Julie

The story I most typically tell about my short career in entertainment was my time working with Julie Andrews. The Julie Show was not successful by any measure. Blake Edwards, the legend, exerted creative control seemingly for its own sake. The Sunshines, a lovely couple of democrats hired by Viacom to normalize the operation, could not convince Blake to accept a single page or joke. The writing staff seemed witty enough, but no community, no shared chemistry ever developed. So my story is as follows. I rush about trying to find Julie to give her a message from the set, and some DGA type points at a closed door. I barge in to find her laying on a couch in the dark with her arm covering her eyes. I am a boob, I don't belong there, it is obvious, and my heart sinks. Julie sits up, shakes off her migraine, remembers my name, and apologizes to me with a smile. An old fashioned art of expressing discipline and character I have yet to cultivate.

This short lived series was not very pleasing to watch when it was new. Thankfully Ms.Andrews found better vehicles for her talents following this. Perhaps time will be kind to her appearances here, especially since she did have full use of her unique singing voice then. She sang on many of the episodes. Her vocal talents were taken for granted for too many years, as they were by audiences at the at the time of the showing of this series.

She sang with a monkey on one of the episodes: a low point, as I recall. The supporting cast was very mediocre: and the series seemed to be written to make Julie accessible to middle America by playing down her gifts. This is unfortunate, she is not a common performer by any means, and she doesn't play one well. She is simply too damn talented. Pity that American culture didn't afford her the recognition she deserved during these years. I suppose one cannot have a renaissance in one's career without having a good long slump, as she seemed to be enduring when this series was broadcast. I felt at the time that she would get over this, and she did.