Julie Andrews Hour Magazine Covers 1972-1973

In 1972, Julie Andrews was one of Hollywood’s greatest female stars, rivaled only perhaps by Barbra Streisand. Although, years later, critics made much of the fact that Ms. Andrews’ films after The Sound of the Music did not do that well at the box office, I can tell you --as person who lived through that period-- the average person was not judging Ms. Andrews based on the box office. She was a great star and everyone knew it.

During late 1972 and the first half of 1973, because Ms. Andrews was a great star, there was a great deal of attention as to what took place in Studio C at ABC where The Julie Andrews Hour was being taped. 

During this period, quite a few mainstream magazines chose to put Julie on their cover. These were beautiful covers. Here is a little bit about some of those cover stories.

TV Guide – December 9, 1972

Julie posed for this lovely photo on the set of The Julie Andrews Hour. This article, for which the writer interviewed Blake Edwards, gives something of the history of Julie’s career and the creation of The Julie Andrews Hour. It was hoped that the television series would continue for at least two years. In the article, producer Lew Grade states that if the show remains on the air just two years, he will earn about $15 million.

The TV Guide article also reveals that the show opened with a Nielsen rating of 17.3 and then descended to a rating of 11.4 the second week.  Unfortunately, the show had been given a 10 pm weeknight slot, which, as producer Nick Vanoff noted, was obviously too late for a good portion of Julie’s fans.

Toward the end of the article, an interview with Cass Elliott is quoted. Ms. Elliott speaks of working until 4am with Julie, noting how even at that hour, Julie was pulling out everything she had to make the show work. “I was embarrassed to complain. I dunno, but there is something very special there, which you grow to love…”

This McCalls cover was one of my favorite.
The blue of the "McCalls" and Julie's eyes
were perfectly matched!

             ***

One week after The Julie Andrews Hour won seven Emmys, the McCall’s May 1973 issue, with a beautiful photo of Julie on the cover, appeared on the newsstand. The article was titled “Julie Andrews Fights Back.”

Author Chris Chase interviewed Julie before anyone knew whether The Julie Andrews Hour would be renewed or cancelled. The article featured photos of Julie getting out of her car in front of her Beverly Hills home, standing by her pool, in the recording studio, and by the ocean at the beach house in Malibu. 

In response to the question about how she would feel if the show was cancelled, Julie says, “Off course I’ll be hurt, everyone wants to be accepted and loved, but all you can do is your best… I’ll feel sorry for all the people who’ve worked so hard…” To close our her statement, Ms. Andrews concludes that she’ll be rather glad to be home again, hinting that her daughter Emma has had a rather bad time with her being away from home so much.

Those who worked with her had this to say:

“She’s an angel,” -Nelson Riddle.

“She has no temperament,” -Ian Fraser.

“She’s so kind, so sensitive, so unwilling to see anyone embarrassed.” - Alice Ghostley

Women’s Homelife – June 1973

Summer 1973

The photo shoot for this cover can be seen in Blake Edwards’ documentary film, “Julie.”  The editors chose the brightest photo of the shoot and called the article, “The Trials and Triumphs of a Working Wife.”

The article stated that Blake was very protective of Julie. According to the writer, Julie loved to be silly and rowdy, but had to save that aspect of her personality for the times when Blake wasn’t around. However, he concluded, Blake was good for her.