He was the father of the timeless Barbara Streisand, a loving Jewish husband. and great educator of his time. "I must have gotten my detailed, obsessive streak from my father, because my mother wasn't like me at all", Barbara was quoted in the biography Barbra Streisand Redefining Beauty, Femininity, and Power by Neal Gabler. Even though she would lose him at only 15 months old, the legacy and influence her father left behind would become a driving force in his daughter's life.
"The Life and Influence of Emanuel Streisand"
He was the father of the timeless Barbara Streisand, a loving Jewish husband, and great educator of his time. “I must have gotten my detailed, obsessive streak from my father, because my mother wasn’t like me at all”, Barbara was quoted in the biography Barbra Streisand Redefining Beauty, Femininity, and Power by Neal Gabler. Even though she would lose him at only 15 months old, the legacy and influence her father left behind would become a driving force in his daughter's life.
Son of Jewish immigrants Isaac and Anna Streisand, Emanuel Streisand was born in Brooklyn, NY on the 5th of February in 1908. He was the first of 9 siblings, two girls and seven boys, his parents having immigrated from Poland. His father was a tailor who, after marrying his wife Anna, would open two fish markets to provide for his growing family.
Emanuel helped his father wrap fish from a young age but was never content to settle in such a vocation. Also mentioned in the same biography, he was said to have attended City College on a partial scholarship at sixteen which “he supplemented by driving a Good Humor ice cream truck.” Ambitious and driven, he would grow up to become a well respected teacher of a vocational high school. It was during this time he would meet his wife Diana, who worked in the garment district and was also a struggling soprano singer who would never quite make it to the stage.
The same book describes Emanuel as “intelligent, good-looking, gregarious, self-confident, and adventuresome— in short, the father of a Jewish girl’s dreams, which is literally what he was: a dream father.”
According to the book Barbara: The Way She Is, by Christopher Andersen, Diana and Emanuel were married in the living room of his apartment on Christmas eve of 1930 by a rabbi. Because of the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929, the newlyweds went to see a Broadway show and had a nice night in a nice hotel to celebrate their marriage, a costly honeymoon far out of reach.
In his time as a teacher, his daughter Barbara would later talk of his two thesis, one of which is said to be on the behavior of his son. In an interview with Terry Gross in 2012 she stated “It was written almost like a play, but it was based on the truth and then his analysis afterwards. That was fascinating to read.” Barbara often speaks through her interviews, biographies and autobiographies about the influence her father Emanuel had on her life.
He received his masters degree in education from City College and then took a job teaching English at Elmira reformatory in Upstate New York. His second thesis quoted by his daughter Barbara in the same interview was on his time here teaching English to prisoners using Chekov, Shakespear and Ibsen. Elmira Reformatory was founded in 1876 and did not follow the traditional ways of physical punishment, but instead had a goal of reforming convicts and teaching them. “Education is the enemy of bigotry,” his daughter Barbara quoted in her Biography My Name is Barbara when speaking on the influence of her fathers’ work.
After his time at the reformatory, he taught at Brooklyn High School, studying at night for his Phd in Education at Columbia Teachers’ College. Unfortunately he would not live to finish his goal of achieving his PhD and becoming a professor.
His death came at the very young age of 35 when he was teaching at a summer camp of a supposed cerebral hemorrhage that came from a head injury. His wife Diana later spoke out about Emanuel suffering from an epileptic seizure and receiving a morphine injection which led to his death. Barbara told People Weekly in 1983 that her mother blamed his death on overworking himself.
Told in the book Barbara: The Way She Is, there was one theory that on the night of his wedding that he and Diana had gone to a restaurant and got into a car accident, during which he suffered a head injury which would result in symptoms such as horrible headaches and dizzy spells. The same book also mentions this may have led to epilepsy.
According to the National Library of Medicine, during this time epilepsy was seen as quite a shameful condition, often associated with demonic possession and led to discrimination. If Emanuel was indeed suffering from epilepsy, this could have potential employers to turn him away, preventing him from providing for his family or receiving health benefits.
Even though Emanuel wouldn’t live to see the completion of his second dissertation or the completion of his PhD, his legacy would live beyond him through the success of his daughter Barbara. The ever famous actress, director, singer would quote “I know if I had a father, I would probably be happily married and have two or three children.”
In an interview with Oprah, while debating whether or not to venture into the world of directing, Barbara said she was sent a picture of her fathers grave by her brother and the name on the grave next to his caught her eye. It was Anchel, the name of the character she was set to play in the film. Her decision to direct the film was solidified, and she would direct, star and write the screenplay for the film.
It was her work on this film that reconnected her to Judaism, inspiring her to give $500,000 to U.C.L.A. in 1980. What followed was the establishment of the Streisand Chair in the Department of Cardiology and in 1981 Barbara would fund and dedicate a building at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in the name of her father. In 1984 the school was renamed Emanuel Streisand School of the Pacific Jewish Center because of the financial contribution Barbara was able to provide.
Blog by Rebecca Winn
