{"id":94885,"date":"2026-03-22T23:34:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=94885"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:34:50","slug":"liza-with-a-feinstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/03\/22\/liza-with-a-feinstein\/","title":{"rendered":"Liza with a Feinstein"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI want to know how come Streisand <\/strong>was up there doing
\nthat for Redford<\/strong>.  She only made one movie with him \u2013
\nI made four!  I have more to say.\u201d 
\n\u2013<\/em> Jane Fonda <\/strong>vents about the tribute to Robert Redford<\/strong> at the Oscars<\/em><\/strong>.
\nShe\u2019s correct, but there\u2019s one difference \u2013 Barbra appears in public less
\noften than Punxsutawney Phil<\/strong>.  Fonda is out several times a week.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Where to begin?  I guess we should start with the big story of the week \u2013 Liza<\/strong>\u2019s memoir is out.  In the preface, Michael Feinstein <\/strong>writes, \u201cLiza is a genius of manipulation.\u201d  If that\u2019s the case, this book is her masterpiece.  I should probably say \u201chis\u201d masterpiece.  After all, it says right on the cover \u201cAs told to Michael Feinstein\u201d.  Believe it or not, there are people out there who think Liza sat down with a pencil and legal pad and wrote this book.  There are others who don\u2019t believe she could hold a pencil!  But there\u2019s no pretense \u2013 Liza told Michael stories, he wrote them down (or recorded them).  Then, writers Josh Getlin <\/strong>and Pulitzer Prize <\/em>winner Heidi Evans <\/strong>wrote it.  And they are all credited.  No slight of hand or shenanigans here.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go to the debacle that was her book event in Los Angeles last week at the Million Dollar Theatre <\/em>(fun fact \u2013 The Gumm Sisters <\/em><\/strong>performed there in 1930).  For $225, you got admission, two books, and a 48-minute show (there were a handful of $90 tickets \u2013 they only got one book).  Well, \u201cshow\u201d is probably the wrong word.  Let\u2019s call it what it was \u2013 a spectacle.  There were gay boy dancers, there was a woman in tights and a top hat, there were clips, there was razzamatazz.  After a flash of fire, two dancers clumsily turned a banner around and pushed forward Liza in a director\u2019s chair.  You know those photos on Space<\/em><\/strong> Mountain<\/em><\/strong> when people look like they are plummeting to their death?  That\u2019s the look Liza had as her chair spun around in front of a capacity crowd.  She rambled, she guffawed, she lost track of stories, she made loads of mistakes.  Feinstein would try to get her back on track for a heavily prepared punchline.  Sometimes she landed it.  Sometimes she appeared bewildered.  Throughout the show, she was slumped in her chair looking like she could slide off at any minute.  She blames it on \u201cmy rotten spine\u201d.  The most ill-advised moment was when she \u201csang\u201d a bit of \u201cOur Love Is Here To Stay\u201d (seen on BillyMasters.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>).  And then it was over.  Some people kvelled that they saw a star.  Others were concerned for her well-being.  And others simply called it \u201csad\u201d.  Within hours, a similar event in NYC was cancelled due to \u201cillness\u201d.  I can\u2019t see her flying cross-country.  Strike that \u2013 I can\u2019t see her getting through TSA<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Given his prominence as ringmaster of the events and billing in her memoir, people point their accusatory fingers at Michael Feinstein.  The terms \u201cenabler\u201d, \u201copportunist\u201d, and \u201celder abuse\u201d are bandied about as frequently as praise for him standing by her side and trying to protect.  One insider told me, \u201cThis is what\u2019s keeping her going…She wants it very badly.\u201d  The rationale being it would be so much worse if Feinstein weren\u2019t around.  Perhaps, but sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to tell them no. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford.  She only made one movie with him \u2013 I made four!  I have more to say.\u201d  \u2013 Jane Fonda vents about the tribute to Robert Redford at the Oscars. She\u2019s correct, but there\u2019s one difference \u2013 Barbra appears in public less<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94894,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94885\/revisions\/94894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}