Hello, Gorgeous by William J Mann: review Self-absorbed and controlling or focused and wildly talented? William J Mann takes the sympathetic view of the early Barbra Streisand in this lively biography, but concedes she could be difficult. With warmth, if a lack of subtlety, he shows her determination came from a desire to "appeal to father who had never known her, a mother who hadn't seemed to care and a world which had thought she was too different to succeed." Mann starts his story in 1960, when Streisand was a struggling 17-year-old acting student from Brooklyn, and ends his account in 1964, when she had become the biggest-selling female recording artist in the US and the star of the Broadway smash Funny Girl. The title is her opening line. Streisand inherited her drive from her professor father, who died from an epileptic fit when she was one, and her talent from her mother, who had wanted to be a singer. Her mother however, refused to support Barbra because she couldn't see how she could "get past the tenement walls." Many of Streisand's friends and colleagues fill parent gaps. Phyllis Diller, the comedian, "showed her the kind of interest and regard that Diana [her mother] never had." Marty Erlichman, her manager, "was the strong, indulgent protective father Barbra had always dreamed of." On the nightclub circuit, Streisand deflected attention from her nose ("more evocative of moose than muse," said one critic) to her clothes: wearing nightgowns backwards and striking make-up. She once stuck herring scales on her eyelids instead of sequins, but the smell was off-putting. Her eccentricities turn out to be many and varied. Her first flat featured an ancient clawfoot bathtub in the kitchen for washing dishes and bathing. At shows, Streisand sung Disney's Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? because the venue's sophistication "annoyed her," and told rambling tales to stop herself getting bored. On the advice of her publicists, Streisand only gets stranger. They suggest she play up her oddities to attract the producer planning a musical about "kooky" comic Fanny Brice (Funny Girl). Half this book examines Streisand's breakout role in this Broadway musical. Mann writes vividly about her affair with the leading man, Sydney Chaplin (son of Charlie), and with insight about her desire for control. She would rearrange scenes with little authority because she genuinely thought the show would be better. Less interesting are the musical's script problems and the company resignations. Despite a few stretched introductions, Mann writes with admirable fluidity. He captures Streisand's self-belief and her need for approval, as well as the way she liked to be fussed over by men, but was reluctant to socialise in crowds or work in a team. The Streisand of this book wants recognition for being the best. Even now she is 70, she is unlikely to give up. Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand: William J Mann (The Robson Press, £25)