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Joy Behar Page
Delightful Debbie Reynolds; The Magnificent Barry Manilow
Aired May 27, 2011 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR INTERVIEWS, she lived through a crumbling marriage in the heat of the Hollywood spotlight. A film and television icon, who`s not afraid to speak her mind. Debbie Reynolds is here.
Plus, the one and only Barry Manilow brought his piano.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY MANILOW, SINGER: Joy, Joy Behar
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`ll serenade Joy. That and more starting right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOY BEHAR, HOST: She was just 16 when she was discovered at a beauty contest and was soon singing and dancing in movies with the likes of Gene Kelly. Check her out in the classic film "Singing in the Rain".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(EXCERPT FROM "SINGIN` IN THE RAIN")
BEHAR: I`m exhausted just watching that.
Here with me now is stage and screen star, the very talented Debbie Reynolds.
Applause, applause.
BEHAR: OK, Debbie, you were with two of the greatest dancers in America.
DEBBIE REYNOLDS, ACTRESS: Ever.
BEHAR: Gene Kelly and Donald O`Connor. Were you a dancer at that time, too?
REYNOLDS: No dancer, no. I was just fresh from high school and just a gymnast. I was a gymnast.
BEHAR: Oh, that was close enough.
REYNOLDS: No, you could flip off a bar but you couldn`t make your toes move. It`s very different.
BEHAR: You had a musical talent, though, that they brought out.
REYNOLDS: Well, God was good to me and gave me, yes, musical talent. I`m glad you said that.
BEHAR: Of course you do.
So, you know, as you`ve been watching this story about Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, I was thinking, were you getting flashbacks? I mean there`s so many similarities to what happened to you back in the day.
REYNOLDS: Eddie screwed the housekeeper?
BEHAR: No. You know what, Debbie?
REYNOLDS: I thought it was Elizabeth.
BEHAR: One thing about Elizabeth, she didn`t do windows. I know that about Elizabeth Taylor.
REYNOLDS: I never knew that.
BEHAR: There was other things about it, you know, that it`s public, the public humiliation --
REYNOLDS: It`s sad for the boy -- the boy that was created in the moment.
BEHAR: You mean the love child.
REYNOLDS: The love child. I`m really sorry for the love child. I mean, what`s his name going to be and what now, and what school is he going to go to, and who`s going to support him, and --
BEHAR: Well, Arnold`s going to support him. Arnold.
REYNOLDS: Well, has he been around him?
BEHAR: Yes. Well, he`s been supporting the boy.
REYNOLDS: Doesn`t mean -- has he played ball with the boy? Has he seen the boy?
BEHAR: I don`t think so. That I don`t know. I really don`t know.
But it`s different from yours, I think, but you had a very public breakup.
REYNOLDS: Well, I don`t think any of it looked like Arnold.
BEHAR: Eddie was cute in his own way. Do you want to know the truth? I find Eddie more attractive than Arnold. I love a tall, skinny Jewish boy like Eddie Fisher.
REYNOLDS: Oh, that`s good.
BEHAR: This big pumped up thing is not my cup of tea.
REYNOLDS: Well, no, I didn`t care for a big pumped up thing. But anything bigger than Eddie would have been nice.
BEHAR: Yes, that`s true.
REYNOLDS: I just think that the whole Shriver thing, she`s such a classy woman. Her whole family, and the background -- and she`s such a brilliant woman herself that I think it`s just sad. I`ve been there, done that, and it`s tragic and it will take her years to get over it. After all her children are adult adults, young adults.
BEHAR: Yours were little.
REYNOLDS: My children were little and it was much easier for them, because 2 years old compared to 10 years old and 13 years old or 17, whatever, the Arnold Schwarzenegger -- his name kills me.
BEHAR: Yes. Yes.
REYNOLDS: Just California.
BEHAR: California.
REYNOLDS: California.
BEHAR: But, you know, I know it`s difficult but I think the kids will suffer a little bit.
REYNOLDS: Oh, certainly they`re going to suffer. First of all, I`m sure that Arnold has been a good father, and I`m sure he will continue to be so. This is a very -- this is a tragedy for all of them, just for his one act of stupidity and that`s what I`m going to give him.
BEHAR: It`s not just one, that`s the beauty of this story.
REYNOLDS: Oh. Oh.
BEHAR: It`s not just one. There are many, many stories of groping, et cetera.
REYNOLDS: I know, I`ve heard about them.
BEHAR: Which is interesting -- I wonder what is your opinion is of that? Because Maria knew the reports about the groping and all the rest of his peccadilloes, and yet she backed him up and supported him in the governor`s race.
REYNOLDS: Well, so did I with Elizabeth. I said, I have to send him over to be with her. She`s -- tragedy, her husband just passed away. He`s our best friend. I want Eddie to go and be with Elizabeth. I think women do that, that are really good friends and nice people. Most of us are nice.
BEHAR: Yes. Yes.
REYNOLDS: We`re not all maid humpers.
BEHAR: Do you regret that you did that though?
REYNOLDS: I never humped the maid.
BEHAR: No, that you sent Elizabeth -- Eddie to comfort Elizabeth.
REYNOLDS: I think it was a foolish thing to do, after all, to someone as beautiful as Elizabeth. And we were all very --
BEHAR: You were pretty too, Debbie. People always talk about Elizabeth how beautiful she was. There were other actresses who were just as beautiful as Elizabeth at that time.
REYNOLDS: Well, Eddie didn`t see them or he would have been right over.
BEHAR: Yes.
She was more exotic, maybe. You were more of a home spun type of gal.
REYNOLDS: I was a Girl Scout. I really was a simple little girl and that`s what I was. And he fell madly in love with Elizabeth. Now, I understand, you know, so many years later, and it`s in the past now.
BEHAR: It`s in the past, but your career is not in the past.
REYNOLDS: No, isn`t it great?
BEHAR: You`re still kicking, going and dancing.
REYNOLDS: The only thing that keeps you alive --
BEHAR: Your career?
Reynolds -- keeps you happy. Well, I think so. I think performing just to hear the hum of the audience and go out and then you hear the laughter and, you know, I make my announcement, my -- it was called "Alive and Fabulous", that`s my title. People are so shocked that I`m still alive.
BEHAR: No, they`re not.
REYNOLDS: Debbie? Debbie? Let`s go catch Debbie before she dies. Everyone`s kicking off fast nowadays, you know.
BEHAR: Yes. No, not everybody. Betty White is still kicking.
REYNOLDS: She`s kicking but she`s only one out of many.
BEHAR: That`s true.
REYNOLDS: And then there`s me.
BEHAR: Who else is there?
REYNOLDS: We`re kind of alone, you know. There`s not too many.
BEHAR: Barbara Walters is still doing --
REYNOLDS: Oh, she`s younger. Barbara.
BEHAR: Yes.
And you got into showbiz by accident?
REYNOLDS: Yes. I entered a local beauty contest because we were really poor family and they gave away a free blouse and scarf if you entered, not if you didn`t win, and I wanted a free blouse and scarf, I was so excited and I won. And that started it. There were talent scouts there, they took me to the studio and they changed my name to Debbie and it happened like that.
BEHAR: What was your name again?
REYNOLDS: Mary Frances.
BEHAR: Marie Frances Reynolds?
REYNOLDS: Mary Frances Reynolds.
BEHAR: It sounds like a nun. Sister Mary Frances Reynolds.
REYNOLDS: You say that because you`re Catholic. Italiana. (INAUDIBLE)
BEHAR: I`m not that Italian. But --
REYNOLDS: She can`t speak it, but she`s Italian.
BEHAR: The studio system in those days was the greatest. I mean they took care of you.
REYNOLDS: They put you under contract, made you, taught you, gave you teachers, you took lessons all day long. You couldn`t dance, you will. You couldn`t sing, you will. You know, whatever you couldn`t do, and whatever you didn`t know, you learned.
And it was a very exciting time. It was school without being school days. It was just, to me, it was a blessing. And I`ve never forgotten it. It`s a golden era. It was the golden --
BEHAR: It was. But nowadays actors are out on a limb, they don`t know what`s happening, right?
REYNOLDS: Right. Well, not good for them. I mean, they`re wonderful, they`re wonderfully talented. All the young kids today are very, very gifted, but they don`t have the protection of the studio system which was the big boss, and they were the big bosses and they told you what to do.
And I did it because it was right. They bought a script for you. They produced the film for you. They did all your clothes, they did everything. You were just a very lucky person.
BEHAR: But they were a little dictatorial. When we come back I do want to talk about --
REYNOLDS: Yes, they were.
BEHAR: -- Louis B. Mayer and what he did to Judy Garland.
REYNOLDS: Well, yes, he worked her --
BEHAR: When we come back, don`t tell it yet, we want to tease the next segment.
We`ll be right back with more of Debbie Reynolds.
REYNOLDS: Lots of them. I`ll tell you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEHAR: I`m back with the legendary screen actress, wonderful idol, Debbie Reynolds.
REYNOLDS: We were talking about sewing.
BEHAR: Yes, we were talking --
REYNOLDS: My mother was a seamstress, so I always bring it up somehow. Yes. Sentimental. Sweet thing.
BEHAR: So, we were talking about the drugs that Louis B. Meyer, that horror, gave to Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, too, right?
REYNOLDS: Well, there were a lot of people -- Mickey would maybe deny that, they had a hospital on -- whenever anybody got tired, they gave them a vitamin shot, you know? A vitamin shot would pick them up.
BEHAR: A real vitamin or amphetamines?
REYNOLDS: Well, inside, suddenly everybody went -- who-hoo. It picked them up.
BEHAR: I`m sure it did.
REYNOLDS: They did have a little help there, and it wasn`t good for, you know, Judy and I think Mickey, and some of the other younger people.
BEHAR: Did they ever give you any of those vitamin shots?
REYNOLDS: Well, they wanted to, but I really wouldn`t do it. I hate shots. I don`t like needles anyway. No, I didn`t. I needed it during "Singing in the Rain," but I just didn`t. I figured just go ahead and suffer.
BEHAR: Well, they would get Judy up and then they`d give her sleeping pills to put her to sleep. No wonder, the poor girl.
REYNOLDS: She was very hyper. She couldn`t sleep. So she had a real problem. She would take sleeping pills to go to sleep and then she`d need something to pick her up.
BEHAR: Terrible.
REYNOLDS: That killed her.
BEHAR: It did kill her. She was not that old. What was she?
REYNOLDS: Forty-seven.
BEHAR: Forty-seven.
REYNOLDS: Well, I knew her in the end. I saw her off to England the week that she went off, and they held her check when she was working at the Fontainebleau in Florida; we were working side by side. And they held her check because she went on for me. I caught the flu, she went on for me, they held her check -- wild things.
And she was so depressed and they held her luggage and she went off to England without any luggage. She was so depressed when she got there, she just said -- so she went in the bathroom by herself, and that`s just the saddest thing.
BEHAR: Sad.
REYNOLDS: And what a genius.
BEHAR: Brilliant, one of the greats of the 20th centuries.
REYNOLDS: She`s still lasting. The younger people today still know who Judy Garland is.
BEHAR: Yes, they do.
Did you know Joan Crawford? Was she a bitch?
REYNOLDS: Yes. Actually, she was really nice. But she was powerful. And if she didn`t like you, I think you`d be in a lot of trouble.
BEHAR: Was she mean to the kids, like her daughter wrote in "Mommy Dearest"?
REYNOLDS: The eldest daughter.
BEHAR: Yes. Christina.
REYNOLDS: Yes, she was. She just would take it out on the eldest one. She seemed to get a little smashed, and unfortunately the eldest one was up when she came home and the other ones were in bed.
Yes, that`s true. I knew her forever, her whole career, and she was very nice to me and, you know, just once when she hit me with a --
BEHAR: The wire hanger?
REYNOLDS: The wire hanger. It just hurt, just hurts right across the back when it hit.
BEHAR: What about Bette Davis? Her daughter also wrote a nasty book about her.
REYNOLDS: What is that? That was the amazing -- (INAUDIBLE)
BEHAR: Are you scared Carrie will write one about you some day?
REYNOLDS: Oh Carrie will and has. Did you see her show, "Wishful Drinking"?
BEHAR: Yes, it`s wonderful.
REYNOLDS: She writes all kinds of things about me. She writes about my mother, it`s best to -- what is it she says, my mother always says something, it`s better to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on pie than -- I can`t remember.
BEHAR: OK. All right. But --
REYNOLDS: It`s very funny in Carrie`s show, so go see that. Don`t catch mine. I don`t do that joke anyway.
BEHAR: Carrie -- Carrie is -- she wrote a lot of stuff about you. She wrote "Postcards from the Edge" about her -- I think that was --
REYNOLDS: That was made up. That "Postcards from the Edge" she wrote about really herself, about a boy who was -- I don`t know which drug it is, but some blow your head off, and she wrote about herself. And then they decided to make the father in the show a mother. So, Carrie just rewrote it for Mike Nichols.
BEHAR: But that scene where Shirley MacLaine is on the piano, singing and I`m here -- I could picture you doing it.
REYNOLDS: (SINGING)
No, that`s Ethel Merman (ph) -- one of those shows.
Yes, I did that. I do that. I do that. Any party I go to or I give, I always get up and sing and dance or do something.
Well, it depends if it`s getting boring, you know? I like to kick it up. We did that in Hollywood. In Hollywood, we had a pianist always hired and everybody got up, was supposed to get up and do a poem or read, if you wanted to read a play or something.
BEHAR: But everyone had talent. That`s why.
REYNOLDS: Everyone had talent. Everybody got up and did something -- something kicky.
BEHAR: You know, last time she was on with me, she told me, Carrie, she said that if she didn`t have you as a role model, there would be no way she would still be working. Isn`t that nice?
REYNOLDS: I think it`s true about, you can`t quit. You just go on, it doesn`t matter what, doesn`t matter how sick you are, because that will maybe even work for you. You`re doing it for them.
The audience, they got there, they paid this. So you can get out there no matter what you feel badly, that`s just too bad. Your calling card is your talent. Your talent is to get out there for the audience and entertain them to the best of your ability no matter how sick you may be, because in the end you do feel better. You work it out. Don`t you? If you --
BEHAR: Even when you don`t want to go on, it feels better after you`re done at any rate.
REYNOLDS: No, you just do feel -- you feel like you`ve accomplished something. You`ve done a good job of it.
BEHAR: Right. Now, besides being, you know, in your cabaret act and your career is still going, you`re also such a collector of Hollywood costumes and all sorts of memorabilia, which I find -- and you have an auction coming up.
REYNOLDS: Yes, I`ve collected for 50 years. In 1930 (ph), MGM had a big auction. They sold everything off. They wanted to just keep the land and get rid of all the memorabilia, all the costumes, all the cars, all of sorts, all of everything. It`s just horrible because real estate people wanted it and they had it. And Turner bought the -- thank God, the movies and thank God for Turner.
BEHAR: Thank God for Turner, that`s right. Yes.
REYNOLDS: So that`s what happened in the `70s and then `75, Fox had a big auction. They sold everything, and then Columbia and so forth and so on. So, I went to every auction and I also went to every person or anybody I heard was selling anything that they had.
I have a little gift right there by -- not a gift.
BEHAR: Not a gift. This is very valuable stuff. That`s Harpo`s hat.
REYNOLDS: Harpo Marx. I loved the Marx brothers. They`re so funny.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: I never put a hat on, but in this case, I will put a hat on.
REYNOLDS: Too cute. You look cute, darling.
BEHAR: I look ridiculous.
REYNOLDS: Well, no, it`s not your type. You have to have a bell to go with it.
But I have, you know, Charlie Chaplin and, of course, all the wonderful costumes, Monroe, I`ve got 11 of Monroe`s costumes, her beautiful white dress.
BEHAR: Oh, the dress from -- not "Some Like It Hot," from the "Seven- Year Itch".
REYNOLDS: The subway.
BEHAR: Which the dress goes up -- that`s the "Seven-Year Itch", right?
How much -- there it is. We`re showing a picture of it. How much do you think you`d get for that?
REYNOLDS: Well, we`re supposed to get over $1 million.
BEHAR: Really?
REYNOLDS: That`s been offered that in China, and but I hate to see anything go out of America. You know? It is -- American films have influenced the world for 100 years, over 100 years.
BEHAR: Right.
REYNOLDS: And naturally, our history is what should sustain and last. And I wanted to make all this for a museum for the -- for American fans.
BEHAR: Get that back together, right?
REYNOLDS: I just couldn`t raise the right money and I just couldn`t get the industry interested.
But now, we have so many fabulous costumes -- 5,000 costumes and cars.
BEHAR: We`ll talk some more about it in just a minute when we come back.
REYNOLDS: OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEHAR: I`m back with the fabulous Debbie Reynolds.
You know, I have some Facebook questions. People want to ask you, OK?
REYNOLDS: Yes, that`s fine.
BEHAR: Who was the love of your life?
REYNOLDS: Oh, gosh.
BEHAR: Well, we know it wasn`t Eddie Fisher.
REYNOLDS: Well, it was -- Eddie Fisher was my first love.
BEHAR: Who is the love of your life?
REYNOLDS: My husband is the love of my life I would say. Robert Wagner, I had a very big crush on.
BEHAR: R.J.?
REYNOLDS: Yes, R.J.
BEHAR: Did you have a thing with him or just a crush?
REYNOLDS: No, not a thing with him.
BEHAR: You just liked him?
REYNOLDS: Oh, sure. I thought he was gorgeous and wonderful. Whether he`s married or not, you know, you just asked me who I had a crush on. So, I would say I loved David Niven, I thought he was -- Dick Van Dyke, who was on the other night on your show. He was adorable, he is adorable.
BEHAR: Isn`t he adorable?
REYNOLDS: Oh, yes. He just fell in love with a younger girl. I`m out -- just like that.
BEHAR: Really?
REYNOLDS: Before I was in, I was out.
BEHAR: It says, ask Debbie what was her most beloved role in a movie?
REYNOLDS: Oh, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown".
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
REYNOLDS: Yes, it was wonderful.
BEHAR: That was good.
REYNOLDS: Yes, great music, great dances.
BEHAR: I never realized until I saw the "Titanic" that that woman was actually on the boat, Molly Brown. I didn`t know what that was about.
REYNOLDS: Oh, yes.
BEHAR: You know? She didn`t go down.
"Postcards from the Edge", fact or fiction. You said it not fact, right? "Postcards from the Edge"?
REYNOLDS: No, it`s not fact, no. But it was great writing and that was my daughter.
BEHAR: Yes. Your relationship with Carrie is interesting because you`ve gone through periods where you`re friends and then you get mad at each other. Isn`t that true?
REYNOLDS: Well, I`m a mother, I`m her mother and I feel as though I must tell her the truth. When I feel there`s something going wrong in, my opinion what`s going wrong -- but if she doesn`t feel as though it`s not going wrong, she`s not going to mind me and she doesn`t. So, fine, she`s had a very successful career.
And after all, "Postcards from the Edge" was just one of the little things. You know, "Star Wars" --
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
REYNOLDS: "Wishful Drinking" --
BEHAR: Oh, yes, she`s a very talented writer.
REYNOLDS: Writing a new play now. And now she`s on that -- what`s the diet that they --
BEHAR: Jenny Craig.
REYNOLDS: Jenny Craig.
BEHAR: She lost some weight, huh.
REYNOLDS: Forty pounds.
BEHAR: Well, good for her.
REYNOLDS: Isn`t that good?
BEHAR: Is she happy and excited that she`s thinner?
REYNOLDS: Yes, she`s very excited. Now she only has two boobs.
BEHAR: How many about did she have before?
REYNOLDS: Well, one was on her back.
BEHAR: Oh, really? Oh. I hate that.
REYNOLDS: Yes. It`s not a good look. It`s really hard to make your clothes fit, you know? And tiger straps.
BEHAR: That`s not genetic, is it? You don`t have a boob in your back, do you?
REYNOLDS: Oh, I didn`t mean to tell you that.
BEHAR: No music, please.
REYNOLDS: No music.
BEHAR: No music here. I have to hear.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Zsa Zsa Gabor is sick. She`s home. She`s in the hospital today. I understand from her husband that she watches this show. So, could you give her a sort --
REYNOLDS: Zsa Zsa, if you`re listening, darling, I hope you`re going to be better and you`re going to get your leg fixed all up and you divorce your husband right away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BEHAR: Up next, pop legend, Barry Manilow has written the songs that make the whole world sing. But did you know, he also wrote jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald`s? He`ll perform a couple for me so stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Barry Manilow`s new album is called "15 Minutes" and it`s about people being famous for 15 minutes, not that he`d know about that personally because he`s been famous for 35 years. Joining me now, and I love having him here is my old pal, Barry Manilow.
(APPLAUSE)
BARRY MANILOW, SINGER: An audience. Wow.
BEHAR: 35 years, Barry, you`ve been on top.
MANILOW: I`m so old. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Don`t say that. 35 years, I -- no.
BEHAR: But you`re not older than anybody who`s around at your age, you`ve just been famous for 35 years.
MANILOW: Has it really been -- it may have been 35 years. You`re right.
BEHAR: Besides the fact that you have a phenomenal talent, you have, as they say a God-given gift, what else do you really -- how else do you explain yourself?
MANILOW: I love music. I love my music. And I never really -- I think we`ve talked about this, I never started off wanting to be a performer.
BEHAR: No? What did you want to be?
MANILOW: That was not my thing. That was for crazy people. That was not my thing. I loved accompanying those people, and I loved doing arrangements for them, and I loved orchestrating and I loved writing songs. Anything in the background I was happy.
BEHAR: You didn`t want to be a performer.
MANILOW: I didn`t want to be upfront. I never thought about it. That was not my thing.
BEHAR: Right.
MANILOW: And suddenly "Mandy" came along, and I had to learn on the job how to do this, because I didn`t know what to do with my legs. I didn`t know what to do when I stood up. I didn`t know how to talk to an audience. I didn`t know how to perform. I never thought about it, you know? But the audiences seemed to like my awkwardness, and they -- they were always on my side.
BEHAR: But you had a charm about you, too. I mean, besides being musical. But so "Mandy" really thrust you into the middle of everything.
MANILOW: It did.
BEHAR: So how did you deal with that in the beginning? Because a lot of young performers have that issue now, people become famous like that.
MANILOW: And that`s what this album is about. That`s why we wrote this "15 Minutes" album. We got the idea -- I`ll tell you what kicked me off with this idea was that -- those weeks that the press was hounding Britney Spears, remember that?
BEHAR: Yes.
MANILOW: Driving her crazy.
BEHAR: You mean when she had the baby in the car and all that?
MANILOW: No, no, no. No, when they were hounding her, they wouldn`t leave her alone, and she finally went a little nuts and shaved her head and that whole thing.
BEHAR: Oh, that`s right, I remember that.
MANILOW: But it was horrible to watch. Here`s this young, beautiful girl trying to have a career and make music. I could relate to that, and they wouldn`t leave her alone.
That`s what gave me the idea to do an album about fame, and these days what fame does to people and how do you handle it. Because when I started, when "Mandy" hit me, there was not the paparazzi following me around like that.
BEHAR: No.
MANILOW: They were interested and there was a picture here or there, but it wasn`t crazy like it is today. So I didn`t have to deal with that kind of thing. What I had to deal with was being famous and people not telling me the truth.
BEHAR: Oh. What would they tell you? What were the lies they told you?
MANILOW: Oh, you`re great, you`re great, can I have your autograph? You`re the best.
BEHAR: And there`s something wrong with that?
(LAUGHTER)
MANILOW: You know, I have this -- my deep, my dark night of the soul was in -- about four years in, and I was in Florida, and I realized that everybody around me I was paying. All my friends had kind of disappeared. And I was paying my -- I was paying my assistant and the cook and the guy that drove me and -- and I said, what happened? Where did everybody go?
BEHAR: Yes.
MANILOW: And I had to make a decision whether I wanted that life or whether I wanted to be a guy again, you know? And I was on the road, they didn`t know where to get me, I didn`t know where to get them, and I had to make a decision. I`ll tell you, when I got back to my family and my old friends telling me, hey, what are you doing? That was the most helpful thing for me. I got -- I went back to being me.
BEHAR: That`s a lovely story, and it`s a good lesson for people out there.
MANILOW: It is. That`s my advice, if anybody cares, that, you know, because they`re going to do that to these young kids.
BEHAR: Never forget your roots.
MANILOW: Never forget your roots. Those are the people that will tell you the truth. They`re going to say, hey, what are you doing? That`s the most important people in your life.
BEHAR: Right. My roots, every three weeks I have to deal with.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: But what about Lady Gaga? She was on my other show the other day, and she seems pretty grounded, this kid.
MANILOW: I love her. I love her.
BEHAR: She`s adorable. You know she has just knocked Oprah off the Forbes most -- what is it, the most powerful women in entertainment? She`s No. 1 now.
MANILOW: Good for her. Really, I think she`s great. And she`s inspiring, I love the things she says. I love where she came from and how she got famous. And she, like I am and like so many of us, she was into her art. She was into her music and didn`t care what people thought of her. She`s an original. I wish her the best.
BEHAR: Well, she comes from a place of insecurity, though, this girl.
MANILOW: I saw that, too.
BEHAR: Which I think we all do in this business.
MANILOW: But she`s so honest. She shows it to us, you know?
BEHAR: That`s right. That`s right.
MANILOW: She doesn`t care.
BEHAR: What would you say to her to try and hold on to it? In the last two years she`s really become a big star. And she`s very young. She`s only 25 years old.
MANILOW: I say, keep going, baby.
BEHAR: She writes the songs, too, like you do.
MANILOW: She does and she sings.
BEHAR: That make the whole world sing.
MANILOW: You know, and dance.
BEHAR: And dance. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
MANILOW: But she`s also, you know, she is such an original. You know? I say, keep going, you know? I`ve got no advice except for keep going, believe in yourself and keep going.
Sure, that insecurity, we`ve all got it, we`ve all got that insecurity.
BEHAR: You know, because when we are kids -- all the people in this business seem to have been misfits in some way mostly.
MANILOW: I have a song about that, it`s called "All the Time," it`s about being a misfit. And when we put it on that album, I got more letters about that one than "I Write the Songs" that was on that same album.
BEHAR: Really?
MANILOW: That`s how many misfits there are out there.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: We have plenty of them in this room. Are you kidding me?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: but we love a misfit because that`s what we all are.
MANILOW: Especially when you`re younger.
BEHAR: But I mean, she was bullied, kids told her she wasn`t pretty, they didn`t like her nose, she said.
MANILOW: Same thing with Streisand. Same thing with so many of us.
BEHAR: Yes, when you look at the old Streisand stuff, I remember when she broke out on PM East (ph) with Mike Wallace, she was 19 years old.
MANILOW: Me too. Me too.
BEHAR: And I said, oh, my God, what an incredible talent. She did look a little bizarre, she didn`t look like everybody else, that`s all.
MANILOW: That was good.
BEHAR: But when you look back on her specials, she was beautiful.
MANILOW: Absolutely.
BEHAR: Very interesting and pretty and -- but at that time, she was so out there in her looks.
MANILOW: Well, just like Lady Gaga.
BEHAR: Yes.
MANILOW: I think she`s got a big career ahead of her, this Lady Gaga girl. Because she`s a real talent. Have you ever heard her sing?
BEHAR: Yes.
MANILOW: She sings great.
BEHAR: I love her special.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: She`s wonderful.
MANILOW: I think she`s the real deal.
BEHAR: But other people say that she copies Madonna. What do you think about that?
MANILOW: No, no, no. Inspires. I say she`s inspired. Madonna is her hero, isn`t it?
BEHAR: Yes.
MANILOW: She`s her hero. So you know, I say.
BEHAR: Who inspired you?
MANILOW: The songwriters inspired me, people like the Beatles, the jazz musicians, people like Bill Evans and Gerry Mulligan. And I`ll tell you, the people that inspire me these days, I think you`ll think I`m nuts, my musicians. I like the way they live their lives. I like how committed they are to their music. The guys that work for me, that play for me.
BEHAR: Yes.
MANILOW: I look around and I say, those are the guys I want to be like. Really. You don`t want this craziness. I want to do that. They are totally committed to their work and to me. I`m very grateful to them.
BEHAR: That`s nice. But you know, I was reading something about the fact that Bob Dylan`s turning -- is 70 this year. Who else, Joan Baez is turning 70, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel are all turning 70 this year. And Paul McCartney is on his way, Barbra`s on her way. These are all great musicians. And what did they have in common? And this article in "Time" said that when they were 14 years old, that was when rock `n` roll hit the scene and they were all influenced by rock `n` roll. Maybe not Barbra so much, but the rest of these rockers. Isn`t that interesting?
MANILOW: Interesting, and they gave us that kind of music. They did. That wasn`t the kind of music that got me, although I respected it and I loved it.
BEHAR: You were more like Streisand in that way.
MANILOW: I was more in that world. I was more in the older world of songs that were written by Irving Berlin and George Gershwin, and I was still studying that and kind of arrangement by Nelson Riddle (ph) and by Don Casta (ph). Certainly I knew that the other stuff was around, but it took me a while to catch up.
BEHAR: And there was Sinatra.
MANILOW: And there was Sinatra.
BEHAR: There was Sinatra. You know, I still listen to Sinatra on Sirius Radio. I still listen to him. He`ll never get old. Like you.
MANILOW: He never makes a mistake. Every single cut is always fine. I never hear a bad --
BEHAR: Every single one now.
MANILOW: I --
BEHAR: I don`t agree.
MANILOW: I never hear one that I don`t like.
BEHAR: No, "something in the way she moves," that was a bad cut.
MANILOW: Really?
BEHAR: And something stupid that he played.
MANILOW: Well, once he started going to that other--
BEHAR: And "dooby dooby doo" (ph)?
MANILOW: Yeah -- once he started to--
(LAUGHTER)
MANILOW: Yeah. What a stinker -- what a terrible singer.
BEHAR: But everything else was great.
MANILOW: You know?
BEHAR: But everything else was brilliant.
MANILOW: You know, what I always hear, you know, "from the wee small hours of the morning"--
BEHAR: I`m a fool to want you, when he was in love with Ava Gardner, and all that geshraing (ph) that he does in the song is brilliant.
MANILOW: Brilliant. I love it too.
BEHAR: OK. We`re going to hear a lot from Barry today. We`re going to hear him play his new song, so stay right there. We`re musical today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BARRY MANILOW SINGS "COPA CABANA")
MANILOW: You like this song?
BEHAR: I love that song, Barry.
MANILOW: You do? I saw you loving it.
BEHAR: I do, I could just groove on that, you know. And that was "Copa Cabana" for those of you who don`t recognize the tune, one of my favorites. And look at this picture of you, Barry, you can see it on the monitor.
MANILOW: I knew you were going to do that.
BEHAR: OK, before Lady Gaga, there was Barry Manilow.
MANILOW: You know, I was doing it for a laugh, you know? And the critics took it seriously.
BEHAR: Really?
MANILOW: Oh, my God. They killed me.
BEHAR: Oh, so what?
MANILOW: I was doing like Danny Kaye, I thought that`s what Danny Kaye would have done.
BEHAR: But it goes with the song.
MANILOW: It does. What am I supposed to do, wear a tuxedo?
BEHAR: No, no, well, we had a shot of -- there you are -- no, there you are in the copa (ph) thing -- we had another shot of you in a tuxedo, but we`re not showing that because you look too good in that one.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: But you know, before Lady Gaga, you were very hip with the costume thing.
MANILOW: I was, but it was always for a laugh, you know. I was always having fun with it, and my audiences always knew I was doing that kind of thing.
BEHAR: Yeah, yeah. You know, I realized when we talked to each other sometimes--
MANILOW: Mind if I give us an underscore? Mind if I have--
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: While I`m speaking? Sure. I always wanted a musical accompaniment to my fabulousness.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: But I was going to say that you and I were both raised in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn.
MANILOW: We were.
BEHAR: As well as Mel Brooks was raised there and Allan King. What is it about Brooklyn, and Barbra Streisand is from another part of Brooklyn, and Neil Diamond is from Brooklyn. What is it about Brooklyn?
MANILOW: It`s so awful, we wanted to get out as quickly as we could.
BEHAR: Is that what it is?
MANILOW: No, no, no. You know, what I learned was street smarts and so did you. You know? We were -- they shot us out of Brooklyn at, you know, 100 miles an hour. I was ready for my life to begin. I didn`t tiptoe out of Brooklyn. I got on the BMT and I ran.
BEHAR: You ran. As fast as you could.
MANILOW: Ran. Not away, but I ran to my life. I did.
BEHAR: But your family was not wealthy, right?
MANILOW: Oh, no. No. We had nothing.
BEHAR: We didn`t have much either. A lot of people in those days didn`t. But you know what, we don`t say we were poor, we say we were broke. Because poor gives another connotation, that you don`t have anything.
MANILOW: Listen, they worked, they worked, they did everything they could, you know? They raised me great, I`m a gentleman, you know, I was a good guy, and, you know, they knew I was musical, they didn`t know what to do with me. Grandpa took me to, you know, into Manhattan to try to get me to sing something, they stuck an accordion in my hands.
BEHAR: An accordion?
MANILOW: Yeah.
BEHAR: Couldn`t afford a piano. How would you get this in the apartment?
MANILOW: When my mother remarried this guy named Willy Murphy (ph), he changed my life. He brought with him music. Music, a stack of records that may as well have been a stack of gold. Because all I had known was "Hava Nagila" on the accordion. You know? But this guy brought with him a stack of albums of Broadway show music and classical music and jazz music, and it really opened my --
BEHAR: See, that`s the thing that makes people famous, I think, when you have an opportunity.
MANILOW: That`s right.
BEHAR: You know, Barry, I could talk to you all day, but we really want to hear you play.
MANILOW: OK.
BEHAR: Now this song is called "Bring on Tomorrow."
MANILOW: Right.
BEHAR: Take it away, Barry.
MANILOW: All right.
(BARRY MANILOW SINGS "BRING ON TOMORROW")
BEHAR: That was just wonderful, thank you.
MANILOW: Thanks, Joy.
BEHAR: And that is from Barry`s new album, "15 Minutes," and we`ll have more with Barry Manilow in just a minute.
MANILOW: Thanks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with the very talented and lovely performer Barry Manilow, who just treated us by playing a song from his new album called "15 Minutes." And the other thing about you, Barry, is I know that you write jingles, too.
MANILOW: I did.
BEHAR: I don`t think people realized that a lot of those very, very catchy little tunes that you hear out there are yours.
MANILOW: You know, that was really better than college for me. Working in the jingle industry, because I was up against some really talented writers and I had to get -- my melody had to be better or catchier than the other guy`s melody, otherwise I would lose the jingle. Like--
(singing): Whenever you`re driving, wherever you`re bound, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Thirty-five years later, I got $500 for that one.
BEHAR: Really?
MANILOW: But $500 at that time, it was like--
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Do you get residuals?
MANILOW: No, they buy you out.
BEHAR: Oh, they buy you out.
MANILOW: They do.
BEHAR: Mel Torme recorded that, I once remember--
MANILOW: Really?
BEHAR: Yeah.
MANILOW: How about this?
(singing): I am stuck on a Band-Aide and a Band-Aide`s stuck on me.
BEHAR: I love that.
MANILOW: $500.
BEHAR: McDonald`s, too? What about McDonald`s?
MANILOW: $500 again.
BEHAR: $500 for that too? All right.
MANILOW: I sang on --
(singing): You deserve a break today, so get up and get away to McDonalds.
You remember that, but we --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: That`s romantic. That song is romantic.
MANILOW: That`s right.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: When you said, "at McDonald`s," I got like so romanticized.
MANILOW (singing): Get a bucket of chicken, finger-licking good, have a barrel of fun, goodbye hohum, say hello to your family, come on everyone, get Kentucky Fried Chicken, have a barrel of fun.
That`s not romantic.
BEHAR: No, no, not like McDonalds. That was really--
MANILOW: McDonald`s, that was--
BEHAR: And State Farm is very, very romantic.
MANILOW: It`s beautiful, no, that could be a real song.
BEHAR: That`s beautiful too.
MANILOW: That could be a real song.
BEHAR: Another one? Do you have another one?
MANILOW: What else did I do? I did-- I did--
BEHAR: Did you ever lose one to somebody else?
MANILOW: Oh, yes, all the time. You know why I lost one--
BEHAR: What haven`t they picked up?
MANILOW: You know why I lost one? I did one for American Airlines, and I ended it going, the melody going down. And they said, you can`t go down on an American Airlines commercial.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: That`s hilarious. All right, I only have 15 seconds. How about one more -- one for my show maybe?
MANILOW: Oh, yes?
BEHAR: Yeah.
MANILOW (singing): Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Behar.
BEHAR: That`s great. Thank you, Barry. I love you so much! You`re the best.
Barry`s new album, "15 Minutes" is out June 14th. And if you`re in Las Vegas, get tickets. It`s the best show in Las Vegas, to see him at the Paris Hotel.
Thanks for watching. I hope you had a great time. Good night, everybody.
MANILOW: Thanks, Joy. Thank you, everyone.
(APPLAUSE)
END
