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This chapter focuses on Barbra Streisand’s music recordings, beginning with The Barbra Streisand Album and The Second Barbra Streisand Album, both in 1963, followed by The Third Album a year later. Streisand’s first recital disc showcased her versatility, theatrics, bravado, humor, and unpredictability, which were evident in her renditions of “Cry Me a River,” “My Honey’s Loving Arms,” “I’ll Tell the Man In the Street,” and “A Taste of Honey.” The chapter also offer a commentary on Streisand’s next two albums as well as other recitals such as People (1964), What About Today? (1969), Stoney End (1971), ButterFly (1974), Lazy Afternoon (1975), Classical Barbra (1976), Guilty (1980), The Broadway Album (1985), Higher Ground (1997), A Love Like Ours (1999), Christmas Memories (2001), Partners (2014), and Encore (2016).

This chapter focuses on Barbra Streisand’s movies, beginning with Funny Girl in 1968 followed by Hello, Dolly! a year later. A roadshow release, Funny Girl dropped eight of the numbers, including the best title, “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” but added three songs associated with Fanny Brice, the most notable of which is her “autobiography” piece, “My Man.” Hello, Dolly! is considered one of Streisand’s best portrayals. The chapter also offers a commentary on Streisand’s third film, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), along with other projects such as The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), What’s Up, Doc? (1972), Up the Sandbox (1972), The Way We Were (1973), For Pete’s Sake (1974), A Star Is Born (1976), The Main Event (1979), Yentl (1983), The Prince Of Tides (1991), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and The Guilt Trip (2012).

This chapter focuses on Barbra Streisand’s television specials, beginning with My Name Is Barbra in 1965 that catapulted her as a full-fledged national star. In My Name Is Barbra, Streisand’s singing style reflected the different modes she had been using, from the liberty of jazz singing to the power-ballad style epitomized in her “People,” along with her comic voice for the children’s numbers. It also showcased her versatility. The chapter discusses Streisand’s other television shows, including Color Me Barbra (1966), The Belle Of Fourteenth Street (1967), A Happening in Central Park (1968), and Barbra Streisand … And Other Musical Instruments (1973). It also considers Streisand’s return to live concertizing via Live at the Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim (1994), along with another television concert held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Live in Concert 2006.

By the mid-sixties, dames of the Broadway and film musical were taking their much-deserved bows as variety’s small-screen headliners, but why? Changes were surely occurring everywhere: the small screen, the Broadway stage, the form of the musical book, and in the American culture at large. This chapter contextualizes the rise of crossover stars like Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, and Leslie Uggams, and positions their ascent within larger theatrical, televisual, and cultural contexts. It asks how they and their television appearances differ from the less prominent women of the earlier television era and how changes occurring in Shubert Alley and Hollywood helped to open up this space for the dames of Broadway. Ultimately this chapter addresses why and how television welcomed these divas and how this new embrace spoke to earlier and emergent norms of American popular culture, the musical, and a maturing television industry.

This chapter introduces the reader to Barbra Streisand’s life and work, focusing on how being a singer and an actor, separately and together, have characterized her career. It first provides a background on Streisand’s family and early childhood as well as her determination to get into acting before focusing on her early mentors, including actor Barry Dennen, Peter Daniels, Allan Miller, and Martin Erlichman. It then considers how Streisand started as a singer and went on to establish an acting and a singing career on Broadway, first with a supporting role in I Can Get It For You Wholesale, and how she was signed by Columbia Records. It also examines how Funny Girl gave Streisand a new-star-in-town triumph, her free concert A Happening in Central Park, and some of the films she made such as The Way We Were, A Star Is Born, and Yentl. Finally, it mentions Streisand’s affair with hair-salon entrepreneur Jon Peters.

This chapter deals with Wyler's final three films. It opens by recounting Wyler's involvement with The Sound of Music, which he was scheduled direct — and he did cast Julie Andrews — but later asked to be let out of. Instead, he directed a much smaller film, The Collector, in England. The chapter offers a visual analysis of Wyler's claustrophobic mise-en-scène for this project as well his difficulties in drawing an effective performance from Samantha Eggar, who was making her film debut. His involvement with the film Patton is also discussed, although he had to shelve that film due to casting difficulties. Wyler's next project — his first musical — Funny Girl, is analyzed, as well as his relationship with its star, Barbra Streisand, in her film debut. The chapter concludes with a consideration of Wyler's final film, The Liberation of L.B. Jones, which remains among the most uncompromising films about race ever to be released by a Hollywood studio.

This chapter celebrates a performance history in the United States of Jewish female physical comedy that spans nearly a century of gender and humor radicalism. It moves from early twentieth-century performances of the Red Hot Mamas Sophie Tucker, Fanny Brice, and Betty Boop to touring acts, movie dance scenes, and comedy sketches of the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including spotlights on Barbra Streisand, Gilda Radner, Bette Midler, and Madeline Kahn. Specific performances showcase how these giants of comedy staged critical responses to Jewish race and class assimilation in the context of women’s liberation movements, establishing foundational techniques of today’s Sexy Jewess spectacle.

This chapter details Israel’s embrace by American pop cultural divas Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Barbra Streisand even as American criticism of Israel built to a higher pitch. It The pages also explore the increasing ambiguity of outlook on Israel by various American celebrities, including one-time supporter Stevie Wonder, and continued supporters Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney. Finally, it presents Israel’s fierce response to its perceived critics, both political and cultural, including President Jimmy Carter and the controversial opera The Death of Klingoffer.

This chapter focuses on Barbra Streisand’s career in theater, beginning with her 1961 debut in New York via Another Evening With Harry Stoones followed by her very first Broadway role in I Can Get It For You Wholesale in 1962. Whereas Another Evening With Harry Stoones did nothing for Streisand, I Can Get It For You Wholesale gave the character “Miss Marmelstein” as Streisand’s breakout musical spot. The following year, 1963, Streisand’s first two albums were released, and in 1964, Streisand starred in her second Broadway appearance, Funny Girl, for which she was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.

Chapter ten begins with the early development and production of Paint Your Wagon, Paramount’s expensive treatment of a 1951 Lerner and Loewe Broadway musical. It would be loosely adapted for the screen, produced by Alan Jay Lerner and directed by Joshua (Camelot) Logan. Despite singing demands, three non-musical stars were cast: Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg. Producers faced the logistical challenge of building a full-sized town that had to collapse on cue as part of the movie’s rousing finale. Location shooting in rural Oregon proved to be costly, contentious, and prolonged. Fox’s Hello, Dolly! faced its own problems with two stars (Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau) who detested each other. Turf wars broke out between costumer, choreographer, and set designer, with director Gene Kelly unable to successfully mediate. It was, by all accounts, a rancorous shoot, complicated by the logistically hellish “Before the Parade Passes By” magnum production number.

The premiere of Warner Bros.’s Finian’s Rainbow opens chapter eleven. The lovely score was offset by a bizarre plot and sloppy production values. It performs fairly at the box office. Funny Girl was heavily marketed and premiered in the fall of 1968. Under William Wyler’s direction, Barbra Streisand won raves and became an instant movie star. Box office revenue was huge. Fox readied Star! for premiere, but was shocked at public apathy. In stark contrast to Funny Girl, interest in the latest Julie Andrews film was nil. Fox’s Richard Zanuck tried to salvage his expensive project with reediting and even retitling the film Those Were the Happy Times, but nothing clicked. The film sank and left Fox with a huge debt. The chapter concludes with a look at the film landscape of late 1968, revealing why Star! held limited appeal.

The decade of the 1960s provided the last fertile commercial field for pop singers interpreting Broadway material. Songs from incipient Broadway scores were introduced to America far ahead of their debuts on the New York stage; likewise, there was an important cadre of pop singers who were associated with Broadway material: Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong, to name a few. Even more compellingly, there were pop singers who also performed to acclaim on Broadway: Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, Robert Goulet, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Barbra Streisand. The symbiotic relationship between their stage and pop material would invigorate the musical scene. At the same time, rock and roll ascended the cultural ladder and elbowed show music out of the express lane of popular music. Throughout the 1960s, the two genres coexisted in a tenuous détente, but by the end of the decade, Broadway music had to face the specter of cultural irrelevance.

This chapter covers the making of Darling Lili, a comedy-musical-adventure for Julie Andrews and directed by Blake Edwards, who were romantically linked at the time. It suffers from several misfortunes, including uncooperative weather on location in Ireland. Also in production at Paramount was On a Clear Day You Can See Forever for Barbra Streisand. The Academy Awards honored Oliver! as Best Picture and Funny Girl’s Barbra Streisand as Best Actress. Paramount’s Paint Your Wagon opened to some of the most scathing reviews ever given a roadshow musical. It coincides with the advent of the ratings system. Paramount attempted to get a G (general) rating, but it received an M (mature). Many pundits, among them the influential critic Pauline Kael, foretold the death of the roadshow musical.

This chapter details the events leading up to Bubbles’s career-ending stroke in 1967. In this year, he joined productions overseen by three of the most iconic women of show business: Lucille Ball, Barbra Streisand, and Judy Garland. The Garland show, in particular, attracted a lot of attention and gave Bubbles’s career a new boost. He sat for several press interviews, appeared multiple times on Merv Griffin’s talk show, and agreed to his first movie contract since the 1940s. Reinforcing a sense of new beginnings, he even got married again, for the fourth time, to a woman thirty years younger than himself. But everything fell apart in late August, when he suffered a massive stroke three days after his final show with Judy Garland. Although he survived with his mental lucidity intact, this event ended his long career on stage.

This chapter finishes 20th Century-Fox’s participation in roadshow musicals. After Doctor Dolittle and Star!, the studio was nervous about their colossal Hello, Dolly! being prepared for release in late 1969. With expense overruns and a delayed release due to the continued success of the stage production, it was increasingly unlikely to earn a profit. Dolly! did not receive critical approval, but it premiered to strong business. As with the other post-Sound of Music roadshow musicals at Fox, it lost money, while the “youthquake” was drawn to low budget films such as Easy Rider and M*A*S*H. Studio chief Darryl Zanuck was pressured to fire his son Richard. He did so, and then was gently eased out of responsibilities by the studio’s board of trustees. The future of the studio was uncertain, but it would not include any more roadshow musicals.

This chapter describes the creators—or authors—of musical film, from directors to producers and choreographers. These include old-pro movie professionals like Michael Curtiz and those totally unsuited such as Cecil B. DeMille and producer David O. Selznick, and even the stage professional Joshua Logan. More successful stage newcomers include Rouben Mamoulian, Vincente Minnelli, Rob Marshall, and the daring choreographer Jack Cole. Producers Arthur Freed and (especially) Joe Pasternak made a specialty of musicals, to greater and lesser effect. The chapter ends by looking at the various audacities of Busby Berkeley and Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!), and creator/stars Gene Kelly (Invitation to the Dance) and John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).

Chapter sixteen covers the 1969 Hollywood recession, brought on in part by underperforming musicals. Production was down, and unions reported widespread unemployment. Every studio was experiencing huge losses. Paramount opened its two big post-Paint Your Wagon musicals, and neither did well. On a Clear Day You Can See Forever barely broke even, but Darling Lili was a downright fiasco. It cost the studio many millions of dollars, and iced Julie Andrews’s film career for the next several years. Despite the grim state of the film musical, ABC went ahead with production on Song of Norway, a biopic of Edvard Grieg. Its director, Andrew Stone, was known for directing thrillers, but there was nothing thrilling about Norway. Released as a roadshow, it became a laughably hokey and contrived film that nonetheless earned a modest profit.