Excerpt from L.A. Herald Examiner article by Wanda McDaniel:
The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) honored Barbra Streisand as its Woman of Courage Wednesday night at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. For the 600 guests who made it through the evening, courage, indeed, was the watchword.
While ticketholders ($125 each) had polished off their cocktails and were well into their appetizers, a private press reception with the event's principals had yet to begin. The media session, running nearly an hour behind schedule, was to allow a controlled opportunity for press to photograph and speak with the honorees.
An hour and a half after the party officially started, Streisand, now joined by Fonda, arrived in the ballroom to a standing ovation. Security broke down immediately as the floor filled with frenzied fans, some with tickets, some not. Guests armed with cameras left their tables to snap the superstar.
Streisand, who for so many years had been so inaccessible, was suddenly there. In the flesh. The main event.
To add to the bedlam, Streisand suddenly jumped up from her safe seat at the dais — and left the stage.
New York's Steve Ross, Warner Communications main mogul, was her destination. She barely planted a kiss on Ross' cheek before the mob moved in.
Following [a presentation of] film clips, Streisand delivered a serious-minded, politically tinged 10-minute speech in which she urged women to register to vote in an effort to defeat Ronald Reagan, to assume activist roles and to stop speaking softly and "carrying a lipstick."
The essence of Streisand's well received remarks was best summed up when she said, "In thinking about the honor you've bestowed upon me, it occurred to me that courage itself is just the active struggle to overcome our worst fears, the fear that somehow we'll grow old with a head full of ideas, of things we should have done, stands we should have made, risks we should have taken—a world we imagined but did not dare to create." |
