Mary Poppins, Eliza Doolittle, and Julie Andrews' Oscar

iliza it's been such a long time I'm so glad to see you yeah I missed you if you miss me so much how come you didn't fly me in a movie they made a movie in 1964 Jack Warner famously cast Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in the film adaptation of my fair lady a role Julie Andrews had originated on Broadway Julie took the role of Mary Poppins instead and won the Best Actress Oscar the same year my fair lady dominated the awards the press saw and I think we still see this Oscar as justice revenge for being overlooked in the first place and while that is true to a certain extent the narrative also reveals a lot about how show business is just that a business as political as any in this episode we'll talk about why Jack Warner cast Audrey Hepburn and my fair lady the lip-syncing scandal that sank her chances at the award and why Julie's Oscar ended up in the Attic it was obvious early on that Julie Andrews had a special voice by age 10 she was performing professionally at age 13 she sang for Queen Elizabeth and at 18 she moved from London to New York to star in her first Broadway musical her second show my fair lady was a massive success with over 2,000 performances it became the longest-running show on Broadway at the time 4 million homes purchased the original cast album launching it to number one on the Billboard charts the show put Julie on the map her portrayal of the cockney flower girl turned aristocrat eliza doolittle enchanted audiences both in the theatre and at home as her appearances on TV brought her into America's living rooms of course Studios wanted to replicate the success of the musical on film and eventually Warner Brothers acquired the rights to do so the public naturally expected julie to be in the running for Eliza because she had played her for over three years and too many Americans Julie was Eliza a Jack Warner who was very involved from the beginning never really saw Julie as a serious contender it seems absurd now that anyone would bypass Julie Andrews on purpose but for a somewhat risk-averse highly ambitious business there was some understandable logic to his decision the most significant factor was money the rights to my fair lady cost a record-breaking five point five million dollars and in addition Warner Brothers budgeted the film at about twelve million dollars eventually stretching it to over 17 million making it the most expensive movie musical ever at the time if my fair lady was going to justify its cost it had to be the best movie of the year or make a lot of money ideally both Werner determined that the only way to guarantee both was to cast a big star Audrey Hepburn as many dorm rooms will tell you is and was an influential cinematic figure one who I think deserves a little more nuance to her persona than eating a croissant in front of Tiffany's but that is for another day an Academy Award winner for Roman Holiday she had everything Warner needed in a star she was critically acclaimed like in a nun's story a cultural icon like in Breakfast at Tiffany's and a box-office smash in films like charade Warner Brothers calculated that her popularity alone would bring in an additional five million dollars Julie on the other hand had yet to make a film Warner Brothers predicted that her star power although not insignificant would only bring in about 1 million dollars plus success on the stage didn't guarantee skill on screen many of the stages greatest personalities like Tallulah Bankhead and Ethel Merman never made the same impact on film as they did on stage to Jack the risk was too great and the stakes too high to consider arresting a hugely expensive investment on a new kids shoulders his reservations extended to Rex Harrison as well who is also in the original cast of my fair lady only after more bankable stars like Cary Grant and Peter O'Toole said no did Warner give him the role so despite the public's expectations Warner was convinced that Audrey was the right choice from the beginning saying quote I had made up my mind we would have her in the film it was because of her ability an ability about which the whole world knows a quote bleeding with irony which we will discuss in a minute it the news was somewhat controversial passing someone else was as Lloyd Shearer of parade put it like announcing a great new recipe for cream puffs without the whipped cream nearly every casting announcement referenced Julie in some capacity but no one was actively hostile toward Audrey yet Julie was understandably disappointed but good news was soon to follow I mean I would have loved to have done it obviously and was hoping that I might be asked but it's hard to be resentful when right around the corner Walt Disney's happened to be waiting and asked me to do Mary Poppins and so no I couldn't be that disappointed after that I mean that resentful are today hmm Walt Disney had just finished a decade long battle with author P L Travers for the rights to her book series Mary Poppins Travers was notoriously protective of her property as is kind of accurately shown in saving mr. banks but thankfully for Julie Travers quote couldn't conceive of Mary Poppins as a cartoon character Disney who ignored many of Travers his requests agreed to this very early on in the process because he became interested in live-action features after his animators went on strike so when the contracts were signed and the eyes dotted and the songs ready Disney began his hunt for someone who could bring Mary to life considering well-known actresses like Mary Martin and Betty Davis which imagine but it was at a production of Julie's new show Camelot that Walt found his Mary the performance of Camelot and then I went backstage and I tried to convince her I was capable of making a picture with live actors as well as cartoon Mary Poppins epitomized the magic and whimsy that made Disney special it had perfectly cast supporting actors delightful songs exquisite Technicolor a truly witty screenplay and innovative techniques that blended live-action and animated sequences and then there was Julie her performances at this point nothing short of legendary and it's clear to see why she's funny and sentimental her voice takes you to the core of every possible emotion you cry through feed the birds and burst with happiness through supercalifragilisticexpialidocious critics and audiences responded with overwhelming positivity critics called her a triumph and a revelation and the film became the highest grossing film of the year so much for bringing in 1 million dollars shortly after Mary Poppins opened to rave reviews my fair lady was released and became a smash hit in its own right still the pressure and the focus were on Audrey to vindicate her casting thankfully critics lauded her overall performance Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote quote the happiest single thing about my fair lady is that Audrey Hepburn superbly justifies the decision of the producer Jack Warner to get her to play the title role that Julie Andrews so charmingly and popularly originated on the stage Audrey does give it an exceptional musical comedy performance she's vibrant and feisty and acts through her songs really convincingly but something kept coming up in the press maybe she could act the songs but she couldn't sing them Jack Warner knew Audrey Hepburn was not a professional singer although she sang for example and funny-face Eliza was an especially difficult part even Julie said she never really got a hold of it Warner and musical director Andre Previn were fairly realistic about what Audrey could achieve so rather than I don't know casting someone who can sing they hired Marni Nixon Marni made nan singing stars look good she could adapt her soprano to sound like anyone from Marilyn Monroe and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to Natalie Wood and West Side Story and Deborah Carr in the king and I at this point Marni was Hollywood's worst kept secret the ghostess with the mostest when my fair lady began recording Audrey assumed she would do a majority of the singing and then Marni would fill in the high notes so she spent hours every day with a vocal coach learning apart improving her voice and recording the music but Warner and Previn had other plans Marni wrote in her memoir that it was evident there was quote never any question about dubbing Audrey Hepburn's voice pher who was with Warner all the time has said that they just let her record the tracks to placate her they never had any serious intention of using her voice never so partway through filming director George Cukor informed Audrey on set they would not be using her vocals that stung because she had put in the work and she wanted to do it herself and when you listen to the audio of her actual singing she's not Julie but she's not terrible somehow the press found out Werner tried to force the narrative that Audrey did do most of the singing but that someone had just filled in the high notes and for a while people bought that then it came out that in reality Marnie sang about 95% of it not just the high notes and even though she was contractually obligated to say nothing everyone knew I have read in all the newspapers that you were the voice of no we better not go in have you heard my dear that this lady was the voice of Audrey Hepburn in audiences felt deceived Warner had clearly bungled the handling of this story in the press but defended his choice to dub Audrey saying quote this is nothing new it's been going on since talking pictures began and he was right dubbing had been a thing often because equipment was too loud or dancing disrupted that quality of the voice but also because actors sometimes have bad voices and dubbing allowed them to maintain the illusion of untouchable perfection most stars who sang were dubbed at one point or another and while it wasn't actively talked about either no one noticed or no one seemed to care nope no for some reason now ironically no so - Warner people's shocked about Audrey was not only ridiculous but also surprising why did it become such a fundamental point of conversation in 1965 well normally when an actress was dubbed a nostalgic and alternative choice for the role wasn't starring in a hugely popular movie in the next theater by the time of my fair lady's release everyone had seen and fallen in love with Julie in Mary Poppins they also knew about Marnie one of the first ghost singers with extensive press coverage so despite whatever Audrey could bring to the role people believed Julie was more qualified for the job they'd heard her do it already and now she was a bona fide star in her own right so it was odd to see Julianne realize that's who Warner didn't want even INRI watching Mary Poppins for this video I found myself thinking Jack Warner was insane Audrey who was compared to Julie from the beginning now bore the brunt of the bad press tensions only increased as awards season began probably the most iconic moment occurred during the Golden Globes when Audrey and Julie faced each other for Best Actress in a comedy or musical when Julie won she used the opportunity to clap back at Jack and let him know exactly what he let get away finally my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place mr. Jack Warner it should emphasize here though that no animosity flowed between the actresses both were extremely cordial complemented each other's performances and remained friends for years On February 24th 1965 Academy Award nominations were announced the nominees for Best Actress were and Bancroft in the pumpkin eater Sophia Loren in marriage italian-style Debbie Reynolds in the Unsinkable Molly Brown Kim Stanley in seance on a wet afternoon and Julie for Mary Poppins there was one glaring omission and it became front-page news critics agreed that Audrey's bad press led to her erasure interestingly and frankly accurately they blamed Jack Warner who called the whole thing outrageous and it kind of was my fair lady eventually won eight Oscars including Best Picture it would have been impossible for that film to do as well as it did if Audrey had done a bad job because it relies on her believability but remember only actors determined Best Actress nominees well we can't say for sure why actors dismissed her it's possible they felt like Louella Parsons did that Audrey only gave half a performance it's more likely that they felt an alliance with Julie the latest talent to be screwed over by an executive an all-too-familiar power dynamic for actors in the studio system Julie had a lot of good things going for her other than casting politics and her obviously immense talent to help explain her momentum first the Americanization of Emily her follow-up to Mary Poppins came out to rave reviews shortly before Oscar voting began because the film was not a musical she quickly showed her range and suggested a very promising future second it's pretty much always good to have Disney on your side Walt Disney dominated the Oscars for years in fact he holds the records for the most wins at 26 Mary Poppins as I mentioned earlier was an exciting departure that demonstrated technical innovation and indicated growth for the studio in a new area that was ripe for reward also if Disney is good at anything its advertising the company undertook a massive pain with brand tie-ins merchandising radio spots and more you could take home spoonfuls of branded sugar your child could play with Mary Poppins Julie's face was everywhere and that's not an advantage most nominees had third Mary Poppins fit some themes that were generally favored by the Academy in the 1960s I talked about this in depth in my 1969 episode but basically the Academy really liked British themes and movie musicals in the 1960s which was really good news for British musicals My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins in fact in 1965 the number of British nominees was so prevalent that the press called it out so did Academy emcee Bob Hope plus the Academy was a little more conservative at that time so a family-friendly romp that teaches values like cleanliness and the restoration of the family unit was a lot easier to absorb than some of the other topics in the category like abortion kidnapping and baby daddies still it would be disingenuous to pretend like any one of these factors had a stronger effect on voters than the political context predictions blatantly attributed her odds to the quote emotional circumstances calling her a favorite simply because she wasn't in my fair lady before she had even wanted her win was considered a consolation that April four days after the release of The Sound of Music Julie walked the red carpet at the Academy Awards with Audrey in attendance to present the Best Actor Award ironically to Rex Harrison the press found every opportunity to milk drama where it could as the ceremony opened with the overture from my fair lady the camera literally cut back and forth between Audrey and Julie in the audience of course Julie won and the discourse surrounding her win consistently focused on its political context rather than her performance papers led with pictures of Audrey and her backstage the independent called it quote a masterpiece of irony sure Julie didn't get to play Eliza but she got to take home the Oscar even if the politics worked out in Julie's favor it felt bitter for both women that night Jack Warner kind of did both of them a disservice Julie never got to document on film one of her most iconic roles and despite bringing one of cinema's most beloved characters to life she felt undeserving of her Oscar for years because of the consolation narrative I unfortunately and sadly never got to make my fair lady and I really felt that the Oscar came as much from having not done I mean I would never who cares where it came from I didn't show it off for the longest time I kept it up in my attic for a while now its front and center for the mantelpiece Audrey Hepburn put in the work to give a vibrant charismatic performance that became vital to one of the most successful movie musicals of all time but his actions regarding casting and dubbing ensured that this performance was never seen at face value and she paid the price for it it's not up to me or anyone really to say what should have occurred here ultimately it's not like this story hurt their legacies in any real way but it is the story an asterisk in every history book that we will spend more time on than how hilarious and brilliant it is that Mary Poppins sings a 100% sarcastic lullaby it's a reminder that business decisions often more times than art affect the outcomes of these races but thankfully it's the performances we remember they are a spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down [Music] you

Channel: Be Kind Rewind

Views: 1,026,946

Keywords: julie andrews, mary poppins, best actress, 1965, 1964, my fair lady, audrey hepburn, jack warner, eliza doolittle, academy awards, oscar, interview, rex harrison

Id: unqQM3nuO-o

Length: 18min 0sec (1080 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 13 2018

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