Friday, Apr. 10, 1964

LET'S talk, without pretending -- that any particular common denominator exists between them, about a revolution, a cat and a girl.

The revolution overturned Brazil's "Jango" Goulart (see THE HEMISPHERE). Latin American revolts are a hazard to TIME because they usually seem to happen on the weekend, after we go to press, but this one came in plenty of time for thorough coverage. What is more, Hemisphere Editor George Daniels, in Rio on a previously planned trip, was ready and eager to help Bureau Chief John Blashill and his staff during 37, mostly sleepless, hours of reporting. The coup started just as the moving men arrived to relocate TIME'S Rio quarters, and while the new office was a shambles, its balcony provided a magnificent view of the massed anti-Goulart troops in the square below. In fact, reported Daniels, at times "it looked for all the world as if we were directing the operations."

The cat was shot by Sportswriter Charles Parmiter, who was exploring the rugged hunting and fishing possibilities in Costa Rica's jungle (see SPORT). At the time, he thought he was bagging a jaguar. Back in New York, a taxidermist told him it was an ocelot. Well, it could happen to any sportswriter.

The girl is Barbra Streisand, Broadway's newest star (see SHOW BUSINESS). Her opening in Funny Girl was witnessed by a contingent of TIME editors who, with rare unanimity, loved the show. "We went to the cast party afterwards, high atop the RCA building," recalls one, "and in that heady atmosphere decided to do a cover instantly."

In Barbra's half-furnished penthouse, Artist Henry Koerner painted the cover portrait in three sittings, while "interior decorators were coming in by the droves." More or less at the same time, she also managed to run through scenes from the show for Photographer Ormond Gigli, whose color shots accompany our story, and to rove the town with Reporter Ray Kennedy, shopping for antiques, shoes or Fudgsicles. Says Kennedy: "I felt as if I were on a teen-age date."

Drawing on Kennedy's biography and on his own impressions, Show Business Writer John McPhee went to work on his cover story about the remarkable girl who impersonates the remarkable Fanny Brice. Meanwhile, Senior Editor A. T. Baker wanted to know what ever happened to Nicky Arnstein, Fanny Brice's former gangster husband, who was last heard of years ago somewhere in Los Angeles. TIME'S Hollywood Reporter Joyce Haber mobilized the help of three police departments, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the intelligence unit of the Treasury Department, lawyers, nightclub owners, columnists and several helpful hoodlums. She finally tracked him down in a shabby Los Angeles hotel, providing a classic footnote to the story.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.