A Star Was Born—75 Years Ago: Barbra Streisand Celebrates a Landmark Birthday
Next Monday, April 24, marks a historic event for Hollywood, America, and the rest of the world—and no, it’s not because it’s the day the results of the Writers’ Guild Strike Authorization Vote will be announced, although I’m sure that’s on your mind. For on this momentous day, Barbra Joan Streisand, a woman so legendary she requires no facetiously pithy introduction to any of my readership, will be 75 years old. That’s right. We have, on this here Planet Earth, now experienced three quarters of a century of Streisand. At this point in the Amidah, I’ll allow you a few private moments of contemplative prayer.
Are you back? Good. It’s hard to know where even to begin in a brief appreciation of a performer, director, design guru, and undeniable icon who has loomed so large over the consciousness of both Americans and Jewish Americans (arguably, almost single-handedly, coalescing them into one coherent philosophy. But I think it wouldn’t be incorrect to marvel at the wonder of Barbra’s enduring stardom by mentioning how unlikely it was to happen at all.