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Journalism of Courage
Julie Andrews8217;s memoir reveals a lonely childhood that could have used a spoonful of sugar, or two
Julie Andrews, immaculate and crisp, is walking through a dusty construction zone in Broadway8217;s New Amsterdam Theatre. At 72, she still looks wonderfully like, well, Julie Andrews.
It was here that the 20-year-old English ingenue with an astonishing vocal range realised she had no idea how to become Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. 8220;I was inexperienced and painfully aware of it,8221; writes Andrews in her lovely new memoir Home.
Andrews has always loved the musty atmosphere of old theatres8212;8220;the smells,8221; she writes, 8220;of paint and makeup, and grease and sweat, and most of all, of warm dust from the great drapes and the painted drops and the grubby, pockmarked stage.8221;
Her mother and stepfather toured Britain in the dying days of vaudeville, and not long after the freakishly gifted Julie began voice lessons at the age of 9, she joined her parents in their act. At 12, she sang in a glamorous London revue called Starlight Roof8212;and when she hit the F above the top C, she practically caused a riot.
Life behind the scenes could be as grungy and dark as a theatre8217;s backstage. Her mum had taken her from her adored dad when she was 4, and her alcoholic stepfather tried more than once to molest her. They were often poor, and at 14, Andrews was supporting her family. Around that time her mother got drunk at a party and told Julie she wasn8217;t the daughter of the beloved dad she occasionally saw but the result of an extramarital tryst. Andrews pushed the idea down.
8220;Once I8217;d made up my mind that my dad was my dad, it wasn8217;t so difficult,8221; she says now. You can see what inspired one director to say, 8220;She has that terrible British strength that makes you wonder how they ever lost India.8221;
We are sitting in the midst of the vast empty main theatre of the New Amsterdam8212;8220;Isn8217;t it lovely here?8221; she says8212;talking about her book. 8220;I8217;m surprised that reviewers are finding my childhood so appalling,8221; she says. 8220;It was fairly modest, but it was what it was. I never felt sorry for myself. There is that show-business thing8212;get on with it and do it.8221;
Andrews ends Home on a happy note, as she8217;s winging first class to Hollywood to start filming Mary Poppins, with her husband, and their new baby, Emma. Andrews has no plans to write the rest of her story8212;8220;Everybody knows it,8221; she says. After Poppins came the even-bigger film of The Sound of Music, the end of her first marriage8212; and her now 38-year marriage to Blake Edwards.
But then disaster struck, when surgery on her vocal cords destroyed her singing voice. 8220;At first, I thought, oh, it8217;s just going to take its time to come back,8221; she says. 8220;When it didn8217;t, I had to deal with it. And I miss it dreadfully.8221;
But she8217;s busy with her writing8212;particularly the children8217;s books she does with her daughter, Emma. She8217;s an avid reader8212;working her way through Churchill8217;s writings, among other things8212;and of course, she8217;d love to make another film. 8220;I mean, life for me is, and has always been, quite miraculous,8221; she insists, 8220;And I don8217;t mean that in a Mary Poppins-ish way.8221;
Yet surely, Miss Andrews, you have some vices? 8220;Oh, God!8221; she whoops. 8220;I8217;m great at Anglo-Saxon four-letter words.8221; And she launches into a story about the last day on the Mary Poppins shoot, when she was hanging about, high up in the soundstage on a wire, when all of a sudden, she felt herself drop. 8220;I hit the stage, like you don8217;t believe8212;and I did let fly with some Anglo-Saxon words that I don8217;t think the Disney studio had heard before or since.8221; The F word, for one. And this reporter actually heard her utter the S word. Mary Poppins would wash her mouth out with soap.
-CATHLEEN MCGUIGAN Newsweek
