It is quite likely that the final episode of MASH that aired in 1983 was NOT the highest-rated non-sports television broadcast in United States history.
Some believe that the 1957 broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA, starring a rising Broadway performer named Julie Andrews eclipsed it, with 107 million viewers in the US alone.
I watched Julie Andrews in a ton of television performances, including several with Carol Burnett. But it wasn’t until this century that I ever saw her in a movie, when the Daughter introduced me to The Princess Diaries and its sequel, on video. No, I saw parts of Victor/Victoria, but not enough to count it. I’ve also HEARD her in Shrek 2, Enchanted, and Despicable Me.
My Julie movie drought is odd because my mother had the soundtracks of both Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, which I grew up listening to. My current household saw Mary Poppins in December 2011, and The Sound of Music in the Fall of 2013. The Cinderella DVD was a 2009 family Christmas present; The Daughter thinks The Wife looks a bit like Julie from that era, which pleases The Wife.
My favorite Julie Andrews memory is an LP that came out in the mid-1960s. Back then, Firestone Tire Co. produced a new Christmas album every year, for sale at gas stations for a dollar. I STILL own an album featuring Julie Andrews.
Unfortunately, her gorgeous singing voice was wrecked by a throat operation in 1997, as she notes here, limited to a sing-speak kind of voice. She’s now concentrated on writing children’s books.
LISTEN TO:
Sings for King George VI in 1948 (Aged 13)
12 year old Julie Andrews~Polonaise; Je suis Titania – Mignon
In my own little corner -Cinderella
A Spoonful of Sugar – Mary Poppins
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – Mary Poppins
My Favorite Things – “The Sound of Music”
Edelweiss -The Sound of Music (not the movie version)
The Bells of Christmas, noted at the time, correctly, as “one of the best new Christmas Carols to come along in years.”
Julie Andrews is one of my all-time favorite actresses. Peanut was introduced to The Sound of Music last year. Then we watched the two Princess Diary movies just so she could see Julie now. And we threw in Mary Poppins just for good measure.
One of my favorites is Victor/Victotia with James Garner where Julie plays a Transvestite performer in a nightclub!
When I was a kid, I admit it: I did not like Julie Andrews. I thought her singing bordered on saccharine! And don’t get me started on “The Lonely Goat Turd,” the number that always appeared on screen when I would skate past The Sound of Music. BThe years have given me a great appreciation of Julie. She is a class act. Her bravura performance in S.O.B., all the fine touches in Victor/Victoria. And yes, I have learned to love The Sound of Music. We saw a sing-along screening here in Madison and it was the MOST fun! People came dressed up, a la the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was insane.
Julie Andrews and her five-octave voice (all singers put a protective hand to the throat when discussing her botched surgery), miracles in our time. Glad I got hip to her! Amy
O my god this woman is so beautiful and such a big part of my youth! Well she still is. I saw the Sound so many times I do know most of the lines. And ofcourse Mary Poppins. I listen the music a lot. The Sound on LP. I saw both movies several times with my granny. I do have both Princess movies she is such a inspiration. And Victor Victoria you should watch it.