Home: A Memoir of My Early Years

I wondered if Julie Andrews, a very private celebrity, would ler her guard down in her long-awaited autobiography "Home: A Memoir Of My Early Years." To my surprise and delight, she does just that and much more-- writing about many personal and painful memories with more candor and courage than I expected. After reading this book, I realized that biographies by Robert Windeler and Richard Stirling did not even begin to do her justice. To begin with, Julie can write wrings around her other "biographers". She has a true gift for writing and providing details of people, places and eras that create very specific and clear images in the the mind's eye of the reader. Many of her memories are emotionally harrowing and filled with almost heartbreaking pathos. Yet, it is never a sad, self-pitying, or self-serving autobiography. Julie balances the sadness with perception, depth, and her own delicious, delightful, often bawdy, sense of humor. Julie's "early years" were mostly spent touring around England in the last, dying days of British vaudeville. Most of the venues she played in were terrible and tacky; a few were gloriously fun. She never complains or despairs, but life at home was definitely not a Disney "Jolly Holiday"-- definitely not with her abusive and alcoholic stepfather; "Pop" Ted Andrews. She resented him from the start, and he quickly gave her every good reason to resent him. She must have terribly resented having to adopt his last name. Yet, she is very "matter of fact" about the turn of events: "my name was changed from Julia Elizabeth Wells to Julie Andrews...I didn't have any say in the matter, and I don't think my father (Ted Wells, whom she absolutely adored) did, either. He must have been hurt.' Her family was severely fractured and disfunctional; and she seems acutely aware of this. Writing of a visit to her boyfriend Tony Walton's house, she says, "Everything was soothing, pleasant and spoke of a real home--quite a contrast to my own rather sad and disorganized one." Her mother, Barbara, was a rather pathetic alcoholic as well. When Julie was 14, her very drunk mother dropped a huge emotional bombshell regarding Julie's "biological father," who was not, as she always assumed, Ted Wells. This revealation, understandably, knocked Julie sideways for years. Yet, she responded to every adversity with the iron will and resolve of a true survivor. She writes, "I committed myself wholeheartedly to assumming responsibility for the entire family. It seemed solely up to me now to hold us together, for there was no one else to do it." Because of her dedication to keeping her family intact, she nearly passed on the opportunity to make her Broadway debut in "The Boyfriend" at age 19. She had to be literally shoved onto a plane to the U.S.A. Broadway provided her with a nurturing environment, an education, and another "home", of sorts. When Julie describes her lengthy, nearly three year marathon run in the megahit musical "My Fair Lady," guided by her great director/mentor Moss Hart, the autobiography is completely engrossing. After this, she details the trials and tribulations that plagued "Camelot," Lerner and Loewe's costly, often misguided follow-up to "My Fair Lady." The book ends rather abruptly-- just at the point where the reader is totally capitivated and feeling we are just beginning to know Julie. Julie, Tony Walton, and their newborn daughter Emma, are happily flying off to Hollywood-- Julie and Tony having accepted Walt Disney's offer to work on "Mary Poppins." One hopes Julie won't wait too long before she offers a second installment. Whether writing about personal tragedies or professional triumphs, Julie displays the warmth and graciousness that have made her so endearing for over 50 years. Above all, Julie proves that she is, without a doubt, one of the last true "class acts" left in show business.

My impression has always been that Julie Andrews probably grew up in a rather high class situation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The hardships she grew up with as a child, and the difficult and rewarding relationships with family, are related vividly in this book. The book is engaging -- the writing is packed with great imagery of settings and stories. I loved learning how her early years, performing in vaudeville with her parents and others, helped her become a successful actress and singer. She relates unusual and funny occurrences with delightful descriptions. Her early vocal training is described in detail, along with her various vocal teachers. You see how she grew from a very shy girl to a world star, and at a very young age. As she grew older and began to travel to the United States for tours there, you get a glimpse of both the hardships of traveling alone without family, and the exhilaration of meeting stars she had heard about. You experience the burdens she carried of supporting her siblings and parents, all during her young career, at home, abroad, and again back home in England. I was amazed all during the book, at the recall of people, places, and dates, included with the captivating stories. After finishing the book, I learned that she had a number of people researching the details. The book is absolutely packed with exemplary incidental information regarding culture, history, acting, voice, actors, relationships -- I imagine this book would appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, in addition to those like me, who have simply grown up loving Julie Andrews and her performances. After returning the library book, I prompting ordered my own copy.

I really enjoyed this well-written memoir, loved reading about bucolic England and the love Ms. Andrews had for the countryside there. I also especially loved reading about her early years in the NY theater. As she states in the title, it's a memoir of her early years. Still, because the book is so good, I was disappointed when it ended, especially since it ends before she gets into Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, etc. She's a lovely writer. It would have been so pleasant to continue a few more hours with her. The big surprise for me was how tough her childhood was. You never can tell about a person from the way they look and speak.

Coming some 60 years after her first professional recording, this audiobook is sort of the pinnacle of Ms. Andrews' recording career. The life of Julie Andrews, as written by Julie Andrews, and read to you, as if she were personally telling you the story of her life, by Julie Andrews. Ms. Andrews' life and career have both been well-documented by biographers, but everything takes on new meaning and becomes personal when told by Ms. Andrews herself. And, of course, there are anecdotes and details that only Ms. Andrews herself can share with her audience, so there is much for even the most devoted fan to learn from this book. Here, she tells the story of her life from her earliest childhood to her career as a child star, from her journey to Broadway and television through to being cast by Walt Disney in MARY POPPINS. The audiobook on CD is 13 hours long, spread over 11 CDs. Each disc contains seven to ten tracks; some chapters are one track long, and others are two to three tracks long. The production is straightforward and what you would expect of an audiobook -- read clearly, recorded well. Of course, I'd be happy hearing Ms. Andrews read the dictionary to me, but there is something magical and mesmerizing about her voice here, describing her own life. At the end of the audiobook, Ms. Andrews says, "Thank you for listening." This is the only detail she has wrong -- we, the audience, should be saying to her, "Thank you for telling." I only hope we don't have to wait too long for the next part of the Julie Andrews story...

For those of us who love Julie Andrews, and wish that she had recorded so much more before she tragically lost that crystal clear soprano, this recording is another way to appreciate the gift of her voice. Reading the book is no comparison to listening to the author herself; her clean pronunciation of every carefully chosen word makes you want to rewind and savor every delicious phrase over and over again, like the first taste of a Godiva chocolate. I thought I knew pretty much everything about her life, having fallen in love with her at the age of 11 when Mary Poppins fist came out, then backtracking, discovering with delight the cast recordings of "The Boyfriend," "My Fair Lady," and "Camelot." But I learned so much of her young life as no one else could describe it. I listened to most of this set of CDs on long car rides, and I'm surprised I ever ended up at my destination - having been transported back to England, and smelling the roses of her English gardens, knowing her family members intimately, hearing all the little pieces that shaped this remarkable creatures life. Even if you have read the book, do yourself a favor and purchase the CD set, find a comfortable spot, fix a cup of tea, and prepare to hear this wonderful storyteller share her personal experience of "Home."

Julie's voice comes through right away. You know that she wrote this book and enjoyed the process but for me it left more to be desired. I was hoping to hear more about how she felt about the business, how if shaped and changed her personally and many times I felt like I was getting a who's who of the business. Lots of name dropping, so much so that the characters were often times lost in my mind. I did enjoy reading this, I just felt it was a little, on the surface and not the inner look at Julie Andrews I was hoping for. Also it ends in such an odd place in her life, just when things get going. I would have wished to have read more.

Wonderful read and so interesting meeting people and places we now know as famous identities. Well put together and thoroughly enjoyed the photos putting names to faces.

I know who Julie Andrews is but when I started to read this book I realized that I didn't know anything about her. I guess I knew that she was English and that she had been in several movies that I had seen but that was it. Now, however, I know quite a bit about her. To begin with her original name was Julia, after her Grandmother. But, when her mother divorced and re-married her mother and step-father wanted her to take her step-father's last name and they did not think that Julia went well with Andrews so they changed it to Julie. I also learned that she came from a quite talented family. Her mother was a pianist, her step-father was a singer, and her Aunt was a dancer and taught dance for years. Julie was the first to play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady on Broadway, and the first to play Guinevere in Camelot on Broadway. I also discovered that Camelot was based on the book The Once and Future King by T. H. White. T. H. White (she called him Tim) and Julie became friends when she was cast in Camelot and she even bought a small cottage on the island where he lived which is owned by one of her children today. This book goes into a lot of detail which usually I have a hard time with. I tend to want to get on with the story. But in this book the detail and the story are written together so well that I really enjoyed it. The book covers Julie Andrew's birth up until the time that she was cast to play Mary Poppins in the Disney Movie. She and her husband actually spent a day at Disneyland with Walt Disney himself riding all of the attractions with him. I hope that there is a sequel some day so that I can learn more about her fascinating life.