Unfamiliar with this week’s tune? Hear it here.
1) Is rain expected where you are today? I don’t think so, which is nice because we’ve had a decent bit lately, and our yard, particularly in the back, can get a little swampy and needs a dry day or two before it should be cut. Frequent bouts of rain has made it tough to keep up with, especially with me working full-time, my husband in grad school, and the two of us juggling caring for our 9-month-old.
2) In this song, Barbra Streisand warns everyone to not spoil her optimistic mood. What is something you’re feeling really good about today? Writing momentum! I’ve got two pieces out in the ether waiting on responses, a pitch going out Monday morning, and I’m mulling another pitch to send most likely Monday or Tuesday, whichever day I have time to put it together.
3) She sings that life is candy and the sun is a ball of butter. Which have you consumed more recently, candy or butter? Probably butter, because my husband just made me eggs and I know he prefers cooking eggs with butter.
4) This song is from the musical Funny Girl. It’s based on the true story of Fanny Brice, who starred on Broadway, in movies and on the radio between 1910 and 1951. At the beginning of her career, no one thought she would succeed because of her unconventional looks, but she forged ahead, saying, “I make things happen for me.” Are you focused, like Fanny? I would say so.
5) When the stage version of Funny Girl was in pre-production, the part of Fanny was offered to actress Anne Bancroft, but she felt the songs were too difficult for her. Singer Eydie Gorme dropped out when told her husband, Steve Lawrence, could not play the male lead. Carol Burnett said she’d love to do it, but also admitted she thought she was wrong for the role. Running out of time and options, producer Ray Stark decided to give lesser-known Barbra Streisand a try … and the rest, as they say, is history. Has there ever been a time in your life when you were glad things didn’t work out as you’d originally planned? I think that’s how life tends to pan out in general! I think my best example is that my original college plan was to major in computer science. I applied to the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus but didn’t get in but was accepted to my first choice of branch campuses, and my plan was to stay there for two years, then transfer to the main campus. As it turns out, I both struggled with some of the math classes needed for the computer science degree and I wasn’t really happy on that track, so I followed my heart, as they say, and switched to English, and it just so happens I’d landed in a very good writing program–and I never intended to be there. On top of that, while I was at that branch campus, it was ranked higher than the main campus for academics.
6) Funny Girl was the top grossing movie of 1968. #2 was 2001: A Space Odyssey. Given the choice, would you rather watch a musical or a sci-fi flick? Ha, probably the two genres that best sum up my tastes and the two I’d have the most difficulty choosing between! I think I lean sci-fi, but sci-fi can be really disappointing if it’s not well-executed. A musical, at least, can be bad, sure, but for very different reasons. At their worst, I think I’ve disliked musicals for being boring, as opposed to disliked sci-fi for being a hot mess or silly.
7) Streisand’s favorite color is burgundy because it reminds her of when, as a little girl, she received a hand-knitted sweater as a gift and wearing it made her feel special. What color is your favorite sweater? I think most of my sweaters are grey!
8) In 1960, she began performing in New York clubs but she had a hard time getting work because she was only 18 and most nightclubs wouldn’t hire a girl not yet old enough to drink. Do you remember your first legal alcoholic beverage? What did you have? I don’t remember! I know it was the evening of my birthday, and I think it was a glass of wine. I do remember having a piña colada when I went out with friends the next day, though.
9) Random question: How many people know the real you? I truly feel like most people do. Everyone is guilty of presenting certain versions of themselves to certain people, of course, even without thinking, but I think just about everyone who interacts with me gets the authentic me. I’m not interested in trying to present myself a certain way or to behave in a way that shapes what people think of me. I mean, my hair right now is pink, purple, blue, and teal. The kinds of people who visually present themselves that way aren’t really the kinds of people trying to be someone else.