Singing legend Barbra Streisand headlined a sold-out opening night of the Paley Center for Media’s annual television festival with a look back at her TV work.
When she was a newly independent teen living in a tiny New York apartment, Barbra Streisand never made her bed.
Determined to pursue her dream as a Broadway actress, she regarded her unkempt covers and thought, “I have to make it.”
Make it in her career, that is. How else would she get enough money to pay someone else to tidy up?
That bed(time) story was just one of the misty, water-colored memories the legendary singer shared with a sold-out audience who packed Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Friday for a tribute to her TV work.
The event was the opening night for this year’s annual PaleyFest, which honors current and veteran TV favorites. The festival, which will host evenings devoted to “Stranger Things,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and other shows, continues through March 25.
Friday’s salute kicked off with a generous montage of clips from Streisand’s 1960s specials “My Name Is Barbra” and “Color Me Barbra,” and her recent Netflix special, “Barbra: The Music… The Mem’ries… The Magic!”
When the lights came up, Streisand, wearing a dark dress with knee-high black boots, walked out on stage alone and started waving to the audience, who greeted her with a thunderous ovation. She was joined a few moments later by Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story”), the evening’s moderator.
The writer-producer-director made no effort to mask his excitement about his emcee duties, recounting his thrill as a young boy seeing Streisand for the first time in 1968’s “Funny Girl.” Murphy dismissed those who merely want to label Streisand as the greatest female star in entertainment.
“No, that’s not enough,” he proclaimed. “Barbra Streisand is the greatest star, male or female, period.” The crowd roared in agreement.
As Murphy listed her achievements, which include two Academy Awards, 10 Grammy awards, five Emmy awards, fand a slew of lifetime achievement awards. Streisand craned her neck in mock bewilderment.
“What? I don’t remember that,” she quipped, indicating she often remembered more about the menu at the ceremonies than the actual honors: “I usually remember things by the food.”
Referencing the current focus on sexual harassment in Hollywood, Murphy asked Streisand if she had ever experienced a #MeToo moment.
“Never,” she responded, adding, “I wasn’t like those pretty girls with those nice little noses. Maybe that’s why. I have no idea.”
She also addressed her reputation for being “difficult” and controlling due to her insistence on approving quotes and photographs in stories about her. Over the years, she said, she has grown comfortable with supervising her image, letting go of anxieties she felt as a young actress.
“I didn’t want people to call me controlling, which I am,” she said. “Everyone who is talented… wants to control their work.”
That control factor played out during the evening. A Los Angeles Times photographer was allowed access to the event, with the stipulation he abide by Streisand’s photo approval rule. Streisand sat on the left side of the stage, which she has said is her preference.
“Yeah I want … picture approval,” she declared, prompting another hearty audience response. “I love the truth, what can I say?”
At one point, Murphy read excerpts from articles about Streisand. She was quick to note that she gets upset when she feels that the press twists her words.
Streisand also singled out her 1961 interview on “60 Minutes” with Mike Wallace, who called her “self-absorbed.” When she later called him to complain and fans called him mean, Streisand said Wallace lied and told viewers she loved the show.
“He made me cry,” she said. “He would say, ‘Why are you self-obsessed?’ Who else should I be obsessed with? I’m 19 years old!”
The tribute also included clips from some of the factual, politically oriented TV movies she produced, including 1995’s “Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story,” starring Glenn Close as a lesbian colonel struggling for her right to serve in the military, and 1998’s “The Long Island Incident,” starring Laurie Metcalf as Carolyn McCarthy, a homemaker who became a outspoken gun control advocate after her husband was killed and her son seriously wounded when a deranged man opened fire on unsuspecting passengers on a New York commuter train.
A scene from that 1998 film drew particularly loud applause.
After a brief audience question-and-answer session, Streisand was presented with the Paley Center for Media’s Icon award, the first to honor her TV work. The evening came to a close, and the audience again gave a standing ovation. Some fans tried to rush the stage, but Streisand was quickly ushered away.
As the crowd exited, one Streisand devotee, Marguerita Drew of Glendale, said Streisand was everything she hoped she would be.
“All you read about her is negative stuff,” said the 51-year-old teacher who has a Streisand Barbie doll on her desk. “They call her demanding or they call her the B-word. But listening to her talk, she’s like any of us.”
alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com
Twitter: @r_valejandra
