Like Buttah
Though I am a mid-20’s kind of gay guy, my closeted years were enhanced by a lot of gay icons who (a) are not gay men and (b) are typically associated with gay men born a generation before me.
Chief among those grand dames to whom my heart really belongs is none other than Barbra Streisand. Ah, Babs. They simply do not make them like Barbra anymore. That voice, that gaze, that gusto…that nose!
A few minutes ago I was thinking about Babs (don’t ask why) and remembered her Oscar-winning performance in 1968’s Funny Girl. Within five, maybe seven seconds, I realized this movie is quite related to our site (lucky for you). Barbra plays legendary performer Fanny Brice, and her love interest in the movie is 
played by none other than Omar Sharif, the internationally-known Egyptian actor (there they are above in the movie!)
The film caused quite a stir at the time because Barbra, a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn, shared quite a few deep kisses with Omar, whose native country had just been crushed by Israel in the Six Day War. Barbra allegedly received death threats leading up to a public performance, setting the stage for a decades-long hiatus from the stage.
The movie brings us gay-man torch songs like “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “My Man” and, of course, “People.” A Jewish woman and an Arab man launch a torrid romance, Oscars follow, and the world kept spinning.
What ever happened to musicals? (And divas wearing bras?)
April 5th, 2007 at 9:17 am
Babs also has a way with words. Love it!