Last Tuesday was Barbra Striesand's 70th birthday! WHAT? Wait a minute, I'm not ready for that......because she is only 11 years older than I am......and that means I'm not 35 any more. A local television station ran her movies back to back. I was working on a sewing project for a client and had them on in the background. They were good company and reminded me of a different time in my life and in history. I also remember when she first made a crease in my gray matter, it was in 1963. I was ten and she was 21 and co hosting The Mike Douglas Show. From the first time that I heard and saw her, I was riveted. She was funny, frantic, bold and had her very own style vocally and with her clothes and makeup. She was quirky, young and modern, while being serious and traditional.
I was immediately intrigued by her energy and her confidence. You could see the beginnings of a star even then. I was a party of one in my house, however when it came to La Streisand.
I grew up in a very musical household. My family sang with gusto! My Grandfather on my Dad's side had a big booming bass voice and sang in the East Glenville Methodist Church in Cleveland, OH. He also sang bass in a local Barbershop Quartet. My Mom's Dad was once a professional fiddle player. That's "fiddle" not violin. He was a travelling musician that played in a small band that traveled around Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio playing at church dances, socials, barn dances and weddings. That's how he met my Grandma. His band was playing in Uniontown, PA, where my Grandma's family ran a small inn. The band was staying at their inn and he had an eye for my Grandma (she was 16 and he was 21), who thought he was cute but too old. He waited five years until she was 21 until he came back. By then she had learned to "chord" on the piano and they made music together! I loved hearing my Grandma play hymns. It was normal for us to gather around the piano and sing.
My parents knew each other from Church and singing in the church choir. My Mom was in "Rainbow Girls" and my Dad in "DeMolay" too, they both had vocal groups and my folks sang in those groups too, plus my Dad sang in school plays. They got to know each other through singing together. My Mom, in the meantime, had also taught herself to play the piano. Music was in my childhood and always in my home. My Dad eventually became the choir director of our local church choir and my Mom was the church accompanist. You know you are from a musical family when your parents are having an argument over the time signature of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and solve it by hauling out the old metronome!
When they were dating in the late 40's, it was to the music of The Big Band era. They were great dancers and known for bursting into dance routines in the kitchen. My Mom used to say, "We're really not that good, we just make our mistakes at the same times." I felt honored when I was good enough to jitterbug with my Dad. The panorama of music that played in my house was everything from sacred music, to opera, to swing and standards. And to my Mom's lullabies. She sang them every night to us before we fell asleep when we were little. They included: Somewhere Over The Rainbow, True Love, Over in Kirlarney, Playmate, I Love You a Bushel and a Peck, The Umbrella Song and more. I sang them to my kids and my two grand kids too.
My musical tastes began to differ with Barbra Streisand. I was smitten with all things Barbra and became a lifelong fan, no matter the occasional teasing or mocking for my devotion. My ex used to love to tease me about Yentl -- and notice the use of EX! I have seen every one of her movies, who can forget her and Hubble in "The Way We Were"? I played the soundtrack to "A Star is Born" until I not only knew every lyric, but also every vocal nuance.
So here we are today. She just turned seventy and I will soon be fifty nine. Her music, her voice, her acting, directing, writing, style and design are part of the fabric of my life. I would like to say, "thank you very much Ms. Streisand, and Happy Birthday!"
As an additional treat, I am posting these recordings of Ms Streisand that were made at the Bon Soir Night Club in 1962, when she was 20. They are EXTRAORDINARY! They feature her in all of her young exuberance, humor, quirkiness and amazing vocal skills. Her diction, enunciation and phrasing is shocking for one so young. I am over joyed to have found them. Take the time to listen and let her be a part of the fiber of your life. And remember--these were recorded LIVE, fifty years ago in a night club on TAPE!
Part Two of Five
Part Three of Five
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Part Five of Five
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