Do You Know Julia Wells?

A few months ago a close friend and I went to Disneyland for the night to see the firework show. We stood in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle for about an hour, chatting and drinking coffee waiting to hear the verdict from the firework Gods on if the wind would ruin our evening adventures. We were surrounded by several tourists, but most of the people who stood there for that hour were probably locales. At some point after the third possible cancellation announcement, the gentlemen who had been standing alone and in front of us for the last thirty minutes decided to finally talk to us. He had been starring at us and slightly hovering probably deciding if we were as friendly as we looked? Obviously we were intriguing enough and our friend Jack was a locale annual pass holder who was enchantingly a kindred spirit. I remember a lot of the stories that Jack told us that night, he was a fellow adventurer. Last week I was reminded of one of his stories, Jack being a Disney Fan had stood in line for hours to meet Julie Andrews one morning. He described it as a moment in life to meet Disney Royalty and that it was well worth it. What does this have to do with Julia Wells you ask, well it so happens that Julia and Julie are one in the same. 

Jack was not far from the truth, Julie Andrews is in the ranks of Disney Royalty. I have gotten to see her once as she gave an interview a few feet from me during the opening day Disneyland 50th anniversary ceremonies. She is everything you expect of a woman that played Mary Poppins and Queen Clarrisse Renaldi. She exudes charisma that can only come from her years on the stage and as a performer. Recognizing her as such a key member of the Disney empire, I was intrigued when Amazon led me to Home: A Memoir of My Early Years  By Julie Andrews. What really sold me on the purchase was that it was an audio book actually read by Julie Andrews herself. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I am charmed by not only Andrews singing but her very speech pattern. It was truly a treat to be able to hear in her own voice Julie Andrews story.  

Listening to the novel in my car, I finished the story in about two weeks. It is a fascinating to get Julie Andrews first hand accounts of growing up in England during World War II. She described her learning processes for singing and performing as a child on vaudeville. I was shocked to discover that her name had in fact been Julia Wells, and that it was changed to the name that is famous around the world without her consent. The Wells/ Andrews family history is a series of ups and downs that will keep any audience entertained. The absolute best part of this audio book, aside from Julie's voice, was that intermixed between the chapters of stories there were snips of songs and music. As she spoke about her songs in My Fair Lady, they played a section of it and that something that would have been missed had I just read it on paper. 

I built up quite a bit of anticapation as the story progressed waiting for the moment when Julie Andrews met Walt Disney and started working on Mary Poppins. Though anticlimactic in sorts because it isn't until the last few chapters that Disney enters her world and even then the story ends before filming for the movie started. Though sad that there was no more life accounts from Julie Andrews on those magical moments working with Disney, I wasn't disappointed in the few accounts she did relay. I relished in the details and even the idea that Walt Disney gave her a tour of Disneyland on her first visit there. Not giving much away, for those fans that might want to read/ or hear it for themselves, I will just say that I smiled when Walt Disney when talking about the newly opened Swiss Family Robinson Tree House (Now Tarzan) said, " And they said only God could make trees." 


If you're a fan of autobiographies, of Disney, of Julie Andrews, of New York Broadway, of Vaudeville, of singing, or just of hearing a good story this is for you. But don't miss out, get the audio book!