I suppose one of the things that bothered me the most was the
fact that I had never spoken to Julie, nor expressed my gratitude to her. For
months, I had watched her work. I had even looked into her eyes, but we had
never spoken. The next Friday, February 16th, I decided it was time
to say something. I wasn’t going to be allowed to attend the taping, but at
least I knew where Julie would be.
That Friday morning, I had classes, first tennis and then
speech. After giving my speech, I was on the way back to my seat when the
teacher, Mrs. Pauchan, stopped me and told me to go back up onstage. She
began to ask me a series of questions about the play, the speech I gave, was
from. She also asked me about the
character, and though I was uncertain about some of the answers, she insisted I
answer all the questions. I was up there on stage for a long time.
After class was over, a girl stopped me and told me not to
be so frightened.
“You’re good,” she said. “You are better than the girl who
was up there before you and she is a professional actress, who has done
Shakespeare. She is way too sure of herself. I don’t know if you have worked or
if you just have talent, but there is something special about you. What you
were saying came across to me.”
I was stunned. It has been such a long time since I received
any encouragement (other than the encouragement my singing teacher gave me). At
school, I hadn’t heard anything to justify my feeling that I could be a great
actress. After my classmate finished speaking to me, I went outside. While I
was standing there, the professional actress came over to me and said, “The
teacher really liked you.” Again, I was surprised, because Mrs. Pauchan had really
grilled me.
Now that I was finished with my classes for the day, I went
home and worked on a letter to Julie. I really wanted to thank her for all the
inspiration she had given me, but it wasn’t easy for me to express myself. Even
on paper I felt tongue-tied. Later I noted that “I was afraid I devoted a
little too much time on how the studio was home to me.” After finishing the
letter, I ate my lunch—a piece of apple pie and washed my hair.
I bought Julie a bunch of yellow daffodils and went to the
studio. As I handed the daffodils and my note to the page, I was so nervous my
hands were shaking. Still, I said
cheerfully,
“Will you give these to Julie?”
“Sure,” he said, but I didn’t think he sounded convincing.
“Or give them to Sharri or Lorraine
Then, I left.
***
It seemed strange to be eating dinner on a Friday night at the
residence, rather than at the studio.
In the evening, Vivian called me on the payphone outside my
room. She was lonely, and said she wished she was at the studio with Julie. She
said she had called Carol and pleaded with her so hard to go to the taping that
she began to cry. Still, Carol said, ‘No’ she couldn’t come.
Then, Vivian’s mother called Bill Harbach right inside the
studio. She said she could hear Julie singing in the background. She told him
it wasn’t fair if other people and their guests got onto a strictly closed set when
her daughter couldn’t, and she hadn’t caused any trouble.
Bill told her that the first of the year “the important
people working on the show (not Julie),” had a meeting and decided that we
girls couldn’t come anymore because they didn’t want probation officers and
parents calling the studio. And they all had agreed to keep the rule. Much later, I would be told there were strict rules about having minors present on the set. (Of course, I wasn't a minor, but I was seen as part of the group and no one believed I was over 18.)
When Vivian’s mother told him how Claire Priest and a camera
man’s wife brought people in, she said Bill really got “riled up.” He told her he would keep an eye out and
personally “kick out” anyone he saw.
Vivian talked to me about an hour and a half. She wanted me
to come over and go to a fashion the next day (Saturday), but later I called
her back and said I couldn’t. I was going back to West
Covina
February 17 - Saturday
In the morning, I cleaned my room and then took the bus back to West
Covina
In the evening, I watched Julie’s show with the Muppets, Sergio Franchi
and Sandy Duncan. I thought it was terribly good. My two
year-old brother, John, danced to Julie’s opening number. It’s funny but when I
used to have a front seat for the taping, everything looked terrible on TV.
Now, after having to sit in the back, it looks wonderful.
John adored the Muppets and Julie was so cute with them. I
noticed that when she was dancing with Thog, she kept looking to the side. She
was probably trying to see Emma’s reaction to her dance with this huge
creature. Her songs with Sergio Franchi were as good as any of her best shows –
beautiful.
February 20 - Tuesday
On this day I went to inquire about a cleaning job, working
for an 84 year-old lady who speaks seven languages. Her son came to interview
me and said he thought they would take me. I would be paid for ten hours a
week. My only thought, as noted in my diary, was this:
“Now I can buy Julie’s new record album, “The World of Julie
Andrews” and listen to her lovely voice forever.” I wanted to hear her in-person,
but I knew that was probably not going to be possible.
February 21 - Wednesday
I started my job today for the 84 year old woman today, but
when I got to her area, I realized I had forgotten her address, so I had to
call my roommate Lynn from a “posh plaza” for the number. The lady has a small, nice place near the
Ambassador Hotel. She is very nice and keeps hopping out of bed to talk to me.
On
this day, I cleaned the kitchen. Her daughter-in-law explained what I should
do. The lady seemed a bit like a grandmother to me, after having lost my own
grandmother. When I was leaving, she took my face in her hands and kissed me. When
I told my mother what I was doing, she didn’t seem too happy about me working-cleaning,
but then I didn’t think she would be.
By the next day, February 22nd, I was feeling
very tired and all the bones in my face ached. “I can feel a fever is burning
inside, though there is none outside,” I wrote.
 |
| The World of Julie Andrews 2-record album as it appears when laid out full-length. Although it contained a collection of songs from Julie's previous albums, the photo is definitely from The Julie Andrews Hour. |
After my lesson, I went down and bought some more Binaca (what
Julie used). Then, I searched for record albums at a place on Hollywood
Boulevard Coco
(starring Katharine Hepburn), Star and
Judy’s Portrait in Song. Then, I bought The World of Julie Andrews, a two-record album. I thought it should have been called “Julie’s
Portrait in Song” because it contained her sentimental, silly and happy songs---all
sides of her.
Suddenly, after buying the album, I felt very upset about
what I had written her. I left out the most important things. Why didn’t I tell
her how much she inspired me, how much I had learned from her and the fact that
I was now taking singing lessons because of her? Why didn’t I tell her how
honored I was to learn from her?
That night I couldn’t sleep, and when I
finally fell asleep, I dreamt about Julie. Vivian, Patty and I were all there
in a park with some very small very small children and Julie. We had a wonderful,
happy, laughing time.
By the next day, February 23, I was so sick, I stayed in bed
all day. Late in the afternoon, I went down and bought a copy of “The World of
Julie Andrews” record for Vivian. She had called and asked me to buy her a copy
as well.
 |
| The Ambassador Hotel, circa 1938 |
Later in the day, I went to work at the lady’s apartment.
On the way to the lady's apartment, I bought her some milk and then walked through a lovely rose garden on the grounds of the Ambassador Hotel. That was the first time I had ever seen it, though I knew of the famed Cocoanut Grove, which was inside the hotel. That was a place that all the film stars went and where many great talents, including Judy Garland, had played. Even my mother had dreamed of working there. [The Ambassador Hotel
has since been razed.]
In the evening, Vivian and I spoke again. She told me that
the first time she met Jenny Edwards was during the show with Don Rickles. He
kept teasing Jenny about the way she and Julie had performed and run around in
Blake’s documentary, and Jenny seemed very embarrassed by his comments.
All week I had been saying, ‘everything will be fine when
Friday comes and I see Julie again’ but as Friday approached, it was clear this
was not going to happen. Friday I was told the show would be taped on a closed
set, so I could not go.
Meanwhile, I bombarded myself over the faults in my letter
and despaired over the fact that I would never go to ABC again.
Looking back, I can see so clearly that should simply have been
concentrating on school and my art, but I was distracted and confused by all I
had experienced. “Only two more shows
and my dreams and hopes fall apart.” Yes, there were so many unspoken emotions
within me and no way to express them that I fell into “a great depression.”
On Friday I was so ill, I skipped school and told my mother
I was too ill to come home. I slept all morning, but in the late afternoon, I
went to work and cleaned out the lady’s refrigerator.
Coming Next: An Interview with Musical Director, Ian Fraser
All photos are for entertainment purposes only.
For a complete list of The Julie Andrews Hour blogs, with
links to this site, please visit:
http://www.JulieAndrewsHour1972.com
If you would like to see The Julie Andrews Hour put out on DVD, along with a Duets CD of Julie and her guests (and maybe others as well), please send a respectful e-mail to requesting this to: dan.gopal@itv.com
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