Kander and Ebb originally wrote the song "My Coloring Book" for
Kaye Ballard who was a close friend of the song writing duo. Ballard brought the song to the producers of the television show
The Perry Como Kraft Music Hall with whom she was a regular performer. Kander and Ebb performed the song for
Nick Vanoff, one of the producers of the show, who liked the song but felt the material needed a singer other than Ballard. The producers were not open to having Ballard sing the song because they felt she was a comedian and not a singer who could effectively deliver more serious material.
Tommy Valando published the song with Sunbeam Music, a division of
Broadcast Music, Inc., for sheet music sales at this time. Record labels and performing artists quickly lobbied Kander and Ebb for the right to record and perform the song, resulting in multiple different single recording releases in 1962. Charles Sinclair in
Billboard wrote "One of the sharpest record duels in recent weeks is shaping up over the season's prettiest new ballad — a timely John Kander-Fred Ebb tune called "My Coloring Book." No less than four single versions of it reached BMW for review last week, and more are reported in the works. Record sales of her single were boosted considerably by several more performances of the song on television, including
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and
The Merv Griffin Show. In January 1963 she released her album,
My Coloring Book, named after the song. Stewart's version was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female in 1963. She also included the song on her 1963 album which was titled after the song. Kallen's single was made for
RCA Victor Records and included "Here to Us" as a b-side. Streisand heard Stewart perform
My Coloring Book on
Perry Como's show, and she called
Kander and Ebb the day after to ask them if she could record the song. Produced by
Mike Berniker, and recorded before Streisand's first album sessions, the single was sent to radio. This release did not sell well, and the 1962 recordings of "My Coloring Book" by Sandy Stewart and
Kitty Kallen both were more financially profitable that Streisand's version. This 1962 version was re-released as a single in March 1965 as part of the "Hall of Fame" series with the 1962 recording of "
Happy Days Are Here Again". Streisand later re-recorded the song for her critically successful second album,
The Second Barbra Streisand Album. ==List of recordings==