GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

OCTOBER 27, 1995

Evenings Out

Spada on Barbra

Best-selling and openly gay-celebrity biographer James Spada tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in his latest book

by Daniel Vaillancourt

In 1965, 15-year-old James Spada discovered the many splendors of Barbra Streisand as he watched the star's inaugural television special, My Name is Barbra, in his family's Staten Island living room. It was love at first sight and sound. In 1974, Spada published his own freshman effort, Barbra: The First Decade-The Films and Career of Barbra Streisand. In 1981, his second treatise on Barbra, Streisand: The Woman and the Legend, hit the bookstores. With Crown's November 1 release of Streisand: Her Life, Spada investigates his favorite subject for yet a third time.

When Crown editor Betty Prashker originally suggested Spada revisit Streisand, the author thought, "Oh, dear, I don't know if I want to do a third book on Barbra." But pada-who has written acclaimed biographies of Bette Davis, Robert Redford, Grace Kelly, and Peter Lawford-considered the proposition carefully.

"The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea," he says. "It had been 12

years since my last book on Barbra, and a lot had happened since. I'd never done

very obscure interviews Barbra had given early in her career, back in 1962, in Men's Digest, something I'd never even heard of before. I had a lot of foreign material-tapes of foreign interviews she'd given over in Holland and France and England, and a lot of print interviews over in Europe. Barbra tends to be much franker and so do Elliott [Gould] and Jon [Peters], I found out-when they give interviews over there. Maybe they think people in America won't read them, so they can say whatever they want to. [Laughs.]

I'm very proud of a number of interviews I did, especially with her aunt Molly, who has never been interviewed before. I was really thrilled to think I was talking to Emanuel Streisand's sister.

It was always in the back of my mind that I had to give people something new. It made my job a lot more difficult; it was a very draining book to do. But I didn't think there was any other way to do it. I mean, why bother if I didn't do that? I think it made for a better book in the long run.

The research alone must have been exhausting.

I've tried very, very hard to be accurate. There's been

an awful lot of

a full-fledged, inmisinformation about

depth biography of

Barbra; the [other

two] had been coffee table books. So I

Barbra in other books.

started to really like the idea. I'm very glad Betty came up with it, and I'm very glad I agreed to do it."

Based on more than 200 interviews with the star's friends, relatives, and colleaguesand containing 40 chapters in six parts, an epilogue, source notes, a filmography, an annotated discography, a bibliography, and 32 pages of pictures-Streisand: Her Life (536 pages, almost three years in the making) is the ultimate Book of Barbra.

In an interview, Spada opened up about his quest to have the last word on the Streisand legend.

Many Streisand biographies are still in print-most notably Randall Riese's 1993 Her Name is Barbra. Why another Barbra bio so soon?

Well, not to be immodest, but I think that my book is the definitive book. I have a lot of information that no one else has had. It's a very accurate book, and I just think someone like Barbra deserves a definitive treatment, which I don't think she's gotten beforeincluding from myself.

What makes yours the definitive biography?

I think two things. One is the thoroughness and the amount of new material. The other is the accuracy. I've tried very, very hard to be accurate. There's been an awful lot of misinformation about Barbra in other books.

Where did you find new material?

I had to do an awful lot of digging. I found

It wasn't easy, but it was a little easier— and possible-forme because I do have a very large network of Streisand fans. I know a number of fans who collect everything they can about Barbra. I had several fans who were very, very helpful to me, opening up their collections and saying, 'I have this interview from Holland when she was promoting Yentl over there.' They'd make a copy and then I'd have that. Someone like Randall Riese, who did a very thorough job of research, just didn't have that kind of

access.

You've been following Streisand's career for over 30 years-literally almost from the beginning. What continues to captivate you about her?

Oh, everything, really. I mean, I really just adore her. I think her voice, of course, is incredibly beautiful. She's the kind of actress who you really can't take your eyes off of when she's on screen. I find her very charming. Certain things that she does with her hands and her eyes and her face just captivate me, to use your word. [Laughs.] I mean, it's kind of a mysterious thing, isn't it? It's like falling in love with someone. Why? What is it about them?

Have you met her?

Yes. The first time I met her was at the press conference they had during the filming of A Star is Born in Phoenix, Arizona. I maneuvered myself to sit next to her at this round table where all the rest of the press was. I introduced myself and said, 'I did Barbra: The First Decade.' She said, 'Oh, yes, I liked that book. But I asked the publisher to send me a copy and he wouldn't do it.' I didn't remind her that they had actually asked for a hundred free copies, which the publisher thought was a bit excessive.

James Spada

[Laughs.]

Streisand

Barbra can be very charming when you meet her, and she can also be incredibly ungracious. My other story is that I was at a 'Women in Film' luncheon that honored Barbra. It was a closed situation. The people there had paid good money to go. It wasn't like there were these weird, crazed fans all around. I didn't approach Barbra; I just happened to be standing there, and she walked past me. I said, 'Oh, hi, Barbra. I'm Jim Spada.' And as I was saying, 'I'm Jim Spada,' she said, 'Oh, hi.' Then she stopped and said, 'Oh, I thought you were somebody else,' and just walked away.

}

James Spada

You've written about many gay icons: Monroe, Midler, Garland, Minnelli. Do you consider yourself a gay author in the way one thinks of Paul Monette or Larry Kramer?

No, because those writers write very specifically about gay topics. I've written one 'gay' book, which is The Spada Report. That came out in 1979 as a paperback original and was kind of like The Hite Report on Female Sexuality, but it was The Spada Report on Male Sexuality and Lifestyle. I'm very proud of it. It's the only one I've done like that. Of course, I bring my sensibilities as a gay man to my subjects, certainly. But no, I wouldn't put myself in their category, because they're dealing very specifically with gay subjects.

Has being openly gay ever been a problem for you within the mainstream publishing industry?

No, not at all. But on the other hand, when

a book like the Grace Kelly or the Peter Lawford book comes out, it's not an issue. I mean, someone on television is not going to say, 'Well, how do you as a gay man feel about Peter Lawford?' They may with Streisand. And I don't flinch from that at all. It's just that it's really a tangential issue with most of the books I write. But I'm very, very pleased to do interviews like this one, and to be in the gay press. I have no problems with that at all. My family knows I'm gay. I am an out gay man. It's just that professionally, unless it's really relevant, it's not relevant, you know? [Laughs.]

Nonetheless, some authors would have remained closeted out of fear for their careers.

That's never bothered me, because I just don't believe in living a lie. You're who you are. I'm not going to go on Good Morning America and say, 'Hi, Joan. I'm gay.' But if

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