Babs makes comeback on Hippodrome's big screen

Babs is back. In Charleston, at least.

The Terrace Hippodrome will screen a five-day revival of the 1968 musical biography "Funny Girl" starting Friday and ending Tuesday, with shows at 1, 4 and 7 p.m. each day.

Directed by William Wyler and starring Barbra Streisand in her film debut, the film is based on the life of Fanny Brice (1891-1951), an immensely popular American songstress, comedian and actress who conquered the stage, radio and motion pictures. Who else but Streisand would have had the chutzpah to tackle the part?

Playing opposite Omar Sharif, Streisand re-created her stage role and won a Best Actress Oscar in her first big-screen outing, though it was in a tie with Katharine Hepburn, the joint winner for 'The Lion in Winter.'

The movie fails rather badly as biography -- it's even more melodramatic than Brice's real life -- but succeeds grandly as a musical. That is, assuming you are not among those who hoped never to hear the song "People" ever again.

Streisand lovers, however, will rejoice.

Newman retrospective

Paul Newman, for whom acting took a back seat to being a citizen, might have gotten a chuckle out of the notion of a tribute collection of his work, since most of the "tribute" would be paid by consumers to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

He was never much for the Hollywood swirl, anyway. Who else would show up for a world premiere in a Volkswagen, wearing jeans?

Not to say the beloved blue-eyed rascal would not appreciate a retrospective of 13 of his films, even if some of his finest performances are omitted, which is precisely what "Paul Newman: The Tribute Collection" DVD set offers.

Fox insists the handsome boxed set was not timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Oscar-winning humanitarian's death Sept. 26 last year.

Rather, says the distributor, it grew out of the idea for a 40th anniversary special edition of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and was simply expanded.

All of the films in the collection have been released previously, of course, but accompanying the DVDs is a 136-page softcover book packed with candid images of Newman on the sets of his movies, accompanied by quotes from the actor and dialogue from the films. The set retails for $90, but can be found on the Internet at a range of prices.

The spectrum of Newman's career from edgy leading man in the Brando mold (1958's "The Long, Hot Summer") to superstar leading actor (1961's "The Hustler") to a character actor at the apex of his craft (1982's "The Verdict") is well-represented.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707