To kick things off, this is a post I originally wrote for The Appreciator. To read more about what some cool people appreciate, visit here.
Ever since I was but a wee thing, there has been a giant place in my heart for the collected works of Julie Andrews. It’s about the same size as the place in my heart for ice cream, muppets, and soft sweaters. This list could also sound like the beginnings of my own version of “My Favorite Things”.
The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were on heavy rotation when I was a kid. There is video cassette floating around in a basement somewhere of my middle brother and I jumping up and down on the couch with unbridled joy to the song Step In Time. My mom is in the background, fake yelling at us to get off the couch, but in reality I think the cuteness of this moment was too much for parenting.
I auditioned for my 6th grade play -- Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella -- mainly because Julie Andrews originated the role of Cinderella. In a small moment of injustice, I was not cast as Cinderella, but as the male page who opens the musical with the song “The Prince Is Giving A Ball.” I also opened the show wearing only tights and a long velvet tunic. This made the front page of the local newspaper. Looking back... kind of wish they just went with the leads and not me not wearing pants.
When I first moved into my studio apartment and was trying to make heads or tails of all of my stuff, I decided to listen to a movie in the background. I didn’t have a DVD player, and cable wouldn’t be hooked up for several days. I looked into my stash of VHS cassettes, and decided that all three hours of The Sound of Music would be the perfect thing in the background to sing along to and unpack an entire kitchen. Ricky, my fiance, watched it, and the comforting sweetness of it lulled him to sleep.
Years later, I found myself in upstate Vermont on a vacation, when we decided to visit the Trapp Family Lodge. This is where the real-life Maria and her family escaped to. It turns out their escape from Europe wasn’t as dramatic as the movie made it out to be. The Von Trapps didn’t trek secretly through the Alps in colorful traveling gear. They were able to safely and rather openly travel to America by boat. No carburetors were stolen by nuns. Despite this, the lodge does feature quite a bit of Sound of Music gear, and I did find myself spinning around on one of their open fields, singing that the hills were alive.
What is it about Julie Andrews that I appreciate? Many of my theatre school friends find her too perky and perfect, to the point of being cloying and annoying. And I am a grown ass person who does realize that Julie Andrews is not in real life Maria Von Trapp or Mary Poppins. She’s probably a pill in real life because she is so happy all the time. When you read the stories of the real Maria Von Trapp or the book version of Mary Poppins, both of these individuals are not very nice and are often portrayed as grumpy and kind of mean to children. Hell, she’s not even Victor or Victoria. But despite all of these factors, I appreciate her the same.
Maybe it’s because of the messages of the movies. Maria Von Trapp fought Nazis and a broken-hearted sea captain, all while never losing hope that things would work out in the end. She was kind, loving towards motherless Austrians, and truly believed in the beauty and goodness of everyone (unless you were a Nazi, then that rule slipped). Mary Poppins brought fun and antics to an otherwise sterile household, where business and suffrage took center stage. With a spoon full of sugar, chalk, and a lot of dancing chimney sweeps she was able to show her employers just how great their kids really were and the importance of taking time to value childhood and to slow down and appreciate the quieter moments.
Perhaps it’s Julie Andrews herself. With her sweet face and beautiful voice, she could make reciting or singing the names of the telephone book something memorable. She’s also British, and let’s be honest... British accents are pretty great. Through the characters she portrayed in her movies, she made everything seem fun and creative. She also made kids feel loved and valued, something important that unfortunately doesn’t always happen.
I’ve often wondered what I’d do if I met Julie Andrews. To be brutally honest, I’d probably cry and clam up. But in my head, I’d tell her this: I’ve always loved her movies, have a lot of her CDs and movies and records, and when I am on long car trips alone, I’ll sing their soundtracks from start to finish to pass the time. I wish I could be more like Maria Von Trapp or Mary Poppins in real life and look for the positive spin in everything.
But again... this is all in my head, because I know I’d just clam up and cry, but I know ( or at least hope that) she’d smile in that kind Julie Andrews way and say, “oh don’t be nervous dear,” all while in the back of her head be thinking that I’m a whackadoo. Wait, that’s not true. Julie Andrews would never think things like that. Christopher Plummer absolutely, but never Julie Andrews.
A few years ago, I was going through an incredibly stressful time. I had just moved into my first apartment on my own without roommates, and that same month my company was going through layoffs and I could see the writing on the fall that I wasn’t far behind. I was trying to find a new job and keep ahead of the layoffs. During this time, when I’d be lying in bed in the apartment I would not be able to afford if I was unemployed, and I’d make a list of things I liked. Friends and family. Ice cream. My cat. Hunter boots. Cashmere sweaters. Baby animals. Things that taste like buffalo chicken. So what I’m trying to say is... when I was feeling sad, I’d simply remember my favorite things, and then I didn’t feel so bad.
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