--- title: Barbra Streisand 75th Birthday: Photos of Her Broadway Debut description: For Barbra Streisand's birthday on April 24, here's look back at LIFE magazine's take on her debut Broadway role as Miss Marmelstein. canonical: https://time.com/4731301/barbra-streisand-broadway-debut-photos/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-24T14:00:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:21.680Z og:title: Barbra Streisand 75th Birthday: Photos of Her Broadway Debut og:description: She played an overworked office girl who sang a song called "Miss Marmelstein" og:url: https://time.com/4731301/barbra-streisand-broadway-debut-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c33f75f30f4d485/6988c1e6bc6cfcf6b03e0cc4/170407-barbra-streisand-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barbra Streisand 1962 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barbra Streisand 75th Birthday: Photos of Her Broadway Debut twitter:description: She played an overworked office girl who sang a song called "Miss Marmelstein" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c33f75f30f4d485/6988c1e6bc6cfcf6b03e0cc4/170407-barbra-streisand-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # For Barbra Streisand on Her Birthday: LIFE's Photos of Her Broadway Debut by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Apr 24, 2017 2:00 PM UTC  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' 19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.'George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Apr 24, 2017 2:00 PM UTC As the Academy Award-winning actor and singer Barbra Streisand turns 75 on Monday, she can boast of having [more platinum-selling albums than any woman ever.](http://time.com/vault/issue/2015-02-02/page/24/) In the above photos, she’s a 19-year-old making her Broadway debut in a lesser-known Harold Rome musical about the garment business, _I Can Get It for You Wholesale._ As [LIFE magazine](https://books.google.com/books?id=A1IEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA102#v=twopage&q&f=false) reviewed her performance in the May 18, 1962, issue: “Barbra has a lovely face that goes well with _Cry Me a River_ and other sad ballads that she sings in nightclubs. But for her stage role she makes herself look like a sour persimmon in order to play an overworked office girl who secretly wants to be called pet names instead of being yelled at all day long, ‘Miss Marmelstein!'” It was a kinder review than the one she received in the [New York](https://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/23/1962/barbra-streisand)[ _Times_](https://jwa.org/thisweek/mar/23/1962/barbra-streisand)_,_ which described Streisand as a “natural comedienne” but also “a girl with an oafish expression, a loud irascible voice and an arpeggiated laugh.” It was Streisand’s role a few years later as Fanny Brice in [_Funny Girl_](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/02/27/time-cover-celebrity-showbiz/slide/barbra-streisand/?iid=sr-link3) that would make a more lasting impression on audiences and critics alike. As TIME magazine reported in its [April 10, 1964,](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,875750,00.html) cover story on her breakout, “as she sings number after number and grows in the mind, she touches the heart with her awkwardness, her lunging humor, and a bravery that is all the more winning because she seems so vulnerable. People start to nudge one another and say, ‘This girl is beautiful.'” She had come a long way from her days as an introverted Brooklyn teen — and the years before she removed an “a” from her first name — as the TIME feature explained: --- > “” --- But some things don’t change: By the time the TIME cover came out, her three albums already made her the world’s best-selling female recording star on LP, the magazine reported at the time.  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Proving even a heel can have a tender heart, Elliot Gould as the show's unscrupulous hero sings to his mother and promises to smother her in luxuries as soon as he strikes it rich. She is played by Lilian Roth, who still puts over a song like an oldtime trouper. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lillian Roth and Elliott Gould in scene from Broadway musical "I Can Get It for You Wholesale." George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sheree North as a hard-hearted gold digger...Her victim, played by Harold Lang, is a big shot in the flinty world of garmetmakers. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  19-year-old Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway play 'I Can Get It For You Wholesale.' 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