My Name Is Barbra

Streisand turns down several roles that she would later regret and instead takes a role in For Pete’s Sake (1974), which is her manager Martin Erlichman’s first producing credit. On set, she meets hairstylist Jon Peters, who cuts her wig for the movie, and they begin an affair, but she is somewhat wary of him from the beginning. Though Peters shields her from the paparazzi and provides her and Jason a respite from her stardom, he also manipulates Streisand financially, convincing her to put a house she buys in his name. Peters also convinces her to let him produce her next album; Streisand does all the production work but lets him claim all the credit as she does not want him to feel bad about it.

Streisand is under contract to play Fanny Brice once again in Funny Lady, the sequel to Funny Girl, but she is not enthusiastic about it or about working with Stark again.

However, now, rewatching the movie while writing her autobiography, Streisand is pleasantly surprised.

Streisand is relieved that, after ten years, Stark no longer has any power over her: “I felt as if I had been sprung from jail” (525). She begins to work on the album Lazy Afternoon with Rupert Holmes, an up-and-coming musician with whom she writes a song. The album isn’t a huge success, but Streisand is fond of it.

Streisand discovers the opera singer Maria Callas, whose work influences her to record a classical album. Streisand is nominated for a Grammy for the album Classical Barbra (1976) and is proud that she pushed herself to work in a different genre.

Jon Peters, who asks to see every script that Streisand is offered, suggests that she do A Star Is Born. Unlike Peters, Streisand knows that this is a remake of a film that has been made twice before, so she is hesitant. However, she later recognizes that she can include a message about women’s liberation in the film. Streisand ends up giving Peters a producing credit on the movie, which he does not want to share with her. Though she wants to direct the film, Streisand doesn’t feel she has enough experience. By contrast, Peters claims he could direct despite never having done it before.

Scriptwriter Frank Pierson holds the script hostage until Streisand agrees to let him be director, but as the film is being made by her production company, she has a say in all aspects of the movie. She asks Rupert Holmes to write the music, but when he becomes overwhelmed and leaves, she writes the song “Evergreen,” which goes on to be a hit. Pierson is uncomfortable with Streisand’s attention to detail. Meanwhile, Peters becomes jealous of Streisand’s relationship with her co-star, Kris Kristofferson. Streisand, for her part, notices how the women on her crew are treated differently by their male counterparts. Pierson publicly ridicules his two leads and tells lies about them, painting the movie in a bad light before it even premieres. When it finally comes out and is a hit, the movie also receives criticism especially because of Pierson’s attacks. In 2018, Streisand re-edits a special version of the film.

The soundtrack for A Star Is Born does well, so Streisand’s record company encourages her to do another album called Superman, which includes songs that did not make it into the film. Shortly after, she releases another album, Songbird; the song “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” becomes popular, especially after Streisand sings it with Neil Diamond at the Grammys.

Bored after taking a break from her projects, Streisand redecorates her houses in her beloved Art Deco style. Director Sydney Pollack convinces her to act again, so her production company starts to work on the film The Main Event with her old co-star and ex-boyfriend Ryan O’Neal. Peters is jealous; he keeps asking Streisand to marry him, but she keeps putting him off, as he wants control of everything in the relationship. She tells Peters that she wants to start seeing other people since their relationship is going nowhere, but she promises to be discreet. In response, Peters starts lying to others that Streisand refuses to work without him. They fight, and she is exhausted by the drama.

Streisand is inspired to create the album Wet (1979) when she decides that an image of her in a Jacuzzi would make a good album cover. Its most popular song, “Enough is Enough” is remixed turned into a disco track; when Streisand sings it as a duet with famed disco star Donna Summers, Summers passes out during a long note she and Streisand are supposed to hold while recording.

Though she wants to focus on a future project, Yentl, Streisand is pushed to do another disco album in 1979 with the Bee Gees, with Bee Gees front man Barry Gibb writing and producing the songs. Streisand likes the music but is uncertain about the lyrics. However, as she is eager to get back to writing her script, she decides to trust him. Gibb gives her the time she wants to work on Yentl.

In 1968, Streisand receives a copy of the short story “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, and she is instantly captivated by this story about a Jewish woman in 19th-century Poland who wants to study the Talmud so much that she, since only men are allowed to study scripture, disguises herself as a man. Streisand buys the rights to the story and keeps it on the back burner as she continues to work on other films. After producing A Star Is Born, she gains the confidence to direct the new film herself, but when she tries to pitch it to studios, Streisand has a hard time getting it green-lit: “Maybe they were afraid the subject was too Jewish” (619). Streisand is dejected until she has a run-in with a medium who contacts her father. According to the medium, her father is sorry and wants her to sing proudly. When she visits her father’s grave, she receives a sign—the name “Anshel,” Yentl’s male counterpart, is on the grave beside her father’s. She is now determined to make this film about the desire to learn as a tribute to her scholarly father.

Streisand knows that the only way Yentl will be accepted by a film studio is if she sings in it, and the message from her father convinces her to make it a musical. Streisand writes the script, and her old friends Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Michel Legrand write the lyrics and music, respectively. Streisand also meets with several rabbis to get a better understanding of Judaism and what Yentl is attempting to study; as a result, Streisand becomes increasingly interested in the Talmud.

In the middle of writing the script, Streisand agrees to a role in another movie, All Night Long (1981), hoping to see Yentl with fresh eyes afterward. During filming, she is rushed to the hospital for a dilation and curettage procedure because of her endometriosis. When she returns to set, she argues with and fires her agent, with whom she’s been having disagreements. After filming, Streisand goes to Eastern Europe to get ideas for Yentl filming locations, but the production again falls through when the studio wants to cut her budget. Peters is offended by this and by the fact that Streisand met with the studio without him. The film is picked up by another studio where one of Peters’s friends works, but they also don’t want to give Streisand the budget she wants. Streisand removes Peters from the production and she pitches it to yet more studios. Finally, the film rights are sold to MGM, which is headed by Streisand’s old agent David Begelman, who already discouraged her from doing Yentl years earlier.

MGM gives Streisand a bigger budget than she hoped, but they demand certain concessions: Another writer must look over the script, and Streisand will not be credited as screenwriter. Most worrisomely, Streisand must agree to let the studio have the final cut. Luckily, the studio does not change anything once she submits her edit of the film. Streisand feels glad to have creative control and feels confident in the cast and crew she chooses. When the press suggests that Streisand is a diva who is taking too much control of the project, the entire crew signs a letter confirming that she does not have a temper and is always kind; however, this letter is never published. Streisand does struggle with her costar, Mandy Patinkin; years later, he admits that he only acted out because he was scared.

Streisand shoots the film in Communist Czechoslovakia during political turmoil that came with particular hardships for Jewish people. She cast Jewish locals as extras in the film and made sure they were fed and paid generously. Though several mishaps happen when filming the final scenes, Streisand’s crew works hard, often incorporating unconventional techniques to get the shots she wants. Streisand compares herself to Yentl—both are women trying to be successful in the world of men. Just before filming, Peters proposes again; she ends their relationship shortly after. Streisand dedicates Yentl to her father, and all fathers, making her mother angry.

After investing so much in Yentl, Streisand is nervous to hear what others think. She is disturbed to find that many criticisms are trivial and focus on her rather than the film as a whole. However, while writing the memoir, Streisand also finds many positive reviews that focus on the film’s subtlety and complexity. Streisand’s friend, renowned director Steven Spielberg, sees Yentl before it is released and tells Streisand, “Don’t change a frame” (705)—yet the press changes this story to suggest Spielberg gave her editing advice.

The slights from the press feel personal, and are part of why Streisand doesn’t direct another movie for years. At an opening night party for the film, no other directors talk to her, yet she is the first woman to win the Golden Globe for the best director and Yentl wins the Golden Globe for Best Picture—Comedy or Musical. Streisand tours abroad as Yentl premieres in other countries, and she goes to Jerusalem to dedicate the Emanuel Streisand Building for Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University, where women can study what Yentl was prevented from learning. In 1984, when she is given an award by Women in Film, an organization dedicated to equity in the industry, she uses her acceptance speech to talk about the problem of women not supporting other women.

Streisand feels burned out after Yentl, and also like she has been neglecting her personal life for her professional life. The musician Richard Baskin, whom she meets at the opening night party for her film, asks her on a date. She also starts a passionate relationship with the arranger of her previous album, Peter Matz, but distance and differences in their levels of success cause their relationship to fizzle. Streisand does not relate to the next album she creates, but when she decides to return to her Broadway roots, Columbia Records is not happy that she wants to make an album of show tunes rather than pop songs.

Still, determined to make the album whatever the cost, Streisand asks famed composer and playwright Stephen Sondheim to rewrite the lyrics to one of his songs to make it about the music business. The song also criticizes Columbia Records, including dialogue dramatizing how executives turned her down. On the album, Streisand also puts her own spin on several other Broadway classics, such as “If I Loved You” from Carousel and “Somewhere” from West Side Story.

Streisand directs a TV special about the making of the album, but does not take a director credit, afraid of receiving the same attacks as with Yentl. When she wins the Grammy for Album of the Year on February 24, 1987, she notes the coincidence that this award comes 24 years after she received her first Grammy and this is her 24th studio album. Streisand considers 24 her lucky number.