Springtime was an important time for Barbra Streisand's early career as her first TV appearance (Jack Paar, 1961); two Broadway shows; two TV specials; and her Oscar for Best Actress (Funny Girl) all occurred in March or April. The first of her TV specials aired on April 28, 1965. Titled "My Name is Barbra", it coincided with the release of her album by the same name.
The special was shot in black & white and featured no guests, just Barbra. Amazingly, the hour-long telecast was jam-packed with 27 songs (actually, less than an hour when taking commericals into account). The special was critically acclaimed, won three Emmy Awards, and was followed in 1966 by her next special "Color Me Barbra" , which would be another tour de force.
19-year old Barbra Streisand made her first TV appearance tonight in 1961 on Jack Paar's Tonight Show. However, Paar wasn't hosting that night. Filling in for him was actor and humorist Orson Bean, who was responsible for inviting Streisand on the show. She performed two songs composed by Harold Arlen, Sleepin' Bee (co-written with Truman Capote) and When the Sun Comes Out.
Two other guests on the show that night were Phyllis Diller and Gore Vidal. 51 years later all four celebs are still with us - Diller is 94, Vidal is 86, Bean is 83nd Babs is 70.
Later that month another big event in gay circles would be Judy Garland's acclaimed concert at Carnegie Hall.
One year after her first acclaimed TV special, titled My Name is Barbra, 23-year old Barbra Streisand starred in her second CBS special. Coinciding with the release of her new album by the same name, Color Me Barbra was filmed largely at the Philadelphia Museum of Art over one weekend during off-hours. A big difference from the first special was that this one was in color.
I finally got around to watching the telecast when I rented it during the winter of 2007. I was especially enchanted by the opening song, Draw Me a Circle, which I'd never heard before - and I immediatedly bought it on iTunes. (However, it wasn't a track from Color Me Barbra, but an earlier album).
1964 was an outstanding year on Broadway. It began with the opening of Hello, Dolly! and at the end of the year Fiddler on the Roof got the 1964-65 theater season off to a rousing start. And in between the two was Funny Girl which opened in March. 21-year old Barbra Streisand starred, but it had taken a while for her name to come up during casting discussions. Before she was approached, one singer whose name was tossed around was Eydie Gorme, but she would consider the role only if her husband, Steve Lawrence, was cast in the role of Nicky Arnstein!
Despite receiving eight Tony nominations, Funny Girl went home empty handed as Hello, Dolly!was the big winner with ten. However, Barbra would win an Oscar as Best Actress for the movie version, which came out in 1968. (It was the top grossing film of the year.) And when Hello Dolly! was made into a feature film in 1969 it was Streisand who was cast in the title role, not Broadway Dolly's!Carol Channing. (The same thing happened to Channing when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was made into a movie in 1953 and Marilyn Monroe was chosen over her despite Channing's acclaimed performance in Blondes on Broadway.)
Barbra Streisand, one month shy of her 20th birthday, made her Broadway debut in a supporting role in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale, which opened on March 22, 1962. Originally the part of Miss Marmelstein was a minimal one, but after her audition the producers beefed it up. The show starred Elliot Gould, who would become her first husband (who she had her only child with, gay son Jason).
At the show's premiere Leonard Bernstein gave Streisand a standing ovation after her number Miss Marmelstein. The following month she was the subject of a TIME Magazine cover story. And although the show received mixed reviews Streisand was nominated for a Tony for Supporting or Featured Musical Actress - the show's only nomination (she lost to Phyllis Newman for the show Subways Are for Sleeping).
Interestingly, Babs would appear on Broadway just one more time, in Funny Girl which premiered almost two years to the date after Wholesale.
Serving in Silence was a TV movie based on a true story. Margarethe Cammermeyer, a colonel in the Washington national guard, was honorably discharged in 1992 after revealing her sexual orientation (the year before "don't ask, don't tell" was instituted). At the time she was the highest ranking officer to be discharged for being gay. However, in 1995 a judge ruled her discharge unconstitutional and she was reinstated. The movie aired on February 6, 1995.
Starring Glenn Close as Cammermeyer and Judy Davis as her partner of sixteen years, the movie gained further cache by having Barbra Streisand as one of its producers (pictured here with the real Cammermeyer). Silence got a 13.4 household rating/21 share and ranked among the week's top-20 shows with the key female age groups of 18-49 and 25-54. Glenn Close would win an Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a miniseries and Judy Davis for Best Supporting Actress.
What also made this movie noteworthy was the fact that it was the last gay-themed TV movie to air on network TV. After the networks aired about a dozen such movies (beginning in 1972 with That Certain Summer), all future movies with gay storylines aired on cable networks such as Lifetime, A&E, USA and the pay networks Showtime and HBO.
The Judy Garland Show debuted on September 29, 1963 as part of CBS' Sunday night schedule and aired for one season. For the show's second telecast Judy had as one of her guests 21-year old Barbra Streisand, a singer taking the entertainment world by storm. This would be the only time the two shared a stage together. Babs' appearance was four months before she made her Broadway debut in Funny Girl.
In a classic TV moments Barbra and Judy sang a stunning duet of Happy Days Are Again/Get Happy and another with the theme "Hooray for Love". Barbra also sang Bewitched Bothered & Bewildered. Later in the show they were joined by Ethel Merman. This telecast was truly every queen's wet dream.
Here are other ZeitGAYst posts about Judy and Barbra you may find of interest:
