Syndicated Nightly 1961—1962
In June 1961, Westinghouse Broadcasting Company began airing a talk show called P.M. East that was meant to compete with The Jack Paar Show (which was a predecessor of The Tonight Show ). Mike Wallace was the host, and Joyce Davidson was his “girl Friday,” as the newspapers described her at the time (she was also married to David Susskind). P.M. East taped in New York at Dumont Studios with no studio audience. The master tapes were air-mailed to participating stations to air several days later.
For the first year it aired, a half-hour segment called P.M. West followed the East show with Terrence O'Flaherty in San Francisco. Mike Wallace tried to explain the new show before it aired: “It has no regular format, and there will be a great deal of variety on both the East and West portions. You might call it an idea show, or a television magazine … We’ll have a theme every night, but we won’t feel obliged to stick to it entirely if something of special importance turns up.”
The show's talent coordinator, Steve Elster, was the person who heard Streisand sing at the Bon Soir and suggested her for P.M. East.
Al Ramrus — a writer-producer for the show — told biographer René Jordan, “Our show was syndicated, low budget, and, I'm afraid not a very successful rival to Jack Paar's ... One day I needed a singer to round out an upcoming show, and our talent coordinator suggested Barbra Streisand ... I always pre-interviewed guests in order to prepare Mike Wallace for his own on-camera interviews ... I remember [Barbra] was calling from a bar because not only did she not have a phone, but she had no apartment ... The next afternoon she breezed into the Dumont studios for rehearsals, chattering like some adolescent yenta, carrying her giant ring of keys and a few old dresses slung over her back ... Her phrasing was immaculate, every word and every idea crackled with excitement ... The night before, I told her she'd be a star. Now I was sure of it.”
According to an article from 1961, when P.M. East first started production, it aired on six stations on the Westinghouse network and paid the standard fee to its guests: $212 per appearance. By 1962, P.M. East reached audiences on 12 stations in Cleveland, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Baltimore, as well as New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Portland, Des Moines, and York.
Mike Wallace wrote: “The reaction to her debut on P.M. East was so enthusiastic, that she became one of our regular guests, appearing on the show more than a dozen times over the next several months.”
The show’s publicist, Don Softness, concurred: “Barbra talked about anything that came into her mind, trying to be somewhat – but not too – outrageous, and build her ‘kookie’ reputation.”
Barbra and Mike Wallace developed a charming but argumentative chemistry together. Wallace wrote, “what I found so striking about Streisand in those days (aside from her singing) was her attitude of supreme self-assurance. I had to keep reminding myself that she was still a kid, a teenager...”
Streisand admitted two years later, “When I started appearing on Mike Wallace's P.M. East show, he used to be fresh with me, so I talked back to him. From the response we got, I found that a lot of people just adored the way I spoke my mind, and was not sweet, and others despised me and thought I was a fresh brat. I was only 19 then.”
In a 1962 interview, Wallace further elaborated on Streisand's charm: “She looked strangely out of place but when she began to sing the studio became hushed. Under the clear lights of the studio, she was a little girl no longer. Her lithe body and extremely expressive hands and arms added to the versatility of her voice that soared effortlessly from a deep-throated timbre to the highest registers.”
Unfortunately, videotapes of P.M. East no longer exist. Like most television shows of that era, it was too expensive to leave costly videotape lying around, so they were recorded over and reused.
Barbra Archives has assembled a list of Streisand’s appearances on P.M. East. There are also rare photos and audio excerpts from some of the shows. The information here was gleaned from digitally archived newspaper searches, bootleg audio, and Streisand biographies and fan magazines. René Jordan’s book (written a mere thirteen years after the program aired) has a very helpful interview with P.M. East ’s writer-producer Al Ramrus. The photo thumbnails accompanying the list are all from the actual P.M. East shows, although not necessarily the show they're included with.
Streisand bios and fanzines have always identified this as Barbra’s first appearance on P.M. East. I cannot verify it, though. The archived newspapers list the guests as: “Mike Wallace, Mike Quill, others.” Streisand is simply not listed as a guest, although it’s entirely possible she appeared on this show but didn’t get mentioned in the newspapers.
This would have been the ninth episode of P.M. East, which began airing on June 12th. Al Ramrus recalled that he scheduled Barbra’s audition with her over the telephone; because of her homelessness, she was calling from a bar. When she sang for Ramrus, “Her phrasing was immaculate, every word and every idea crackled with excitement,” he said.
Mike Wallace told René Jordan that “everybody in that studio was carrying on about how great this new girl was so I said, ‘Okay, she’s on tonight.’” Wallace calmed Barbra’s nerves by telling her all she had to do was sing; he wouldn’t interview her.
Theme: “Artists, Models and Glamour”
Guests: Dana Wynter (actress), Joe Eula (fashion illustrator), Milton Greene (photographer), Laura Bergquist (Look magazine staff writer), Mr. Kenneth (hairdresser), Theodora and Suzy Parker (models).
There were some interesting connections on this show. Eula was a friend of Streisand’s in later years, even crediting himself in one bio as “responsible for Barbra Streisand’s personal staging in The Owl & The Pussycat.” They were photographed attending a party for fashion icon Valentino in the 1970s, too.
Milton Greene photographed Barbra in 1964 for the cover of Life Magazine.
And Kenneth gave Streisand her sleek, shoulder-length hair bob in 1963.
On this show, Barbra sang “A Sleepin’ Bee” and “Lover, Come Back To Me.”
Theme: “Are Women Better Entertainers Than Men?”
Guests: Julie Wilson (singer), Jean Carroll (comedienne), Rose Murphy (pianist-singer), Streisand.
On this show, Barbra sang “When The Sun Comes Out,” “Have I Stayed Too Long At The Fair,” and “Come To The Supermarket (In Old Peking).”
Guests: Mickey Rooney, Peter, Paul and Mary, Streisand
The show revolved around actor Mickey Rooney. Barbra and Rooney sang a duet of “I Wish I Were In Love Again.”
Photo: Mickey Rooney on a 1961 episode of “What's My Line?”
Here’s a transcript of their interaction:
Susskind: ...The problem is you. You couldn't consider yourself a master of coherence.
Streisand: Yeah.
Susskind: You do have an extreme —
Streisand: I do say things, maybe, in my own way —
Susskind: Hear me out, it'll only take a second or two.
Streisand: One second.
Susskind: You also have an overabundance of energy. Which is healthy in a performer. The trouble is, maybe analysis will help you a little bit.
Streisand: No. I don't think so.
Later in the show, Barbra went after Susskind:
Streisand: You wouldn't see me when I went up to “Talent Associates.”
Susskind: Because I don't see actors or actresses.
Streisand: None of your people would even let me read or anything. That's why I decided to give up theater, rather than go through that stuff.
Susskind: Probably, at the switchboard, they had difficulty understanding what you wanted.
Streisand: I was right there, no. I talked in sign language and spoke Italian ...
Reflecting on the encounter in 1977, Barbra told Newsdaymagazine, “I once had a big fight on television with David Susskind … He said to me, ‘Why do you sing these obscure songs? How come you don't sing like ‘Night and Day’ and all these great songs by composers?’ It was very accusatory. I wanted my own identity. I wanted to be associated with songs that people really weren't familiar with. Why would I choose a song that they already associated with another performer?”
Theme: “Fallout”
Guests: Dagmar Wilson (anti-nuclear testing activist), Jaycee Collins (comedienne), Don Porter (actor) and wife, Streisand.
P.M. East renamed itself in 1962, going by the shorter title — P.M.
Barbra sang “Lover, Come Back To Me,” “Moon River,” and “Cry Me A River” on this show.
One newspaper listing described this show: “The topic of fallout shelters is argued seriously by Dagmar Wilson, executive of Direct Action, a women's organization protesting the building of shelters, and humorously by comic Jaycee Collins in her monologue on the conversion of subways into shelters. The show's regular Barbara [sic] Streisand sings far-out fallout songs for Mike Wallace...”
Guests: Steve Lawrence (singer), Anita Gillette (Broadway actress), Don Cherry (cornet player), Bricktop (nightclub owner), Sammy Cahn (songwriter), Goddard Lieberson (Columbia Records), Streisand.
This is another legacy date, listed for years as one of Streisand’s appearances by biographies and fanzines. However, I’m unable to confirm this. The New York Daily News lists the guests for this 4/20/62 show as: “Betsy von Furstenberg, Katherine Ann Porter, Jerry Lester, others.”
Guests: Betsy von Furstenberg, Katharine Anne Porter, Jerry Lester, Darwin Venneri, Streisand.
Guests: Guests: Jan Sterling (actress), Streisand.
Guests: Eddie Greensleeves (folk singer), Jackie Miles (actor), Richard Rodgers (songwriter), Diahann Carroll (Broadway), Cathy Godfrey, Streisand
Rodgers was on P.M. EAST publicizing his new Broadway musical NO STRINGS with its star Diahann Carroll (who chose not to sing for this appearance). Producer Mert Koplin remembered, “I felt it was a great opportunity for Barbra to catch Rodgers' attention. I persuaded her to take care of the musical interludes, singing a batch of Rodgers' standards. The composer was too busy talking to Diahann Carroll about what they would say on the show: He never once looked up at Barbra.”
Barbra sang the Rodgers and Hart song “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” that night.
Photo: Diahann Carroll on “What's My Line?” in 1962.
Barbra sang “Have I Stayed Too Long At The Fair” and “Soon It's Gonna Rain” again.
Guests: Colleen Dewhurst (actress); Abe Burrows (writer-director); Paul Lynde (comedian), Streisand.
One year after its debut, Mike Wallace announced he would quit P.M.
For the last broadcast of the series, guests were Eartha Kitt, Gloria DeHaven, Abe Burrows, singer-trombonist Lillian Briggs, folk singer Eddie Greensleeves, and comedian Phil Foster.
Jordan writes: “After Barbra sang ‘A Sleepin’ Bee,’ Eartha Kitt was trying to get a word in edgewise and facetiously inquired what happened when a bee lies sleeping in the palm of your hand. ‘It stings you dead,’ Barbra retorted.
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