Geraldo Rivera was a journalist that Barbra Streisand could trust. She gave him unlimited access to her as she filmed her directorial debut, Yentl.
In November 1983, the hour-long special was shown on the ABC news program, 20/20. Excited Streisand fans got an amazing, honest, and in-depth look at Barbra at work, as well as her gorgeous Malibu ranch, where she lived at the time. Wearing a pink sweater and leg warmers, Streisand was beautiful and vulnerable during the interview. “I'm hurt all the time,” Streisand confessed about bad reviews and criticism. “I've never been able to build up that wall that you're supposed to build up, I hear, that things don't hurt you. And also I think if I built up that wall it would hurt me as an artist and a person.”
One of the most fascinating sequences was in the recording studio. Barbra, singing “The Way He Makes Me Feel” discussed how the final sound mix of the film was missing a seconds-long downbeat. Marilyn and Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Michel Legrand (music, conductor) were present, and Streisand pulled out a cassette boom box to play the original mix for the film's sound editor. Geraldo comments: “Watching this, perhaps you can judge for yourself. Is Barbra the creative tyrant she's been cast as? Or is she a perfectionst, reasonably refusing to take shortcuts?”
Anyone with a musical ear can hear the difference — the downbeat was missing from the final mix. “Please restore the four frames,” director Streisand states. Marilyn Bergman chimes in: “Give the lady back her bomp!”
Geraldo Rivera and his cameras also spent some time on location in Prague with Streisand as she filmed Yentl.
When Geraldo asked Barbra about why her relationship with Elliott Gould ended, she said: “I can't really say certain things. They're too personal.” Geraldo theorizes that Gould's career took a natural progression, while Streisand's exploded. Streisand responded, “He actually coped with it very well. He was supportive. He came up with a lot of creative ideas. He's very bright, very sweet, kind. I'm glad he's Jason's father.”
When discussing her breakup with Jon Peters, Barbra said, “They treated him very unfairly. He was very bright, very imaginative, and he has great taste in clothes and design and like this ranch all the exterior parts of this ranch — the waterfalls, the boulders, the wood house are all Jon's imaginations, creations.”
And on this new chapter of her life, Barbra described herself as: “I'm an open Barbra. I'm open to new ideas, new relationships, new priorities, new ways of looking at life.”
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