Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers - JULIE ANDREWS & EMMA WALTON HAMILTON Lust After Boats

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

The iconic Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, join Seth and Josh on the podcast this week! Our first mother-daughter duo on Family Trips, Julie and Emma tell us about their trips to Switzerland, creating characters in their books after people in their family, what it was like for Emma growing up with Mary Poppins as her mother, and so much more! SPONSORS: NissanGo find your next big adventure, and enjoy the ride along the way. Learn more at nissanusa.com FidelityGo from saving to living.  Learn more at fidelity.com/incomeplanning AirbnbSupport comes from Airbnb your home might be worth more than you think find out how much more at airbnb.com/host to learn about hosting. AG1Try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D3K2 AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs when you first subscribe. Go to drinkAG1.com/TRIPS  Check it out. 

This episode of Family Trips is brought to you by Nissan. Nissan SUVs have the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Learn more at NissanUSA.com. Hey, Pashi. Hi, Sufi. How are you? I'm great. How are you? Good. We just got back from spring break.

This is not something that you experience. But now that I have children, spring break is a thing again. Right. I mean, I've experienced spring break, but I feel like it's probably a little different. Yeah, it's a little bit different having kids. Like, it's a real thing again. Like, the way when we were kids, spring break rolls around, you sort of have this expectation that your parents have figured something out for you to do. Right. And then, like, once you grow up a little bit more, you're like, I'm going to spring break. Should I get the all-you-can-drink wristband?

Sure. And you didn't have that kind of spring break right now. I got it for me, but I didn't feel like I should get it for the kids. Yeah, so we went, and again, when I'm like, I don't want anybody who's listening to think I put a second into planning it. You're well aware at how good Alexia is at planning things. Yeah. If you tried to plan something, it would be just a mistake. It would just be wasting time.

Yes. I would argue, not to her, but I would argue that if I said, I'm planning this one, she would stop me. She likes to live in a place where she both wants me to do it, but doesn't. If I actually started, she'd be like, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. You would also risk sort of getting to where you're going and being in the lobby, let's say, and her being like, we're not, this doesn't work, and then having to find something else on the fly.

Yeah. So it's, you know, mostly I just want this to be an appreciation post about how happy I am to be married to somebody who's such a good planner. But we went to Costa Rica, and we were on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. And this was a trip, one of the goals of this trip was having the boys learn how to surf. Yeah. And it was great.

And they had surf instructors. And by the first day, they were riding little waves in. And it was just, they were really proud of themselves. And they have good balance. It's just you teach kids at a young age to do things. That would be the takeaway here. Yeah. I've surfed twice in my life, and I've gotten up twice on the second day.

But very shaky. And I saw videos of your boys and they're solid. Their hand position is almost comical. Well, the interesting thing, because I did it a few times and much like skiing, I had that thought of,

so wait, we're just, we're going back to where we were? You know what I mean? You just go out for the purposes of coming back. And any activity where the point is to come back, I'm just like, or what if we cut out the middleman and I just stay here? That's the spirit. That's the spirit, yeah. You know, I think when you picture surfers, I think you think one arm each way, right?

Yeah. But the surf instructors are very much, you want to point both arms forward. Right. And there's a cool way to do it, and then there's the way kids who are just learning do it. Yeah, they very much look like posed, awkwardly posed action figures. Yeah, like that, right.

Like the sort of cheaper action figures that don't have a lot of arm movement. Or like action figures where one arm got melted and bent the wrong way and they were like, well, this is going to work. Hey, dude, those are my fucking kids you're talking about. Melted action figures. Yeah, like one of their arms, the plastic arm got melted, and they were like, well, it's a little bit pulled to the other side. We'll just right that ship, and then it's going to.

But they were, it was really, I will tell you this. I, you know, I'm not in love with surfing, but I'm in love with watching my boys surf I genuinely I think we've established how I feel about the beach best hour

I could possibly have on the beach is standing there watching my kids surf it's so fascinating so fun and there were a few times where Ash would do it

with Addy on the front of his board yeah that was a lot of fun to watch and then also want you A you want to film it, and B, you got to be at the end of the ride because she's definitely going to just sort of tumble into the surf. So you kind of got to pick her up out of the water.

But she loved it. She loved being in the water watching her brother surf. It was really great. Yeah. And it only took you 11 hours to get there? Yeah. And it only took you 11 hours to get there? Yeah, we don't go anywhere under 10 and a half. Yeah, because with kids that small, when you got three kids under the age of eight, you really want them on double digit.

You want to go on a double digit trip with a wife who thinks maybe they shouldn't watch a movie. Could they watch a movie? Eventually. There's this very, again, best mom in the world. And her instinct is, let's bring arts and crafts for the kids. There's no 10-hour project. You know what I mean? it's not like they can do pottery

and then you know bring it you know oh we gotta yeah we gotta we gotta carry on kiln so

you bring like sticker books and they're done before the plane takes off yeah everything and again

it's a backpack full of things yeah but also they now are old enough to know that little box in that little box on the seat in front of them is movies. Yeah, lots of movies. Lots of movies. I'm going to play for our listeners.

You've heard this. Oh, my God. The boys went ziplining. You didn't. I didn't. Now, there's two reasons I didn't go ziplining. And I want to say I blew it. I should have gone.

Okay. And when I saw a video of it, I was like, I should be there. One, I don't love heights. And almost all the ziplines I've seen are above ground. Yeah. It seems like it's almost, you know, there was a zipline where you were like a foot off the ground. Great. Yeah.

But there's none of those. No. And then the other thing is, of course, you've kind of ruined zip lines for me. Yeah. Because everybody's like, what's the worst that could happen? Well, it happened to Josh. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm sure worse has happened.

But I fell out of a zip line and I broke my leg and my back and my jaw. So that happened. So if you're already a little bit afraid of heights, and then your brother goes down like that. Yeah. And I should say, I broke L1 and L2 in my back. Those are vertebrae. But I was fine at the end of the day.

Could have been a lot worse. Got lucky. But I've always heard that Costa Rica has very high safety requirements. Yeah. And I will say that, and again, shout out to Costa Rican zipline community. Once I saw the videos, I was like, oh oh yeah, these guys know what they're doing. Yeah, I was just going to say, if you're between Zewatanejo and Ixtapa, Mexico, and you see a little zip line just off the side of the road there,

maybe that one, the safety precautions aren't as well thought out. The sign, you told me the sign even had a question mark. It was like, zip line? All right, so here's, this told me the sign even had a question mark. It was like, zipline? All right, so this is just the audio of Axl coming in hot on a zipline. Holy shit, this is fun! Whoa! Holy shit, this is fun!

So when I saw that, I was like, wow, I probably should be up there. But I do, I want my kids to learn, you know, I think it's important for them to learn at a pretty young age that their dad's a huge puss. When he says, holy shit, this is fun, do you know where that comes from? Do you know where he got that?

Sadly, I do. He got it from his uncle. His uncle me? No, his uncle, you know where that comes from? Do you know where he got that? Sadly, I do. He got it from his uncle. His uncle me? No, his uncle, you know which uncle. Yeah, yeah. And had he just said it? I think now I'm starting to think that his uncle, this is my wife's brother, Tolia,

who's a huge part of their life. Yeah. Toto, as he's known. I'm pretty sure now I get the sense he might have fed him their life. Yeah. Toto, as he's known. I'm pretty sure now I get the sense he might have fed him the line. Oh. So what was like

a magical moment of, oh, that's great. I'm like, oh, man. Yeah. Now I got to take this 35-year-old man aside and be like, hey. Hey, dude.

It did feel so innocent and so pure. And now it's like, you're like, oh, now he's just a ventriloquist. Yeah, for Toto. For a bad influence. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm sure it was fun.

It was a very great trip. I really can't say enough about it. And it was very hot. But I will say this. I'll take hot over cold any day of the week. Okay. All right. I was literally like, oh, am I?

Sorry, is this a one-man podcast now? But I'll just say that we, you know, for my birthday, we went, we were in Colorado. Not in a scheme. We went to sort of we, you know, for my birthday, we went, we were in Colorado. Not in a scheme. We went to sort of, with the kids, we went to this sort of beautiful spa resort. But it was too cold. I don't like being. You got to have better clothes.

No, it doesn't matter. I don't want to be outside. I don't want to have to wear clothes. Like, I don't want to be, have a vacation and be like, oh, have fun. But you got to have the right gear. Like, that's what I like about hot. Like, you're not like, oh, I forgot to bring shorts. Of course you bring shorts.

But I like this thing of like, oh yeah, you'll be fine walking to dinner as long as you have the best gloves in the world. You just need decent gloves. I think I have decent gloves. Anyhow, well, I'm glad you blew your birthday. Here's the important thing.

Because I feel like you and I have really come off track here. We're about to talk to maybe, I mean, this is kind of spectacular that we were joined by these two incredible people for today's podcast. I couldn't believe

when this one sort of came across the wires as guests that we're going to be on the show. And so it's Julie Andrews. Dame Julie Andrews. Dame Julie Andrews. Her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, they co-write children's books together, other books together. And it's the first time, you know, as we will establish when we start talking to them it's first time we've had a parent and their child on and it was just a delight from start to finish

and you're gonna listen to them but first you're gonna listen to me explain to josh for another 10 minutes why i prefer okay i just like hot more than cold. Here's Jeff Tweedy. Enjoy. Family trips with the Myers brothers. Family trips with the Myers brothers. Here we go. Hi. Hello. Hi, guys.

How are you? Good. Nice to meet you both. You too. It's nice to meet you as well. Thank you for joining us. Well, thanks for having us. Thank you for having us.

Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Our pleasure. Now, it's very exciting. This is our first mother-daughter duo on the podcast. Good. Very happy to break your virginity. And thank you very much.

So, you know, I always wanted, with a mother and a daughter, that was always my dream. You're kidding. Come on. There you go. Happy to provide. I'm going to start right in the gutter. This is also the first time I've ever taken a shower for one of these podcasts. I woke up early so I could clean myself up.

That is hilarious. Whenever we write together remotely like this, if we're on Zoom and we're writing it together, mom always sprays perfume. Yes. Yeah, I don't know why because only she can see me. But that was when I was in Los Angeles and you were here in Long Island. And I certainly can't smell you, but I know it makes you feel better.

But it, for some reason, made me feel fresher and more approachable. What would that word be? But we laughed at it a lot. And I have to tell you, I smell delicious right now. Oh, lovely. What is your perfume of choice? Well, I have two, and it depends how I feel and if it's evening, morning, whatever. But there are a couple that I love very much. I do feel if you had a line of just perfume to wear on podcasts, people would

buy it. I think they would think, I want whatever Julie wears for podcasts. That's hilarious. What a good idea. I think that's an excellent idea. You're also our first podcast guest with a title, Dame Julie Andrews. Oh, okay. Which is very exciting as well. Dame and daughter. Yeah. Dame and daughter.

Yeah. Daughter of a dame. It's so lovely. Oh, it stops. I wish it conferred a title on me, but it doesn't. It doesn't go down, right. No, it stops right here. You mentioned you guys obviously collaborate via Zoom a great deal with writing. You've written over 30 books together. Is that correct?

I think, isn't it? 35. About 35, yeah. But those are certain series and things like that. Well, 35 books is 35 books. Yes, yes. It's lovely to look at the impressive pile. I've written one children's book, and that's a problem

because there's really no way to just stack one. One feels… Unless you get a lot of them, a lot of copies. Yeah, you could do that. You know what I've done, and I'm assuming you've done as well, when they translate it into another language, I find that's a nice way to have... You only have to write one book,

but you can actually make a stack that looks as though you've accomplished more. True, and they often look different because sometimes the covers are different in different languages. Now, were you guys natural collaborators right away when you started writing books together? We were because I think because we had started writing stories together when I was very small. So as young as five. It wasn't deliberate or intended to be the way we are today, but it was just for our pleasure. And when you went on vacation, let's say, to visit your dad, I would send Emma or she would help write a story or I would help her write a story.

And her dad was the wonderful designer, Tony Walton. And we were very friendly. It was a very amicable separation, believe it or not. And so we would take this to Tony, and then he would do the illustrations for it. But they didn't become, one became adapted into one of our books, didn't it, darling? Yeah, many, many years later. But mostly it was just some sweet thing that Emma wanted to conjure up or whatever, and then Dad would get it and he'd illustrate it,

and then she'd have it to keep. So it was a nice idea. But I think that's what sort of laid the groundwork for our being able to collaborate together creatively. And then before we started... And it was many, many years before we thought about doing that. It was, but also in the interim, before we started writing together,

we did a lot of other creative work together. So we acted in a couple of films together. My husband and I ran a theater, a regional theater for 17 years, and we gave mom her directorial debut. You did. So we have worked together and collaborated creatively in lots of different iterations

before we started writing together 25 years ago. So I think it was a natural segue. The great thrill was to find that we were very compatible and that we have different strengths. And just the pleasure that we get conjuring up some of our characters. And we borrow liberally from the family, don't we, darling? You know, mad aunts and uncles and all of that. Steal, maybe, more than borrow, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Has a family member ever felt as though you borrowed unfairly from who they are? I don't think they ever did, if they ever really knew or wanted to read the books. Well, my kids are very aware that two of our series were based on them and inspired by them. And also written for them to some extent. And dedicated to them, yeah. And they were thrilled. And also, they were our beta readers. You know, we would always run the stories by them first.

And if it met mustard with them, then we knew we were okay. Was there ever one of the books that you wrote for them that you noticed they got tired of a little too quickly? Well, in the stages of writing, if you spelt, you know, I would quite often, particularly with a couple of books, I would read it to them at night and say, this is what I got through today and so on and so forth. So if I felt them being restless or a bit squirmy, then I would think that I maybe have to watch that chapter because it doesn't seem like it's gripping them too much. Happily, really happily, they loved the fact that I was reading to them

and they love listening in. What mom is referring to there is one of the middle grade novels she wrote independently of me. That's true. I'm sorry. That's true. That's something she wrote when I was a kid and she would test read on me and on my siblings. And that was a middle grade novel with the picture book series that are inspired by my kids and that we test read with them. They did, because they were series and they were picture books and there were eight or 10 or 12 in each series, they did eventually grow out of the age group. The age-related book.

Before the series ended. But they didn't seem to get tired of hearing the next installment. And both series have sadly run their course now. And both kids were disappointed when they did. So that's very sweet. I'm glad when you said that Julie wrote them without you, it was when you were too young and not that she just went off on her own and you found out when you were in a bookstore. No, no, no. No, somewhere in the middle of starting to write books. It just started as a pleasure for me to do that. And I did lose a bet to my eldest, to my stepdaughter.

And when I asked what my, we were playing a game. And I said, what should my forfeit be? And she said, write me a story. And that's how my writing children's books sort of began. And I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't wait to start another one and so on. That's a good case for gambling. Listen, Seth, what is

your book called? My book is called I'm Not Scared, You're Scared. And it's about a bear who is scared and his rabbit friend who is not. Sounds great. Yes, it's a lovely... you know, I will say,

and I'm sure you will both attest to this as well, one of the great joys of writing a book with pictures is not having to do the pictures. Yes. Couldn't agree more. And we're very admiring of the wonderful designers who helped us realize our books. Yeah. One of the other great joys of writing picture books is when the illustrations come in,

seeing how much they advance the story. And how much we then cut out, you know, depending. We try not to write what the art will show to the best of our abilities, so that the two things work synergistically together. Seth could have beta read his a bit more. It drags in the middle. It drags a bit. How did you feel about it when he came out with a book?

I mean, did you wish you had one too? Yeah, I mean, I think all in good time. Yeah. I mean, I'm very excited that he has a book on the shelf. A friend of his actually gave it to me. Josh isn't lying. It does, I'm very excited that he has a book on the shelf. A friend of his actually gave it to me. Josh isn't lying. It does, I will say. I feel like now, having read it a few times,

it does drag a little in the middle. I wish, as with every writer, when people, when young writers say to me, do you have any advice? I always say, your first draft is so much longer than it should be. And that's true of every writing. That's drama, comedy.

And actually, isn't there a, not a law, but a kind of outline as to how many pages and how many, it depends on the kind of book. I mean, with picture books, there's a real, there are such strict parameters of word count and page count and all of that that we have to work within. It's been a learning curve for both of us, really. And Emma's by far better than I about all of it and structure.

Well, only because it's my primary focus and I teach writing and so I'm immersed in it so much of the time. But mom is the ideas person. I'm just one of those. Not necessarily, but... Well, a lot of the time you are. Beginnings, endings, ends of chapters, left-hand turn occasionally. You know what I'm saying.

When I visit Seth's family, he's got a about to be eight-year-old, six-year-old, and three-year-old right now. They're seven, five, and two. Well, it's perfect, Seth. Keep writing. I know, I got to. But you'll always read stories and sort of lay in bed and they'll pick books out. And sometimes you'll be given a book that you're like, this is way too long. This is going to take me. You're all going to fall asleep. And this is a monster about all these children that won't eat properly or whatnot.

And then you edit selectively as you're reading, right? But the problem is if they've read it before, they will know. Yeah, that's true. So you can't get away with that. They know every word. And that's the other thing about good picture books is that ideally you want them to say,

read it again, read it again. Yeah, of course. But then they know every word and they bust you if you get it wrong. But it's a great tool for learning to read, too. The picture books, particularly. I mean, I couldn't be more thrilled if all children... I mean, just reading to your kid is one of the most important things you could do.

In the sense of helping them to be curious and artistic and wanting to be part of the whole scene. They love it when you get the whole family together. I'm sure you know that, Seth. It's the best. Yeah, it is. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors.

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If mom and dad had this I could call them and I would say How far away are you From getting to our house And they would still say, I don't know Maybe an hour That's if they answer the phone Yeah, that's true So thanks again to Nissan for sponsoring this episode of Family Trips still say, I don't know, maybe an hour? That's if they answer the phone.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So thanks again to Nissan for sponsoring this episode of Family Trips. Now go find your next big adventure and enjoy the ride. Along the way, learn more at NissanUSA.com. Support for Family Trips comes from Fidelity. Your entire life you've been told to save and save and save, but has anyone helped you figure out how to spend? With Fidelity Income Planning, we'll help you create a clear,

personalized plan for cash flow. One that includes your 401k and all your other accounts. However you want to work with us, either one-on-one or with our planning tools, we'll help you to build a withdrawal strategy for when you're not working. We can help you gain a better understanding of your options to help you make the right decisions to best fit your life ahead. All so you can enjoy whatever comes next. And you can go from saving to living. Learn more at fidelity.com slash income planning. Advisory services provided by Fidelity Personal and Workplace Advisor, LLC, for a fee. Brokerage services by Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Elsie. Now, Emma, your life began pretty much in L.A., correct? Actually, I was born in England.

Okay. But yes, then when I was three months old, I went with my mom and my dad to L.A. because they were both about to start work on Mary Poppins. And I'm sorry that film didn't work out. I apologize. You know that her dad, as I said, who was a wonderful designer, did do nearly all the sets and the costumes for Mary Poppins, which is an absolute fluke, wonderful thing. Of course, it set us both on a path of the movie world, the cinema world, but it was just so, it felt so safe.

And Disney was very generous to us both too. That's really wonderful. Now, did you, you were obviously very busy. You and your husband at the time had these careers that were taking off. Did you have time to take vacations? Was that something you remember as a- Do you want to take that or shall I?

So what we were thinking about this in preparing to speak to you both today, and we realized that most of our vacations together were working vacations for mom. Quite often she was on location somewhere making a film, and my step-siblings and my half-siblings and I, we got to reap the benefit of being in whatever place it was that the work was being done. And so we would have adventures, you know, on her days off and things like that there.

But I can think of some pretty terrific places we got to go, you know, Barbados and Ireland and, you know, England and all sorts of places where she was working south of France. But we got to tag along. Such a tough life, you know, England and all sorts of places where she was working, south of France. But we got to tag along. Such a tough life, you know. And then, of course, because my parents were divorced, I would often spend summers with my dad. And that's where I also had a lot of family vacations with him. It must have been, Julie, I would imagine you get a day off on set. I know how hard it is to be working in a film. You were probably exhausted, but at the same time you had young kids. And

was it important for you on those days off to have the energy to then take adventures with your kids? Yeah, it was very important. And mind you, they got away mostly with all kinds of things, but got away with murder. But no, it was important because I have to say there's always that slight guilt that you shouldn't be working, that you should be more of a mom. And if the kids were all right, I was all right. But if they had a fever or things weren't working out for them or there was a big problem for them. I was a basket case and that's the first focus. But actually how we did it, I don't know, but we managed. Yeah. Do you recall any adventures you might've gone on

when you were in Barbados or in Ireland, if you had a day off? I know when I've sort of shot movies, they don't need me every day. I imagine it maybe is different for you. No, there were days like that. Oh, my God. I remember in Ireland, we were there for quite a long time, and we were staying— We started in the beginning of the summer and at the end of summer, yeah, we went back.

And we stayed in this extraordinary manor house where much of the film was shot, house where much of the film was shot. But that estate had its own stables and its own dairy and its own lake with a folly and all sorts of places to explore. And there were horses in the stables. And so mom and I... Well, actually, Blake put them there, darling. Oh, did he? Well, they were also used in the film. Yes. Well, yeah, of course, that's why. But we did all have a horse that we loved. And we would go riding together. Yeah, yeah. It's a thousand acre estate around this great, great manor house. And, well, you can imagine that was like a dream. Actually, to be truthful, that's where I got the idea for my first book, Mandy. where I got the idea for my first book, Mandy.

That's where Jenny said, when we were playing a game, write me a story. And so I thought she's grown up more in a sophisticated town situation when she was with her mom and her dad. So why don't I try to write something about a country girl? And out came the first book. And it was so fortunate because there was this beautiful estate and I could just look at it and decide what to describe and how. And it was great fun. But it was two years before I was able to get it to her. So it took that long. Now, Emma, you, obviously, my kids are aware that I have a television show, but it is not a

television show for kids. So they are aware of what I do, but they don't experience what I do. Your mother was making films for kids, like beloved films for kids. So at what age were you aware of who she was and where she fit in the world? Darling, tell the story when you're in shock. Yes, yes, I will. So the first time that I really became aware was, I must have been about three. So even though I was a baby, an infant, when mom moved to LA to begin work on Mary Poppins, because of the nature of the film and how many special effects and how much post-production

was involved. Or maybe other movies too, yeah. Yeah. It was about two years before it was edited and then released. And so I was about three and I went to a department store, to a kids' clothing section of a department store with... With me? No, you weren't there.

Oh, no, I wasn't. No, you weren't there. I was with a babysitter. And the department store, the kids section was using Mary Poppins, I guess, presumably it had just come out. And they were using all of the themes from Mary Poppins and the imagery from Mary Poppins as a display. And everywhere I looked in this kids clothing section, there were these life-size cardboard cutouts of my mom. And I remember saying to my babysitter,

look, there's mommy. And next to me was, you know, a pair of women, somebody else's moms, shopping for their kids. And I overheard them say to each other, isn't that sweet? That little girl thinks her mother's Mary Poppins. And I was like, but no, but she is, she really is. So that was the first time I became really aware of it. And then from then on, I think I was, you know, quite often I spent time with mom on set. So I was able to see

the work in progress. What I love too is a whole generation later when your son was growing up and was a very small child, same age as Emma in the store. Her son went to a birthday party with a friend and they actually were showing as a treat for the birthday guests, they were showing Mary Poppins. And she hadn't really gotten into any of that had you with him no I hadn't shown him any of the films he was too young really but when when you arrived you found him pressed against the screen of the television uh just looking terribly puzzled tell the rest of it though yeah he he was you could tell that he recognized something about the movie and he didn't know what it was.

And so I walked over to him, and I said, does that lady look familiar to you, Sam? And he said, yes. And I said, do you think you might know who it is? And he said, yes. And you could tell he couldn't quite work it out. And I said, do you think it might be Granny Julie? And he went, yes! And then the sweet thing is that I happened to visit like half a day later. And the difference, I mean, it was like, hello, Granny Jules.

I know something about you. And it was just so adorable. It really was. I like that when you said in that story, oh, that's my mom, about Mary Poppins, those women also could think, oh, my God, this poor girl. Her mom's so absent, she thinks the nanny's her mother. Yes, exactly. She thinks this icon on the screen is her mom.

It's so sad. It's so sad. It was very sad. Pathetic. I was damaged. Now, Julie, it seems crazy to even ask about family trips for someone who grew up in England so close to the onset of World War II. I would imagine that travel was not something you were doing as a young person. No, actually, I don't mean to play my violin, but we were so poor, Seth.

And I was working from, oh, I think nine or ten years old having this kind of freak singing voice and I went traveling with my mother and my stepfather who were in vaudeville and musical getting a unknown to me getting a fabulous education about watching from the wings everywhere I went and so on but the truth is that we were so poor, we never went. I don't recall a single vacation that we had, but because we traveled so much and I eventually did the same thing and went out on my own, there wasn't much. So it wasn't until really I started doing the movies

because I was working on Broadway after that. And then finally Hollywood in between films gave me some time to spoil myself a little bit, but it was mostly trips with family. Wasn't it darling? And when I married Blake, he loved boats, he loved all kinds of fun things. And so he had a boat and we went for a holiday or so on that. And it was heavenly. And also, we rented twice, I think, a boat in the south of France, just for the family. Or Blake would make a movie in the south of France, but rent a boat that we could live on. So it all became tied in together and was simply wonderful for me, particularly if I wasn't in his movie. It was one went one Christmas as sort of an experiment. And so then that became a family tradition was to spend Christmases in Switzerland. And we actually ended up living there for a couple of years. We loved it. We absolutely loved it. We've had that little house there for, what, 60-something years now? Oh, my goodness. Yeah, so we do get away. I imagine when people see you in Switzerland, they probably think, oh, I bet everybody here looks like Julie Andrews.

That can't actually be her. Well, now you have to tell the story, Mama, when you were practicing. Yeah. I was about to go to do some concerts, particularly some in Las Vegas and before that in London. And I had to get myself in shape. I had to get my voice in shape and all kinds of things. And of course, we live on a, well, our home is on a very pretty mountain. So I decided to walk around and go up the hill, round at the back and down and get my

legs strong and all of that. And there was no one around. There's never anybody really in the area where we are. And so I began to sing, the hills are alive, rather loudly. And a whole group of Japanese tourists came up and over the hill with all their cameras looking very puzzled. It was hilarious. It really was. It resonated with me so much that moment. They must go home and go like,

what they do is they have a lookalike and the lookalike walks around. Oh, you mean I was just placed there. No one would think it was the real. They were like, I'm sure it's just somebody they hire. Might be. Emma, I don't know's just somebody they hire. Might be. Emma, I don't know if you know this story, but Blake and I, I said to him something like, you know, we don't ski because he had a bad, very bad back. And we decided we'd try to go cross-country skiing, which required a complete outfit each.

You know, the sort of knickerbockers and the square-toed shoes and the long stockings to the knee and all of that. So we outfitted ourselves and got a wonderful ski instructor and were driving down the hill to, and it was a very steep hill, driving down the hill to meet the ski instructor. And Blake looked at me and I looked at him and he said, do your pants have a zipper? And I said, yeah. He said, do your pants have a zipper? And I said, yeah. He said, well, mine don't.

And he'd gotten in my trousers and I'd gotten in his. And he insisted on changing pants out of the car. We were still on the hill. Luckily, happily, nobody came by. But we swapped that out and got on with the day. But it was so stupidly funny. This is Blake. I just, I worry that maybe people aren't lucky enough to know.

Blake Edwards is a fantastic director. Film director, yeah. Actually, he thought of himself as a writer, Seth. And then, of course, he was a fabulous director. Well, this is a true story that will tell you a lot about our father, who gave us a film education. He loved comedies. He loved movies from that era, and he loved Blake Edwards films.

This is a true story. I saw the movie S.O.B. before I saw Sound of Music. Oh, my goodness. That sounds very appropriate. I'm glad you did. It's very – I always say that our parents introduced us to things at such an age-inappropriate times. But I do think it's why we're both in comedy. I think if you see things like that, well, then everything that's for kids you think is bad.

Because if you've actually seen comedy for adults, you're like, you know this is bad stuff. There's some good stuff out there yeah yeah you know every single scene in that film except maybe one is based on hollywood truth and uh there's nothing in it that doesn't represent someone or uh something that happened and of course, everybody loved, all the cast loved being in it because they were ribbing themselves or I was ribbing myself, I was teasing myself. And it's a good movie about the follies

that happen in Hollywood. And who's the wonderful actor that was buried at sea by his friends, darling? Richard Mulligan. No, no, yeah. Mulligan was the actor. Oh, but the other one. The one it really happened to was John Barrymore.

And his friends were so appalled that he was in a coffin that they actually went in and stole the coffin, as you know in the movie, and gave him a really wonderful Viking burial at sea. So all that's true and so many other things. Talking about being at sea, when you had a boat that you were living on for a while, how did you find boat life?

Can you sleep on a boat well? Yes. You never stop sleeping. I never stopped loving that. It's an absolute passion to be on a boat. And it's the only time I think that I become now, we don't have a boat now, but we had a sweet one and we loved her dearly. And if I ever see a beauty, a really wonderful boat, I am so envious. I can't stand it. It's not like me to be awful about or mean about things, but looking at

a great boat, it's the only thing I really lust after, other than my husband, of course. We say she has boat lust. I did have boat lust, yes. What was your boat's name? Impulse. Oh, very lusty. A very lusty name. Yes. Well, we bought her on an impulse, so there you are. I think part of it had to do, you know, the

time when we were really spending so much time on boats was pre cell phone era, pre internet, and I think it was as much about it being a true escape. Yes, you're on your own little island in a strange way. Yeah.

You know, no one could get to her. No one could reach her. No one could touch her kind of thing when she was on the oasis. And that's what we loved about it. I wonder if that would be true today now with cell phones and email and all of that. I don't think we would have the same feeling of total escape. We used to take the boat. Mostly, we took it up to British Columbia.

The boat was built in Seattle, and so it was an inland waterways boat to a great extent. So we'd take the boat up to Vancouver or Victoria or British Columbia, whatever. And that, I think, in terms of vacations, was some of the loveliest because other than the great delight of, I mean, how lucky could we all be? It was either a wonderful holiday. Well, I think maybe we had a boat first and then we went to Switzerland. I can't remember.

Did Blake captain the boat? No. He could, but no. We had a wonderful, wonderful ex-marine who was tough and rough and sweet. I think I'd rather have a marine than a comedy writer. Yes, exactly. Oh, my God, yes.

Seth's wife's family has, like, a motorboat. And how big and what's her name, Seth? So their last name is Ash, and it's Ashkan. Oh, I love that. Hilarious. Oh, that's so great. And his wife is, like, an excellent pilot of that boat. Vessel.

And Seth, I don't know, have you ever even held the controls, Seth? No. Nobody, I don't want to, and I still want to less than other people want me to. They just want to see you. Nobody wants me to touch it. I can see you in a rakish cap. Oh, I wear a rakish cap. Oh, okay.

But I sort of stand at the stern. Oh, I see. And I look back towards where... I sort of check the wake. Okay. Very nice. Very nice indeed. They give me jobs like, if the water skier falls down, tell us. There you go. First mate. But, you know, just going anywhere in private is, you know, you see dolphins, you see flying fish, and whales sometimes, you know. Amazing. I loved, I absolutely loved boat life.

Well, I think we both do. Yeah, we all did. And all the attendant activities that surround that. and all the attendant activities that surround that. So, you know, nature watching, bird watching, water skiing. Being underway in the rain. Yeah. Seeing bears, seeing bald eagles, all of that.

Lovely. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Family Trips is sponsored by Airbnb. Hey, Bashi. Yeah, Sufi. You know my in-law's home. It's a beautiful Airbnb. Hey, Bashi. Yeah, Sufi. You know my in-law's home. It's a beautiful home. Oh, gorgeous.

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and they will be lovely, nice guests. I mean, mom and dad often will come to stay with me, and that's fine, but I'd rather they Airbnb our home. See a shrine to Josh Meyers and one solitary photo of me. That's what you'd be getting if you Airbnb'd their house, and you know it's true. Yeah, and again, another comfy, cozy house that anyone would be delighted to be spending some time

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And not just coast to coast. When I was 10, we moved back to England for a little while, and then we moved to Switzerland for a couple of years, and then we moved back. So there was a lot of England to New York. That was this side of the family, and your dad did a lot of traveling. My dad was in New York, yeah. Didn't you go also down to Santa Fe or something? Yep, we went to Santa Fe.

That was a memorable vacation. We drove one summer. He was working for the Santa Fe Opera. One summer he was working for the Santa Fe Opera and my stepmother and he decided to give my stepsister and I, visiting all the caverns in the Carolinas and Virginia, looking at all the stalactites and the stalagmites and all of that. And then I came down with chickenpox. Going across country, poor lady. Yeah, like three or four days into the trip, I suddenly came down with chickenpox and they had to smuggle me in and out of the motels that we stayed in from that point forward until we got to Santa Fe because I should have been in quarantine.

Right. And I suspect that, you know, that chickenpox virus may still be bouncing around down there in some of those caverns. How many people I must have infected. Mind boggles to think about that. There was a whole, I remember there was a historical strain of cavern pox that they never figured out. That's my fault. They never figured out who patient zero was for the cavern pox.

Oh, oh. Come on, you guys. Uh-oh. Now I've told my secret. So my wife is from near Santa Fe. Oh. And so we go back there. And I will say the Santa Fe Opera House

is one of the most, it's gorgeous. It's pretty, yeah, gorgeous place to be. That's nice that you were close with your step siblings. I would imagine that's, that's an important part of what seems to be a very unique childhood. Did you, were you aware of I'm living a uniquely international multi-city existence? I was. Were you? I didn't think you were. Yeah. Oh, no, I absolutely was. And I, you know, I had, and they were very different households culturally that the energy and the dynamics in my mom and Blake's house was very different than that of my father and my stepmother. So, I spent some time reinventing myself on the plane rides

in between the two families to sort of, you know, reposition myself back into that particular family I was heading back to. But I also had the unique position of having occupied every place on the birth order chart. So I was the only child of my mother and father. But then when they separated and remarried, I gained a younger stepsister on my father's side, so I became the eldest. And I gained two older step-siblings on mom's side, and I became the youngest.

And then eventually mom and Blake adopted two children, and I got two younger half-sisters, and then I was the middle child. So I have literally occupied every position on the birth chart. She's very empathic, very empathic. Yeah, this is a good question. Which is ideal?

What's the best? Well, there is no best. It's just it depends on what your needs are and depends on the day, you know. And how the rest of them behave, darling. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But I think one thing that was nice was that whenever, if ever, any of my siblings got on my nerves, I could always kind of internally hold on to the knowledge that I was actually an only child,

the only child of my two parents. And so I had that to hold on to. I do think it makes you uniquely equipped to be a children's book author, that you have held every position. Because, of course, you are writing for all kids. And sometimes I'm only an older sibling and so I have no patience for younger siblings. I feel like...

That's not fair. In fact, my publisher has already said no to younger kids are parasites. My second book says... Which one beats up the other more? We weren't a beat up family. I was going to ask that. Is the bear and the rabbit, you two?

The bear and the rabbit is us because I am the one who is scared. I will say, Josh and I did not beat anybody up, but I am overly cautious and my brother is overly adventurous. He was safer because he had you above him, maybe. No, no, no. He was the one who took all the chances.

No, I get injured all the time. I've had so many broken bones and whatnot. Yeah. The interesting thing is I am cowardly and my brother's bravery has made me feel very comfortable that I made the right choice. He's always breaking bones. And I just think...

I love... I had brothers and half-brothers and all kinds of things because my parents remarried and so on. So the littlest brother was the cutest and the sweetest and probably the smartest. And I looked out of my window one day and could see him on the lawn of our garden. And this was when I was, you know,

in my teens or something. But his other brother was with friends and just beating him to pieces. I mean, they had one leg pinned this way and an arm pinned that way. And yeah, kill him, get rid of him, blah, blah, blah. A game, supposedly. And I heard my youngest sweet little brother sort of cough gently and then sort of laughed nervously and said, now let's pretend I get away, he said. Absolutely, I never, ever forgot it.

It was such a smart, and he did. Yeah, it's a very smart play. Oh God, I was terrified, I could tell. Yeah, you can almost see the older siblings sort of something clicking in their head where it's confusing enough that that gives him just enough time to make that great escape. To make the getaway. Yeah. Now let's pretend I get away. So, Julie, I think you were probably, based on your early vaudeville days, you were taking business trips at an age that most people do not.

Right. trips at an age that most people do not. Right. But also, to a certain extent, in fact, quite a large extent, taking care of all my younger siblings, too. So, I mean, when they were very small babies, being in vaudeville, my mother and stepfather traveled a lot. And then we had a kind of a sort of au pair that stayed with us and so on. And then eldest sister, I was the bossy, mean eldest sister, as far as they were concerned. But I did do an awful lot of looking. Maybe that's why we do children's books, darling. I don't know.

I don't think it's that. But you also traveled with your parents a lot when you started performing with them. Yes, I did at first, yeah. They would hit the road in a caravan. Oh, I was going to ask if it was rail travel, but it was you and all. No, it was that too, tremendous rail travel. Particularly, I went out on my own quite young, and that was when it was rail travel.

But when I was traveling with them as part of their act, their vaudeville act, then we would go in, we'd take the trailer with us and plug the electricity into any, and the water into any farm that would allow us to, and when we got to where we needed to be. And so was it a caravan, like a sort of covered wagon caravan? Well, yes, it was just one sort of ark and very tiny, but it took mom and dad, mom and stepdad and toddler, you know, and it wasn't that pleasant, but it was fun when it was raining and you could hear, you know, you were all snug in this very small space,

but you were safe and you could hear, you could hear the rain coming down on the roof. How would you pull that caravan? Was it horse-drawn, or was it? No, we had a trailer. I mean, we had a big enough car, a very old Packard mostly, with one of those things on the back of it that hooked to the trailer. Gotcha. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, great. When you were going on your own, traveling by rail, going to different cities, were you the kind of person that would walk around and look at the city or were you too concerned about that evening's performance to... A little bit of both. Since I was mostly, when I went out on my own, for maybe one year, I had a sort of chaperone or a tutor or somebody that traveled with me. But once I hit 15, I was on my own. And so it was a very interesting time. And I couldn't wait to get home each weekend because I was so lonely.

But my parents always asked, mostly with a group that played a week in every place. And I traveled over England, honestly, three times over. I mean, just round and round and round all of England. And then certain people who my mother knew would kind of keep an eye out for me, but it wasn't terribly good a lot of the time. So I was very lonely and couldn't wait to get home at the weekend and would go from the north of England all the way south on the train or overnight just to get a day and a half at home. We wrote about this in one of the memoirs, but she would make the dressing room of each of these seedy old vaudeville houses.

Well, my mom helped me do that too. I mean, she made me take things with me. Yeah, she would try to make it into as much of a home as possible by, you know, laying a towel out on the stained makeup table and, you know, trying to, you know, putting out a little photo of the family or a bunch of flowers, things to make it feel more like a friendly home base. It was the end of vaudeville. It was the dying days in England, the dying days of vaudeville.

And so all the theaters were very, very old and crusty and smelly. How big were audiences in those houses? You know, I wouldn't know. Okay. Probably 1,500, something like that. and smelly. How big were audiences in those houses? You know, I wouldn't know. Okay. Probably 1,500, something like that. You know, they were lovely theaters or once had been lovely theaters. Sure.

You know, balconies and a circle and then the orchestra. And honestly, I think it was mostly the landladies that I was not very fond of. You know, one stayed in a bed and breakfast or something like that, which had been booked for one. And if one was lucky, somebody from the company would, and one of the acts from the theatre would also be there as well.

But it was an education. I didn't get an education much in terms of going to school, but my God, I got one just traveling around. And when I did ask my mother whether I should really go to a proper school and get my grades and all of that, she said, oh, you'll learn far more from being on the road, darling. So that's the way it was. And now you've authored over 30 books. So you're really a bad advertisement for paying for an education. Yeah.

Well, I've drawn on some of those experiences, though. I mean, you know, you work with the most amazing people. Dog acts and bird acts and all those kind of things. Bear acts. Bear acts, yes. Even my parents worked with an alligator act, too. Bear acts, yes. Even my parents worked with an alligator act, too.

With the bears, you could not go backstage when the bears were coming down the corridors or being led to the stage for their act. Because anything that was behind them, they would turn and supposedly attack. So one stayed in the dressing room very safely until they passed. That would be one you would not have to tell me twice. That's right. Hey, we have a few bears in the hallway rules. Yes, that would be great. I mean, an alligator act is very, it's fun to just even think about what an alligator act would be. I don't honestly know because that was what my parents told me.

They worked with alligators. But can you imagine? I mean, really. Well, the best would be if it was a tap dancing alligator. That would be, but I imagine it was less than that. There was one lady that my mother told me about, and I subsequently worked with her. And, you know, you always took band call

on a Monday morning. You laid your books down in front of the conductor for rehearsal and that's all you had until Monday night when you started your week. And so my mum watched this lady come onto the stage, give her books to the conductor, and then she would walk up and down the stage and indicate a twirl here and a bow there or a wonderful ballet stance or whatever. And my mum thought, well, she must be a terrific dancer because she was, you know, whirling and so on and so forth. And she thought, I must watch this woman. She looks very interesting. And that night she came on in a hideously colored floral tatty dress and a troop of dogs followed her on stage. And so she was, you know, cupping her arms and they were jumping through them like hoops and all of that kind of thing. And it was always a surprise of some kind.

That's really funny that your mom's note to her would be like, you should just do it without the dogs. I enjoyed watching you without the dogs. Oh, God. So Emma, now, how many children do you have, Emma? I have two, and they have grown now. One is 20 and one is 27. And did they ever travel?

Did you ever take them to where Julie was? Did they ever visit their grandmother? They did. A couple of concerts, I think. Yeah, mostly for concerts. And then, of course, we did our own family vacations, my husband and I and the kids together. But one of our favorite places to go, my family and I, is to this little island in the English Channel where my mom carried me when she was pregnant for one summer, which was the reason they were there was a function of having gone there with T.H. White, Tim White, who wrote The Once and Future King, on which Camelot was based. And so my mom and dad had spent quite a bit of time there before I was born, and then all through my childhood and later in my adult years with my own kids. I've been back there many, many times.

And a lot of your dad's relatives. Yeah, almost all. My grandparents on my father's side and many, many cousins and so forth have ended up moving there and living there. How small an island is it? One and a half by two and a half miles. Yeah, one and a half by three. A mile and a half wide and three miles long. And there are 13 forts ranging from...

All around the island. Yeah, Roman all the way through, you know, Georgian and Victorian. Tremendous history. And at least as many pubs. That's good. Yeah. You'd like to see at least a one for one on pub to fort. Yeah, exactly.

How did your American children enjoy that summer vacation? Oh my gosh. I loved it as a kid. They loved it when they were kids. It's one of those places where you can let your kids run free and you don't worry. Not much you can do in two and a half miles. There isn't much trouble they can get into without running into someone they know. And it's very wild and rugged, you know, beautiful beaches and cliffs. Speaking of the Boer, there were so many underground places where there used to be

guns or, you know, big, big, I guess you'd know more about that, darling. Yeah, it's the only British territory that was occupied by the Germans during World War II. And they... Those islands, yeah. Those islands, yeah. They got that far. They came in and took over,

and it was considered a very strategic position for them. And so they converted many of the Victorian and Georgian and Roman forts by adding, you know, big German bunkers and things onto them. And now, of course, the astonishing thing is that most of them are being reclaimed by nature. fortification has either been converted into someone's private home or there is one that's out on a causeway that is a holiday rental property that gets cut off by the tide twice a day and you live by the tide tables. And then some of them are just being slowly reclaimed by nature, by gorse bushes and blackberries and thistle and things like that, and just sort of being brought back.

But it does have quite a unique history, doesn't it, darling? It really does. It's an amazing place. And my son, it made such an impression on him when he was a kid that he ended up writing about it in his college essay applications. And I think it was, you know, one of the things that helped him get into a great school. Oh, wow. Yeah, it paid off. Was there a documentary or not a documentary, a miniseries about a German occupation in the British island?

There is a documentary about the occupation in the islands. And just recently, there was an article in The New York Times about it, too. So now I fear that they've been discovered. Yeah, we don't want you to say the name of your island. That's why we haven't been asked. Everyone go to Guernsey. Go to the one island over. Exactly.

We've already had one occupation. We don't need the rest. Thank you. How long would you take your kids in the summer? As much time as I could. Usually we would go for about a month. And when I was 16, I spent an entire summer there. And that was a very seminal summer for me because I lived,

my grandparents had retired and were living on the island. And my closest cousin and I spent the summer living in this little cottage that had been my mom's and dad's. And we were 16 years old and we were just the two of us and our best friend, who was also 16. And I will leave the rest of the details to your imagination, but it was a very seminal summer. Thank you, thank you, darling. That sounds magical. It was totally magical. In spite of quite a bit of rain, and it's got, I mean, if you survived the first four days there, because it was such a narrow little island, that if you survived the first four,

you'd come out radiantly healthy. And the other thing was we knew my grandparents were down the road if there was an emergency, you know, which was great. And we all had jobs that we had to work for the summer. So my cousin was managing a little clothing store. Our dear friend who was with us was working as a janitor at the local hospital. And I was a chambermaid at one of the little bed and breakfasts. And boy, was that an education. Yeah.

That's fantastic. Yeah. Now, what age did your kids, because I know there's that moment where kids don't want to go away for the summer because of their friends and their social life. What's the breaking point? Yours are 27 to 20. When were they like, we don't want to go to the island? No, actually, they still want to go. Oh, good.

Yeah, they still want to go, mainly because my cousin had kids the same age as them. And so for them, it was an excuse to see their cousins. And when you get to be a teenager, it is a paradise, that island, because there are all these what they call bunker parties, which are where they take over these old bunkers with the microphones and the music and kegs and you name it. There's a really funny thing happening, which is Julie's already wearing headphones for the podcast, but then she's also covering her ears to not hear them. Same thing as spritzing with perfume when you're on the... Right, exactly. Yeah, just spray your perfume now as loudly as you can. Right, right.

Well, that's one. I mean, I will say, I would imagine, too, as an American, you go somewhere where they're a little more lax at the door of a pub. It's probably a very nice way to... And again, we will leave the rest to the imagination. Indeed, thank you. I'm not going to put a Dave Julia Andrews through this. There were portions of the island long before even you were born, darling, that were so radiantly pretty with either heather or beautiful gorse or something that was just coming out all over the island.

So it was either pink or yellow. So it was either pink or yellow. And it grew the best tomatoes just about a month before England's crop came out because it was that different a climate, really. And it was just everything about it was kind of wonderful. The ferry would come in every day and bring supplies for the local grocery store. But it didn't come in at all if the weather didn't allow the ferry to get in. Yeah, sometimes you'd get bananas once a week if the weather was bad, the wind was blowing the wrong way. But actually, one of my cousins, her eldest daughter still

lives full-time on the island, and she and her husband started a cooperative farm there. And so they are now pretty much keeping the entire island in fruit and vegetables. What an outstanding thing that is. And Julie, for the record, please, I'll say tomato, but you say tomato. All right, I can do either, you know. It doesn't feel right for you to say tomato. Yeah, yeah. It doesn't seem right.

Well, this has been just absolutely a delight. Thank you so much. But before we let you go, Josh has some questions that we ask all of our guests. Also, I don't know if we've talked about that you have yet another book coming out. Yes, exactly. Waiting in the Wings. It's book 36 or thereabouts, which is hitting shelves on April 30th. So grab a copy of that.

And this is a duck-based book, correct? Ducks in the Theater, yes. And is this your first time that you've used ducks? It is. Yeah, we've done mice and cats, but we've never done ducks before. And always to our surprise, we don't realize that we've written yet another animal book and enjoyed it very much. But also in our little sort of research here, it does say it's based on a true story.

It is. Actually, it is. So my husband and I built and co-founded a region, as I mentioned earlier, a small regional theater out on the east end of Long Island. And one spring, a pair of ducks nested in one of our planter boxes in the courtyard. And we were so thrilled and excited and waiting for the big day when all the eggs would hatch. And we made very sure to keep the nest and the ducks protected when audiences would come passing through the courtyard and entering and exiting the theater.

Not knowing there was a nest there. Yeah. And when the ducks, when the eggs started hatching, what we did not know was that the moment the last egg hatches, the mother duck tries to hustle the babies to the nearest water as quickly as possible to get them out of harm's way. So they will nest in a dry area, but then they will go quickly to the water within an hour of hatching. And we were looking out the window and all of a sudden we started to see ducklings toppling out of the planter and landing on the pavement. And the

mother duck was standing there quacking at them like, come on, come on, come on, we got to get going. And the father duck as well. And all of a sudden they began to march towards the road, towards the wharf where our theater is situated. And we were terrified they were going to march into oncoming traffic or encounter dogs or other things. And also you have to mention

that your theater was built on this long yeah at the base of this long wharf yeah juts out into the water and so we quickly mobilized the entire company and everybody ran outside and we created this sort of human uh barricade or chorus line around them and stopped traffic and stopped pedestrians and dogs and you name it. People loved it. And escorted them. Yeah. Escorted them to the water.

Yeah, it was great. There was lots of enthusiasm. But of course, she chose, the mom didn't go the shortest way to the water. She chose the longest route down the entire wharf to the very end. And then they all started toppling into the water. That's how you know you have a theater duck, when they change the most dramatic. But we just kind of embellished our little story because it's too sweet. Yeah, we figured that, you know, you can't write a story about ducks in the theater for kids without having at least one of them go into the theater and see the show.

Of course. So that's where we depart. So based on a true story, but some embellishments. Exactly. We think. I mean, for all we know, you know. Right, exactly. Somebody could have snuck in.

Yeah, there still could be a duck doing monologues in that theater to this day. Julie's never worked with a duck act. No, my parents worked with a duck act. No, my parents worked with a bird act. They were pigeons and they wouldn't, at the end of the act, before my parents came on, they were a singing and entertainment act of music. But the bird act was the pigeons and they were called by their owner or whatever from the balcony, from everywhere, and they all came and landed on his arms. But one night they didn't.

And so my mother and father were doing the opening song and there were birds flying everywhere around them and craziness. And ducking, right? Yeah, yeah. We haven't written about that yet, have we? Next up. Yeah, exactly. I wonder how that act ended when the guy tried to get the pigeons to come back and said, oh, well, anyway.

Yeah, I don't know. Here comes some song and dance. How much stuff was on the stage and all of that. That would be the part I would worry about, yeah. Yeah. I love it. All right, some finishing questions here. You can only pick one of these.

Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational? Can I pick two? I'm not sure. I wasn't going to give you more than one, Emma, but for Julia. Look, I knew Julia was going to try to pull this. No, no. My perfect vacation, which I fantasize and haven't actually done yet, is to go somewhere wonderful on a beach and read a book under the tree, on the sand or, you know, whatever, that kind of thing.

So half educational and pleasing myself with the book, but also lying and relaxing and taking it easy. I can't believe you've yet to manage to take a trip where you can sit on a beach and read a book. Yeah, I know. It's coming. It's going to happen. You deserve that. Thank you. I think so, too. I really do. God damn it. Yeah. I know. It's coming. It's going to happen. You deserve that. Thank you. I think so, too. I really do.

God damn it, yes, I do. She's written 35 books and she hasn't read one. Yeah. Emma, your preference? I guess I would say at this stage of my life, I would say educational. I love to learn

about the history of a place or learn to be surprised and to know myself better or to know the world better by going someplace new. Great. What is your favorite means of transportation? Train, plane, automobile, boat, bike?

Boat. Boat. Boat. A couple boats. I knew it wasn't going to be caravan for Julie. Or horse. I actually would love to. I've often dreamt of doing like a dude ranch vacation.

Or I know there are some like vacations in Ireland where you can take a horse and carriage or horse and caravan. Or they take the caravan to the next or your clothes and things, you know, to the next place. But you actually ride up the West Coast. Yeah, I'd love to do that. I would actually. I've often nightmared about taking a vacation by horse. Well, what's yours, Seth? Have you discussed that many times?

No, I just don't. I don't like being on anything that doesn't have brakes. And Josh, where do you go? I mean, my fiance is an equestrian, but I'm not a competent horseman. So that wouldn't be good. most beautiful bays and little homes. And you could do bed and breakfast and house your horse and then saddle up and go on from there. And she claims that it was one of the loveliest vacations she ever had. That would work for us.

That would work for her. I don't know if it would work for you, though. Yeah, we'd see. You'd have to check in with me after the first day and see how I was holding up. How were your legs? If you could take a family vacation with any family, alive or dead, fictional or real, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a vacation with? Oh, my God.

I think that's virtually impossible. It's very difficult. The first two are kind of easy. Any family. I will say, I believe we've had at least one guest say the Von Trapps. I would imagine. Yeah. Oh.

Although, I got to be honest, don't take this the wrong way. I feel like after a day, they'd be insufferable to be around. Yeah, I think so. You'd be like, not everything is a song. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. That's true. I tell you, they'd have to have a boat, these people.

My friends would have to have a boat, these people, my friends would have to have a boat because since we don't have one now and I miss ours very much, then that would be, it could be anybody if they had a boat. Any family with a boat. Yeah. We'll give them your email and have them reach out. Comfortable and beautiful and motoring and traveling and all of that. Yeah, I would go with that or I would go with a literary family like the March Sisters from Little Women. I think that would be really interesting. I find them fascinating. And Julie, you are from Walton-on-Thames is your hometown. Yeah, Walton-upon-Thames and married. My first marriage was Tony Walton. It was just a happy accident that he was a Walton living in Walton on Thames.

Yeah. Oh, actually, I'm going to swing back for another question. But Walton on Thames, would you recommend that as a vacation destination? Oh, God.

I don't want to put it down, but no. Okay. We don't think our hometown is a good vacation destination. Yeah, so don't do that. It was suburbia and it was just a little bit of, a tiny bit of green and out of London.

It used to be quite sweet, but then everybody started moving out of London and it gradually became more and more sort of. It's more of a bedroom community, really. It's more of a place where. Businessmen and people who. Yeah, people who work in London live. Because it's a little less than half an hour from London.

Very good. It was famous for... We had a sports track in the middle of the village. And Roger Bannister, the first great miler, would train there. And we didn't know he was Roger Bannister. But that's where he trained and was wonderful and became very famous. I think as an American, every time I hear one of those British towns that has a preposition in it, I assume it's very quaint. Well, it was on the Thames and that made me

a lover of rivers and inland waterways. It still is on the Thames. Well, no, yes. Sorry about that. Yes, it hasn't dried up yet. There are some quaint spots. There's a very sweet little pub called The Swan right on the river. And it has a bridge that was painted by Turner. Mr. Turner.

But it isn't so quaint, but it's all we really knew. And so, you know, it was what it was. I don't think anyone's booking a vacation there at this moment. And that's fine. But on the river or going up the river toward Oxford or somewhere like that is gorgeous to do. Yeah. And you get a real sense of history because that's the rivers were the great

highways, you know, Henry Moore. Which that will be my next vacation. Not Henry Moore. Who am I thinking of, darling? The great man who was killed by Henry VIII. Oh, my God. Great artist? No, the Paul Schofield.

That's right. Schofield played him. Cromwell? No, no. Oh, my God. Cromwell. A man, no, a man for all seasons. Man for all seasons, yeah.

Yeah. Thomas More? Sir Thomas More. There we go. You looked. You peeked and looked it up. I did. I did look. Manfall Seasons, yeah. Yeah. Thomas More? It's a Thomas More. There we go. You looked. You peeked and looked it up. I did. I didn't look?

I did. Julie got me. Julie caught me dead to rights. Emma, what do you consider your hometown? Is it London or Los Angeles? It's definitely not Los Angeles. It's where I live now and have lived for the past 30-something years, Sag Harbor in New York, eastern Long Island.

And would you recommend Sag Harbor as a vacation destination? Well, it is a magnificent vacation destination, and many, many people vacation here, but it has become overrun in the summer now, and so I would prefer not to recommend it because I don't think there's room for any more at this point. Is it good at least for the theater? How overrun is it?

It is good for the theater, yeah. I mean, you know, the theater is very much... Well, the one you founded is there and thriving. That's what I was... Yeah, and it's, you know, it's... Many businesses revolve around the resort community nature of the place. But my favorite times of year are in the shoulder seasons, as we call them. Yes, I would imagine. I would imagine.

If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, My favorite times of year are in the shoulder seasons. Yes, I would imagine. I would imagine. If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be? Oh, I know. I can answer that one for myself. Wonderful. Well, first of all, oddly, would be probably you, Em, because we have such fun together. But also, if he was still alive, my dad, who was a nature lover and my real dad, and he loved literature and books and just introduced me to so many lovely things like that. He would have been very resourceful, too, in terms of foraging for food and things like that. Yes, yes. A real nature man. I have to say my husband because he's such a good cook.

So I know he'd take care of us. As Emma says, she married well. I did. And Seth has our final questions. Have either of you been to the Grand Canyon? I have. I've flown over it. I've never actually been into it, which is actually something I would love to do. Okay, well, that was my follow-up.

So you would like to go, Julie? Yes. And my question for you, Emma, is do you feel it is worth it? Well, I have a funny story about the Grand Canyon, Seth, and that is that I went— Did you get chicken pox there, too? But it was that same summer. Okay, gotcha. It was that same summer, and I was 12 years old, and for can't remember why, but I was in a snit about something that day, and I refused to get out of the car.

Great. So I saw the Grand Canyon through the car window while everybody else got out and walked around. I'm really glad I pressed you, because the fact that you said you'd been to the Grand Canyon Canyon and then the follow-up was, I didn't actually get out of the car. I never really saw it. It's so hard to get there and then you did get out of the car. But why the Grand Canyon? I feel like it is the most stereotypical family trips place in America. Do you?

And so we like to close. And the other thing that's important to note is that Josh, and this goes back to a sense of adventure and sense of caution, Josh really wants to go, and I have no interest. What about something like Yellowstone? Yeah, all those work for me, and none of them probably for Seth. Well, Yellowstone works a little bit better because there's not a canyon. I don't like the very idea of anything with an edge.

Except humor, right? I like right, exactly. Look at you, Julie. Yes, I do like my humor to have a little bit of an edge. You know what? With that sharp last word, I think we can leave it there. What a delight to spend time with both of you. Yeah, it's been such a pleasure to talk to you both.

Thank you so much. Thank you. So lovely to talk to you and meet you both thank you for having us of course see you again hopefully one day yes please bye love you thank you bye guys bye emma and julie often packed up their sundries went to so many countries for films. Barbados or up to Ireland, a manor house with horses in England. England. But when you want to rest, they will both attest that being on the water is the best. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Boat sleep. They are in agreement. You have the nicest dreams and nobody bothers you.

Twice as nice as Edelweiss. Boats sleep when the boats are gently rocking. You best not come knocking, cause they're taking the nice news.