Friars Honor Barbra Streisand 1969

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The Friars Honor Barbra Streisand (1969)

Waldorf Astoria Hotel
New York

May 16, 1969
Cover of the program for the Friars event

Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Cy Coleman, Jerry Herman, Harold Rome, and Burton Lane all paid tribute to — and had a few laughs with — Barbra on this evening. The testimonial dinner, attended by about 1,200 people at $100 a head, was hosted by Danny Thomas at the Friars Club in New York City. Streisand was awarded “Entertainer of the Year” by the Friars, making her the second woman to be honored in the theatrical organization's 65-year history! (Lucille Ball was the first).


READ MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE FRIAR'S CLUB


“Probably one of the most touching [parts of the evening] was the who's who of ASCAP paying tribute on stage to the star. This segment, toastmastered graciously by ASCAP prexy Stanley Adams, had some of its top roster doing parodies especially written for the occasion. Richard Rogers, who closed this portion, got a standing ovation. The others, Jule Styne, Cy Coleman, Harold Arlen, Burton Lane, Harold Rome and Jerry Herman, ivoried and sang humorous tributes to Miss Streisand. A couple of them had to do with the unreleased version of “Hello Dolly” awaiting settlement with the show's producer David Merrick, who was present on the dais and seemed to enjoy this bit of kidding on the square.”

... Variety, May 21, 1969
Barbra Streisand at the dais accepting her award
It really must have been amazing for Barbra to sit there and listen to some of the most important composers of the American musical theater serenade her.

Barbra wrote, “For them to sing me their songs, with special lyrics written by Sammy Cahn (Richard Rodgers wrote his own), was an unforgettable honor.”

Columnist Joyce Haber revealed that Streisand accepted her award wearing a black organza Dior gown. “Miss Streisand designed the hooded cloak she wore over it specifically for the Friars' do...”

Streisand didn't only listen; she also sang.

“The evening was capped by Miss Streisand herself,” Variety wrote, “who stopped the orchestra in the middle of a passage, and asked if she were getting the entertainer of the year award all by herself, a reflection, of course, on the Academy Award in which she shared the accolade [with Katharine Hepburn]. Added to her brilliant singing was a specially written version of ‘People’ in which she distributed her plaudits to those who made the evening possible.” 

Variety explained that the Friars booked “a huge band, much larger than that which usually plays the Friar events, and there was a bank of flowers that would have done credit to a Prohibition funeral.”

Then Barbra told the crowd, “Ten years ago I could've used a dinner like this. It was delicious.”
The program for the evening featured congratulatory ads from show business supporters.  It also contained short tributes to Barbra.  

Below are a few of those tributes.

Here is what Alan Jay Lerner (Camelot, On A Clear Day, Gigi) wrote about Barbra ....

“There is no sense trying to be clever about Barbra. She comes from the earth and bon mots don't grow on trees. She is so much of the earth, in fact, that I often think she wasn't conceived, she was sown ... She happens to be a ruthless perfectionist who works like a diamond cutter over every second of her performance, far more demanding than all her associates and critics combined. (I have never known a great star whose ‘secret’ wasn't simply that he worked harder than anyone else. Barbra is all that doubled, tripled and squared.) No, I regret to say there is no explanation for Barbra. She happens to be a miracle. And any agent or mother or entrepreneur who believes he has another Barbra Streisand tucked away on a pedestal in the corner, waiting to be unveiled, had better either switch cigarettes or change professions. There is just not going to be another Barbra Streisand, now or ever. What she is, happens once, and in a world that gives few free gifts, she is ours.

I thank the Friars from the bottom of my heart for thanking her for all of us.”

ALAN JAY LERNER
Barbra Streisand at the dais accepting her award



Here's the special lyrics that Sammy Cahn performed for Barbra that evening, to the tune of “Witchcraft” (music by Cy Coleman):


The arch that shapes her throat

The way she holds each note

There's just one answer quote

It's witchcraft!


She'll take a phrase and cling to it

The magic she will bring to it

Then do that Streisand thing to it, too


And it's witchcraft!

Barbra Streisand witchcraft!

And altho I know I glow when she's thru ---


Whoever sold the role to her

That famous Broadway goal to her

Brought fame and heart and should to her, too


I sure would thank him twice

For that Funny Girl advice

'Cause there ain't no nicer Brice than you!!!


Streisand wearing black organza Dior gown with a hooded cloak.
Barbra Streisand included about eight minutes of this evening on her 1991 retrospective box set Just For the Record.  On that set, fans can hear the audio of Harold Arlen singing special lyrics to “Come Rain Or Come Shine” (“Come Ray Or Come Stark”); Jule Styne brought the house down with his opening lyric, “Time after time I tell myself that I'm so lucky to be Jule Styne ...” (sung to the tune of his song “Time After Time”); and Richard Rodgers provided a sensitive talk-sung version of “The Sweetest Sounds” in which he declared, “The world will know its happiest times when wondrous Barbra sings...”  That's ASCAP president Stanely Adams introducing each composer from the dais.

Streisand confessed on Instagram years later that “Being skewered by Don Rickles was sidesplittingly funny.  A gentle soul with rapid fire wit.”  Known as an “insult comedian,” Rickles had everyone at the Friars Club in stitches when he told Streisand, “I'm so fed up with this fakakta affair, you can't believe ... Barbra, I say this publicly, I never liked you.”

Seated on the dais (as common for comedy roasts) were an array of talented showbiz people who did not speak or perform:  Darryl Zanuck (Fox) and Howard Koch (Paramount), Leo Jaffe (Columbia Pictures), Clive Davis (Columbia Records president), Broadway's David Merrick; Ed Sullivan; Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence.

At the mic and on the stage were a slew of toasters, roasters and performers: Joe E. Lewis, Flip Wilson, Rodney Dangerfield, Gene Baylos, William B. Williams, Bob Merrill, and Hines, Hines and Dad [that's Maurice Hines Sr., and his tap-dancing sons Gregory and Maurice Jr.]. 
Streisand on stage at the Friars Club singing
Streisand posing with Coleman, Lane, Arlen, Styne, Herman and Rome.

Click the arrows below to view photos from the Friars Club dinner ...

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