The Earth Day Special 1990

Streisand / Television

The Earth Day Special (1990)

  • SHOW CREDITS
    • Broadcast on ABC April 22, 1990
    • Directed by: Dwight Hemion
    • Executive Producer, Writer: Richard Baskin
    • “One Day” Recording Produced by: Jack Gold
    • Mixed by: John Arrias
    • “One Day” lyrics by: Alan & Marilyn Bergman
    • Music by: Michel Legrand
    • “One Day” Set designed by: Tom John
  • BARBRA'S SONGS
    • “Somewhere”
    • “One Day”
Title logo for The Earth Day Special
Executive Produced by Richard Baskin (Barbra Streisand's boyfriend at the time), The Earth Day Special was an environmental and ecological show about Mother Earth getting sick and what the community did about it. An all-star cast appeared in the show, including Bette Midler as Mother Earth, Robin Williams, Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, and even James Brolin (who Streisand married in 1998!).

Performers who participated either donated their time or worked for scale.

Barbra's narration at the opening of the show was written by astronomer Carl Sagan (Cosmos) and his wife, Ann Druyan. Barbra also sang a new vocal of "Somewhere" — with a tweak to Stephen Sondheim's lyrics:

“... we'll find a new way of giving; we'll find a new way of living ... One Day.”

At the end of the show, Barbra sang a Bergman/Legrand song, “One Day” [which has never appeared on a Streisand album]. The recording was produced by Jack Gold and mixed by John Arias.

“One Day” was recorded by Barbra for the album What About Today? She recorded it three times: March 1968, February 1969 and May 1969 with arrangements by Peter Matz and David Shire. Barbra Archives is not sure which arrangement was used for The Earth Day Special, but the recording was produced by Jack Gold and mixed by Streisand's recording engineer, John Arrias. (Arrias worked on the 1991 retrospective, Just For The Record ... one can assume that “One Day” was probably rediscovered by Streisand and Arrias while working on the 4-CD set.)

Barbra's segment was staged simply: She sang in close up through a rainy window. The song finished with a sweeping camera move, revealing Barbra standing in front of a very large window. The set was designed by Tom John, who was responsible for the sets on Barbra's early 1960s television specials.

The mix of “One Day” was different on the CD box set of The Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman. At the end of the song, while Barbra holds the last note, she overdubbed a refrain of “Somewhere”: “Someday, Somehow, Somewhere...”

Barbra made one last appearance at the end of The Earth Day Special. In a montage of helpful ecological tips from celebrities, Streisand looked into the camera and said, “It means the world to us!”
Color newspaper ad for The Earth Day Special
End / The Earth Day Special 1990
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