The Dame that is Julie Andrews!
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The Dame that is Julie Andrews!
Happy Birthday!!! â„â„â„
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Part 5 of 5 in Julie Andrewsâs 1958 serialised âlife storyâ, So Much to Sing About.
To read Part 1, click here. To read Part 2, click here. To read Part 3, click here. To read Part 4, click here.
But wait, thereâs more! In the spirit of archival preservation and share-the-Julie-love, the Parallel Julieverse has collated all five instalments of âSo Much to Sing Aboutâ into a single PDF. For a limited time, it can be downloaded from the following link. Please be advised that the file size is >40MBs which is the smallest we could compress the images without adversely affecting quality:
Julie Andrews âSo Much to Sing Aboutâ Complete PDF
Source:
Andrews, Julie. âSo Much to Sing About, Part 5.â Woman. 31 May, 1958: 31-35, 48-51.
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Immortal Goddess Dame Julie Andrews was honoured with the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2019.
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Julie Andrews looks cheerful in shades and a baseball cap as she steps out in Venice. x
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VENICE, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 02: Julie Andrews arrives at the 76th Venice Film Festival on September 02, 2019 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/GC Images,)
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Julie Andrewsâ Academy Award Nominations and Wins
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Following our recent posts marking the 60th anniversary of the wedding of Julie Andrews and Tony Walton, here we shine a brief spotlight on how the newlyweds were covered by the media in the early years of their marriage. Their May 1959 wedding was a definite high-water mark of media exposure for Julie and Tony but public interest didnât end once theyâd walked down the aisle. Newspapers and magazines continued to feature regular stories and photos about the âhappy coupleâ, detailing what they were up to and how they were adapting to life as husband-and-wife.Â
Much of the coverage presented the newlyweds as a quintessentially modern couple who were combining the twin demands of dual careers with companionate marriage. A multi-page profile in the January 1960 issue of British womenâs magazine, Housewife serves a good case-in-point. Essentially a âcelebrities at homeâ pictorial, the article marshals the coupleâs âdelightful new homeââa large flat overlooking Eaton Squareââto which they went when they were married eight months agoâ as a symbolic expression of the blended amalgamations of marital domesticity (Antony: 38).Â
The âAndrews-Walton flat is a combination of their two careers,â the article chirps, âJulieâs piano has a prominent place and one room is made into Tonyâs studioâ (Antony: 40). Elsewhere it describes a cosy everyday scenario of domestic give-and-take as âJulie spends hours practising her singingâ with Tony acting as one of her âsternest musical critics,â while Julie in turn âgets a thrill out of Tonyâs work for the theatre [and] enjoys posing for his costume designsâ (38-39). The image painted here is a transactional blend of conventional married home-life with newer forms of egalitarian coupledom: âtwo young peopleââboth so young and in loveââembarking on a duetâ in âtheir lovely new homeâŠa good basis for security in their marriageâ (40-41).
Other profiles were considerably less blithesome. A recurrent refrain in a lot of the media coverage of Julie and Tonyâs marriage was the perceived challenges faced by a couple in which, as one early newspaper report put it, âthe wifeâs name has embarrassingly eclipsed the husbandâsâ (Wilson: 10). In an era still tethered to orthodox notions of male breadwinners and female homemakers, a union in which the wife assumed greater professional and financial prowess than the husband was sufficiently novel to evoke both curiosity and, at times, unease.Â
In the newspaper profile just mentioned, Cecil Wilson (1959) strikes a note of thinly-veiled anxiety when discussing what he apprehends as a gendered dilemma in the coupleâs marriage. Titled âHow Not to Be Known as Mr Julie Andrewsâ, the article asserts a very traditional view of marriage in terms of masculine dominance and feminine support. âNo man could have done more in less timeâ than Tony Walton, it proclaims, âto rise above the reflected glory of being âJulie Andrewsâs husbandâ or, worse still, the ignominious label of âMr. Julie Andrewsââ (10). âSince his childhood sweetheart from Walton-on-Thames consolidated herâŠstardom in My Fair Lady, he has firmly established the name of Tony Walton by designing four West End showsâŠ[and n]ow, to give Julie Andrews further pride in being known as Tony Waltonâs wife, he has gone into managementâ as a theatre producer (ibid.).*Â
It is a testament to Julie and Tonyâs fortitude and well-grounded emotional security that, for the most part, they deflected such concerns as immaterial. Responding to a reporterâs question about how her status as âone of the countryâs wealthiest young actressesâ impacted her new married lifestyle, Julie  demurred: âI donât know how much Iâm worthâŠWe havenât a car, although I hold a licence. But Tony holds the important licence, the marriage oneâ (Hickey: 3). Later, on the eve of her departure for New York to start rehearsals for Camelot, Julie mused further on the ambivalent demands of career and marriage: âOf course itâs nice to get back to work. I love the stage. But what I really like and what I want to do is to settle down and be plain Mrs. Waltonâ (Tanfield: 12).Â
For his part, Tony Walton struck a particularly mature and, for the time, progressive attitude to the unorthodox dynamics of his and Julieâs marriage. When asked in a 1959 interview if he experienced âprofessional jealousyâ of Julie, he replied with categorical pragmatism: âNot a bit. After all, Julie has one career and I have another. But I still wouldnât rank my fame with hersâ (Wilson: 10). It was a consistently balanced approach he maintainedââat least publiclyââright throughout the marriage, even after Julie had graduated to the exponentially increased fame and fortune of film stardom.  â[T]he embarrassments people see for me are easily coped with because theyâre so absurd,â he remarked in a 1966 article, âIâd be stupid if I let them affect meâ (Leslie: 8). If there is any problem, he ventured in an admirably democratic take on modern marriage, it isÂ
âwho at any one time is going to be the support. I donât mean financial but emotionalââwhich is the basis on which the whole marriage is built. When Julie and I were both in the theatre, and she was rehearsing at something and I was working at something else, the pressure times would swing back and forth between us. And at times Iâd find myself taking on an almost feminine role, trying to calm, soothe, protect or whatever. And then as soon as I was deeply involved and under pressure then the roles would be reversed. I think if I were an over-dominant kind of male Iâd find this situation harder to cope with. But neither of us is over-poweringly masculine or over-poweringly feminineâ (ibid.)
That the marriage of Julie Andrews and Tony Walton ultimately didnât last is a matter of historical record. Following extended periods of separation, the two officially filed for divorce in November 1967, eight and a half years after they were wed (âJulie Andrews Suingâ: I-23). But the pair have, by all accounts, maintained a strong and enduring friendship, even after both of them found and subsequently married new partners (Robins: D-6). In fact, Julie is fond of recounting how Tony and his second wife, Gen LeRoy-Walton, affectionately refer to her as âour exâ (Andrews: 323). âTheyâre best friends and they gang up against me,â explains Tony Walton of the relationship between his former and current partners (McDonnell: 3D). As Julie observed in a 2001 interview: â[T]he divorce was extremely sobering but Iâve known [Tony] since I was 13 and he was 12, and you cannot undo that knowledgeâ (Birch: 16).
Notes:
* This kind of angst-ridden discourse about the perceived gendered power imbalance of the Andrews-Walton marriage intensified once Julie made the move to Hollywood and the even greater success of global film stardom. âWhen a wife starts earning much more money than her husband,â wrote one especially egregious example, âthe marriage is not long for the lastingâ (Shearer: 15). Such sensationalist commentary was evident even in international reports.âJulie Andrews and her prince-consortâ was how one French-language article billed the marriage (Von Cottom: 22).
Sources:
Andrews, Julie. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008.
Antony, Jonquil. âTheatrical Duet in Eaton Square.â House Wife. March 1960: 38-41.
Birch, Helen. âTruly Andrews.â Daily Telegraph. 7 December 2001: 15-16.
Hickey, William. âFor Julie itâs the Beginning.â Daily Express. 8 August 1959: 3.
Jordan, Ruth. âNo Fashion Fuss for Julie.â Womanâs Journal. December, 1959: 26-27, 134.
âJulie Andrews Suing Designer for Divorce.â Los Angeles Times. 15 November 1967: I-23.
Leslie, Ann. âBeating the Hysteria: âMr. Julie Andrewsâ.â Daily Express. 19 April 1966: 8.
McDonnell, Brandy. âTony Time.â The Oklahoman / Sunday Life. 27 May 2018: D1-D3.
Robins, Cynthia. âWhen Art and Love Meld Successfully.â San Francisco Examiner. 6 September 1992: D-6.
Shearer, Lloyd. âWhen a Wife Earns More than a Husband.â Parade. 9 July 1967: 14-15.
Tanfield, Paul. âMy Year of BlissâŠby Julie Andrews.â Daily Mail. 18 August 1960: 12.
Von Cottom, Joseph. âJulie Andrews et son prince-consort: le pitoyable drame des maris de vedettes.â CinĂ©-TĂ©lĂ©-Revue. 4 August 1966: 22-23.
Wilson, Cecil. âHow Not to Be Known as Mr Julie Andrews.â Daily Mail. 24 September 1959: 10.
Photographs by John Dixon, George Konig, and anon.
© 2019 Brett Farmer All Rights Reserved
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Scenes from a Marriage
A final post in honour of the 60th anniversary of Julie Andrewsâ wedding to first husband, Tony Walton in May 1959
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When the day is grey and ordinary, Mary makes the sun shine bright!
Julie Andrews on the set of Mary Poppins at the Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California, July 1963
Photographed by Earl Theisen for Look magazine
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The hills are alive with the sound of music, with songs they have sung for a thousand years. The hills fill my heart with the sound of music. My heart wants to sing every song it hears.
The Sound of Music (1965)
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Julie Andrews with her daughter, Emma Kate, during a break on filming for The Sound of Music, Salzburg, Austria, c. May 1964.
Photo credit: Zoë Dominic
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âDing Dong the Bells are Gonna ChimeâŠ!â
This Day in Julie-history: Julie Andrews weds first husband, Tony Walton sixty years ago on 10 May 1959.
When Julie Andrews and longtime beau, Tony Walton finally decided to marry in the English spring of 1959, they had hoped to keep the wedding relatively low-key. Rather than plump for a big city venue, the couple chose to hold the ceremony at the small parish church of St. Maryâs Oatlands in Weybridge, close to their collective family home of Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. In her memoirs, Julie recalls that, even though she and Tony had both grown up in the very next village, she âhad to prove residency in the parish of Oatlandsâ in order to get married at the picturesque mid-Victorian church (Andrews: 258). So for six weeks prior to the wedding, the star moved into the nearby Oatlands Park Hotel, making the daily commute into London for ongoing performances of My Fair Lady.
However, as profiled in our last post, the coupleâs courtship had been a focus of such intense media attention that there was little serious hope theyâd be able to keep the wedding out of the public eye.  And, lo, come the big day, a sunny and unusually warm spring Sunday, a phalanx of over sixty reporters, press photographers and newsreel cameramen was on hand to cover the event. Whatâs more, a huge crowd of fans and public well-wishers ââ ranging in estimates from two to three thousandââcongregated around the church and surrounding lanes to get a glimpse of the star bride. It was a carnival-like atmosphere complete with âice cream men and even a winkle stallâ (Rolls: 2). âThe pretty tree-shaded churchyard looked like Hampstead Heath on a Bank Holiday Monday,â noted one press report, âas fathers, mothers and children struggled on the lawns littered with ice lolly-sticks and sweet papersâ (Marlborough and Court: 5).Â
More than two miles of cars clogged the roads leading up to the church, so not surprisingly the bridal party was a little late in arriving, pulling up to the front of the church ten minutes behind schedule. As Julie emerged from the bridal car, led by father Ted Wells, the crowds surged forward and news crews rushed to get shots. Some women reportedly fainted in the crush and â[t]eams of police had their hands full making way for Julieâ (Rolls: 2). âThis crowd makes me more nervous than playing Eliza on the first night,â exclaimed the star (ibid.). Ever the consummate professional, Julie took it in stride with reporters marvelling that âthroughout the Hollywood-style hysteria, Miss Andrews remained calm, cool and apparently unperturbedâ (Marlborough and Court: 5).Â
She also looked every inch the resplendent star bride in a stunning seventy-yard rose-budded white organza gown that had been designed specially for her by husband-to-be Tony Walton. Made from the designs by Julieâs longtime friend, theatrical costumier Madame de Rachelle, who had provided several earlier bespoke dresses for the star, the bridal gown had an estimated cost of ÂŁ350, a substantial amount for the time. Rachelle also helped dress Julie the morning of the wedding, painstakingly fastening all 72 buttons at the rear of the gown with a small buttonhook (Hickey: 5).
Once inside the church, the wedding party was able to relax a little during the 35 minute service. As the officiating vicar quipped, âForget your friends inside the church and the crowds outside. Thereâs nothing high-falutinâ about a marriage serviceâ (Hickey: 1).* The 300-strong guest list was weighted heavily with local friends and family but there were a few famous faces dotted among the pews, mostly theatre folk who had been important to Julie during her career. Stanley Holloway, Robert Coote, and Noel Harrison, son of Rex, were on hand to represent the My Fair Lady crew. Rex was unable to attend as he was abroad visiting his ailing wife Kay Kendall in Paris. Sandy Wilson and Vida Hope flew The Boy Friend flag and others were there from Julieâs early radio and pantomime years such as Hattie Jacques and Vic Oliver. Further celebrity friends included Maggie Smith, Svetlana Beriosova, Anne Rogers and the official wedding photographer was none other than Tony Armstrong-Jones (Cottrell: 118).Â
Following the ceremony, the bridal party and guests made their way to the reception at the Mitre Hotel in Kingston-on-Thames directly opposite historic Hampton Court. Thousands more lined the roads to cheer them on and some even hired rowboats in an effort to get a closer peek at proceedings from the riverfront (Rolls: 2). Inside, the three hundred invited guests were treated to a lavish champagne supper with dance music provided by Johnnie Howard and his Orchestra who played inevitable selections from My Fair Lady but also from Sandy Wilsonâs Valmouth with which Tony had been successfully associated (âDenmark Streetâ: 7). Maintaining the dual theatrical theme, the three tiered wedding cake was topped with two miniature figures, one in Eliza Dolittle flower girl costume and the other in an artistâs smock (Cottrell: 121).
After it was all over, the newlyweds were driven straight to London airport to catch a late night flight to Los Angeles. It was billed as a two-week âhoneymoonâ, though it was in fact more of a working holiday with Julie taping a TV special with Jack Benny and Tony working on designs for a new musical (Cottrell: 122). Julie recalls that she and Tony slept most of the long flight to California, both exhausted from their big day. As the flight prepared to land, Julie writes that as she slowly roused, she saw Tony smiling at her in the next seat:
ââHelp!â I said to him in a very small voice. He nodded, knowing what I meant. The festivities were over; we were married and heading into the unknownâ (Andrews: 262)
Notes:
* In her memoirs, Julie gives the name of the officiating vicar at the wedding as Rev. Keeping, âa charming man, kind and gentle in our meetings with himâ (Andrews: 259). Press reports from the time, however, list him as Rev. John McKitterick (Hickey: 1; âMarriagesâ: 12; Rolls: 2). Far be it from us to suggest that she-who-is-practically-perfect-in-every-way got it wrong, which is why, in one of the photos accompanying our previous post, we followed Dame Julieâs lead and identified the kindly vicar as Rev. Keeping.
Sources:
â2000 at Julie Andrewsâs Wedding.â Belfast Telegraph. 11 May 1959: 8.
Andrews, Julie. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008.
Cottrell, John. Julie Andrews: The Story of a Star. London: Arthur Barker, 1968.
âDenmark Street Doodles.â The Stage. 21 May 1959: 7.
Hickey, William. âPhew! What a Scramble for the Bride and the Motorist: My Fair Lady Marries Boy Next Door.â Daily Express. 11 May 1959: 1, 5.
Marlborough, Douglas and Court, Monty. âPictureMail Goes to the Stage Wedding of the Year: Shouting Women Delay Julie.â Daily Mail. 11 May 1959: 5.
âMarriages: Mr. T. Walton and Miss J. Andrews.â The Times. 11 May 1959: 12.
Nathan, David. âC-r-a-w-l-i-n-g Home But What a Loverly Day it was for a Wedding.â Daily Herald. 11 May 1959: 1, 3.
Rolls, John. âCor! Wot a turn ant for ElizaâŠâ Daily Mirror. 11 May 1959: 2.
Photographs by Tony Armstrong-Jones, Ron Burton, Kenneth Denyer, and Terry Fincher.
© 2019 Brett Farmer All Rights Reserved
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This week marks the 60th anniversary of Julie Andrewsâ wedding to first husband, Tony Walton in May 1959. Here in the Parallel Julieverse, we generally avoid discussing Julieâs private life as we believe it isâŠwellâŠprivate. However, the vortex of media attention surrounding stars like Julie means that the divide between public and private isnât always easy to discern, let alone respect. The torrent of studio PR, interviews, magazine profiles, biographies, gossip columns and candid exposes that saturate our celebrity-obsessed media push the personal lives of stars firmly into the public spotlight and, by so doing, make off-screen knowledge as integral to a starâs image or âpersonaâ as their on-screen roles and public performances (DeCordova 1990; Jerslev and Mortensen 2018).Â
Like most stars, Julie is no stranger to celebrity cultureâs constitutive demand for âthe public performance of private selvesâ (Dyer: 15). Even in her earliest years as a budding child star, she was frequently subject to a probing media inquiry of her private family life. In her memoirs Julie recalls how, after the opening night of Starlight Roof, the press, eager for a story about the new âprima donna in pigtails,â followed her home, taking photographs as she played in her bedroom and âbombarding me with questionsâ (Andrews: 80).Â
While this interest in the private lives of stars is a common feature of celebrity media at large, it assumes a particularly pronounced form in relation to female stardom. Christine Geraghty (2000) observes that longstanding cultural associations âbetween women and the private sphere of relationships and domesticityâ motivate a widespread, even obsessive, media concern with female starsâ off-screen domestic lives in a way that isnât typically the case for their male counterparts (186). "Stories of love affairs, weddings and divorcesâ are the default register for pop media representations of female stars, Geraghty notes, a soap opera-like narrative economy that renders female stars as public figures whose cultural legibility, and possibly even value, is tethered to their private roles as wives, mothers, daughters, lovers (ibid).
It is in this context that we can situate Julieâs 1959 wedding to Tony Walton. Dubbed âthe show business wedding of the yearâ (Marlborough and Court: 5), the event was accompanied by an almost frenzied degree of media attention, making headline news in the UK and reported widely via international news-services around the world. It was the culmination of a long gestating âsoap operaâ that had surrounded the pairâs relationship and been played out in regular instalments across the pages and columns of the celebrity press.
Right throughout her all-important Broadway years as Julie made the transition to international stardom in, first, The Boy Friend and, then, My Fair Lady, media commentators were obsessed with her âoff-stageâ doings and romantic liaisons. Interviewers routinely quizzed her about her love life and gossip columnists linked her with a veritable revolving door of suitors, real or otherwise:
âA boy friend? Yes. Julie has one. Heâs a twenty-four-year-old Canadian actor she met in Englandâ (Crane, February 1955: 7)
âJulie Andrews, star of The Boy Friend has a new ditto: Dr Stanley Behrman, a young oral surgeon who treats the perils of such belles as Bette Davis and Bobo Rockfellerâ (Kilgallen, March 1955: 16)
âThe real Boy Friend in pretty Julie Andrewsâ life is a TV actor in Toronto. He calls her from there almost every eveningâ (Kilgallen, April 1955: 30)
âJulie Andrews and Neil McCallum talking marriageâ (Sullivan, November 1955: 27C)
By 1956, the young star was already complaining openly that, âPeople link you and unlink you. They tie you with this person and knot you up with the next oneâ (Freudenheim, 11-B).Â
Here it is worth recalling the extent to which Julieâs star image in this era was invested in one of the most resonant narratives of popular romance and sentimental feminine domesticity: Cinderella. As star of My Fair Lady, a particularly influential iteration of the Cinderella fable ââ to say nothing of the whole framing narrative of rags-to-riches, Walton-on-Thames to New York star-is-born mythology ââ Julie emerged in the 1950s as what Maya Cantu (2015) calls âthe decadeâs Cinderella idealâ (162). And what is Cinderella without a Prince Charming?Â
Small surprise, then, that media tongues were set wagging and public hearts fluttering when Tony Walton, Julieâs childhood sweetheart from Walton-on-Thames, came to New York to visit the star during the early run of My Fair Lady in April 1956. Despite Julieâs protestations they were âjust friendsâ (Freudenheim: 11B), the local press quickly cast the pair as leads in a romantic fairy tale: âJulie Andrews, the Fair Lady leading lady, and her betrothed, Tony Walton of Londonâ (Winchell, April 1956: 4). What followed was a two-year saga of âon again-off againâ romantic intrigue played out in the gossip pages:
âJulie Andrews and Tony Walton picking the dateâ (Sullivan, May 1956: 45)
âJulie Andrews, the dazzler of My Fair Lady is delighted by the visit of her best beau, British artist Tony Walton. But she longs for him to find a stage designing job that would keep in the U.S. for a whileâ (Kilgallen May 1956: 38).
âItâs been denied on this side of the Atlantic, but Londonâs theatrical set is buzzing with the rumor that Julie AndrewsâŠis secretly married to British Tony Waltonâ (Kilgallen, November 1956: 14)
âJulie Andrews tells friends sheâs fixing up her apartment for two. Could it be that a merger with Tony Walton is closer?â (Walker, February 1957: 39).
âThe British newspapers are crowing happily over the fact that, although Julie Andrews has become a big star in the U.S., she isnât making the mistake of marrying a Yankee. Julie remains true to her British boy-next-door, young Tony Waltonâ (Kilgallen, April 1957: 16).
âIs there a wedding in the offing for Julie Andrews?âŠNo, said Julie, from New York last night. But her 15-ear-old brother, Donald told me earnestly: âSheâs going to announce her engagement as soon as she comes home in Aprilââ (Fielding, December 1957: 2)
Widely reported on both sides of the Atlantic ââ indeed, it even received international attention as far away as Australia (âShe is Broadwayâs âFair Ladyââ: 3) ââ the brewing romantic soap opera reached almost feverish intensity in the lead-up to the much-ballyhooed London opening of My Fair Lady in April 1958.Â
No sooner had Julie touched down at London airport than she was grilled by the waiting media scrum about her relationship with Tony. âJulie AndrewsâŠfirst hour home was spent denying that she will marry as soon as the show opens,â reported the Daily Express, âI have known the boy I want to marry for 12 years, but we shanât rush to marry yetâ (Lambert: 5). The Daily Mirror made the story its front page news with the declarative headline, âI love him! I love him!! I love him!!!â
âPlease clear up all those rumours that Tony and I have had a quarrelâŠ.All this business about an on-off romance just isnât trueâŠWe have never quarrelled in our lives, and there has been nobody else for either of us since we fell in love two years agoâ (Wilcox: 1).
The fact that the pair were childhood sweethearts from the same small Home Counties village ââ as cliched a romantic convention as they come ââ intensified public interest in their relationship, while at the same time cementing Julieâs popular image at home as âa nice sensible English girl thoroughly unspoiled by fameâ (Wiseman: 10; see also, Nathan: 6).
Even Julie herself was not beyond framing her and Tonyâs relationship as a somewhat fanciful storybook romance. In her serialised celebrity memoir published in Woman magazine in May 1958 to coincide with her triumphant return to London, the star drew widely from narrative romance tropes and metaphors to describe the âblossomingâ of her and Tonyâs love. She even ends the memoir with a fairytale climax where, following the grand London opening of My Fair Lady, the couple are depicted waltzing on the floor of the Savoy Hotel like Cinderella and the Prince:
âAt midnight, with Mummie, Uncle Charles, and all my darling family about me, I was at the Savoy and, as I danced with Tony, the orchestra started playing the music from My Fair Lady. The floor cleared and Tony and I were left dancing together, dancing, I felt, in a world of all the dreams and âOne Daysâ come true at lastâ (Andrews 1958: 51).
Thus, when Julie and Tony finally made public their plans to marry, it came like the pre-scripted climax to a very public fairytale romance, the final chapter in the Cinderella narrative through which Julieâs early star image was so throughly cast:Â
âOnce upon a time there was a spindly-legged, freckle-faced little girl with braces on her teeth named Julie Wells. She lived with her mother and stepfather and bothers and sister in a little house in the country. Of course there was a boy-next-door. The years went by and she grew into lovely silver-blonde. By this time she was Julie AndrewsâŠShe was called âthe nicest girl in show business.â And after My Fair Lady she was one of the richest. But like the princesses of fairy tales, riches did not turn her heart from the lad who loved herâŠTomorrow they marry in the little village church at Oatlands, WeybridgeâŠThey will, undoubtedly, live happily ever afterâ (Stix: 11).
Sources:
Andrews, Julie. âSo Much to Sing About, Part 5.â Woman. 31 May, 1958: 31-35, 48-51.
_____________. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008.Â
Cantu, Maya. American Cinderellas on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Girl from Irene to Gypsy. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
Cottrell, John. Julie Andrews: The Story of a Star. London: Arthur Barker, 1968.
Crane, Lionel. âJulie, The Broadway Bombshell.â Daily Mirror. 8 February 1955: 7.
DeCordova, Richard. Picture Personalities: The Emergence of the Star System in America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
Dyer, Richard. Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society. New York: St Martins Press, 1986.Â
âFair Lady Andrews Plans to Marry.â Evening Sun. 6 May 1958: 3.
Fielding, Henry. âJulieâs No.â Daily Herald. 11 December 1957: 2.
Freudenheim, Milt. âAmerican Success Startles British Star Julie Andrews.â Chicago Daily News. 19 April 1956: 11B.
Geraghty, Christine. âRe-examining Stardom: Questions of texts, bodies and performance.â In Gledhill, Christine and Williams, Linda, eds. Reinventing Film Studies. London: Arnold, 2000.
Jerslev, Anne and Mortensen, Mette. âCelebrity in the Social Media Age: Renegotiating the Public and the Private.â In Elliott, Anthony, ed. Routledge Handbook of Celebrity Studies. London: Routledge, 2018.
Killgallen, Dorothy. âBroadway Grapevine.â Star-Gazette. 15 March 1955: 16.
Killgallen, Dorothy. âBroadway Grapevine.â Star-Gazette. 7 April 1955: 36.
Killgallen, Dorothy. âVoice of Broadway.â Star-Gazette. 10 May 1956: 38.
Killgallen, Dorothy. âVoice of Broadway.â Star-Gazette. 12 November 1956: 14.
Killgallen, Dorothy. âVoice of Broadway.â Star-Gazette. 12 April 1957: 16.
Lambert, John. âFair Lady Julie is HomeââMarriage? Not Yet.â Daily Express. 7 April 1958: 5.
Lowe, Shirley. âThe Boy Friendâs Girl Friendâs Great-Grandmother.â Daily Express. 4 October 1955: 3.
Marlborough, Douglas and Court, Monty. âPictureMail Goes to the Stage Wedding of the Year.â Daily Mail. 11 May 1959: 5.
Nathan, David. âThe Last Time I Saw Julie.â Daily Herald. 8 April 1958: 6.
âShe is Broadwayâs âFair Ladyâ.â The Sydney Morning Herald. âWomenâs Section.â 5 July 1956: 3.
Stix, Harriet. âRich-Girl Julie Weds Boy Next Door.â Daily Express. 9 May 1959: 11.
Sullivan. Ed. âLittle Old New York.â Daily News. 4 November 1955: 27C.
Sullivan. Ed. âLittle Old New York.â Daily News. 7 May 1956: 45.
Walker, Danton. âBroadway.â Daily News. 25 February 1957: 39.
Wilcox, Dennis. âI Love Him! Says Julie Andrewsâ Daily Mirror. 7 April 1958: 1.Â
Wilson, Cecil. âPocket Money Star Stops the Show.â Daily Mail. 24 October 1947: 3.
Winchell, Walter. âOn Broadway.â The Post-Star. 26 April 1956: 4.
Winchell, Walter. âBroadway Cinderellas.â Daily Times. 25 June 1956: 4A.
Wiseman, Thomas. âHas Success Spoiled Julie Andrews?â Evening Chronicle. 17 April 1958: 10.
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What Do the Simple Folk Do?
Candid shot of Julie Andrews in the kitchen of her New York City-Lenox Hill apartment during the Broadway run of Camelot. Photographed by Ed Alexander, c. December 1960.
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âWhen you know the notes to singâŠâ
Julie Andrews practising guitar during pre-production rehearsals for The Sound of Music. Stage 1, Twentieth Century-Fox Studios, February 1964 Photograph by James Mitchell.
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