Read Online Streisand: Her Life by James Spada - Free Book Online Page A
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
Ads: Link
would rather have baby-sat for the Choys and made some money at it, but she loved caring for her baby sister. She had a strong maternal instinct, and the chubby, bubbly little girl who shared the living room sofa with her at night brought some real joy into her life. Barbara played with her, sang to her, tickled her back with her long red fingernails, and bribed her to stay quiet with coffee ice cream.
Whenever Barbara sang, Roslyn wanted to sing, too. Whenever Barbara danced, she wanted to dance. “She taught me how to harmonize on ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat, ’” Roslyn recalled, “and she taught me how to do the cha-cha, mambo, and lindy.” After she saw Barbara imitate a commercial in front of the bathroom mirror, she would race her into the bathroom every day and do a few of her own. But Roslyn found there was also something about her that fascinated Barbara: her face. “She would take pictures of my profile. I was the fat but pretty one.... Mama made me eat to compensate for Barbara’s skinniness.”
With no father figure in her life, and with her mother out working, Barbara had far more freedom than most children her age. “I didn’t have any boundaries. I didn’t have much discipline. We never ate together as a family; we never had time for a meal. I was a child of the streets. We played in the gutter, and when a car came, we moved out of the street. It was a tough childhood.... I was kind of wild.” Once Diana ordered Barbara, stricken with chicken pox, to stay in bed. “When she left, I just climbed out the window and went to play with my friends.” A younger neighbor, Cee Cee Cohen, recalled that Barbara’s fire escape came in handy at other times, too. “After school Barbara would have sock hops in her apartment. Kids would come over and listen to records and dance. They would time it so they’d be gone before Barbara’s mother got home. But sometimes they had to scramble out the window and down the fire escape so she wouldn’t catch them.”
T HE FAMILY’S TIGHT finances left Barbara with few playthings. While the other kids in the neighborhood spent hours on their bicycles, Barbara had to use whatever she could for outdoor amusement. “Someone gave me a pair of wooden shoes,” she recalled, “and I schlepped all over East Flatbush in them. I ended up with blisters on the backs of my feet and bunions on my toes.”
Indoors, while her girlfriends served tea to their doll families, Barbara contented herself with games of her own devising. Several times a week she would go over to a friend’s house after school to play “Crack the Safe”: Barbara would pick a number from the telephone book, dial it, and pretend she was the operator announcing a long-distance call. Then she would put on a different voice and say that she was calling from a radio program in Chicago.
“You have been selected to play ‘Crack the Safe ’ !” she’d proclaim. “All you have to do is identify this tune, and you’ll win one hundred dollars! But first, we have to break for a commercial.”
She would then affect a third voice to do an entire commercial for laundry detergent. Returning to the “program,” her friend would place a record on the Victrola, and Barbara would give the “contestant” thirty seconds to identify the song. “Congratulations!” she’d chirp when the answer was correct. “You’re one hundred dollars richer.” She would then put her friend on the phone to get the address of the “winner.” Finally the two conspirators, laughing merrily, would mail their unsuspecting victim one hundred dollars in Monopoly money.
On the weekends, with her mother home from work, Barbara had a less carefree time o f it. Cee Cee Cohen felt that “if there was any one person who could get to Barbara, it was her mother. Everything else could roll off her back. But Mrs. Kind would embarrass Barbara in front of the other kids. She’d come down to where we were singing on
Whenever Barbara sang, Roslyn wanted to sing, too. Whenever Barbara danced, she wanted to dance. “She taught me how to harmonize on ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat, ’” Roslyn recalled, “and she taught me how to do the cha-cha, mambo, and lindy.” After she saw Barbara imitate a commercial in front of the bathroom mirror, she would race her into the bathroom every day and do a few of her own. But Roslyn found there was also something about her that fascinated Barbara: her face. “She would take pictures of my profile. I was the fat but pretty one.... Mama made me eat to compensate for Barbara’s skinniness.”
With no father figure in her life, and with her mother out working, Barbara had far more freedom than most children her age. “I didn’t have any boundaries. I didn’t have much discipline. We never ate together as a family; we never had time for a meal. I was a child of the streets. We played in the gutter, and when a car came, we moved out of the street. It was a tough childhood.... I was kind of wild.” Once Diana ordered Barbara, stricken with chicken pox, to stay in bed. “When she left, I just climbed out the window and went to play with my friends.” A younger neighbor, Cee Cee Cohen, recalled that Barbara’s fire escape came in handy at other times, too. “After school Barbara would have sock hops in her apartment. Kids would come over and listen to records and dance. They would time it so they’d be gone before Barbara’s mother got home. But sometimes they had to scramble out the window and down the fire escape so she wouldn’t catch them.”
T HE FAMILY’S TIGHT finances left Barbara with few playthings. While the other kids in the neighborhood spent hours on their bicycles, Barbara had to use whatever she could for outdoor amusement. “Someone gave me a pair of wooden shoes,” she recalled, “and I schlepped all over East Flatbush in them. I ended up with blisters on the backs of my feet and bunions on my toes.”
Indoors, while her girlfriends served tea to their doll families, Barbara contented herself with games of her own devising. Several times a week she would go over to a friend’s house after school to play “Crack the Safe”: Barbara would pick a number from the telephone book, dial it, and pretend she was the operator announcing a long-distance call. Then she would put on a different voice and say that she was calling from a radio program in Chicago.
“You have been selected to play ‘Crack the Safe ’ !” she’d proclaim. “All you have to do is identify this tune, and you’ll win one hundred dollars! But first, we have to break for a commercial.”
She would then affect a third voice to do an entire commercial for laundry detergent. Returning to the “program,” her friend would place a record on the Victrola, and Barbara would give the “contestant” thirty seconds to identify the song. “Congratulations!” she’d chirp when the answer was correct. “You’re one hundred dollars richer.” She would then put her friend on the phone to get the address of the “winner.” Finally the two conspirators, laughing merrily, would mail their unsuspecting victim one hundred dollars in Monopoly money.
On the weekends, with her mother home from work, Barbara had a less carefree time o f it. Cee Cee Cohen felt that “if there was any one person who could get to Barbara, it was her mother. Everything else could roll off her back. But Mrs. Kind would embarrass Barbara in front of the other kids. She’d come down to where we were singing on
Similar Books
