Read Online Streisand: Her Life by James Spada - Free Book Online
Authors: James Spada
Tags: Another Evening with Harry Stoones, Bon Soir Club, My Passion for Design, Ted Rozar, I Can Get it for You Wholesale and Streisand, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Streisand Spada, Mike Douglas and Streisand, A Star is Born, Stoney End, George Segal and Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Dustin Hoffman and Streisand, The Prince of Tides, Barbara Joan Streisand, Evergreen, Bill Clinton Streisand, Ray Stark, Ryan O’Neal, Barwood Films, Diana Streisand Kind, Sinatra and Streisand, Streisand Her Life, Omar Sharif and Streisand, Roslyn Kind, Nuts and Barbra Streisand, Barbara Streisand, Barbra Joan Streisand, Barbra Streisand, Fanny Brice and Steisand, Streisand, Richard Dreyfuss and Streisand, Amy Irving, MGM Grand, Emanuel Streisand, Brooklyn and Streisand, Yentl, Streisand Concert, Miss Marmelstein, Arthur Laurents, Columbia Records, Happening in Central Park, Don Johnson and Streisand, Marty Erlichman, Judy Garland Streisand, Jason Emanuel Gould, by James Spada, One Voice, Barry Dennen, James Brolin and Barbra, Theater Studio of New York
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to [her] to be false when made.”
His absences, Kind explained, were caused by his need to work nights and weekends in order to meet Diana’s “ever increasing demands for money.” He concluded that he was unable to work because of illness and had only a small income from Social Security and rents from the rooming houses he owned. He was also responsible for $25 a week in child support from his previous marriage, he said, and could not afford to pay Diana alimony.
His health, Kind claimed, began to deteriorate in April 1956 when he “became ill, suffered severe and rapid loss of weight, pain, dizziness, nausea and sleeplessness.” Justice Louis L. Friedman, after hearing the in-person testimony of both combatants in the stately oak-paneled Brooklyn Court House, granted Diana a decree of separation on May 2, 1957, and he was harsh in his assessment of Louis Kind. Barbara’s stepfather, the judge believed, was “a pathological liar. I think he testifies in any manner which he thinks will best fit his needs on the particular occasion, and that he would say anything if he felt that it would aid his cause.”
Friedman doubted Kind’s claims of illness: “I think a great deal of it was put on. I think he is a malingerer... and I think [he] gave up his employment deliberately for the purpose of stopping his wife from getting any support. I think that [he] has other sources of income which are not disclosed, and apparently he is engaged in several different undertakings.” The judge ordered Kind to pay Diana $50 a week in alimony, but he also gave him the opportunity to be examined by a court-appointed doctor. When the doctor confirmed that Kind’s health was indeed poor, Justice Friedman reduced the alimony award to $37 a week.
That wasn’t very much, and once again Diana found herself a single mother struggling to make ends meet. Several of her neighbors were struck by just how careful she had to be with money now. Marvin Stein, a young man who worked in a produce store across the street, recalled that Mrs. Kind “used to come in with Barbara and her baby sister. Barbara was very thin, and the sister was very chubby. Barbara’s mother was an extremely careful shopper. She would look at the prices, and if an item went up two or three cents she’d stay away from it. Sometimes she would stand there for what seemed like an eternity before deciding to buy one or two items. I can’t tell you how cautious she was.”
Esther Waxman, who lived in the building adjacent to Diana’s in the Vanderveer complex, recalled that “Diana used to come into the laundry room in my building and try to sell undergarments—girdles and stockings and things like that—to supplement her income. She’d buy them at a wholesale house and try to resell them and make a little profit. I never bought anything from her, and I don’t think many other people did either.”
Sometimes things got so bad that Diana told Barbara to go out into the lobby of their building and steal the bottles of milk left by the milkman outside their neighbors’ doors.
I F LOUIS KIND’S permanent departure left Diana alone to struggle over a price increase of a few cents at the supermarket, at the same time it lifted a great weight from Barbara. No longer did she have to cower in fear as her stepfather hit her sobbing mother; no longer was he there to disparage her. Still, the financial problems hit Barbara hard too. The family had never had much money for anything but the barest necessities; now there was even less. Again they were left out of the country’s economic boom that saw a television in nearly every home and a huge tail-finned car in many garages. “I was so jealous of the rich Jewish girls in my school.” Barbra said, “who always wore the latest clothes and had money to spend on whatever they wanted.”
With Diana working, Barbara would pick Roslyn up from school and baby-sit for her until her mother got home. She
His absences, Kind explained, were caused by his need to work nights and weekends in order to meet Diana’s “ever increasing demands for money.” He concluded that he was unable to work because of illness and had only a small income from Social Security and rents from the rooming houses he owned. He was also responsible for $25 a week in child support from his previous marriage, he said, and could not afford to pay Diana alimony.
His health, Kind claimed, began to deteriorate in April 1956 when he “became ill, suffered severe and rapid loss of weight, pain, dizziness, nausea and sleeplessness.” Justice Louis L. Friedman, after hearing the in-person testimony of both combatants in the stately oak-paneled Brooklyn Court House, granted Diana a decree of separation on May 2, 1957, and he was harsh in his assessment of Louis Kind. Barbara’s stepfather, the judge believed, was “a pathological liar. I think he testifies in any manner which he thinks will best fit his needs on the particular occasion, and that he would say anything if he felt that it would aid his cause.”
Friedman doubted Kind’s claims of illness: “I think a great deal of it was put on. I think he is a malingerer... and I think [he] gave up his employment deliberately for the purpose of stopping his wife from getting any support. I think that [he] has other sources of income which are not disclosed, and apparently he is engaged in several different undertakings.” The judge ordered Kind to pay Diana $50 a week in alimony, but he also gave him the opportunity to be examined by a court-appointed doctor. When the doctor confirmed that Kind’s health was indeed poor, Justice Friedman reduced the alimony award to $37 a week.
That wasn’t very much, and once again Diana found herself a single mother struggling to make ends meet. Several of her neighbors were struck by just how careful she had to be with money now. Marvin Stein, a young man who worked in a produce store across the street, recalled that Mrs. Kind “used to come in with Barbara and her baby sister. Barbara was very thin, and the sister was very chubby. Barbara’s mother was an extremely careful shopper. She would look at the prices, and if an item went up two or three cents she’d stay away from it. Sometimes she would stand there for what seemed like an eternity before deciding to buy one or two items. I can’t tell you how cautious she was.”
Esther Waxman, who lived in the building adjacent to Diana’s in the Vanderveer complex, recalled that “Diana used to come into the laundry room in my building and try to sell undergarments—girdles and stockings and things like that—to supplement her income. She’d buy them at a wholesale house and try to resell them and make a little profit. I never bought anything from her, and I don’t think many other people did either.”
Sometimes things got so bad that Diana told Barbara to go out into the lobby of their building and steal the bottles of milk left by the milkman outside their neighbors’ doors.
I F LOUIS KIND’S permanent departure left Diana alone to struggle over a price increase of a few cents at the supermarket, at the same time it lifted a great weight from Barbara. No longer did she have to cower in fear as her stepfather hit her sobbing mother; no longer was he there to disparage her. Still, the financial problems hit Barbara hard too. The family had never had much money for anything but the barest necessities; now there was even less. Again they were left out of the country’s economic boom that saw a television in nearly every home and a huge tail-finned car in many garages. “I was so jealous of the rich Jewish girls in my school.” Barbra said, “who always wore the latest clothes and had money to spend on whatever they wanted.”
With Diana working, Barbara would pick Roslyn up from school and baby-sit for her until her mother got home. She
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