Barbra Streisand to auction items for charity

[August 06, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Want to lounge in a wicker chair from Barbra Streisand's sunroom? Perhaps wear one of her designer dresses or tinkle the keys of her baby grand piano?

Your chance is coming in October, when Streisand will auction more than 400 personal items to benefit her charity.

"What good does it do in storage," the 67-year-old entertainer said. "Let someone else enjoy it. These things, they're not forever. We pass them on and reap the benefits for something important."

A collector throughout her career, Streisand is selling costumes from her films, including a dress from "Funny Lady," a robe from "The Way We Were" and several outfits from "Meet the Fockers."

There's a gold Dior pantsuit Streisand wore to the 1986 Grammys, an old phonograph she bought when she was 18 and "one of the first pieces of furniture I ever bought: A dental cabinet. That's hard to part with actually," she said. "I wish I had room for it. I don't."

Dozens of dresses and suits, books, designer furniture, paintings and vintage collectibles are also being auctioned.

Streisand decided to part with items from her Beverly Hills, Malibu and New York homes because she's "through with extra stuff."

"The community is better served if I get rid of it and give all the proceeds to my foundation, which does really good work," she said.

She plans to donate all proceeds from the sale, scheduled for Oct. 17-18 at the Beverly Hilton hotel, to the Streisand Foundation, which supports women's, children's, environmental and political causes.

Among the beneficiaries: City Year, which Streisand said "brings together a core of diverse young leaders that provide vital resources to youth in local neighborhoods"; the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation ("We gave a big chunk to the climate change initiative," she said); and the Cedars-Sinai Women's Heart Health Center, which supports cardiac research for women.

"For decades women have been treated based on medical research done on men," Streisand said. "So it's about time that proper research be done and communicated to women so they'll be more informed about their health."

Highlights from the sale will be exhibited aboard the Queen Mary 2 during its trans-Atlantic cruise this month and then in Ireland and New York before landing in Beverly Hills, where the auction will be conducted by Julien's Auctions.

Meanwhile, Streisand is working on an album for release in September and preparing to act and direct in "a couple of movies on the horizon." She's also making a book about her new home.

Parting with old possessions makes it easier to focus on the future, she said.

"I'm a collector, so one collects and collects and collects," she said. "But now I have enough stuff and I want to concentrate on other things, so it's a good time to clean (the) closets."

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On the Net:

http://www.juliensauctions.com/

[Associated Press; By SANDY COHEN]

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