs could've bought a copy.

Even Jason didn't buy it.

R16 Exactly. She gambled and lost by taking her time with this book. Not enough people are interested in her. Not enough people read anymore. Not enough buy books anymore. The world, other than her dedicated fans, has moved on. Now it's all just misty watercolored memories.

I haven't read it yet, r34, but now I am intrigued.

Bluntly, her core audience has died, and she's no longer relevant to most people.

If you ask people under 30 years old who she is, I doubt many people would know or care. Most would probably say she's the oldtime singer that Rachel Berry from Glee loved.

The early to mid 2000s was the prime time for her to release an autobiography. She could have done a romantic comedy/drama with a soundtrack and coordinated a simultaneous release, which she promoted on an episode of Oprah. 500k copies right out the gate: book & CD.

It's a flop because people never got over her bad acting in Yentyl.

She devoted 100 of the 900 pages to Yentl alone. It didn’t need or warrant that much discussion.

R39 I’m under 30 and I know her because of What’s Up Doc? and The Way We Were.

[quote][R39] I’m under 30 and I know her because of What’s Up Doc? and The Way We Were.

I seriously doubt the vast majority of people under 30, even gay ones, have ever seen either What's Up Doc (a classic whether you like Babs or not) or The Way We Were.

Barbra is mostly a gay Boomer thing. Those guys really worship her. I'm Gen X and even with my generation she's never been a huge deal. Of course she has her fans, but we've never really been in awe of her.

How much was the advance?

Babs’ reaction to poor sales -

[italic]What’s Up: Shock

As others have said, a sizable chunk of her original fans from the 60s/70s are now dead and she's not relevant to younger generations.

Hell, Millennials and Gen Z think of Madonna as an ancient old fossil and Barbra is a generation older than her.

More like, [italic]What’s Up Schlock[/italic]

It's no Swanson on Swanson...

Because, and I say this with utmost sensitivity, she's not all that.

I started reading it, and when I got to the part about A Star Is Born, about 50% in, I took a break to watch the movie. What an absolute shitshow. The worst part was the excrescence they saddled Kris Kristofferson with that they called "rock music." Why didn't they let him use his own music, or compose some songs for the show, instead of that absolute shit? Reminded me why I never really liked her music much.

As with the book, I only made it halfway through the movie.

R52, you should find the New West article Frank Pierson, the director of ASIB wrote back in 76 about the making of the movie. He really burned Barbra and Jon Peters. Does she mention that at all?

Yes.

Anyone here claiming that only hardcover sales count is an idiot. The book is as big and heavy as a dictionary, and is not cheap. No one expected it to be a hit in hardcover. I’ve no doubt most sales are in digital downloads and audible versions. The latter contains musical selections Barbra discusses in her book, which is an added incentive to get the book in that format.

I would guess that Streisand's book sold more in hardcover than the average book, and than it did in digital only because of the age of her fan base, many of whom likely haven't adapted to e-books.

[quote]R48 Hell, Millennials and Gen Z think of Madonna as an ancient old fossil and Barbra is a generation older than her.

my initial reaction is to posit she’s a FEW generations older than Madonna… but I guess it just seems that way.

Barbara is at the end of the Silent Generation--she was born in 1942.

Madonna is towards the end of the Boomer generation. She was born in 1958.

She outlived her audience. Overestimated the capacity of the frail old bones of her few faithful to hold a 900 page book. Overestimated her beauty, her intrigue, her appeal...

[quote]Barbara is at the end of the Silent Generation.

If she had been at the beginning we'd probably never have got a 48 hour audiobook from her.

I say this as an avid reader and a devoted Streisand fan since my teens: I haven’t got the TIME to read a 900-biography that’s not very well written. I’ve been listening to the audio book whenever I’m in the car alone; I’ve been at it for weeks and I’m only now about to get to the Funny Girl section. It’s a fucking slog.

True to form, it’s clear that an editor wasn’t allowed within ten paces of the manuscript, lest it interfere with Barbra’s auteurial genius. The book is too long and not very interesting as a result.

I only half way through the audio book - 24 hours in!!! And she’s just gone through two hours of the mess that was making A Star is Born and her hatred for the article the director wrote about the experience.

But it was fascinating to read said article - My Battles with Jon and Barbra - after enduring two hours on her side to be able to visualize everything this man wrote as pure truth!!!

All her fans are dead.

At this point she should have pulled a Qunicy Jones and just unleashed a pot of scalding tea on everyone culture values as legendary. If she had mention stuff like Marlon Brando slept with Richard Pryor and Marvin Gaye and would fuck anything that moved, like Quincy did in an interview, I think she would have sold more books.

in other words it's no My First 2,000 Men by Liz Renay

It wasn’t promoted properly. A long Stern interview, CBS Sunday Morning and Colbert. 10 mins for breakfast tv in the UK. All filmed with her sitting in her home. Doesn’t cut it if you want to sell big and sell to younger audiences.

Had she released this when Oprah was on air, the book would have sold a million by now. With Oprah on air, a proper media tour and late night appearances in Europe - 3 million worldwide.

This is a legacy title, it will sell and sell for years to come as it’s the definitive document of her career. It’s probably done the same numbers again in audiobook sales and also has global interest. I don’t think a hard sell would’ve worked. This is one for the fans. Plus, it’s a prestige get for the publisher. I’m sure they were aware of its sales potential. Streisand is not Prince Harry. They knew that.

There was only one copy left at Walmart when I checked the book section yesterday. I debated picking it up, but it's huge AF and I'm not a big enough fan to force myself to read all that. I knew she was into herself, but Jesus, it looked like War and Peace. Picked up a book on Pearl Harbor instead.

Brittnay's memoir is a pamphlet and priced accordingly. It can be read in three hours.

R69 I borrowed mine as an ebook from the library and collectively, 3 hours sounds about right for the time it took me to read it/skim it.

It wasn't very revelatory but it did seem to have BS's voice, simple as that was/is, and was kinda compelling in its own simple way.

Yeah $ales are everything- it’s DL. Fact is it’s a fascinating account of one of show businesses greatest talents, in the distinct first person voice of that person.

Collectively DL is really really stupid.

R71 = Barbra’s own personal Beyhive.

No, R71, it's just that collectively DL doesn't lockstep share your poor taste.

900 pages is ridiculous unless it’s about Napoleon. Half the length would have been twice as good.

The problem is not Barbra or the book - which is great. The problem is that the culture has become mediocre.

…as reflected on DL

Saw her on Colbert last night. She seemed ancient and semi-senile.

[quote]The book is as big and heavy as a dictionary, and is not cheap.

Amazon had it marked down at $31 forever. That's not expensive. Then they did a promo after Thanksgiving - buy two copies, get one free. That's not expensive.

BJs and Costco have had the price slashed to half price (about $22) since Thanksgiving. That's not expensive.

But timing is everything - and this should have been released some 15 - 20 years ago.

I've been listening to the audiobook. It's FANTASTIC. She's very detailed, honest (talks about extra marital affairs) and most of all SMART and self-aware. It also feels shockingly intimate and honest.

It's a fascinating journey through latter 20th century show business. The audio book is fantastic because she includes snippits of her songs, and often will interject little asides.

It makes me sad because it almost feels like this is Barbra wrapping her life up, getting ready for the end. All I can say is that if you ever were a fan, you should really get the audiobook.

She's basically muzak in the retirement home hallways now.

Was this review on Goodreads written by a Datalounger?

That review is a hatchet job. Too stupid to realize that yes, how this huge talent rose to the very top of everything show biz by 25 and stayed there while remaining sober, stable, philanthropic and a liberal activist is of great interest to many- now and in the future. Her recording and television contracts were ground breaking as her voice. Her experience in the male dominated world of show business is fascinating- to many. Just not this guy. Yes he’s like a lot of DL posters who tear apart not just Streisand but all manner of over achieving and gifted among the famous. DL is full of unhappy campers venting away- as is the entire Internet. It’s kind of sad.

I’m reading a bio of the choreographer George Balanchine who was clearly a genius and very complex man, far from easy and “perfect”. Boy would the DL “intelligencia” have a field day with him!

I re-watched "What's Up, Doc?" recently and in the dvd extras they have a her doing commentary over the film. But she's so boring they shortened it to "select scenes". Occasionally she interjects "Oh, that's funny..." or "My hair was so straight back then". She really has nothing to say.

Did you read her book R83?

Too heavy and the print too small for the average Streisand fan - age 75.

The fact that she doesn't see What's Up Doc? as one of her better movies (She said she doesn't "understand" it) but still fawns over the horrific A Star is Born says it all.

Jason @ r82, knock it off…you’re still in the will.

Her targeted consumer is dead.

SO? This book was meant to be put on a shelf (people over 50 have book shelves), and nibbled at. I'm sure Barbra is happier with that than with something read from cover to cover and thrown out.

Please. We all know Janbot started this thread.

[quote]Then they did a promo after Thanksgiving - buy two copies, get one free. That's not expensive.

Holiday gifts for people you hate.

What's a book? And for that matter, what's a Barbra?

992 pages. What an exhausting woman!

She’ll never be as exhausting and exhausted woman is me!

She's always been boring to me. I don't think I'd watch a 45 minute documentary about her let alone curl up on the couch with her memoir. Her ego makes Madonna seem humble by comparison.

You sound like a complete bore R95, you haven't read the book so you have no idea what her ego is about.

I’ve enjoyed her films and her music but based off of the books I have read about her, she sounds like a difficult person to be around. I guess she has alienated folks in order to get her projects done the way she wanted them done. The quest for pe has its flaws.

She bored too soon after starting too late.

[quote]It's a flop because people never got over her bad acting in Yentyl.

Yentyl???

Yentanyl.

[quote] I haven’t got the TIME to read a 900-biography that’s not very well written.

It's not written. Barbra cannot write or TYPE (even in the 21st Century and she's proud of it). She talked this shit into a tape recorder. DEAL WITH IT, FANS!

900 pages?? Dafuck outta here with that shit.

Yawntl

Her Harpo Marx look of the 70s

[quote] Boy would the DL “intelligencia” have a field day with him!

Oh, [italic]dear.[/italic]

R53 - Barbra also talks about the Frank Pierson article in her audio commentary on the DVD of a Star is Born.

For those of you who haven't read this. I believe every word Pierson said.

I think the reason Barbra was so unengaged in the commentary of What's Up, Doc is because she wasn't in control of it. She couldn't boss Bogdanovich around.

Like every movie she ever directed or produced (or both), she overthought the book.

[quote]they saddled Kris Kristofferson with that they called "rock music." Why didn't they let him use his own music?

R52. Have you heard his own shitty music? I was trying to make a movie, dear.

Has Susan Dey given us her review? I'd love to hear it.

My mom wanted to borrow my copy but I hit her one of her own for Christmas. Only problem is she is 84 and would have preferred a large type version. But it doesn’t exist. Though my mom admits a large type version would have been really unwieldy and in about three volumes.

Her stories about Marlon Brando are fascinating. I had no idea they were so close. She talks about how once in the '90s, he came to her house for dinner, and he was so fat he became stuck behind the steering wheel, and she had to pull him out by grabbing each hand.

She doesn't out and out say it, but its clear to me that early on they had a sexual relationship.

r112 you can do large type as an ebook on a tablet.

[quote] My mom wanted to borrow my copy but I hit her one of her own for Christmas.

You hit her with it? That must have hurt, especially if she's 84.

I imagine Barbra's large print audiobook and her yelling the entire thing.

and-as

Re Frank Pierson and A Star is Born. Pauline Kael made 2 good points.

The other film he directed has the same problems. There is no controlling dramatic intelligent at work for the audience to be involved in.

And Pierson's article is self-serving. If the film is good it's to his credit. If it's bad he can blame the influence or interference of Barbra. Either way he wins.

She created the musical sequences and in retrospect she probably should be directed it all herself.

...dramatic intelligence..

You'd think a book named after her would benefit from the Streisand Effect.

She needed to up her promotion game with a dramatic face to face confrontation with Mandy on "The Drew Barrymore Show." When Kathryn Grody unexpectedly walks onto the set, Mandy and Drew both burst into tears, while Barbra approaches a white microphone to sing a haunting cover version of Barry Manilow's "Mandy." This would have prompted me (and millions of others) to run out and buy my own copy of her book, rather than get the e-book for free at the library.

She's all washed up.

That review at r81 has some brilliant insights:

[quote]She has the audacity to say regarding those people who directed her early shows, "they didn't understand the way I worked." No, Barbra, at 20 years old you didn't understand the way others worked and never took a moment to respect anyone except those few people who acted like your lowly servants. And that has continued for over sixty years.

Barbra Streisand is such a doomed performer - often really good for other directors while usually sappy and boring when in charge, herself. (The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Filters truly are clunky, unenjoyable, almost ridiculous movies.)

Several years ago I hired an audio guy to set up my home theater, a very nice Hassidic man with incredible knowledge of his job who came strongly recommended by enthusiasts like myself. As he was leaving my house late in the afternoon, he said, "Thank you for being so nice to me. I spent the first part of the day working for a crazy lady in Malibu who almost brought me to tears. Fortunately her husband intervened and got her off my hair otherwise I would have just left the job half done which I've never done." Guess who he was talking about.

The movies she directed and starred in are an unintended laugh riot. The 50 year old woman who passes for a boy, the psychotherapist who has a relationship with her client to cure him, the ugly duckling who becomes a "gorgeous" looker, I mean WTF. Ego, ego, ego.

She left it far too late to release this. She should have released it in two or three volumes starting 20-25 years ago. Once she’s dead they could have combined then into one big book like they have released now, for anyone wanting to buy it in the future. Her original fans are too old now to want to read this huge slab.

R112, can’t you just read it to her?

Did the book really bomb? Maybe Babs and the publisher are happy about sales.

What shines through in the Colbert Questionert is that she still takes herself very seriously. She doesn’t have the lightness that someone who goes from Flatbush projects to Malibu mansion would be expected to have. It gives her an untouchable air but then the least little hint of humanity or relatability starts people giggling. Audiences are desperate to love her so finding out the queen has reflux brings out a big laugh.

If only she could find a little more humour and loosen up a little more she’d be great fun. Her book would be an easier read too.

I’m 680 pages into the book. I consider myself a fan but I still would not want to meet Babs. Not even to share a bad tongue sandwich under a bush of Barbra’s babies.

I read that it's 90% her talking abouts clothes, designs and fabrics. She must have some PTSD about never having pretty clothes as a child. By the time she was in her teens and making money she wanted gorgeous shmattas but could only afford vintage from secondhand stores.

She wrote the book to show the world 'look at me now'.

I read at the book - sister has it. I felt (the book) was mental illness or - if that’s to far- out of touch. Mentally sloppy? There’s a lot of odd shit about food.

No, guys, don't say this. She's Barbra, she's ours and we have to support her no matter what. She's our Hillary Clinton of entertainment. Stay loyal no matter what, please! This is tearing down an icon in the gay community.

^ MARY!

What exactly has Barbra ever done for the gay community? Serious question.

This post led me to Publisher's Weekly, where I enjoyed looking at the sales charts. Here is the Top 10 Bio/Autobiography.

[quote] The quest for pe has its flaws.

I mean quest for PERFECTION…

Btw, has it been mentioned that the publisher paid $15 million for this book?

She never wanted to be a gay diva. And I'm sure she was mortified when Jason came out ("Oh the press is going to have a field day with this!").

He certainly has lived a long time as an HIV+ person.

In one of the biographies of her, she was allegedly mortified when some queen threw his coat over a puddle so she could walk over it when she got out of her car. “Don’t you people have any self-respect?”, she asked as she went into the Greenwich Village nightclub where she was performing.

Is she disappointed that she’s never going to be a grandmother?

Does she at least let us know where one can obtain the full-length version of "Cycle Sluts"?

R134, when she found out her son was gay, she became a gay advocate. That’s it.

[quote]She doesn't out and out say it, but its clear to me that early on they had a sexual relationship.

Howard Stern asked her to her face and she said no. Growing up and fucking your dream idol is a lot better than just becoming great friends. There's no reason for her to lie at this point.

What do you mean she never did anything for the gays? She gave us Funny Girl! The Citizen Kane of the gays.

Though when it came out it was a huge success across the board. Too big a success for only gays and old Jewish women to have seen it.

I can tell you that many gay men in my age group (forties) and especially younger gay men have never seen Funny Girl.

Barbra was a big thing with Boomer gays but not so much with the generations that came after them.

She does look like an old Jewish woman in candid photos. Time and tide wait for no man or woman. Soon I'll look like an old Italian man which was never supposed to happen.

Just being a gay icon in a movie is not actively "doing something for the gays."

Were that true, there would be a statue of Dawson outside the Stonewall Inn in the Village.

Did Dawson throw the first brick by squirting it out of his butt along with 50 loads? What a guy!

Great article about how gay men shaped her persona, as well as other entertainment divas…

I think she realizes now that her biggest mistake was not making more films after the Prince of Tides. She had an Oscar Best Picture nomination for that movie, and then wasted that momentum. That's when she should have filmed Gypsy and The Normal Heart. She could have easily gotten financing for TNH as a smaller independent film, but she wanted to do it as a big studio picture. She would have won Oscars for both of those movies. Instead, she wasted an entire decade(her last as a viable actress/director) building the ridiculous Barbraland in Malibu and being a housewife.

I think Babs LOVED living the dream as Malibu Barbie for the past 30 years! YOU may not have liked it, R149, but she has no regrets.

As for the tome, she put it all down and got it published for a hefty sum. Being Top of the Pops is not as important as the fact that she put her story down on paper...FINALLY. There's nothing more for her to do the rest of her life, which will probably end within 15 years.

I don't blame her for never making The Normal Heart. The same qualities that made Larry Kramer such a hero to the gay community made him almost impossible to work with a a collaborator--he was famously a screamer, and nearly incapable of compromise. I thin she genuinely tried to do this with him and got stymied at every turn because he was so protective of his vision for the project.

[quote] YOU may not have liked it, [R149], but she has no regrets.

How can you possibly know that for a fact? Your supposition is no more certain than r149's.

Do Streisand fans have a nickname like the Beyhive or the Swifties?

[quote]I can tell you that many gay men in my age group (forties) and especially younger gay men have never seen Funny Girl.

Between VHS/DVD/Blu-ray, cable and even Turner Classics regularly screening it, you've had no curiously about one of the most successful Academy Award winning movie musicals of all time? How queer.

R124 That story doesn't sound believable at all.

R149 She says she tried to make a 'smaller film' or a film for HBO (popular in the 80s and 90s). It was Kramer who rejected those options - he wanted to 'go big' like the film 'Philadelphia'. She kept going back to it for some reason (as she says - she was 'devoted' to this project) and wasted a lot of time.

R134 She hasn't done anything against the gay community but that doesn't mean we have to pretend she's not insane.

Large type editions use thinner paper, r112.

R152, are you aware that everything you read here is an opinion? I once heard Barbra say on TV with regards to her film career, in a very blase way, "I guess I should have made more comedies." Projecting what would have been "better," and there's a lot to project, is not the way she looks at it. Before you start arguing, take note that this is an observation and an opinion.

Someone on another forum suggested "Streistans." But I doubt she'd approve.

I enjoyed the article by the director of A Star Is Born linked above in a post. Barbra really is a prisoner of her ego and, at times, a monster because of it. I may have to read the book now to see her perspective on that period, which I am sure is skewed by time as well as wholeheartedly believing she knows best at all times.

[quote]She says she tried to make a 'smaller film' or a film for HBO (popular in the 80s and 90s). It was Kramer who rejected those options - he wanted to 'go big' like the film 'Philadelphia'. She kept going back to it for some reason (as she says - she was 'devoted' to this project) and wasted a lot of time.

He also wanted it as sexually explicit as it could be and she said it had to appeal to a mainstream audience.

r154 I'm saying that younger Gen X and the generations after us have never really been huge Barbra fans. She's not really been relevant to our lives.

[quote] you've had no curiously about one of the most successful Academy Award winning movie musicals of all time? How queer.

Believe it or not but there are tons of gay men who aren't really into musicals.

Uh huh

r164 you must live an isolated life. Musicals aren't a big thing with many gay men.

Even her biggest fans which I'm not one of new this would read like either an obituary or a press release. It's like Olivia Newton-John. I'm her biggest fan but would never read any autobiography she wrote. I love her but you know in her personal life she's boring as f***.

Pretty sure it went to #2 on the NY list.

R153 Barbrats?

I found it in the 2 dollar discount bin at Korvette!

R166 ONJ's memoir "Don't Stop Believin'" from a few years ago was torturous boredom. And I'm a huge fan of hers. Then again, she didn't have a career like Streisand (or many other female singer / actresses).

Well, ONJ's memoir was boring because she didn't reveal ANYTHING. We all know there's tons of dirt there.

The only thing ONJ revealed was that Burt Reynolds (though she never named him) constantly hit on her and harassed her from the moment she sat next to him on the Carson show in the mid-70s. Even though he was involved with someone for a long time (Sally Field) and later married another actress (Loni Anderson) he never gave up on ONJ throughout the 80s - he kept telling her he wanted to have an affair. Again, she never mentioned him by name, but her description of him was spot on.

She does mention turning down Shadowlands which she admits would have been perfect casting. She doesn't mention the Woody Allen offer of Small Time Crooks.

Why should she mention the Woody Allen movie? I remember reading that her manager said Barbra couldn’t STAR in Allen’s movie because of other commitments. I assumed the role and movie was not going to be a Streisand extravaganza though he made it sound like it. Barbra and Woody Allen were not meant to work together.

Allen doesn't pay nearly enough...

Does she mention she was considered for the part of Neely O’Hara? (I just read this somewhere else.) Can’t picture Barbra playing anyone named O’Hara.

I only know her as the weird mom from the movie Meet the Fockers but I think that was released like 20 years ago. What's interesting to me is my generation knows who Cher is but not Barbra. Cher is seen as cool even though she's not that much younger than Barbra.

My 23 year old niece knows Barbra, she confuses her with Amy Winehouse.

A Star is Born is really a god awful movie but people loved it and it was a huge hit. The Mirror Has Two Face is a movie to watch in complete disbelief. You can't believe what you are witnessing. She should have come out with this book 10 years ago. Most of her audience is dead or circling the drain.

I have to ask, does she ever acknowledge any moment in time when she was a complete cunt? Because we all know she has been at times. Is it all martyrdom, or does she ever take a second to say, yeah, total cunt in that instance and here's why?

I've read a few things where she was out and out nasty or very cold for no reason and no person who has worked closely with her has praised her as a colleague or friend. And that's a lot of people. Her closest friend was Sue Mengers and that turned into a disaster. For Mengers not so much for Streisand.

Streisand treat Sue Mengers like shit.

[quote]Streisand treat Sue Mengers like shit.

Only after she found out Mengers would turn stuff down without ever discussing it with her and started talking for her to the studios. Above everything, Mengers was an employee and she failed her.

Oh pluleeze. Streisand replaced her manager with the illiterate Jon Peters and kept Sue at arms length before dumping her. If Sue didn’t send the treatment (not script) for the mediocre A Star is Born, good for her.

I knew these two guys in 1976 who, upon declaring themselves a couple, told everyone A Star Is Born was their movie, and "Evergreen" their song. We all wondered if they had seen the movie.

[quote]Between VHS/DVD/Blu-ray, cable and even Turner Classics regularly screening it, you've had no curiously about one of the most successful Academy Award winning movie musicals of all time? How [bold]queer.[/bold]

What a striking choice of words.

Well, r184, it could have been Thelma & Louise.

Not in 1976, r186.

My favorite thing about these Barbra threads is how incredibly touchy her stans become about any criticism whatsoever levied against her. They cannot relax and just say, "You know, I adore her as a singer and actress, but it's true that her memoir is too long and boring."

[quote]Her closest friend was Sue Mengers and that turned into a disaster. For Mengers not so much for Streisand.

Streisand never ever refers to Mengers as her 'closest friend' - not once in the book. She says she was her manager and they maintained a 'friendship' to a degree, but the two of them rarely saw 'eye to eye' on many things.

Her 'closest friends' are mentioned as Quincy Jones, Cis Corman, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

Her closest female friends all got dementia, and so did her mother.

R174 - Allen only paid scale but actors wanted to do his films because of the prestige there once was about working with or for him.

[quote] Can’t picture Barbra playing anyone named O’Hara.

If she can play the Irish woman "Dolly Gallagher Levi" , she can play anyone.

R189, if Babs said Sue Mengers was her manager, she was lying. Mengers was never her manager.

R193 - I stand corrected. She said she was her agent. Sorry about that !

I think Barbra comments that how Sue became her agent was a mystery to her. Sue was Elliott Gould's agent and then suddenly she started representing Barbra too.

She doesn’t claim Mengers was her manager - that was and is Marty Erlichman - she states Mengers was her agent.

R195, excuses, excuses

I am 52 and got into Barbra at the age of 14, when “The Sondheim Album,” sorry, I mean “The Broadway Album” came out. Obviously she was not popular amongst my age group but I loved her and listened to everything. I even liked “Emotion.” I couldn’t wait to watch “A Star is Born” on Channel 11 one summer Saturday evening.

I still like her but am more of a Joni Mitchell guy now. I think she still has fans. She always will.

I think Barbra had Freddie Fields and David Begelman but then David got caught in that check fraud scandal.

I loved the book about the David Begelman scandal, Indecent Exposure, not least because it captured how absolutely frigid it was in New York the winter of 1978.

Barbra Streisand is today's musical equivalent of Ray Conniff, syrupy arrangements that I fear will give me diabetes if I keep on listening.

I love Barbra in this pic with Jon Peters and Begelman.

[quote] The Mirror Has Two Faces

I used to piss off a dear departed friend of mine who was a serious Streisand stan. I’d call it THE NOSE NEEDS TWO MIRRORS.

[quote] Her 'closest friends' are mentioned as Quincy Jones, Cis Corman, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

No mention of Virginia Kelley, Bill Clinton's mother? They said they were each other's BFFs during his administration.

Always thought her BFF was Donna Karan, but the book makes it clear it was Cis Corman, who was also a (needed) mother figure. Mengers wasn't even an also-ran, unless that is a retrospective whitewash.

When people say their generation doesn’t know Barbra...I think back on when I was in my teens or twenties. Most of my generation knew the famous singers of my parents’ generation. Or my grandparents’ generation, I guess. Has Streisand been reclusive? I mean we all knew Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Doris Day. Maybe they were more visible.

When I was a gayling and went to New York in 1983 I found the offices of Barwood Films. I didn't expect to see Barbra but met Cis Corman. She was an intimidating lady.

R204 I just finished the Virginia Clinton Kelly chapter. She does consider them friends, but because VCK's life was cut so short, I don't think it compares to the decades long friendship she had with the Bergmans, Quincy, or Corman.

A Star is Boring

[quote]They cannot relax and just say, "You know, I adore her as a singer and actress, but it's true that her memoir is too long and boring."

Perhaps, r188...just maybe...they adore her and they *don't* think it's too long and boring. Oh, never mind, I'm sure *you* know how they really feel.

The more defensive you are about Streisand, r210, the more you amuse others.

Hey, r211, I'm not defending Streisand in any way. My Babs period ended with A Star is Born. But some of the critical posters go overboard in the other direction. I prefer a more balanced view. If that amuses you...well...whatever blows your dress up.

Agree with R212 - the gleeful swipes at her are easy - I take a few myself and haven’t really been a fan in decades. That doesn’t negate her importance to me as a gayling - that voice for starters - pretty amazing. Huge movie star through the 60s and 70s when I was growing up. She’ll always be special to me - in spite of her self-importance and the grandiosity of her later years. Kind of hard to exaggerate how major she was for years.

Does she talk much about Shirley MacLaine in the book? They were close friends for many years and they share the same birthday, but they seem to have had a falling out about a decade ago. Barbra, Shirley, Liz Taylor and a couple other broads use to get together for lunch a few times a year and gossip about all of Hollywood.

[quote] Barbra, Shirley, Liz Taylor and a couple other broads use to get together for lunch a few times a year and gossip about all of Hollywood.

Damn, gay waiter heaven!

I’m liking the book. Advance-ordered for $35 online from Target about August. Yes it’s Barbra at her extremist level of detailing everything. But given her talent, accomplishments, longevity, and all she puts into every project, fundraising, belief or cause that are important to her, I think the detail was worthwhile and helps explain all her insecurities and actions and choices behind her often standoffish persona that led to her successes and accomplishments—fan of hers, or like her or not. I admire her individuality and never backing down from always asking “why” and pushing for “more,” and understanding what about her life helped shape the person she is and the choices she has made.

She says Shirley told her (too late) that she should never have worked with Martin Ritt (on "Nuts") because he was a notorious male chauvinist.

Well, Shirl, he made one of the most iconic feminist films of the '70s (Norma Rae) so maybe he just didn't want to fuck you.

I'm a gay genXer who LOVES the book.

One of the chapters is titled "What was I thinking?" She makes that comment within the chapter about turning down roles that other actresses got Oscars for. But the MAIN topic of the chapter was her meeting and courtship with Jon Peters. Ha.

Barbra refuses to say "fart" on the audio book. She has to spell it out. "It embarrasses me" she says. Not unlike Mel Torme in his Judy Garland book- he talks about how much he hated that word, and Judy and the crew would razz him and say it to embarrass him.

One thing I wonder about. She talks about how utterly cruel Walter Matthau was to her during the making of Hello Dolly. That's when the word popped up. He announced to cast and crew "I've got more talent in my farts than she has in her whole body!" Yet later, she mentions that Carol Matthau was one of her closest friends. And I remember the couple going to her concert in Anaheim in 1994. I'm curious to know how (or if) they ever mended fences.

[quote]I loved the book about the David Begelman scandal, Indecent Exposure, not least because it captured how absolutely frigid it was in New York the winter of 1978.

Let me tell you about "frigid" .....

She wore me out!

She must be extremely wealthy, I wonder what will happen to her money once she dies.

R184 they sound like a lovely couple, where they wearing matching outfits?

What does she say about that potential scene stealer, Anne Francis?

I bet they had lots of cozy, giggling slumber parties before the fire that she could chat about, spanning decades.

#Besties4Evah!

#222, she's being cloned.

Has Anne Francis been cloned so Babs can enjoy cutting her roles to ribbons again, in future projects?

[quote]Is she disappointed that she’s never going to be a grandmother?

She's been married to James Brolin for twenty five years and considers his kid's children her grandchildren

Trevor, Eden, Westlyn and Chapel?

How many uberfraus are in the Brolin clan?

also isn't she godmother to a Jon Peters child?

Speaking of Elizabeth Taylor, I'm sure Barbra DOES NOT own up to this quote - when asked circa 1963-64 if her heavy eye make up was inspired by Taylor in Cleopatra, she said, "No, I don't copy fake Jews." (Taylor converted when married to Mike Todd).

Another great snarky quote told second hand via Pete Hamill calling Brooklyn the place of "boredom, baseball and bad breath."

[quote] Is she disappointed that she’s never going to be a grandmother?

Isn’t this like saying “Is she disappointed her son isn’t straight?” What’s the point? My mom didn’t have grandchildren, either. Was she disappointed? I don’t know - what was I supposed to do about it? Kind of a stupid question.

Darling, R231, Jason could have coupled with another guy and adopted or used a surrogate. Though I don't think Nerdy Jason had ever has a long term relationship - that's the problem. My own mother didn't become a grandmother until she was early 70 because only the youngest child grew up to have children.

R219 She became friends with Carol Matthau after CM wrote a letter to the NYT defending Streisand after they wrote a rather negative article on her (I think this was for 'Yentl'). She had never met Carol while working with Walter, but was moved by her generosity to go to bat on her behalf. After the letter was published, Barbra called Carol to thank her - and the two remained close friends ever since. Though Barbra only touches upon it, CM had said in the past it was she who brought Walter and Barbra together to patch up old wounds and begin again with a fresh start - hence, their attending her concerts.

R232 The majority of gay men don’t have children. Less than half are in long term relationships.

Was the question, Is Barbra disappointed her son doesn’t have adopted/surrogate children? If so I misunderstood it. But since the odds are against that happening, anyway, why should she expect it?

R234 I think because he probably had the resources (financial, social and legal) to become a single dad - like Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper. Or a 'single parent' - like Madonna, or Hoda Kotb. Then again, maybe having a kid is not his thing - it certainly wasn't mine (and we're about the same age).

I think Jason has suffered from depression for most of his life, and that's why he has never been in a long-term relationship.

He was good friends with Natalie Cole. Maybe both being Nepo babies helped them to bond.

R234 Would people expect him to become a single dad because he had the resources? Do many gay men have the desire to be single dads?

[quote]I think Jason has suffered from depression for most of his life, and that's why he has never been in a long-term relationship.

There are pills for that. I think Jason has suffered from having a large trust fund most of his life, and his lack of social skills - much like his father.

I've met and talked to Elliot Gould and he is very charming and charismatic. I can only imagine how alluring and sexy he was when younger. He definitely doesn't suffer from a lack of social skills.

No everyone has to be a narcissistic Hollywood fame whore, or life of the party.

R233 thanks for the information. She sure was hurt by Walter, who claimed he was getting back at her for her mistreatment of Sydeny Chaplin durring Funny Girl, which was rich, as it was Chaplin who was abusive to her.

Year ago, I read a post- maybe it was here- that somebody went on a date with Jason; there was no discussion of Jason’s background. He had a piano in his apartment and that was about it. But when the date told Jason he knew who he was, Jason ghosted him afterward.

Never understood the Anne Francis thing. “Funny Girl”, as it stands, is a really long movie to start with. How much more of it could Francis have been in? How necessary would her character have even been?

R239, he must have learned it as he got older, way older. He used to go on talk shows and sit there like a lump. Once Dick Cavett tried to get him into a conversation, and not only wouldn't he respond, he took his shoe off and put his bare foot on the table in front of him. Gould was probably nervous and high, then why go on a talk show? He was like that on all of them.

What's going on here with Jason ?

Why are so many people making statements about Jason and long-term relationships ? He seems like a very private individual. How can anyone here pretend to know if he's in a ltr, been in a ltr, etc. Then to assume he suffers from depression ? Leave the guy alone - he's a private citizen who keeps his life private.

That Frank Pierson article was so juicy. Barbra and Jon were obviously so toxic together.

Elliott too - other than a girlfriend (and later two times wife), who he had children with 50+ years ago - he has little social life to speak of. If Jason was socially active we'd know it. If he can't handle it, he can hand his trust fund over to me and I'll leave him alone.

The Streistans have infiltrated the Datalounge.

So, what was the story about Anne Francis?

I've always liked her, so details, please.

[quote]I think she realizes now that her biggest mistake was not making more films after the Prince of Tides. She had an Oscar Best Picture nomination for that movie, and then wasted that momentum. That's when she should have filmed Gypsy and The Normal Heart.

Bette Midler ended up doing the GYPSY movie in the early '90s and winning the Golden Globe.

[quote]Though Barbra only touches upon it, CM had said in the past it was she who brought Walter and Barbra together to patch up old wounds and begin again with a fresh start - hence, their attending her concerts

It was also revealed that Matthau's abuse of her during "Hello Dolly" was because his poker buddy Sydney Chaplin poisoned his mind against her. He came into the production disliking her before he even met her.

Why would his friend do that?

As far as Babs' friendship with Matthau's wife, that doesn't mean she was friend with him. They could have still disliked each other. Walter did what he was told by his wife - keep his mouth shut.

She loved, loved, loved the TV show Little House on the Prairie and became good friends with Karen Grassle until she attacked Michael Landon.

[quote] She loved, loved, loved the TV show Little House on the Prairie

Her dream role to this day remains Alice Garvey. She spends hours even today rehearsing Alice's death scene in the burning School for the Blind, using one of her antique dolls in the place of Mary's baby as a battering ram against the window.

R249, Francis accuses Barbra of cutting her role down in “Funny Girl” to almost nothing in the editing room. Not sure Streisand would have had that much power on her first film to do such a thing…

What r254? Never heard that one before.

That's the point r257. There's a lot of stuff she could have put in it to make herself a little more human. 🤖

No, why did she attack Michael Landon?

R259 to generate Oscar buzz for her performance in the 2021 Indie NOT TO FORGET.

[quote] Britney on the other hand, had good gossip. She was very honest about how Justin broke her heart and she had aborted his baby, how her husband Kevin used and mistreated her, her breakdown, etc. She really laid it all out there.

That’s because Britney is a crazy person desperate for attention. Babs isn’t.

Off topic, but Landon screwed over Grassle big time with salary. She asked for a raise starting in Season Two. He refused and Ma’s part got smaller. Do you remember much about Ma Ingalls? She just kinda stood there.

A google search doesn’t show a friendship with Babs.

[quote]Bette Midler ended up doing the GYPSY movie in the early '90s and winning the Golden Globe

And was Emmy nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special, opened the show with "Rose's Turn" and promptly lost to Kirstie Alley in something called "David's Mother".

I recall liking Kirstie in David's Mother.

Streisand does not mention television shows of any kind anywhere - they're beneath her (wink wink). There are absolutely no comments about Little House on the Prairie or Michael Landon anywhere.

You can't have "a more balanced view" when the topic at hand is so out of balance.

According to an interview with Arthur Laurents back in 1993 (before Midler's 'Gypsy' aired), Streisand had called him in 1988 saying she was 'ready' to do a big-screen remake of 'Gypsy' with Madonna costarring as 'Gypsy Rose Lee' . She had the proposal all ready to go, and couldn't wait to sit down with him and show him what she came up with for the remake. He told her the timing wasn't right - he was preparing a Broadway revival for 1989. He (according to him) told her to call him again in 'a few years' if they were both still interested. She called again - in 1992. He said he told her once again, the timing was off. He was doing a TV movie with Bette Midler starring as GYPSY. (He claimed this upset Barbra, and the conversation came to an abrupt end).

According to Barbra's book, there's no mention of the 1988 proposal (she claims after 'Nuts' she jumped right into 'Prince of Tides' for three years) and no mention of her calling him back in 1992 (she says she was exhausted and needed to step away from movies after POT). I kind of believe Laurents on this one.

Madonna would've been awful as Gypsy.

[quote]You can't have "a more balanced view" when the topic at hand is so out of balance.

Lol, sure, Jan.

I've never seen Little House on the Prairie but for some reason I've read a couple of interviews with the actress who played Ma and this was after Landon's death. Landon comes off very badly. I think they had one conversation before he died and she said it was very pleasant. Still she never forgot how he treated her.

254 I’ll always remember the episode where the blind one confronts a bible thumper “read it. “. Anyway

It was Mengers who had to practically twist her arm to do What's Up Doc. She did not want to do it at all. It helped that she liked Last Picture Show. But as somebody else pointed out on this site she thought the movie was going to be a bomb so she took a flat fee rather than points. This is a big reason why she has little affection for the film. She lost out on a lot of money.

R272 Is she really that petty?

If it's anything like most musician/actor memoirs, it's a trudge through endless name-dropping, mentions of gigs and venues, agents, blah-blah-blah. Boring as shit.

She's mad because Mrs Stephens stole the movie right out from under her.

R268 I think under the direction of Streisand (I believe she wanted to direct, IIRC) she could have been fine back in 1988 -93. I think she was willing to listen to Streisand and follow what she said.

Was she bitter about being snubbed for Best Director for PRINCE OF TIDES?

Plus MA was going to cut her leg off.

R277 Linda Richman certainly was! 😂

Speaking of Madonna, Streisand, and The Prince of Tides...

R272, She claims that she still cannot follow the plot.

R277 She certainly comes across as bitter for being snubbed - she tried to sugar-coat it, but you can tell she's still upset. Between POT and Yentl.

I've always said she would have done many more movies if YENTL got some top nods at the Oscars that year.

She wasted a lot of time fretting over her Malibu compound when she could've been working.

Nuts was a good comedy too. 🤪

I always remember Joe Queenan's comment about Nuts: "If women who looked like Barbra Streisand could make $400 an hour giving blowjobs, prostitution would be the most overcrowded profession in the country."

What did she expect for Yentl? It was fucking awful. Especially her casting.

Like Hitchcock, she'd only direct movies that she was in.

I liked PoT, although it fell short of the novel it was based on. I don’t know if she was snubbed for a nomination because she wasn’t up to snuff directing wise or because she alienated so many people in Hollywood.

The Prince of Tides was nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, so it's surprising that she didn't get a direction nod.

R288, Liza and Shirley thought she should have been nominated.

R268, the ONLY reason Barbra had an interest in Madonna was because she was popular at the time. Who says Madonna would have said yes?

R272, Streisand owned points in whatever film Peter Bogdanovich was going to make because she had bought out Elliott Gould’s points in A Glimpse of Tiger that was shelved because he has a psychotic meltdown on the set in 1971. She hated What’s up Doc before a minute of film was shot. After it was completed, Streisand sold her points back to Warners, probably at a profit. Had she held on to them, it would have been a bonanza.

I was at my local library today and there were THREE copies of her book sitting in the "New Books" section, collecting dust...

I read it, but I skipped the three chapters on YENTL - I just couldn't -

What's wrong with Yentl?

I love Barbra of Malibu Brook Farm.

[quote] What's wrong with Yentl?

That Yentl sure puts the "she" in "yeshiva"!

R289, It's weird that Liza is wearing an AIDS ribbon in 1992. It's also shocking how much Liza and Shirley have aged in just 30 years.

[quote]have aged in just 30 years

I know, 30-60 people look pretty much the same.

Liza was in her mid-forties and Shirley was pushing sixty during that 1992 ceremony.

Nowadays, they're mid-seventies and pushing 90, respectively.

R134- idiot. Really? Lots of idiots on this thread.

She looked like fucking Harpo Marx in A Star Is Born

I would say 1995 would’ve been peak time for a book like this to have been published.

R300 (charlie), you can't convince anyone on this thread.

She put so much money and passion into her Malibu compound, and yet it will probably be sold as soon as she dies and be torn down. That makes me sad.

THAT makles me happy, R304. Who needs a vintage doll shopping mall on the cliffs of Malibu today?

r304, I am sure it will be turned into a national shrine.

Our Lady of Hello, Gorgeous.

I agree, R302. She was coming off that huge “final” tour. Networks were rerunning her old specials that summer. The timing would have been good.

A Streisand fan spent 60 years and approximately $1 million accumulating Babs memorabilia. Then he died. His daughter is keeping "two signed albums — one with a note to her father — and a caricature of Lou sandwiched between Streisand and Omar Sharif in Funny Girl." Wealthy DLers can buy everything else:

Mara is hoping that someone buys the whole collection before she returns to work in February. (Anyone interested can contact Mara via email or at 760-229-7472.)

I gave a very positive review above, and said she was smart. I wrote that before I heard the part where she tells about contacting her father through a medium. She's 100% sure it was real. She told Harvey Corman about this, and he said he didn't believe it. She said that their friendship was never the same.

I CRINGED listening to that. Ugh.

*father

R309, But, she maintained a very close relationship with his wife Cis until her death.

When Streisand received her AFI Life Achievement Award, Cis Corman was seated at the head table.

Harvey was a psychiatrist. Not a man to believe in the paranormal.

But she got her Yentl buzzline from him.

After she told Harvey the story, he told her, "That's impossible."

Barbra replied, "Nothing's impossible."

I thought you said I was impossible.

[quote] She told Harvey Corman about this

Harvey Corman from the Carol Burnett Show? I had no idea that Cis Corman was his wife.

No. That's Harvey Korman.

Cis didn't believe it either. I mean, it's idiotic. As is Barbara's dopey numerology woo, and how everything's "a sign." And I was really put off by how "hurt" she was that Peter Matz erased her first take of Puttin' it Together. Come on, lady. It's been 40 years. Get the fuck over it.

But, honestly, all these things are part of why I love the book. She's pretty honest about what a pain in the ass she can be.

[quote]r259 why did she attack Michael Landon?

Grassle didn’t “attack” Michael Landon. She just shared that he made the set very uncomfortable when he boozing started an affair with a much younger makeup (or hair?) girl after the show had been running awhile. This was while he was still married, and Grassle and other company members had been used to spending time bringing their families to socialize with Landon’s. The younger cast members were especially confused - Mrs. Landon would still visit the set as usual and Landon would act as if everything was normal… but then he’d also be very public about this extramarital relationship on the set every day, when Mrs. Landon was absent. It just created a tense working environment, especially when you consider this was a prime time “family” show on a major network (ie, “wholesome”)

[quote]r288 The Prince of Tides was nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay

And absolutely no one mentions it today, outside of DataLounge.

[quote]r301 She looked like fucking Harpo Marx in A Star Is Born

But not as sexy.

[quote]The problem is not Barbra or the book - which is great. The problem is that the culture has become mediocre.

"I am big! It's the pictures that got small!"

She said she did not edit Funny Girl so why were people blaming her for the Anne Francis cuts. Francis said it was her agent who made a fuss for publicity. Also Who Taught Her Everything She Knows was cut. I would love to have seen that. Too bad it wasn't saved.

[quote]I agree, [R302]. She was coming off that huge “final” tour. Networks were rerunning her old specials that summer. The timing would have been good.

Not to mention that in the early '90s, Streisand became relevant among young people because of the many references on SNL's "Coffee Talk" skits and THE NANNY, both of which were popular and sang her praises.

I think many young gays/women would have bought her memoir back then.

I can never look at Anne Francis without being grossed out by her facial mole. I saw her play a TV show love scene recently where she got kissed and I thought that poor guy.

“started an affair with a much younger makeup (or hair?) girl”

She became Landon’s next wife.

Yeah - I guess she’d more accurately be called a home wrecker, not just a makeup girl.

Landon’s ultimately responsible for leaving his wife, but this cunt set her sights on her boss who was in a 20 year marriage that included 5 kids, and thought, “Well, that’s a GREAT thing to destroy!”

#Trash

Yet up to the end, he’s trying to sell THIS bullshit:

[italic]”I believe in God, I believe in family, I believe in truth between people, I believe in the power of love, I believe that we really are created in God’s image, that there is God in all of us."[/italic]

That’s why Karen Grassle and everyone on their show were freaked out. It’s like, “Who IS this deluded psychopath??”

Disappointed to hear that about Landon.

R304, I see it falling into the ocean long before she dies.

R325 = the homewrecker troll

Can we get back to me?

She told Colbert the other night that she’s only asked two people for their autograph.

John F. Kennedy and Cliff Robertson.

Why Cliff Robertson?

Because he played JFK in that movie?

R332, She ran into him on the street and always thought he was a good actor.

She lost the JFK autograph. She stuck it in her cleavage and when she undressed later it wasn’t there.

Someone must have it.

^ that’s because her cleavage was minimal

R290 I'm sure this was already discussed with Madonna before Streisand contacted Laurents and told him about the project. I don't think she was going to sit down with him while the project was still in the wish-casting stage. She had something concrete to give to him so he'd say 'yes'.

[quote] I can never look at Anne Francis without being grossed out by her facial mole. I saw her play a TV show love scene recently where she got kissed and I thought that poor guy.

Tell me you’re gay without telling me you’re gay.

[quote]But not as sexy.

True, r319...

And Francis hasn't had one 1 millionth of the career that Barbara has had yet she seems more interesting

^^WHY must EVERYTHING be a CONTEST???

I’ve never been able to picture Barbra as Rose, in Gypsy. I’m not sure why. I can’t see her as a stage mother who channels her own ambitions to be a star into her girls. While remaining a frustrated performer, herself. I can’t imagine Streisand in vaudeville.

[quote]I can’t imagine Streisand in vaudeville

Neither can I.

I can’t imagine Barbra after 1969

I can't imagine her presenting hole.

When I picture What’s Up, Doc? (Which I haven’t seen since it came out, except a few minutes on TV) I picture Ryan O’Neal and Madeleine Kahn. I have to be reminded Barbra was in it.

She fell off the Top 25 Non-Fiction Best Sellers for Publisher's Weekly (hard cover print books sold). She remains at #9 this week on the NY Times NF Best Sellers (print and eBooks sold).

Too bad - I hear the poor thing needs the money.

I can’t imagine her picking up the tab for anything.

[quote]I can never look at Anne Francis without being grossed out by her facial mole.

It's a BEAUTY MARK!

What's up doc? Was all about the supporting cast. They were all funnier than Barb.

R348 Exactly.

Imagine being such a perfectionist and fussing nonstop over……The Mirror Has Two Faces. We hear stories about directors like Kubrick driving his crew and cast to the point of insanity, but the end always justified the means and what we are left with are classic films. With Barbra we are left with blatant vanity projects designed to show her in the best light possible, physically and character wise. No matter how absurd and unbelievable the scenario and characters are. In every movie, she’s playing Barbra Streisand. She isn’t really an artist. She’s a woman with an extraordinary voice, which she takes for granted. As someone mentioned above, maybe if she gave up control for 2 seconds later in her career and let someone direct her in the recording studio or movie set, her body of work would be more interesting. But in this woman’s mind, everyone else is wrong. And Frank Pierson was probably telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth, which is why Barbra is still fuming about him 45 years later.

R348, It happens.

R351, Even though he’s been dead for nearly twelve years.

Barbra was quite funny in "What's Up Doc?" (the scene where she pretends she's the phone operator is hilarious). But she's just not as funny overall as Madeline Kahn, Mabel Albertson, Sorrell Booke, etc. They steal the show.

Ryan O'Neal is not funny at all, but he's very cute in this movie.

R351, you had me until the Frank Pierson part.

She's great in WUD? Sexy, and funny as she needs to be.

I'm up to Prince of Tides. Some of the slights she talks about seem to be at least partly imagined on her part. She just needs to work with people who defer to her judgement. The fact is, she could never work with someone who was like her.

The thing where Peter Matz accidently erased a take of Puttin' it Together is insane. She seems to end their 25 year friendship over it. Wacky.

[quote]r356 The fact is, she could never work with someone who was like her.

For a while, Jon Peters was discussing packaging a remake of The Women with Babs as Sylvia, Faye Dunaway as Mary, and Raquel Welch as Crystal. This was after Peters and Dunaway did Eyes of Laura Mars.

The antics on that set really would have been something.

How did she get along with Nick Nolte on "Prince of Tides"? (He doesn't seem to be someone who would take her shit.)

Because when I think of that movie, all I think of is his character.

She was pretty forgettable.

[quote] For a while, Jon Peters was discussing packaging a remake of The Women with Babs as Sylvia, Faye Dunaway as Mary, and Raquel Welch as Crystal. This was after Peters and Dunaway did Eyes of Laura Mars.

Barbra as Sylvia? No way.

Madeline Kahn as Sylvia.

I really enjoyed Barbra's son, Jason, in THE PRINCE OF TIDES.

I first watched it around ten years ago and wasn't aware of Barbra's personal life, so when afterward I looked up the cast I was surprised to find out that he was her son.

I'm not usually one for nepotism, but he was terrific in that movie and completely won me over.

I loved the scenes between him and Nick Nolte best.

What R358? Streisand wouldn’t take his drug/alcoholic SHIT.

We were robbed of seeing those claws in JUNGLE RED!

R302/R307, She didn’t marry James Brolin until 1998. If published earlier, we wouldn’t have had the happy ending.

She was also approached to do the movies Big Business and Chicago with Goldie Hawn.

Please. At least Goldie can dance.

According to Liz Smith's column, when Harvey Weinstein took Barbra to see Chicago in hopes that she'd star in the movie, she turned to him after the show and said, "Harvey, everyone knows that Jews can't dance."

she waited too long and didn't tie to something else like a movie or a turn on Dancing With the Stars.

Serously, they could have given her Corky or maybe Tony would have come back.

Then, she could have had a Babs Streisand night -- a paso doble to Enough is Enough; a Viennese Waltz to Evergreen.

A samba to Guilty.

Not sure if she's still performing live but maybe a Barbara Streisand movie night...then release the memoir.

She should have gone on American Idol

R358 she complains that Nick would sometimes side with the small "boys club," the cinematographer and camera operator who would make snide comments about her getting her hair and makeup done between takes.

But, she also says he was complicated, and really goung through some difficult things in his personal life while they were filming. She says she bent over backwards to try to be sensitive to that. And she let HIM dictate when he was finally ready to do his big emotional climax scene.

Not quite done with the chapter yet, but in the end, I'd say they got along. Certainly better than her and Mandy Patinkin, or her and Walter Matthau.

[quote]Barbara Streisand movie night

Turn in your gay card. NOW.

[quote]r359 Barbra as Sylvia? No way. Madeline Kahn as Sylvia.

Well, I certainly hope Babs wasn’t under the impression she’d be playing Crystal… can you IMAGINE?!

[quote]She put so much money and passion into her Malibu compound, and yet it will probably be sold as soon as she dies and be torn down. That makes me sad.

Well, she donated her last Malibu house to the state of California and the state's Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in 1993. It was a compound with three custom built houses with rolling meadows and creeks

Was surprised when Mandy Patinkin recorded an album and asked her to write the liner notes and she told him no because he made her life difficult on "Yentl".

Like most of us here I used to watch Bewitched reruns in the afternoon. Then one night I was watching What's Up Doc? with my parents. A movie of the week or something. I felt so bad that they kept knocking Mrs. Stephens down. I felt even worse that it was funny as hell..

Thanks, R369.

[quote]Then one night I was watching What's Up Doc? with my parents. A movie of the week or something

What's Up, Doc? was released in theaters and was a blockbuster hit!

It was the #3 film of 1972, after The Godfather and The Poseidon Adventure.

R338 - no. I watched an interview with Anne Francis and she had NOTHING interesting to say.

R363, she didn’t know Brolin in 1994, so she’d have to create a “happy ending.” It would be all the projects on her list yet to come. Less anyone forget, Streisand was dating Jon Voight (before he went nuts) at the time.

Kent here mentioned that the NYT only counts hard copy. Can't that number easily be tweaked by buying books then found a little company and sell them back to a retailer (or just dump them)? I remember reading somewhere that many copies of Harry's "spare" were being distroyed as unsold, which doesn't make sense if the sales have been so stellar. Can someone in publishing perhaps explain the mechanics of number tweaking?

R378, Jon Voight doesn’t even rate a mention in her book.

I'm pretty sure Streisand dated Andre Agassi in the early '90s before she hooked up with Brolin and he with Brooke Shields.

I remember they were an odd couple and all over the tabloids at the time.

R381, She writes of their romance in her book.

I'm the sure the book is a bestseller at her mall bookstore.

R379 The NYT Non-Fiction Best Seller List is compromised of data of hard-cover book sales as well as e-Book sales.

This week, the numbers were released for week ending January 6, 2024. She remains at #9 on the NYT Non-ficiton Best Seller List. However, on Publisher's Weekly NF Best Seller List, she has dropped off the Top 25.

[quote] Kent here mentioned that the NYT only counts hard copy. That's how Republicans always end up on the bestseller list. The GOP buys the book in bulk and then gives them away. There is a little sword symbol by the title and you know it was fudged technically, the books were sold just not to regular customers. In the 90's there was a commercial for some Republican magazine and if you subscribed you got Ann Coulter's "best selling" book free that they bought in bulk.

R385 There are a number of ways a book's sales numbers are 'fudged'.

For example, say Streisand (or any author) goes on 'The View' to promote her book. At the end of the segment, Whoopi announced 'everyone in our audience is going home with a copy of the book'. If the audience seats 500, that's 500 copies given away - bought at bulk discount (probably from the author) and it counts towards that week's sales. The next day Clouter goes on 'The Talk' and the same thing - everyone in the audience is going home with a copy of the book. In two days, that's an easy 1,000 books 'sold'. You're bumping yourself up the NYT BS list.

IIRC, the week of December 10, Streisand did a 'virtual book signing' over Zoom via Barnes & Noble. So many people were 'let in' and you had to buy a book to get into the signing. No one was talking directly to Barbra - you had to type in your question during the meeting and see if the 'host' chose it to ask Barbra (they were the most generic questions posed to her). There was also a limited amount of 'signed' books from her which were for sale. Overall, I believe there were 1,000 copies to be sold.

It worked for her - those 1,000 sold copies bumped her up a few spots on the NYTBS list for that week. I believe it gave her 'her best week ever' on the list. The following week, she fell back down.

[quote]bought at bulk discount (probably from the author)

From the publisher, not the author

[quote]—You think Babs has thousands of books in her garage?

Frankly, yes.

A 992 page book is too big to have been a stocking stuffer.

I wonder how she signs it when she does sign a copy?

Arthur Laurents was brilliant not to go for that Gypsy idea. Madonna would have been ludicrous trying to play a character with an arc of any kind.

R390 She signs them "Love and Lollipops, Diana Ross"

Ms. Ross your "Secrets of a Sparrow" is available on Amazon still.

[quote]A 992 page book is too big to have been a stocking stuffer.

I can fit several copies in my snack purse.

Did she give birth before filming Funny Girl?

Where did Jason Gould go to college?

R393 and her REAL story, Call Her Miss Ross is on the internet archive.

I feel sorry for children of superstars like Jason or Lourdes. I'm so glad that I had normal parents who gave me the tools to go beyond them professionally. To live under the shadow of parents like Streisand would be horrific.

R397 = Jason. No excuses, get a JOB!

[quote]Streisand did a 'virtual book signing' over Zoom via Barnes & Noble. So many people were 'let in' and you had to buy a book to get into the signing.

That's no different from a conventional book singing. You have to buy the book to get it signed. Except most authors do a national tour of major bookstores.

[quote]Jason. No excuses, get a JOB!

He works.

How about a "Capricorn One" remake with stepbrothers Josh Brolin and Jason Gould?

R399 but then you get a natural signature! How does that work on Zoom? Did Babs use Docusign?

R402 or Westworld with Jason as the Richard Benjamin innocent to Josh's experienced man. The bordello scene would be hilarious.

I go to bed with Barbra's book every night. My mattress frame lost a caster and I use it to keep the bed level.

I want to give kudos to the person who said "GET ME MABLE ALBERTSONS!". It's just such out of left field casting.

Wonder if Barbra recommended her since she was also in Clear Day?

Weird how she only had the one child. Makes you think maybe Jason wasn't planned, either.

Except R397, Jason is a very stable, nice, smart, talented low key guy who obviously does not want for much. I have a feeling he may not agree with you.

R407, she rather casually mentions she has endometriosis which would explain one child.

Endometriosis does not prevent pregnancy. Also if she had bad endometriosis, she’d be in such pain once a month she would barely be able to function without heavy pain meds.

Thanks Doc.

There were complications with the Jason pregnancy that required a Caesarean birth and I believe she was advised to not have any additional children.

She battled gynecological issues off and on during her nearly 82 years.

That was the reason why she left her seat during the Oscars when Celine sang her song from “The Mirror Has Two Faces”. She began bleeding vaginally and the media said she left to spite Celine.

R412, Jason was breech (upside down) in the womb, not something that would prevent future pregnancies. I think the reason she never had more children was that she was too career driven during her peak child bearing years.

“When Miss Streisand, star of the Broadway play Funny Girl, became pregnant, she withdrew from a $1-million planned singing tour. Thus, the child was called “a million dollar baby.”“

For awhile i was into reaction videos on youtube. Most are done by the young. Ever video i saw of their first Babs reaction was ‘the mom in Meet the Foxkers can sing?!?’ Every one of them. Fair enough.

R415, that was only on the NY Daily News cover. And Streisand bitched about it.

[quote]Jason. No excuses, get a JOB!

Well at least he's not eating out of the garbage cans of Malibu like his stepbrother Jess. On another note, James Brolin was obviously a terrible father when you look at how his two sons turned out. Josh is reportedly an alcoholic who's been married multiple times and the other son Jess morbidly obese and seems to want to be homeless on purpose. Clearly Barbara's genes aren't responsible for this.

Jason seems like a very together, mature and responsible man and, by all accounts, very caring and kind. There are never any headlines about him or sordid stories told about him. He is the one part of the her life the Barbra haters can't find fault with, thought they surely try.

[quote] Endometriosis does not prevent pregnancy. Also if she had bad endometriosis, she’d be in such pain once a month she would barely be able to function without heavy pain meds.

First, endometriosis does not prevent pregnancy, but it makes it very difficult for a woman to get pregnant.

Second, how do you know whether or not she was in such pain once a month and took heavy pain meds ? Has she shared her medical records with you over the past 60 years ?

[quote]MABLE ALBERTSONS

Two words, and you got them both wrong. Brava!

Of the grocery store Albertsons?

Could someone explain the Mable Albertsons reference? TIA

Eye Kan axplain itt!

Darrin Steven’s’ mother. Before that, Jack Benny’s mother. She wiped the floor with Babs in What’s Up Doc?

Stevens’ *

OK, thanks, R426.

R426, Cloris Leachman’s mother-in-law.

[quote]There are never any headlines about (Jason) or sordid stories told about him.

True, but that's because he rarely leaves the house to do anything.

She was related to everyone! ;)

[quote]Darrin Steven’s’

STEPHENS'

Lo siento

Albertson also played the secretary to Yves Montand in "On A Clear Day..." with Barbra. She also played Don Hollinger's mother in 'That Girl'.

How the heck did they talk Albertson into those hot pants in “Doc”?

R432, people here don’t know “Stephens” like people here don’t know “Barbara.”

It was corrected and acknowledged. Give it up.

I'm enjoying the book, and am almost finished. She devotes individual chapters to many of her major projects, and I think it's a good thing that a star of her magnitude provides us with her detailed thoughts as she revisits some of them for the first time since they were released. As a big Bee Gees fan, I enjoyed her chapter on the making of Guilty, and found it amusing that she had some trouble making sense of the Gibbs' lyrics.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Barbra is very funny, but she preferred being so serious in so many of her projects. Loved her in The Owl and the Pussycat, What's Up Doc and For Pete's Sake.

Funny Girl showed that she is the greatest star.

The Way We Were is one of the greatest movies ever.

She turned down duetting with Michael Jackson on “I Jusf Can’t Stop Loving You” because she at the time thought the age difference between her and Jackson was too great (16 years) instead she does the god awful duet with Don Johnson “til I loved you”. At least with the Jackson song she could’ve had one final number one hit.

In my early 20s, there were two gay hookup lines in Los Angeles. 976-DICK and 976-MUSC. Jason is my age, and from more than one guy I'd heard he used them quite a bit. Never said who he was, but he'd show up and it was immediately obvious who he was. Looked just like his mom. He would never acknowledge it, either.

👆🏼yeah. That sounds real likely. 🙄

R445 Are you a gay male? Were you alive in the '90s? It's absolutely not out of the realm of possibility. In fact, I heard it from multiple sources independent of each other. Rethink your position on this one.

R420, if Barbra was on codeine once a month she would have had a more appealing personality.

An 81-year-old woman still lamenting that her father died when she was an infant is pathetic.

Especially a woman who has achieved international fame and has more money than she could ever want.

I'm a bisexual dude who cannot understand the gay obsession with the likes of Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland. Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Robert Mitchum and Peggy Lee possessed an effortless cool as opposed to the naff high camp of the former. Indeed, it is an absolute myth that most gay men possess a superior sense of taste: one only has to ensdure the dreadful films by the utterly talentless Baz Luhrmann to know that this is true...

That's okay, r449, we don't understand "bisexual dudes".

R449 enjoy your sportsball.

r449 is also:

*Self-loathing Homo*

[quote]I really hate myself and want to be straight. I can't come out to anyone as I don't want to be judged. If I were to die tomorrow, I would feel a sense of relief.

*White dude hot for muscular black dudes*

[quote]Any other white dudes like me get a massive hard-on at the sight of an uber masculine, muscular black man? I just had the experience of a lifetime, in Melbourne hotel room, with a rent boy from the Caribbean- a perfect gentleman with an incredible body, wonderful tool and a massive brain studying medicine at Australia's most prestigious university. What is it about this type of man that gets me so aroused?

The Three Faces of a Bisexual….coming soon to Netflix.

I wonder if any thought was given to the idea of releasing two books, instead of just one huge one. That worked for Julie Andrews, whose first autobiography ended with her stage years and whose second picked up with her movie career. Barbra could've done something similar, taking the first book up through the TV specials and Funny Girl on Broadway with the second book dealing with her Hollywood stardom.

I saw MayBelle Andersins on an episode of Hazle yesrerdsa2y. She pla2yed a2 tax collector and was hysterical.

R454 THAT is exactly what she wanted to do; release this in two volumes. She said (during her interviews) the publisher refused. It had to be released as one book.

R391 Or a virgin.

R456 Looks like Babs was right again…

If volume 1 didn’t sell, they didn’t want to have to try and sell another volume.

I always like Maybelle Alburtsens.

So, r460?

R461 Read the thread.

Why, r462?

R463 Where, what?

[quote]How the heck did they talk Albertson into those hot pants in “Doc”?

She was a working comedic actress, it was in the script. You think she was going to turn down a role in a major motion picture for a costume?

R465 I think it was a rhetorical question...

..at a show organised by them and held at Penyheol Community Centre, Caerphilly. The event was to raise money for the Tenovus cancer research fund. The line-up (from left) Mrs Glenys Williams, Mrs Eirwen Thomas, Mrs Elsie Harding, Mrs Peggy Williams and Mrs June Taylor. 10th March 1971.

June Taylor - loved her dancers!

[quote]June Taylor - loved her dancers!

Me too!

How sweet it is!

I just love Mabel. She's one of my favorite comedic actresses even though it's always been mostly supporting. It must have been a kick for her so late in life to get such a huge hit. I hope Barbara is the one that picked her for it. Cuz that would have made it even sweeter

^ MARY!

Barbra's filming and recording for the film of "Funny Girl" did not begin until 1967; her son was born in December 1966.

Jason went to UMichigan for two years but was never graduated from college.

Radio Times cover girl, 1934

That’s it? No wonder her book bombed. : (

Seems to me that only 1 person on this thread appreciated the 900 pages. She should have edited the fucking thing.

Musical theatre major, r473?

I say by mid-April it gets marked down to $6.99 and found in the bargain bin at B&N.

Has her advance amount been made public?

Barbra Streisand Takes The Colbert Questionert

R479 It is rumored to be $20M. It hasn't been confirmed, but just about every gossip site has it on 'reliable sources' saying it was $20M. The publisher really took a hit on this one.

I love the Streisand horror stories…please keep posting them.

R481, I don’t think they expected a huge it with a 900 page book. It’s about the prestige of having published the book. Just like when Trump “owned” the Plaza Hotel for a while and took a big loss.

and it's a Trump thread.....

I thought it would be huge, and was surprised when Britney. Matthew Perry, and then Liz Cheney blocked her from reaching #1. But I'm old...

It could have been, R485, if it was 450 pages.

Once again, BritNay's book is a pamphlet and can be read in three hours and a third of the price. It's like comparing the 3 hour Roadshow presentation of "Funny Girl" vs "Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy".

[quote] Once again, BritNay's book is a pamphlet and can be read in three hours and a third of the price.

And you're saying that's a bad thing? That people should want to spend three times the time and three times the money reading in elaborate detail about what the author wore to the after-party for the 1971 Golden Globes?

R480 no wonder her book was 1000 pages. Just answering these simple questions took forever.

I've been reading her book and giving my opinions through this thread. At first I loved it. I loved her. Then, she started with all the woo woo nonsense about numerology, astrology, and contacting her dad through a medium. Which is all fucking bunk. It shocks me that someone as smart as her buys into that stuff. But, I guess as I read, I understood more her NEED to believe it. And I became more forgiving of it.

To her credit, she does cop to some pretty reprehensible behavior. She did something that was so petty and shitty early in her courtship with Brolin- but, I've actually done it too. And I would never tell that story about myself. So, I'm impressed that she did, and said she's learned and would never do it again.

In the end, I realized I love Barbra Streisand. "Mary!" me all you want, I don't care. I'm 53 years old, and her voice has gotten me through tough times in my life. As has her comedy in movies.

A singular talent. I feel lucky to have been on the Earth at the same time she was. Her book explains a ton about what made her tick, and the challenges she overcame, and even the flaws in her personality that maybe led to more people being hurt than needed to be, but we all have those, don't we.

I actually feel badly now about being so vocally against her doing Gypsy- I now wish it would've happened for her. It could've been good.

Love ya, Gorgeous. Thank you.

People have moved on. Times change.

R491 Absolutely. But I still love her, and cherish the memory of seeing her live in Anaheim on my 24th birthday. I got to hear Barbra sing Don't Rain on My Parade with my own two ears.

What else was cool was it was Marvin Hamlisch's birthday too, and she sang Happy Birthday on my birthday! So cool.

She’s also into “manifesting”. She became a rich and famous because she manifested it. She just decided she was going to be a star…so she did. She even attributes hitting high notes to the power of the mind. She wants to hit them so she does.

I wonder if she thinks Jason and her sister and Jess Brolin and the other few billion of us non millionaires are just not doing our manifesting. After all, it’s so easy and worked so well for her and she writes about it with the sincerity of someone who is not one in a billion!

That kind of nonsense drives me insane when I hear it whether it’s Babs or some self help bro on a podcast.

She became successful so early with so little struggle that I give her a pass. If my childhood dreams all came through at 20, I’d probably be loony too to say the least. Attributing it to manifesting may be a way to take some control and feel better about rocketing to success when talented peers couldn’t catch a break.

[quote]An 81-year-old woman still lamenting that her father died when she was an infant is pathetic.

R448. I love Barbra, but Jews are like that.

R493 Exactly. There are people in this Earth who work in sweatshops that make her iphone. There are people who gonto be hungry most nights. Does the universe provide for them?

And the shit about the table, posessed by her father, following her around the room made me cringe so bad. I can't believe the editor allowed her to keep that in. And the cloud becoming her dog? Yeesh. Ao utterly embarassing.

BUT again, I love her. Always will.

[quote]Then, she started with all the woo woo nonsense about numerology, astrology, and contacting her dad through a medium. Which is all fucking bunk.

Well, it must be if you don't believe it.

[quote]It shocks me that someone as smart as her

Oh dear

R497 Your point is that I shouldn't criticize anyone for anything because I made a grammar mistake? My guess is that you believe in that nonsense. You know you can't defend it on its merits, so instead you point out a grammatical error, as if that somehow discredits me.

Well, uh, touché, R497. LOL.

R498 Very defensive today - who peed in your corn flakes ?

Wow - you read way too much into that. Way too much.

Will the flop of the book make her too embarrassed to show up to accept her SAG Lifetime Achievement Award on February 24th?

Proof that it’s best to admire your favorite artist from a distance. I love her voice and several of her movies. But she sounds insufferable.

Of course she sounds insufferable on DL where 50% of posters are angry trolls. Suggest you read the book and then judge.

^^I've read excerpts and they're tedious. Why shell out $31 to read more?

"One does not have to eat the entire apple to know that it is rotten." -- George Bernard Shaw

R502 I've been a Barbra fan since 1976's "A Star Is Born" and have been anticipating this book since she announced it ten years ago. Every time she said "I'm almost done", I couldn't wait for an announcement of when it was going to hit the stores. When she announced last winter it was coming out in November, I preordered that day on Amazon. I couldn't wait to open the book when it arrived that day on my doorstep. Finally !

I'll admit the first third was fascinating - going through her childhood and her breakout in the 60s. I relished every word she wrote (she's a great storyteller). When I go to 'The Way We Were' I started to skim the chapter - too much detail for me that I was not interested in. By the time I got to 'A Star Is Born', I really jumped around - again, too much tedium for me, and yet she left out a lot of known history on the movie (which made me curious why) . 'Yentl' chapter was interesting, yet often interrupted on far too much details on what film, filter and lighting she chose that only another film maker could truly appreciate. 'Prince of Tides' was worse with the tech details, and now I'm in the middle of 'Mirror'. With about 100 pages left, I'm not sure I even want to finish. I've grown apathetic, but I may finish it off at some point this year.

I'm not 'angrily trolling' - I'm just bored and disinterested with it. I've read 90% of the book, and now giving my judgement. 10 years of anticipation, and now let down.

I gave a copy of the book as a Christmas gift to an older friend of mine, who was lucky enough to see her in NYC at the movie premiere of 'Funny Girl' for her 17th birthday. She's been a fan ever since that day. She ended up skimming through most of the 1980s and beyond as well - she grew bored with it, and quickly tired of her bashing her mother every chance she got. Not a troll, just disappointed.

For those who have read it and are enjoying every paragraph and every page, congratulations ! I wish it hit me the same.

[quote]I've read excerpts and they're tedious. Why shell out $31 to read more?

You know you can get the E-Book and the Audiobook free from the library, don't you?

100 pages on YENTL??

How many times do libraries allow people to check out items? From the sounds of it, they may not be able to finish before they hit the limit.

[quote] Of course she sounds insufferable on DL where 50% of posters are angry trolls. Suggest you read the book and then judge.

No, she sounds insufferable because she is…I’ve read enough about her to give an educated opinion on her. You want to change people’s minds because you like her.

She's a very selfish person.

[quote] You know you can get the E-Book and the Audiobook free from the library, don't you?

Why would anyone who is not a stan want to?

R499 I'm sorry. Really.

R501 She can be a BIG pain in the ass. But, as I said, I do love her. So, she IS sufferable. Haha.

One story she tells that I think makes her look just awful- it was early in relationship with Brolin. It was a double date with Barbra and Brolin, along with Cis and Harvey Corman to see an opera at the Met.

Again, it was early in their courtship, and Barbra wanted to show off to Cis and Harvey how James woukd hold her hand in public- how neither of them was afraid to display affection in public, which had been the case with earlier relationships of hers.

Well, for whatever reason, Jim wasn't going for it that night at the Met. It frustrated her, even though she hadnt mentioned it to James. Then, she left her seat to go to the restroom. Upon trying to return to her seat, she was told she would not be allowed to go back to her seat until the end of the scene.

So she goes out to the front of the theater and calls her car. LEAVES THE MET WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE! The Cormans and James Brolin of course leave the opera to search for her. She's now back home in her pajamas.

James Brolin, once he realizes what she did, calls her and says "I'm booking a flight for LA right now and leaving." She begged him not to. Eventually he relented, and went to see her at home.

In the book she says that was the last time she ever did anythjng like that. Pretty shitty to ruin 3 other people's night because you're mildly annoyed things didn't go your way exactly.

Is anyone buying that Brolin was celibate for three years before dipping it in Babs?

Brolin was celibate for three years *after* dipping it in Babs.

R507 At most libraries, there is a three week loan period, though some libraries cut it back to two or one if it's a new book and 'much in demand'. Once your book is due, you can request a 'renewal' - and so long as there is not a waiting list, it will be renewed for an additional 3 weeks. (If there's a one-week or two-week loan period, it may not be renewable). Once those three weeks are over and you still need more time, you can request another renewal - so long as no one else is waiting.

My library system has followed the trend of not charging late fees / fines. So if someone picked up her memoir, and wants to spend two months reading it (and not caring about others waiting to read it), they actually can. I'm not certain why so many library systems have done this (it started during the pandemic), but its been very popular.

If anyone here is poor and wants to borrow my copy of the audiobook drop a line jmd26(at)yahoo dot com

R490 She doesn't know you and she doesn't care.

Technical details on her films? She must think she's a great filmmaker, which of course she isn't. The movies she directed are stylistically mediocre and only a vehicle for herself.

R516 What exactly did I say that suggested I was operating under the misapprehension that she either knew me or cared what I had to say? She's a public figure with a book out and I was giving my opinion. Should I not have done that? What IS your point in telling me this?

How can you claim the book bombed when it's been on the NY Times Best Seller list (nonfiction) for 9 weeks?

R519 By the actual number of sales (just over 212,000), compared to what the publisher was anticipating. Also, it dropped off the USA TODAY and Publisher's Weekly best seller lists before it hit the 9 week mark.

[quote]People have moved on.

R490 hasn't.

R514 if I want to read something I download it Apple Books or the like. Order an Amazon book. Who in the fuck wants to wait until it’s available to check out of a fucking library in the year 2024 besides you?

There are some unhinged people on this thread. Or, at least one.

R522 All I did was answer someone's question (I worked in the library system for the past decade). I'm not sure where I said I was waiting for it at my library - I bought my copy on Amazon last March.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you tonight and whoever shat all over your meatloaf dinner.

I love R524.

And I love you, too R525

- Can't stop making you laugh not too far away from Boston

I love you, too [R525]

And laughing in a gentrified section of BROOKLYN New York.

It really is one of, if not the best celebrity autobiographies ever written. I believe she's honest in it to the best of her ability. It's quite a journey through the latter half of the 20th century show business. Highly recommended.

I don’t love any of these delusional wackos

R528 = has never read another autobiography

Streisand is fascinated with herself. It makes me wonder what kind of person Brolin is to want to live with this obsessive, needy, narcissistic, self-absorbed woman.

A 1,000 page Barbara Stanwyck biography was published 10 years ago which ended in 1940.

A promised Volume 2 has never materialized and the reason might be that Volume 1 did not sell well.

If Streisand had published her autobiography in two volumes and Volume 1 flopped, there might never have been a Volume 2.

Barbra says she launched her charm offensive the very first time she met Brolin, when she asked him, "Who fucked up your hair?"

We know who fucked up her hair…

R520 It was already a best seller (available for pre-sale) nine months before it was released.

Upon trying to return to her seat, she was told she would not be allowed to go back to her seat until the end of the scene.

I'm not sure I buy this part of the story. After all, she is BARBRA. Who would deny her?

I have to admit to an odd phenomenon. It took about a week and a half to listen to all 48 hours. In those 10 or so days she was a constant companion- driving to work, shopping with earphones on, working out, ect. I finished early yesterday and I actually miss her! Looking back, I quite enjoyed her "company" for those 48 hours! I want my Barbra back! : )

So start over.

R536 I think that was part of the reason she left, actually. They weren't letting her have her way. BUT you could be right. She may be embellishing to make herself look slightly better. Thing is, I never found any evidence of her lying in the book, so I give her the benefit.

If Jim was a such a gentleman why didn't he go looking for her when the lights went down for Act 2?

R540 She goes to the restroom, and when she attempts to return to her seat, she's told to wait until the end of Act 1. She does not tell us how long that would've been, how long she actually waited, or at what point she decided to grab her car and abandon JB and the poor, long suffering Cormans.

So yeah those kinds of details we don't really know, R540. I do not blame Jimmy Brolin for being supremely pissed.

R540, James Brolin is not the prize package that Streisand likes to present to the world.

I assume this was pre-texts. I would guess she had an hour wait. How boring would that have been.

R542, she doesn’t. She only presents them - both of them - as a happy couple. At this point Jim knows when to leave her alone in her editing room or in the mall with the dogs and take off by himself. That’s what happy couples do.

Bullshit, R544.

[quote]Streisand is fascinated with herself. It makes me wonder what kind of person Brolin is to want to live with this obsessive, needy, narcissistic, self-absorbed woman.

I think privately she makes him feel like the king of the castle.

[quote]Streisand is fascinated with herself.

Really? It took her 80 years to write her autobiography, look at all the celebrities that have five or sixth books.

[quote]Technical details on her films? She must think she's a great filmmaker, which of course she isn't. The movies she directed are stylistically mediocre and only a vehicle for herself.

Yeah well, she's directed 3 movies and they received a total of 14 Academy Award nominations and 12 Golden Globe nominations so not everyone agrees with you , but of course in your world, only you are right.

Nominations don’t mean shit.

R548 Do you think The Mirror Has Two Faces is a great or even a good film? Serious question.

[quote]Yeah well, she's directed 3 movies and they received a total of 14 Academy Award nominations

None were for best director (her) and none were for best actress (her).

The Academy sent her a message 3 times: They don't think she's a good director. (And she knows this).

Let's face it - she won two Oscars in her life, and both were 'shared' with another winner. She doesn't mention this in her memoir, though.

R535 That only proves she sold a lot of books on pre-order, probably the highest of most celebrities at the time.

However, once the book hit the retail shelves on November 7 - it sat there, while Brittney Spears, Matthew Perry, Liz Cheney, etc. flew out of the stores repeatedly. So apparently, there wasn't much good 'word of mouth' from the pre-order buyers.

Not to mention that her Tony "win" was a Special Award, given to her after she'd deserted Broadway for Hollywood.

She lost her competitive nominations for I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOESALE and FUNNY GIRL.

So, her EGOT is dubious.

^ Rita Moreno

Hideous, nasty bitch

Insanity

R553 A lot of people point that out (including me) and the Barbrafanatics go absolutely insane.

I have heard of people who willingly spend thousands of dollars on tickets for her shows. And not even front row seats either.

The crazies on this thread need to understand something. This is auto biography- by definition self focused. And this particular woman is perhaps the most if not one of the most talented and successful in show business history. Call it what you will but using her success as a platform for social and political activism for decades is not particularly common either, ditto decades of philanthropy.

She comes across as smart- down to earth- a bit loopy (wouldn’t you be too if you possessed her talent and success from age 18 on?) It’s also a fascinating look into the business and tech of entertainment- a thoroughly male world. Her feet are firmly on the ground.

Read it! She ends with a full on statement of gratitude for what life has dealt her. She is no victim- she knows disappointment professional and personal and seems to have handled it damn well over a lifetime.

You need to get a psychiatrist

R511 of course she mentions Paul Williams and Katherine Hepburn, you fucking simpleton.

R559 I loved it. The woo stuff did bother me, but I agree that she's smart and relatively grounded. I recommend it too. The audio version.

[quote]The crazies on this thread need to understand something.

They do understand that, r559, they're just here to troll.

R559 = charlie

R558, it was BARBRA STREISAND who started the practice of charging a kings ransom for concert tickets. She did it in 1994 and everybody followed. Like how David Merrick destroyed the price of a theater ticket in 1982 for the musical 42nd Street. One day an orchestra seat was $20, the next $75.

[quote] Really? It took her 80 years to write her autobiography, look at all the celebrities that have five or sixth books.

No, sweetheart, it took her 80 years to publish it. She was working on it from age 13.

I'm not denying that she is very talented and I enjoy watching her on film, even if it's to laugh at her in Yentl, PoT and TMH2F, which are massive self-monuments to her delusional ego that elicit not respect but sheer laughter. But the woman is the epitome of the monster celebrity, a Norma Desmond for our times, making people move the scenery around to hide her bad side, driving everyone nuts with her "perfectionism", convincing herself that everyone's interested in the fringe of her curtains. Someone should make a movie about her that ends with her shooting Jim when she finds out that he's been jacking to a picture of Anne Francis.

The part about TMH2F that bugged me the most is when Jeff Bridges returns from his trip and she's speaking to him from her bedroom. He drops something as they are talking when he suddenly looks up. The camera pans over a glammed up Barbra. From her feet up to her frosted locks and made up face. I thought that it was kind of sad for some reason. It was a vulgar self-loving gesture as well as demanding that the audience find her attractive. She's spoken a lot about female empowerment and sexism in Hollywood. That scene was so beneath her.

[quote]I think privately she makes him feel like the king of the castle.

Yes, but she's still Queen of the Mall.

WHAT is TMH2F???

R568 THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES.

You really should have been able to figure that out, r568.

Not if I’m not a fan, R570. Most of the world does not follow her every move, every film. Sorry, Babs.

You still seem to have zero deduction ability, r571.

[quote]Not if I’m not a fan,

Based on this thread, r571, you seem to know an awful lot about her.

Overall, I wish I hadn't known immediately what TMH2F was. But I did.

[quote]The crazies on this thread need to understand something. This is auto biography- by definition self focused.

No, R59, this is NOT an autobiography. This is a memoir - and there's a big difference between the two. Learn the definition between the two before you post something like this.

R574, me too. I Thanks to some of the posters on The DL, I've become an expert at deciphering acronyms, no matter how obscure and irrelevant to the topic at hand. TMH2F (a title that never made much sense to me) was pretty obvious and acronymizing movie titles constantly is a DL thing I've gotten used to.

R576 The title "The Mirror Has Two Faces" is the English translation to the 1958 French film it was based on - 'Le miroir a deux faces" . The difference between the two is that the 1958 film is a drama, whereas Streisand turned it around to make it a 'romcom' for herself.

She's his meal ticket. Saves him from the autograph circuit or a stint on Young and Restless. Or, gasp, Bold and Beautiful.

R575, How can it not be labeled an autobiography when it covers her life from birth?

Not, R575, but I had to look it up because I didn't know the difference:

"A memoir is a nonfiction narrative in which the author shares their memories from a specific time period or reflects upon a string of themed occurrences throughout their life. An autobiography is a factual and historical account of one’s entire life from beginning to end."

I'm still not sure if the book is one or the other, but it seems more like a memoir.

A babysitter fingers her pussy to porn after the kids are put to 🛏️

[quote]The crazies on this thread need to understand something. This is auto biography- by definition self focused.

[quote]No, [R59], this is NOT an autobiography. This is a memoir - and there's a big difference between the two. Learn the definition between the two before you post something like this.

Seems to me that either a memoir or an autobiography can be expected to be "self-focused," so in this case, it doesn't really matter which label is more accurate for Streisand's book. And given who the author is, anyone who knows anything about her should have expected the book to be lacking in honesty and any sense of objectivity.

[quote]No, [R59], this is NOT an autobiography. This is a memoir - and there's a big difference between the two. Learn the definition between the two before you post something like this.

Autobiography....memoir? Autobiography....memoir? Autobiography....memoir? It's an autobiography AND a.memoir. It's two books in one!

Where the hell did R581 come from? Are you starting your memoir, R581? Please get a blog.

She has called it both, so…

She has a black son

[quote] It's two books in one!

More like it's three encyclopedias in a book.

. . .

Her faults (perfectionism, unwillingness to settle, self-absorption) must have fueled her rise to the top echelons of the business where she has resided for over 5 decades. She is who she is because of who she is, faults included.

No doubt, R589. But hard to believe as this may sound, her career -- especially her film career -- might have been far greater and more praiseworthy if she had had more respect for other people's talents and had better known her own limitations and strengths as an actor and director. This applies in particular to YENTL, A STAR IS BORN, THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES, and THE PRINCE OF TIDES.

I don't think it's a coincidence that her better films came earlier in her career, when she didn't quite have the power to push everyone else around.

R590 I hadn't thought of that but you're 100% correct. Once she started exercising control over her projects they became tacky and pedestrian, which she was able to somewhat disguise with of her undeniably immense talent. I think another ingredient was that she started to take herself way too seriously beginning with ASIB and culminating with Nuts, the most miscast she's ever been.

Barbra should have been less self-centered and written her autobiography about Ruta Lee.

Exactly, R591.

AND, R590, if she had better taste in songs/scripts.

Funny Girl? Today it's odd to think that Streisand was once "funny," that she had a sense of whimsy and the ridiculous, could make fun of and laugh at herself. It's like as she got older she thought of herself as a such a serious artist that the humor got buried under this overly serious, defensive, boring "artiste."

R590 and R591. Very good points. Agree with both of you. For me the low point was TMH2F - what a slog that was.

Yes, R594. It honestly seems like, at some point fairly early in her career, Streisand started to develop a theory that being funny on screen made her look undignified or would result in people not taking her seriously. Which of course is an idiotic perspective, but sadly, there you have it.

“John Norman! John Norman?!”

R596, not until the mid-70s

Right, R598. Which was still fairly early in her long career. When was the last time she was truly funny on screen? WHAT'S UP, DOC?

[quote]Seems to me that either a memoir or an autobiography can be expected to be "self-focused," so in this case, it doesn't really matter which label is more accurate for Streisand's book.

Wrong, again. It does matter. An autobiography has a 'fact checker' checking/reviewing what is presented as facts by the writer to make sure the work is accurate. It also has an index in the back of the book.

Streisand did not have a fact checker reviewing her work - she wrote it from her 'journals' she kept over the years, and presented it to her editor as that. (There have been some statements she has made which have been proven false over the years). And she has no index in the back of the book.