Do Stars Grow in Brooklyn?

The dream is always the same. The star calls in sick. With only a few moments' notice, the understudy, who has been anonymously hoofing away in the chorus, swallows her fears and bravely belts out the opening number. The hushed audience listens critically, pauses for a heart-stopping blink of a second, and then lustily roars its approval. Another star is born. Of course, everyone knows this has happened a hundred times. But just try naming two headliners who were born that way.

It just may be that Lainie Kazan,* 24, was. When Brooklyn-born Lainie signed on as understudy to Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, she was unsure it would last, and promptly developed an ulcer. But she set to work sandwiching in acting lessons, music lessons and a few TV appearances whenever possible. Twice each week she did the show in the understudy rehearsal, but for ten long months Lainie's opening-night shivers had to wait. Healthy and unhoarse, Streisand never missed a performance.

Then, two weeks ago, Barbra called in with the good news. She had laryngitis. "So did I," says Lainie, but somehow the understudy who had been anonymously hoofing away in the chorus forgot to mention her illness, swallowed her fears, and bravely belted out the I'm the Greatest Star opener. "The few people who had started to leave heard me sing and came back," recalls Actress Kazan. At the close of each of her two performances, the audience roared its approval. And so a star was born? Not on your tinpanalley. To begin with, though Kazan's looks and style are remarkably similar, she is a lot of work away from being a second Streisand.

But something was started. That day Manhattan's Basin Street East booked her for a 2 1/2-week run in April. And Colpix Records signed her to do four songs. By last week two or three other offers were in the talk stage. After Kazan's two fill-in stints, Streisand had wired: WE WERE TOLD TREES GROW IN BROOKLYN BUT WE KNOW BETTER. STARS DO. Maybe yes and maybe no. GROW is the operative word. Trees are not simply born either.

* No kin to Director Elia Kazan.

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