Shrine Auditorium 1963

Streisand / LIVE 

Shrine Auditorium (1963)

Los Angeles, California

December 7, 1963
When Barbra Streisand performed a series of one-night concerts in December 1963 to promote The Second Barbra Streisand Album, Marty Erlichman worked with West Coast jazz promoter Irving Granz. Granz was the brother of Jazz at the Philharmonic’s Norman Granz.

The music for the four shows (San Jose, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles) was under the direction of Barbra’s pianist Peter Daniels but utilized the Jerry Gray orchestra. Jerry Gray arranged and played with the bands of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller. Gray and his orchestra was used to accompanying singers – they played for Judy Garland on her short concert tour in 1955.

Variety reported that for these shows Streisand earned a flat $8,000 fee per night against 50%. The deal was that Streisand’s Barbell Enterprises provided and paid the expenses of the Jerry Gray Orchestra.
Photo of Barbra Streisand on stage in her gingham dress

L.A.'s gorgeous Shrine Auditorium, with its exterior resembling a large double-domed Middle Eastern mosque, was built in the 1920s and seats 6,700 people. The Shrine's Moorish interior was featured in such Hollywood movies as King Kong (1932) and A Star is Born (1954).


A review by Frank Lieberman reveals that the show started late “because of a traffic tie-up,” but that Streisand was introduced to the audience by emcee Ira Cook.  She opened with the song “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.”


Lieberman wrote that “each number brought a different tempo of music, ‘Keeping out of Mischief Now,’ had a swing to it. ‘Cry Me A River’ a sad mood and then back to a beat with ‘Down With Love.’”


Streisand put her hair up for the second half of the concert, opening with “Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home.”


For her 8:30 p.m. concert at the Shrine, Variety reported that Streisand drew more than 5,000 fans and grossed $21,000 (with an average ticket price of $5.50).


Following her concert at the Shrine, her last on the West Coast until 1967, Streisand headed back to New York where she began rehearsals for Funny Girl , which opened in 1964


A ticket to see Barbra Streisand at the Shrine for $4.50
End / The Shrine Auditorium
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