My Fair Lady: Julie Andrews

 Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. There was a time when films were re-released a bit more often than they are today. I had to have been at least 4 when Julie Andrews came into my life. She floated over a very sooty London with her umbrella and carpetbag of wonders. 

Mary Poppins was my first live action film. I wanted to be Mary Poppins. My mother loved to tell people how I grabbed an umbrella, and went outside of my Uncle A.C's home and tried to climb the TV antenna, so I could take off. According to the lore, she grabbed my foot at the last possible moment, before I went to high to catch. 

A year later, the hills were alive with The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews' Maria was the governess every kid wanted. It was watching The Sound of Music, when I realized Julie Andrews was one of my favorite things. 

There has never been a moment when Julie Andrews was not in my life. My first LP(okay kids, this is where I get all Boomer, an LP was a vinyl album) was the original cast recording of My Fair Lady. In fact my first three albums were that, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. The hours I spent in our basement singing along to I Could Have Danced All Night, Do Re Mi and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, must have driven my parents mad. Could have been worse, I could have listened to The Beatles(druggies and Communists). I also wore out a Julie Andrews Christmas album I'm sure. 

I begged my parents to take me to see Thoroughly Modern Millie. Of course I was too young to understand the references to white slavery. All I knew was there was Julie Andrews and Carol Channing and Mary Tyler Moore, being 1920s modern women, and being FABULOUS!!! I'll admit, I never understood her non-musical roles like in Hawaii. I guess I thought, "Why isn't she singing." 

The 1970s brought the Julie Andrews Show into our homes. I curse ABC for barely putting it on. That was entertainment at the highest form. At least TV execs had the good sense to green light the Julie and Carol specials. Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett(another favorite thing) were pure magic when they performed. You could see the friendship they had with each performance. 

The 1980s gave us a bawdy Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria, a wonderful farce of a musical written and directed by her husband Blake Edwards. We totally buy Julie as a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman, falling in love with James Garner. The music is wonderful, and she was magnificent. 

The day I heard that Julie Andrews lost her singing voice due to surgical errors, I was devastated. I still am. Her voice had that rare quality of radiating warmth, love, tenderness, humor, and every other emotion you could think of. While she was a skilled singer, she was an amazing interpreter of music. 

Why was I so drawn to her? As a boy, my home life was saddened by the death of my brother, so the music Julie Andrews performed was vital to pulling me out of sadness. She made me feel better, than anyone I knew. When I felt sad, I simply remembered my favorite things, and then I didn't feel so bad. 

In her later years, Andrews has found great success in film, voice over work, and writing children's books with her daughter Emma. She has written two memoirs, which I have poured over. I have to admit, when I read about her journey in fighting depression, and her husband's mental illnesses, I felt even more connected to Dame Julie Andrews. 

In the 1990s, my friend Teresa and I journeyed to Austira. You're damn right I went on The Sound of Music tour. I sang Do Re Mi where the movie version Von Trapp children sang it. I danced a bit at the gazebo humming Sixteen Going on Seventeen. I marched down the aisle Maria took to marry Capt. Von Trapp. If I could have been at the top of that hill, I would have twirled and sung my song to the hills. 

I know there will be a day she is no longer part of my life. I know, and I know I will mourn her like family. She brought joy to a sad little boy, who sang and danced to her music in the basement. She made me feel better about being gay, by playing a drag queen. She has been an inspiration, mother figure, and comforting soul to me. I know she will never read this, but if she does, I want her to know how much I love her, and appreciate all she has done for me in my life.

I've grown accustomed to her face. I've pondered what simple folk do. I've spent a jolly holiday with Mary. I have wondered how to solve a problem like Maria. I've snapped my fingers to Le Jazz Hot! Julie Andrews has been with my everyday of my life, and I am the better for it. Thank You!