On the day following last my visit to The Julie Andrews Hour (January 26th), I got on the bus
and went back to West Covina
“…
[She] insisted on sitting right next to me when there was plenty of room
elsewhere… she had a nervous habit of turning her ticket around. When the bus
was over flowing, she began talking about Russia
Julie’s
show with Robert Goulet and Peggy Lee was on tonight. Julie and Peggy got along
very well singing. Julie sang “How Long Has This Been Going On?” She was cute
in “The Candy Man,” and changed her image in “Let Me Entertain You.” The
Broadway scenes were good and she seemed to be in a good mood, but it was
strange to watch a show I had no part of.”
January 28th
Tonight, for some strange reason I decided to get very
clean. My friend Alice said she was coming over and when I went to the door,
Carolyn Farny, my friend from grammar school, was there with a present. I was
so surprised; it took me a minute to realize Mommy was having a surprise
birthday party for me! (I had already
opened my presents from everyone else in the morning.) Alice, Carolyn and I had
lots of conversation, and I thought would be fun to be the hostess of a party,
but only with people you really like.
[It is funny to see that in the midst of my diary, I wrote:
“I have been thinking that this diary is boring and has no value.” In
conclusion, I recalled being in love the previous year, “Life was so beautiful
then,” I wrote.]
January 29th was the day for my last final.
Between failing my acting class and being put out of The Julie Andrews Hour, my ideas had changed. I was restless. “I
have decided I must earn some extra money for my future,” I wrote. My mother
gave me a weekly allowance of about $20 or more, but although she was
supportive, she didn’t want me in show business.
On January 31st, my nineteenth birthday, I found
I didn’t want to get up. Nevertheless, I went to my singing lesson with Mr.
Loring. “… I tried to come out of myself and let go. Mr. Loring said I had a
very good lesson. Then, he played a recording of Mary Martin singing some songs
from South Pacific for me. It was
beautiful. I am going to learn “Cock-eyed Optimist” and “A Wonderful Guy.”
This evening, I finally called the number Claire Priest gave me for
“Kelly.” We spoke and I learned the true story (?) of the talk she and
the other girls had with Julie after the last show we attended (the showe with
Angela Lansbury and Steve Lawrence). This is what happened:
 |
| Julie Andrews giving an autograph to a young fan around this same year |
When Julie saw the three girls – Patty, Kelly and Marsha,
the fan club president- coming toward her as she went to her car, she stopped.
Marsha approached her and asked for her autograph. After Julie signed whatever
she had given her, Marsha asked,
“What’s happening? Why were we put out?”
By now, Julie was already in the car, but had left the door
open. Tony, the man who was going to drive her, said, “Come on, let’s go.”
But Julie said, “No, wait a minute. Hold it! I want to get
this straightened out.”
Julie then explained that the people at ABC were worried
about our staying at the studio so late; they thought maybe it was unhealthy
for us (Kelly thought that meant the studio didn’t think we ate properly) and they
were afraid parents and teachers would be calling the studio, looking for
us. Julie said she thought we should be “more mature” about this
and “go through the proper channels.” Then, we would be able to come to the
rest of the shows.
When the girls told her that they were forced to sit in the
back row, she said that wasn’t right; the studio had gone too far. But, she added,
she didn’t know much about it.
Kelly then stepped up and asked Julie, “What about the rest of
the closed sets?”
Julie looked at her for a minute. Then, she replied,
“It annoys me to have you follow me home every night.”
At this point, Kelly told me that three weeks earlier she had
wanted to give Julie a letter and Julie’s car hadn’t stopped when she was
leaving, so she was angry and had driven to Julie’s house, reaching it before she
arrived.
When Julie got there-- just before she went into the house--Kelly got
out of her car and ran to hand Julie the letter. She said Julie was so nice and
spoke to all of them (not sure if it was “Marsha” and “Patty” or who) for about
15 minutes about a lot of things, and they all talked to her.
“It wasn’t one-sided. Well, at first she didn’t look too
happy to see us, but she was alright later,” Kelly said in response to my
questioning.
[It was interesting to find this story in my diary. It had
always been my opinion that Julie never said what she really thought and left
us all hanging. In fact, she had stated some of what she thought to the other
girls, but it seems no one really listened.]
On February 2nd, I asked Ann, my singer friend
from International House, if she’d like to go to the Hollywood Palace 4:30 to get
on line. When I arrived, I saw a man taking pictures. No one seemed to
recognize who they were taking pictures of, but later, someone said it was Rex
Harrison! Of course, I was thinking of Julie (since they starred together in My Fair Lady) and I felt so thankful for
all the time I’ve spent with her. During the show, when Rex came out, the band played,
“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” and I wanted to cry. There was such an air
of sentimentality in the theater, but of course he never mentioned Julie.
 |
| My little brother, John, at the Malibu cottage, taken a few months later in 1973 |
On February 3rd, I did not feel well and had come
down a horrid sore throat. I was in West
Covina Malibu
I sat in my spot on the fence, which sits on the highest rim
of the hill overlooking the ocean, and sang. It was lovely to be there and once
again to see the ocean --to see on forever with such beautiful, pink
clouds. I took a nap and then we had
dinner.
 |
| My grandmother in a 1917 production of "That Girl Gloria" |
I miss VuVu (my grandmother) terribly when I am there. It seems that if she
were anywhere in this world, this must be where she is.
[Recently, I had read
Billie Burke’s autobiography. When speaking of her husband, Florenz
Ziegfeld’s death, she wrote that since due to work they were often apart, when he
died she kept feeling he was just in another part of the country, not really
gone.]
We got home about 7 o’clock and I saw Julie‘s show. Julie looked more like herself on this
show--lovelier. I liked the “Inka-Dinka-Doo” Jimmy Durante number she did with
the hat.
Feb 4th - I stayed in bed all day with a fever.
Drank lots of tea. Mommy didn’t think I should go to Hollywood
Coming Next
– Episode 18 – Guests Sid Caesar and John Davidson
[Apologies: Last time, I mistakenly noted that John
Denver was on this show.]
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