JULIE ANDREWS Home: A Memoir of My Early Years 1st Edition / 1st Printing

Description: JULIE ANDREWS Home: A Memoir of My Early Years 1st Edition / 1st Printing Beautiful copy of this first edition and first printing hardcover book. — Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now. In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny. Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom. Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond. Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, 10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren. Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for. — Reader Reviews: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Autobiography by the Bravest Woman on Earth The world has forever loved Julie Andrews. But what the world might not know before reading this book is the true measure of her character - that she not only entertained all of England as a child prodigy to a large extent so that she could take over her mum and stepdad's mortgage payments but then sat outside that home during WW II to warn others about the approaching dangerous German doodlebugs. And when she landed her big Broadway break as the star, Polly, in the musical, "The Boyfriend," and temporarily left London on the eve of her 19th birthday to move to New York City, she sent home HALF her earnings from the show - not because anyone asked - but because she felt that she should. For those who know the show (which would soon lead to being cast as Eliza and Guinevere before leaping into our hearts from the Silver Screen as Mary Poppins and Maria and many, many more), there is a line that goes "He [the boyfriend] is really a necessity if we want to get on, and we might as well confess that he is our Sina qua non. No, that description belongs to Julie Andrews. SHE is our Sina qua non and I hope and pray that I someday have the chance to meet her to thank her for the joy she has provided me and our family forever. Brava, Brava, Dame Julie! We love you. Please continue to do all that you do, including penning an Act III with your beloved Emma! — 4.0 out of 5 stars I hope that there will be a sequel 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. — 5.0 out of 5 stars Legend In 1967 I was 15 years old and I fell in love with Julie Andrews. However, due to the facts that there was an almost 17 year age difference and Ms. Andrews was unaware of the situation my love remained unrequited. Eventually I did recover from my broken heart and had to admit to myself that I was quite likely not the first 15 year old to fall in love with someone from (what was then called) the "Silver Screen" (though to be honest in the years since I suspect it has become more common for 15 year olds to be "overcome by lust" than to fall in love...just a flash thought). Time has past and I no longer feel my heart palpitate (much) when I see or hear Ms. Andrews perform, but I have remained a fan of most of her work. I got the audio of this book mainly because it's read by the author herself and I thought the experience of hearing reminisce about her life not only in her own words but in her her own voice would be a rewarding experience. I found it so. I would say that anyone who would like to read about the era in question (Ms. Andrews Edwards was born in Oct. 1935 and begins her story when she was very young) as well as those of us who are simply fans of the author might find this a rewarding book. The book begins (as noted above) in the writer's youth and carries us through her young adulthood. It ends around 1963 just as she is beginning to work on Mary Poppins having already (just) been on Broadway in 3 hits, one monster hit, My Fair Lady and a second also huge hit Camelot (her first foray on Broadway was The Boy Friend, it was also her American stage debut, and a hit in it's own right). While I have always chaffed at the fact that she wasn't asked to play Eliza in the movie version of My Fair Lady, Ms. Andrews Edwards herself here is never anything but gracious about this...or for that matter anything. Giving us a clear portrait of her life both pleasant and unpleasant parts she reminds us (without really trying) that it is possible to be civil and of a generous spirit without being false. I find the conclusion inescapable that society in general has become meaner and more petty. Ms. Edwards relates so much of her own life and her inner thoughts here that those who are her fans will probably enjoy the book simply for that. She met so many people who are now (and actually were then in some cases) legends, Moss Hart, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Walt Disney and that's only a few. She also met and became fast friends with Carol Burnett, the two of them performing together over the years the relationship based in that friendship. So, interested in the person or the period, you might like this one. I enjoyed this book and give it a correspondingly high rating. One of the abiding disappointments in my life is that I never got to see Ms. Andrews as Guinevere in Camelot. I have always had trouble sympathizing with the character and the way Vanessa Redgrave played her in the movie only made it harder. I know that in the stage play the character's struggle is more apparent. But, as is the case with so many (read most)of the great stage plays of the past...it's gone, no record remains. Thus the insight here to this period of time, that play and all the others is wonderful and I'm glad it's here that the story not be lost. I truly hope Ms. Andrews Edwards decides to go on with her memoir and look forward to it if she chooses to do so.

Price: 40 USD

Location: North Hollywood, California

End Time: 2024-11-16T04:57:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4 USD