Barbra met Jon Peters when he was already a millionaire in the summer of 1973. The 28-year-old hairdresser to the stars had a past that seemed unlikely for his profession. A juvenile deliquent who never went to high school, Peters had already established a chain of hair salons, married twice (the second time to actress Lesley Ann Warren) and become a minor celebrity in his own right. He was a notorious playboy and his lifestyle was rumored to have been the model for the Warren Beatty movie "Shampoo".

When Peters showed up at Barbra's house in LA, sparks flew. "She was vulnerable and beautiful. Immediately the chemistry started working between us," Peters has said of that initial meeting. Barbra was taken aback at the way Peters was treating her. He was not intimdated by her stardom and was frank about his sexual attraction for her. "He just made me feel very young and beautiful," Barbra later recalled.

However, her latest movie "For Pete's Sake" kept the two apart for a while. "For Pete's Sake" was a lame attempt to recapture the success and zany comedy of "What's Up, Doc?" and was also her manager Marty Erlichman's first shot at producing a movie. Directed by Peter Yates and co-starring Michael Sarrazin and Estelle Parsons, "For Pete's Sake" was a chore for Barbra. For one, it brought her back to Brooklyn, which reminded her of her troubled past, and it kept her away from her new flame Peters.

Barbra played a Brooklyn housewife named Henry who, in order to bolster her husband's failures as a businessman, borrows money from the Mafia, becomes a hooker, and rustles cattle. The picture also contained derogatory references to gays, seemingly incomprehensible considering Barbra's political activism and her legions of gay fans. When "For Pete's Sake" opened in June 1974, it was panned by just about every major critic. Luckily, Barbra had other things on her mind.

"There is no way I will do this movie!" Barbra roared at Ray Stark, when asked to do the sequel to "Funny Girl". Nevertheless, she signed on. The only possible answer to speculation as to why she would return to the genre she had successfully left behind years ago could have been with Liza Minelli's success with Cabaret. Liza Minelli won the Tony the year after Barbra had lost it for "Funny Girl". Liza also won an Emmy for her television special "Liza with a Z." Rehearsals for "Funny Lady" began the morning after Barbra lost out to Glenda Jackson at the Oscars for "The Way We Were".

The filming of "Funny Lady" was like old times; Barbra and Ray Stark bickered continually throughout the production. Trouble continued when costar James Caan broke his finger filming a rodeo shot. Stark was furious that filming was considerably slowed down while they had to shoot around his cast, and even forcd Caan to cut it off during close-ups featuring the two stars. One production highlight on "Funny Lady" was when Fanny Brice goes up in a 1930s biplane. Insisting that audiences would recognize a double in the plane, director Herbert Ross convinced the reluctant star to go up in the open plane herself. After taking off from the Santa Monica Airport and circling the cameras a few times, the plane was forced to delay landing due to traffic congestion at the airport. Barbra believed that the shot was all part of an elaborate plot to kidnap her, and was panic-stricken. After touch-down, Ross somehow cnvinced her to go up again to re-shoot the scene.

Jon Peters visited the set often. The press had it that Jon was keeping an eye on Caan and Sharif (who had a few brief scenes in the movie), but Jon was actually trying to learn about the business of filmmaking. In director Herb Ross' view, however, it distracted Barbra. "She was in love at the time, and she didn't seem to want to make the picture or play the part." Barbra admitted later that she did not give the movie her 100 percent. "When I had a lack in my private life I cared more about my work." Production wrapped in July 1974. Despite Barbra's lack of enthusiasm, the film was a hit, grossing $48 million. Her next project would be for another producer: Jon Peters.

Before the production of "Funny Lady", Barbra had started recording her new album, "Butterfly". Peters was producing the album, and his inexperience slowed things down. Columbia was unhappy with the concept, from the selection of songs being recorded to the way they were recorded. The critics were also caustic: Butterfly was called "one of the worst albums made by a major talent." Nonetheless, "Butterfly" went to no.13 on the Billboard charts and went gold after just three months.