Hello, Gorgeous Audiobook By William J. Mann cover art

Hello, Gorgeous

Becoming Barbra Streisand

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Hello, Gorgeous

By: William J. Mann
Narrated by: Elizabeth Morton
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About this listen

The best-selling biographer of Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor tells the electrifying story of how Barbra Streisand transformed herself into the greatest star of her era, etching "an indelible portrait of the artist as a young woman" (Publishers Weekly).

In 1960, she was a 17-year-old Brooklyn kid with plenty of talent but no connections and certainly no money; her mother brought her soup to make sure she stayed fed as she took acting classes and scraped out a living. Just four years later, Barbra Streisand was the top-selling female recording artist in America and the star of one of Broadway’s biggest hits. Now the acclaimed Hollywood biographer William Mann chronicles that dizzying ascent, telling the riveting behind-the-scenes story of how Streisand and her team transformed her from an unknown dreamer into a worldwide superstar.

Drawing on the private papers of Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse, and interviewing scores of the friends and lovers who knew Barbara before she became Barbra, Mann recreates the vanished world of 1960s New York City and uncovers the truth behind the myths of her formative years. He shows us how Funny Girl was slowly altered, by Fosse and Robbins among others, from a Fanny Brice bio into a star-making vehicle for Streisand; takes us into the clubs and onto the set for her early nightclub and television appearances, including her torch-handing turn with Judy Garland; and introduces the canny marketing team whose strategies made her stardom seem inevitable. The Streisand who emerges is a revelation: a young woman who, for all her tough-skinned ambition, was surprisingly vulnerable in love.

Everyone who has felt outside the gate, as she once did, remembers a time when the newness and difference of Barbra Streisand changed everything and rewrote all the rules. In Hello, Gorgeous, Mann incisively illuminates the woman before she became the icon and pays tribute to one of the world’s most beloved performers.

©2012 William J. Mann (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Entertainment & Celebrities Women Celebrity Funny
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Editorial reviews

Acclaimed show biz biographer William J. Mann turns his perceptive and thorough eye on an icon whose rise to fame was fueled by brilliant talent and "a wave of master salesmanship", the legendary Barbra Streisand. Performed in an engaging, studious, and occasionally skeptical tone by New York actor Elizabeth Morton, Hello Gorgeous is a study of Streisand’s early years, when she transformed herself from a working-class Brooklyn kid at Erasmus High School into "a superstar the world either loved…or loathed".

Streisand’s talent and marketing acumen are effectively dissected, and the meticulously detailed backdrop of 1960’s New York - rehearsal halls, penthouse suites, and ubiquitous power brokers - are sure to be of interest to any aficionado of Mad Men, Broadway, and, of course, Babs herself.

Fascinating Biography • Well-researched Details • Beautiful Voice • Compelling Narrative • Interesting Story
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Very interesting book about Barbra Streisand. Not sure if all true, but still good entertainment

Enjoyed book

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Very well written book! I enjoyed listening and leaning about amazing events and accomplishments of Barbara Streisand.

Great book!

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So many names of famous people and words mispronounced. Very annoying. Doesn’t anyone check on this or direct the narrator? For me it detracted from listening to the book. Could easily be fixed but probably too late.

Narration needs improving!

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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No - narrator should be better.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator spoke way too slow and sounded like she was reading the book to grade school children.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I absolutely love Barbra Streisand and am going to finish the book because of that, but the narrator makes it very difficult for me to concentrate on the book's content.

Needs New Narrator

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Well read and a pleasure to listen to. It was a very insightful look at the beginning of a great performer’s beginning. She is more than a rare voice.

Great look at the beginning

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I really enjoyed this book. There was so much myth behind the actual legend of this incredible woman. I’m so glad the author took his time sorting through what was fact and what wasn’t. Her mother was a troubling part of Barbra’s life but this story seemed to give another point of view about that. I hope some common ground was made between them. I loved learning about her determination, and the fact that she was so singularly focused on her career wasn’t sugar coated. This was a really enjoyable read.

So much to learn about Barbra!

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really enjoyed the book but the narrator mispronounced quite a few words, which was annoying.

great subject matter

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I started looking for the time remaining about an hour in. It must have just been morbid curiosity that gave me the ability to listen to all 20+ hours. The reading was fine but the content was mind numbingly dull.

Most Tedious Book I've Listened to This Year

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delightful wonderful encouraging fun crazy series and adorable.thanj you for letting me hear this today

love

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I wish this book was longer to really capture
Every decade in a long career

Excellent attention to detail

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