Now you, too, can own the visual best of Barbra in a box

For many Barbra Streisand fans, the new five-DVD set “The Television Specials” is the home-video Holy Grail.

Three of the five specials produced for CBS from 1965-73 were released on VHS and laserdisc in the late ‘80s. The other two, “The Belle of 14th Street” (1967) and “Barbra Streisand … and Other Musical Instruments” (1973), never received an official video release until now.

The first special, the Emmy-winning “My Name is Barbra” (1965), catapulted Streisand from Broadway and pop artist to international superstar.

Streisand, 63, spoke by phone from her Los Angeles home about the experience:

Q. Fans have been waiting forever for this. What took so long?

A. You know? I don’t know. I’m always doing something. I’m building a house. I’m doing an album. … I would constantly say to Marty (Erlichman), my manager, “When are these things ever gonna come out?” It is crazy, isn’t it?

Q. What’s it like for you to go back and watch these shows?

A. I don’t watch them. No. Why would I watch it? I know them very well. I don’t have time. I just, you know, I had wonderful experiences. … It was so fun.

This was very exciting at this period of time, I remember, because they didn’t have one-woman shows, one-man shows in television. They were all guest stars with a host. I was never comfortable with that role of being a host, “And now I’m going to introduce you to so-and-so.” It just felt so odd to me that I wanted to – I had to find some other way to present myself, you know?

Q. Do you have a favorite special? A least favorite?

A. My favorites are my first two, ‘cause they’re kind of bookends. … My least favorite, probably, is “Belle of 14th Street” because there’s a great 45 minutes in it, but I would have cut some of it, you know. … That’s where we tried to have guest stars, and I don’t think it works as well.

Q. Is there any more fans can expect on DVD? I’d love to see a video version of your career-spanning CD box set “Just for the Record.”

A. It exists! I’ve worked on it for years. It’s four hours long. … I never thought that it was quite good enough. Actually, when I saw that about a year ago, I thought, “Man, this is good.” (Laughs.) I underrated it. It has to come out soon.

I also did the director’s version of “Yentl” and I also talk through “Star is Born,” as the executive producer. And I don’t know when those are coming out.

Q. It’s been extraordinary for you recently: “Meet the Fockers,” the CD “Guilty Pleasures” and now this. Do you view success differently today than when you started?

A. I have more of a life now. So, it’s kind of less important. But it’ll always be nice – my God! – if you get nice reviews for something or you’re appreciated by people you respect or, you know, if you touch people’s hearts in some way, if you change their lives in some way.

If they use your music to feel sad or replenished or hope, it’s always – that’s the point, you know? To move people or to make them think or feel.

The birthday bunch

Game show host Wink Martindale is 71. Actor-producer-director Max Baer Jr. (“The Beverly Hillbillies”) is 68. Actor Jeff Bridges is 56. Actress Marisa Tomei is 41. Rapper Jay-Z is 36. Model Tyra Banks is 32. Country singer Lila McCann is 24.