Hello gorgeous

Fans of Barbra Streisand will recognize the expression Hello Gorgeous as the first words that she uttered (as Fanny Brice) in the 1968 film "Funny Girl", which also starred Omar Sharif. Streisand won the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her role in the film (an honor she shared with Katharine Hepburn for her role in "The Lion in Winter"). Streisand's comment when handed the famous Oscar statuette was, of course, "Hello Gorgeous."

"Hello Gorgeous" has been a mini cultural icon, appearing as the name of Michelle Pfeiffer's salon in the movie "Married to the Mob" uttered by Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock in the movie and Broadway show "The Producers", and is also regularly peppered through popular culture.

In the mid 1990s Ken Joachim opened a Barbra Streisand museum called: Hello Gorgeous as a kitschy shrine to Ms. Streisand. The museum closed but a few years later when Joachim became disenamored with his former idol. The Jewish Museum of Maryland featured an exhibition called: "Hello Gorgeous! Fashion Beauty and the American-Jewish Ideal" which was meant to explore cultural definitions of beauty in America and featured vintage clothing and accessories meant to highlight trends through the generations.

Hello Gorgeous has also been a featured book title by popular romance writer MaryJanice Davidson and featured a somewhat disturbing plot akin to the 1970s tv series the "Six Million Dollar Man". The most recent and notable addition to the "Hello Gorgeous" franchise would be: "Hello Gorgeous! Beauty Products in America '40s-'60s" by celebrity style maven Rachel C. Weingarten [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_C_Weingarten] [website at http://www.hellogorgeousguide.com] , in which she explores beauty advertising geared to women in the mid last century, and also inspired a week long retro beauty event at famed 5th Avenue retailer Henri Bendel.