Watching "Yentl" again after reading Babs autobiography.

Jesus, how many times was Mandy Patinkin either fired or almost-fired for being an ass? It's amazing he's had such a long career.

The younger folks love him because his wife is old and grey and they are a cute couple.

Avigdor wait!

All of Barbra's films were so that she could get her chosen leading man for her lover. When Ralph Fiennes backed out of "The Normal Heart" - so did Babs.

Mandy has always been an asshole - and I know someone who used to work for his brother in Chicago - HUGE asshole. Nasty. Mean.

How he managed to have a career is a lesson in covering up for people's bad behavior.

I hate when people get away with this shit for decades - the injustice of it all after hurting so many people. And I saw him give some half-hearted apology about his behavior - and that it was learned behavior, blah, blah.

NO - you're a spoiled fucking BRAT. People have been telling you to tone it down your whole life - but NOOOO. Fucking hate people like this. MAGA personalities.

And it's a Trump thread in 4 posts. Kudos

Mandy Potemkin could be a bit of a battleship, OP.

He seems a bit contrite these past few years. Is it genuine or is it just a play to ensure there's a good legacy narrative? I remember the endless gossip here about Mandy 20 years ago saying that he beat his wife

I goddamn hate Mandy Patinkin. He acts like ****ACTING*** is the cure for all mankind’s whoas. He’s just oh so serious about his ***CRAFT***.

Simmer down fool, you were canned from Chicago Hope.

His segment for the pandemic era Sondheim 90th video was so self-indulgently cringe.

It was “cringe”, R9? What does that even mean?

Awkward and embarrassing, r10, like you're attempt to be an asshole here.

Your* (phone)

Oh, you meant “cringeworthy”, R11! “Cringe” is a verb, not an adjective.

I may be an asshole, but I’m not illiterate.

It's common usage and has been for a few years, which trumps your rules any day, and also proves that you need to get out more (or that you're just trolling). Bonne journée!

I thought it was weird that Barbra sang all the songs.

Nothing for Mandy Patinkin, a musical theater actor.

Nor Amy Irving, who sang for Jessica Rabbit.

Aw R7, did he really beat his wife? She seems like such a dear.

They didn't have the Bergmans on speed dial.

So ironic that Patti LuPone is his ONLY costar with good things to say.

Yes OP, the incorrigible Potemkin.

Well, Catherine liked him.

Maybe OP was referring to a Potemkin village? This was filmed behind the Iron Curtain, after all.

[high fives r13]

His wife sho is ugly

Hi Barbra troll. Hope you die soon.

I wonder if he tried to start up with Patti Mascarpone in Evita- she would not have tolerated any uppityness from him.

Can't believe Babs admitted this in her book but she said after "Yentl" Mandy did an album and asked her to write the liner notes and she said no because of all the trouble he gave her. Good for her.

She originally wanted Richard Gere and he said yes BUT she had to make a choice of either directing or starring. He didn't think being her first movie she could handle both jobs.

All the songs in "Yentl" reflected the title character's thoughts & feelings; the concept was that only through the introspective lyrics could Yentl express everything her society forbid her from doing & saying. Conveniently, that meant no songs for Mandy & Amy & more songs for me!

I hate his singing too - it reminds me of some 1920's voice, almost Al Jolson like.

But I would have fucked him in The Princess Bride - after I was done with the beautiful Cary Elwes.

Has Babs ever NOT had huge problems with the movies she has made? It seems none of her endeavors, acting or directing, were exactly smooth sailing. Of course, she is the common denominator. I don't doubt Mandy was a dick, though. His reputation is well known.

From her book it seems The Mirror Has Two Faces didn't go too badly. She spent more time complaining about not being able to deliver the Oscar for Betty Bacall.

In a way, I can't blame Patinkin for being an 'ass' while working on YENTL. Here's what he said all along, which Streisand didn't really mention in her memoir...

She 'discovered' Patinkin on Broadway, in the musical EVITA. She thought he was handsome, a great actor, and had a wonderful singing voice. She met with him backstage to talk about 'YENTL' which she was working on then. They got together afterwards, and she presented the project to him as a 'traditional musical' - in which his character would be singing along with her (after all, she loved his singing voice). There had been songs written for him as solos as well as duets with her. He was excited to be offered this, and accepted.

Once the movie went through its millions of revisions, she presented him the final script there were no more songs for him. He would no longer be singing in the movie (and she had never told him when the decisions were made). He had second thoughts about the movie, and was on the verge of quitting - she talked him into staying with the project (she had already been refused by other actors she offered the role to - including Richard Gere and Michael Douglas). He stayed, begrudgingly, but always said he was proud of the work he did in the movie.

The temper trend can't be denied. He's an asshole.

Forbidden Broadway did a brilliant parody song for Mandy "Super frantic hyperactive self-indulgent Mandy" to the song from Mary Poppins "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". They nailed it.

Why would anyone watch this movie more than once?

Amy Irving is a wonderfully talented actress. I've seen her in films and on stage and she is always so good, and often better than the material. I wish she'd done more leading roles in films.

Because it’s completely unique and very well made. There’s no other film like Yentl.

Barbra wanted the movie to have a golden glow like a Rembrandt but it looks like it was shot through root beer.

Gosh OP you’re not averse to talking about the deep stuff. Respect.

[quote]Barbra wanted the movie to have a golden glow like a Rembrandt but it looks like it was shot through root beer.

Horseshit, it has gorgeous cinematography. Amy Irving was beautiful, the best she ever looked, like a porcelain doll and Streisand shot her so. All Hadass's family scenes were lush.

Can I ask you a little bit about “Yentl”? I know you didn’t like the script when you first read it.

I was offended with certain parts of it. I thought, This would never happen, guys in the yeshiva aren’t going to watch all these girls bathing naked—that’s, like, everything they’re taught not to do. And then I also wanted to wear payot and, you know, to have the hair shaved, and Barbra wasn’t into it. She said I looked like Michelangelo.

Was there something that convinced you to do it? Was it Barbra’s belief in the project? I mean, she had been trying to get this thing made for years; she was obsessed with it.

From my understanding, she had spent fourteen years trying to get this thing made. I believe she had sixteen scripts written when I read it. First of all, I wasn’t a movie star, I wasn’t anybody famous or powerful—I was just a stage actor. And I figured Richard Gere was going to be doing it. Cis Corman, a casting director, wanted me to meet with Barbra. And I said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate, because if someone has spent fourteen years on this I don’t want to be critical of it.” Somehow that message was delivered, and [Barbra] said, “I understand you have problems, you don’t like it; I want to meet you anyway.” I said, “O.K.” So I go over and she wants to know every single thing that I don’t like.

I went down my little shopping list. “Great,” she said. “What if I get you a mini tape recorder you can hide in your pocket, and a mini camera, like a spy camera? Would you be willing to go to a yeshiva and soak up information and share it with me?” I said, “Sure.” I actually went to a yeshiva in Monsey.

So at some point after, she calls me over to her apartment on the Upper West Side, just about a block and a half from where I was living, but she had very different digs than mine. I go in, and we’re sitting at the dining table and she says, “Could you read some of the scenes with me? Do you mind, just so we can get talking about it?” So I read the scenes with her, and she said, “Do you mind if we film them or videotape them?” I find out later that that becomes my audition.

You showed up late to the filming, right?

My son Isaac was born in exactly the moment we were going to what was then Czechoslovakia. Barbra gave Isaac a Tiffany silver spoon. We still have it; it says “From Your Auntie Yentl.”

I have to ask, did you know how much of your butt would be in that movie?

She wanted me to go swimming every day, so I went swimming every day, in a very cold lake. When it came to my turn to be exposed, I was minimally concerned, but, at the end of the day, I thought, Hey, look, I know that the frame is going to be one thing, but the negative may have more information. What control am I going to have over this? Probably zero. I remember that the water was so cold that I felt, whatever I was . . . endowed with had disappeared because of the cold.

I just came upon my copy of Isaac Bashevis Singer stories yesterday and it, of course, includes, “Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy.” It’s a good tale. Not that long.

I remember Singer did not hold back and completely trashed the movie after he saw it. He was relentless.

Since r40 is a pushy little cunt who thinks everyone is on a desktop, here's a summary of their fucking vandalism copypasta:

The speaker, Mandy Patinkin, was initially hesitant to take on the role in Yentl because of script issues and disagreements with Barbra Streisand's vision. However, Streisand's persistence and willingness to address his concerns (including sending him undercover to a yeshiva) eventually convinced him. The audition process was unconventional, involving table reads that turned into filmed recordings. Patinkin also mentions his discomfort with some nudity in the film.

[quote]I remember that the water was so cold that I felt, whatever I was . . . endowed with had disappeared because of the cold.

....Said every guy who ever lived.

Wow, she was very accommodating to him and he still was a pain in the ass on set.

Taking all his songs away is not accomodating

There was never "his" songs. The songs were conceived as Yentl's inner voice.

Diane Lane auditioned for Hadass. Of course, she later became Barb's daughter in law.

I didn’t know that Mandy was a guys name

R45 she sold it to him as a traditional musical. He was unaware that Barbra’s monstrous ego meant she would have all the songs

R46 Josh was forgiven pretty readily for beating Diane up

What-ev-er.

R50. Didn't Tovah do a cartwheel in Yentl exposing black lace panties?

Mike Nichols fired Mandy after two days filming "Heartburn" and replaced him with Jack Nicholson.

I.B. Singer weighed in to the NYT about her film of his play!

“In my script Yentl does not stay on stage from beginning to end. The leading actress must make room for others to have their say and exhibit their talents. No matter how good you are, you don't take everything for yourself. I don't mean to say that my script was perfect, or even good. But at least I understood that in this case the leading actress cannot monopolize the stage. We all know that actors fight for bigger parts, but a director worth his name will not allow one actor to usurp the entire play. When an actor is also the producer and the director and the writer he would have to be exceedingly wise to curb his appetites. I must say that Miss Streisand was exceedingly kind to herself. The result is that Miss Streisand is always present, while poor Yentl is absent.”

Ouch!

[quote]...is the cure for all mankind’s whoas.

R8? Are you SJP?

R30? Barbra took all his songs?

Sounds like she pulled a Helen Lawson.

R15, I think that's because of it being a Barbra film so everything must be from her point of view.

I've always liked the fact it was an MGM/UA film.

Barbras only MGM musical.

[quote]I didn’t know that Mandy was a guys name

His real name is Mandel Bruce Patinkin.

Forbidden Broadway video of Mandy.

More

[quote]The leading actress must make room for others to have their say and exhibit their talents.

Dude, It's called "Yentl", not "Third Rabbi On The Left."

^ You know he’s right

I'm reminded of the scene from SUNSET BOULEVARD where the script doctor Joe drops a page of Norma's SALOME manuscript into the waste-paper basket and she reacts instantly.

NORMA: What's that?

JOE: I thought we might cut away from the slave market...

NORMA: Cut away from me?

JOE: Norma, they don't want you in every scene.

NORMA: Of course, they do. What else would they have come for. Put it back.

😂

Draw your own conclusions

[quote]His real name is Mandel Bruce Patinkin.

His real name is Mandel Bruce Painintheass.

[R65] I suspect Mandy has tiny meat which is why he is always so angry

Those FB clips are merciless.

Tovah Feldlush was supposedly brilliant in the play.

Barbra had made shitty remarks about Evita to the press when it opened on Broadway. I'm surprised Patinkin even agreed to do the movie. Patti has never been impressed with her, and went off on a reporter that tried to compare her to Streisand years back.

R53, I.B. Singer was a worse megalomaniac than Streisand.

[quote]Barbra had made shitty remarks about Evita to the press when it opened on Broadway

Link, r69?

Stop we have enough babs and yentl related threads

I hated every Streisand film I've ever seen including, "What's Up Doc", "The Owl and The Pussycat", "The Mirror Has Two Faces", "Nuts" and "Yentl".

Shrill. Is the word I can use to describe her filmography.

And yet you manage to see them all. Says more about you.

r73 =

That restaurant is horrible. Every mouthful is poison...and they give you such small portions!

[quote] I'm surprised Patinkin even agreed to do the movie.

Are you kidding? This was a huge break for him. A large release movie, working with Streisand, the male lead. He probably would have done it for free.

If he had any brains, to this day, he should be saying, "It was one of the greatest experiences in my life."

I’m sure he’s grateful for doing The Princess Bride, not this largely forgotten ego-trip,

[quote]I’m sure he’s grateful for doing The Princess Bride, not this largely forgotten ego-trip,

Without Yentl, he may not have done The Princess Bride.

Sure Babs

I saw it when it came out. My dad had died the year before, so I found the first half of the movie touching. I never thought Streisand was passable even playing a youngish man. (I felt that way about Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria). Watching it again on TCM, I was struck by how slow the whole thing felt and the design sort of Laura Ashley gives Ellenville a make-over. But there’s still a sweetness to it and I’m a sucker for Barbra doing a big number on a boat.

I saw Yentl at the now defunct Ziegfeld movie theater on West 54th shortly after it opened. The audience was ecstatic, and I thought, good for you Babs. I liked it a lot in 1983. Today I like parts of it…can’t sit through the entire movie. As for the Mandy mishegoss, he may have been an asshole, but he was perfect in his role. Non-Jewish limited talent Richard Gere would have been a disaster.

[quote].I'm surprised Patinkin even agreed to do the movie. . [quote].I’m sure he’s grateful for doing The Princess Bride, not this largely forgotten ego-trip, . YENTL was a box.-office smash, grossing $68 million on a $12 million budget.

Respectively, that's $211 million and $37 million, adjusted for inflation.

[quote]I'm surprised Patinkin even agreed to do the movie. .

[quote]I’m sure he’s grateful for doing The Princess Bride, not this largely forgotten ego-trip, .

YENTL was a box.-office smash, grossing $68 million on a $12 million budget.

Respectively, that's $211 million and $37 million, adjusted for inflation.

[quote]Barbra had made shitty remarks about Evita to the press when it opened on Broadway.

People forget how controversial EVITA was when it opened on Broadway.

It was picketed by Jews, who thought the musical was glamorizing fascists and Nazi sympathizers.

Thus, it was eviscerated by most NY critics.

But the show proved to be critic-proof and was a smash.

^ political Babs was thinking of that instead of the ROLE. And the NY critics did not eviserate the show, R84. I’m old enough to remember.

[quote]People forget how controversial EVITA was when it opened on Broadway.

I remember Stewart Klein reading some of the letters. There were some from people who had lived under the Perons who thought there shouldn’t be a Broadway musical “celebrating” them.

[quote]I never wanted to do Evita. The producers took me to see it and I hated the show. Still those reports continued, that I was going to do the movie. Stop using me to sell the show, I told the producers. I don't even like the song ‘Don't Cry for Me, Argentina’ and I won't sing it.”

Woes. Autocorrect and I’m high.. sorry.

R8

She also said she hated Cabaret on Broadway. I'm guessing she was too young and self involved to really get it.

Need a link for that, R89

Darling linking to a book with over 900 pages and no index is not possible.

Patti had issues with Streisand recording two of the songs from Sunset before the show even debuted and then ALW had the brass balls to play her versions over the phone message for people to order tickets. She felt her performance was being sabotaged before she even debuted in the West End.

I agree it was kind of a shitty thing to do.

"I even turned down 'Cabaret' because I didn't like the play. Again, if I had known Bob Fosse was going to direct it, I would have said yes. I loved working with him for the brief time he was involved with 'Funny Girl.'"

It probably did more for box office than Patti in the role!

R94, Barbra, please.

Shittle

I have to laugh at Barbra saying she would not sing Don't Cry For Me, Argentina. It's practically the same song as Memory which she did record.