JULIE  Interviews                                                                                                                                             continued

 

The following are transcriptions from a series of National Guard radio shows that JULIE did with host Martin Block.  Interspersed with the conversation were musical numbers and some commentary on service in the National Guard.  Designated as shows 217, 218, 219, and 220, these shows aired weekly in March and April, 1966. 

 

 

It's our pleasure to be sitting with a little lady who is very popular with all of our listeners.  To my way of thinking, her beauty is much more than skin deep . . . . it shows in the beauty of her voice and in her performance of great songs . . . . . . . .

Miss JULIE LONDON . . . . . . . .

Well, thank you, Martin . . . . . . . . those're very nice words.

 

Do you think that your . . . . we'll be conservative . . . . that your attractive looks had anything whatsoever to do with your

success as a singer?                                     

I think the first album cover was considered most provocative . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . It was that . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . And I  think that contributed a great deal . . . . . . . .

In other words, you think that your looks and the album cover helped to open the door for you and once you got in, of

course, it's the old saying anyone can open the door for you, but once you get your foot in, you're on your own . . . . . . . .

Well, that is true . . . . . . . .

 

                                        Did you study singing?             

                                        No.

                                        In other words, your singing is just absolutely natural . . . . . . . .

                                        Just me . . . . . . . .

                                        . . . . . . . . Just doing what comes naturally . . . . . . . .

                                        Of course, I'm sure any vocal teacher that listens to me would rather cut my throat than do anything . . . .

                                        I do everything all wrong . . . . but I think for me that's the best . . . . because I don't think I have a voice so

                                        I think what I project would be style and . . . . and anything . . . . if I learned to sing I'd lose my style.

                                        But you'd never lose your audience.  Voice or no voice, style or no style, all JULIE LONDON has to do is stand in front of the

                                        microphone and . . . .  wow!

That's a nice thing to say . . . . . . . .

Well, when a woman is as beautiful as you are, JULIE, it's easy to say nice things . . . . . . . . . .

 

JULIE LONDON makes for might easy listening.  And we're doing that listening out here in the home of JULIE LONDON and

Bobby Troup in Sherman Oaks . . . . this is Sherman Oaks, isn't it?

I think it's Encino . . . . it's separated by one . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . on the line . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . one block or something.

Well, we'll cal it Encino/Sherman Oaks so that we don't make any enemies in either town . . . . . . . .

JULIE, who furnished this place? 

Who does it reflect?

Bobby and did it ourselves.

No decorators?

No.

You just decided this was what you wanted?

Yes . . . . I think sometimes you kind of lose yourself in someone else's personality if you call in someone else to do it.  I think homes should reflect the individuals and their individual taste rather than someone else's.  

You're so right.  And in this lovely home there are many beautiful rooms . . . . drawing rooms and dining rooms . . . . but, as usual in everybody's home, we've gravitated right to what I guess you'd call the rec room.

Un-huh

I'm curious . . . . how big is this room, JULIE?

I think it's about thirty by forty . . . . something like that.

Thirty by forty . . . . a nice small room where you can put on earphones and listen to the stereo, hum?

[JULIE laughs]  Very cozy . . . . . . . .

A great open fireplace . . . . very delightful.

I think so, yes.

 

It's always a pleasure to sit and talk to you and listen to you sing. And, by the way, when you first started singing, was it as an amateur or as a professional?

                                    I guess as a professional.  Actually, I'd been an actress for some time and then I'd retired for about

                                    six or seven years . . . . then coming back to the business I found that I was sort of not quite a

                                    has-been, and it wasn't a new career, and it was just kind of difficult t to crack the nut, so to speak.

                                    So that was when Bobby stepped in and said, "Well, why not try a different approach?'

                                    Then the idea of the type of singing that you're so well-known for now came from Bobby Troup?

                                    Well, not exactly.  I just sort of did what I had always done just sitting on the living room floor at

                                    night . . . . . . .

                                     . . . . . . . . only this time you sat up on a stool . . . . . . . .

                                    Right . . . . we moved the living room into the club . . . . . . .

                                    And that, if you'll pardon the pun, helped to make the audience feel right at home?

                                    Oh, well, I hope so . . . . . . . .

 

                                    JULIE, what have you got planned in the way of work?                                                                         

                                    I think in this business it's difficult to make plans . . . . I think the plans follow you and find you . . . . whatever comes along I think any entertainer just sort of goes along with . . . . I think it's really impossible to project ahead even six months in this business.

In other words, you can't just go to you manager and say, 'Hey, Joe . . . .' I don't know his name, but you can't say, 'Hey, Joe, get me a picture,' or 'Joe, get me a television show; I want to do a lot of work in TV' . . . . you have to wait until they tap you on the shoulder?

I think so, yes.

 

You've appeared in Europe?

No.

Never sang over there?

No.

Well, Bobby's been there, hasn't he?  He's played there . . . . . . . .

No, he hasn't performed there, either.  We've performed in South America and in Japan.

Oh, well, then, you were across the ocean, but not the way I was thinking.  I know in my travels through England and the continent your albums and your songs are most popular and I was just wondering if you had made or were going to make that a trip.  Anything like that in the future?

No, but I certainly would like to go if it were a long trip . . . . I wouldn't want to go puddle-jump . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . two weeks in the Palladium and spend fifteen days there . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . something where I could take my children along and let them get the benefit of it . . . . where we'd be in one place

long enough to do that.

 

 

Well, unfortunately, that's the problem when an artist is in demand as you are . . . . is that there are so many bookings that you just never can get

settled down in one place . . . . . . . . You've appeared just about everywhere, including a White House performance.  You know, I've often

wondered, JULIE, how do you get these invitations? I've never been invited . . . . . . . .

Darned if I know.  This, the one appearance that I made for President Kennedy . . . . he, as I

understand, had his choice or was asked to make a list of the people he would like to have

perform and I was fortunate enough to be one of them.

In other words, President Kennedy picked you.

Yes, I believe so and I must say . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . He had good judgment in more than one way . . . . . . . . [JULIE laughs.]

He was a marvelous man to perform to because he's most, was most interested in music of all

kinds, classical as well as . . . . . . . .                                                                                                                      

For some reason or other, I have the idea that these kinds of things at the White House would

be rather stodgy or even be rather stodgy or even the Press Ball would be rather stodgy, that

everybody would be constricted and a little bit worried about who was listening and that they

didn't make any mistakes.  Did you find it that way?

I think we were all terribly nervous.

You were?

More so than . . . . it was a pretty large audience as far as the personnel was concerned and I must admit that we all had a flutter or two.  But the people themselves were so nice that that was quickly forgotten and everybody relaxed and had a wonderful time.

 

 

You said you were terribly nervous about getting up in front of all those dignitaries. Do you still get butterflies when you perform?

I think that first five minutes . . . . the five minutes just before you go on . . . . is terrifying.  I don't think a performance has ever gone by during that time that I said, 'What in the world am I doing in this business?  Why am I putting myself through this torture?"  But the minute I'm on, it seems to disappear.

A very well-known psychiatrist explained the thing to me; I guess it could be regarded from a psychiatric viewpoint.  He said, 'Every good performer must of necessity have a good imagination.'  If you have imagination and you're gong to perform at something like the affair for the President, you immediately have in the back of your mind, 'Suppose I forget the words? Suppose I start off flat or sharp?'

Un huh . . . . . . .

This is your imagination running away with you. But if you don't have that imagination, nothing will ever happen for you.  At least that's the way it was explained to me.  And I guess it all happened for you . . . . . . . .

That's a very interesting observation because I think the one thing I always think about is, what if I forget the words?  What if I do?  In fact, I've even gone so far to think if I do, are they some kind of words I could make up easily? 

[JULIE chuckles]

  

                      photograph courtesy of

Phil Howard

       

 

 

JULIE and Bobby

March, 1980