Go Slow: The Life of Julie London

by Michael Owen

It has been said that the records of singer and actress Julie London were purchased for their provocative, full-color cover photographs as frequently as they were for the music contained in their grooves. During the 1950s and ’60s, her piercing blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and shapely figure were used to sell the world an image of cool sexuality.

The contrast between image and reality, the public and the private, is at the heart of Julie London’s story. Through years of research; extensive interviews with family, friends, and musical associates; and access to rarely seen or heard archival material, author Michael Owen reveals the impact of her image on the direction of her career and how it influenced the choices she made, including the ultimate decision to walk away from performing.

Go Slow follows Julie London’s life and career through its many stages: her transformation from 1940s movie starlet to coolly defiant singer of the classic torch ballad “Cry Me a River” of the ’50s, and her journey from Las Vegas hotel entertainer during the rock ’n’ roll revolution of the ’60s to the no-nonsense nurse of the ’70s hit television series Emergency!

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2017

About the author

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Reviews

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3 STARS
2017; Chicago Review Press/Independent Publishers Group
(Review Not on Blog)

I had not heard of Julie London when I requested this book, but I liked the synopsis. London was popular in the 1950s and 1960s as an actress and singer. She would then tackle television as an actress. London admired Billie Holiday and those were the sultry songs she sang herself. Side note, she was also married to Jack Webb, best known for Dragnet (one of my favourite old time radio programs). A decent biography, but if you like scandalous like I do, not much here.

***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book received from Edelweiss.

The book focuses mainly on Julie London's musical career something that many people around my age know nothing about. My generation is likely to be more familiar with her acting roles especially as Head Nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency. I have to admit that is the main reason I wanted to read this book, even though I had "discovered" her career as a singer a few years ago, along with the songwriting career of her second husband Bobby Troup, Doctor Joe Early also of Emergency fame. At this time I still have not heard any of her music, though it seems to have been very popular in the 50's and 60's. While I was watching Emergency for the paramedics, especially Johnny Gage, I was a huge fan of Dixie McCall as well like many of my aunts she was a nurse, at least on TV, and like said aunts she was married IRL but worked outside the house. In the 70's that was still a not so common thing to not be a stay at home wife and mother. I highly enjoyed this biography, and I learned quite a few things about Julie London. This is definitely a book that I'll add to my shelves in the future.

#emojiathon Book You've Been Anticipating

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie London had a singing and acting career unlike any other. Physically, she matured at a young age and was drawing admiring looks from men when she was around fifteen. She was always musical, listening to music and singing from an early age but her beauty and voluptuous figure also drew her into modelling, theater, and film. She was always serious and mature for her age and had a no-nonsense, down-to-earth attitude that didn't include the ambition and ego of many in these professions. She was modest, self-effacing, and had to be talked into her career by the two main men in her life: Dragnet actor Jack Webb (her First husband) and pianist, singer, songwriter Bobby Troup (her second). She never studied either profession and her skills were self-taught, learned by the trial and error of experience. Her film career was based around her looks and although she could handle dramatic scenes, she needed a sympathetic, sensitive director, something she rarely got in the money-based Hollywood of the 1950's and 1960's. Her singing style, low, whispering, intimate and sexy was based on her understanding and interpretation of the subtlety of lyrics and was best in a small group setting: piano, guitar, bass and some quiet drumming rather than being a belting singer in front of a large orchestra. Her eye-catching record covers, which looked more like pin-up and glamour spreads may have been good for record sales but were also distractions from her talent. Some critics didn't understand these strengths and gave her short shrift but fans of her style have grown as time has passed and, today, she's ranked with some of the best of her time, up with the likes of Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett when it comes to song interpretation. There's also a mystery quality in her work. The listener is drawn in to discover her rather than being overwhelmed by her projection and technique. Since her film roles were mainly supporting parts, she never got the exposure an actor needs for a serious career and she didn't doggedly pursue it. She was always more comfortable being a stay-at-home wife and mother and hanging out with her small circle of musician friends than being a "celebrity." After her 1970's television show "Emergency," she all but retired from acting and as smoking, alcohol and health issues started to affect her voice, instead of working on it, she retired from singing as well, unless it was at home. Michael Owen's well-researched book sheds much needed light on this reclusive artist. - BH.

[Jennifer Villa · Rating 4 out of 5]

there are just some singers who captivate you more than others.
•
after listening to dozens of females artists from the 50s and 60s, i always found myself coming back to julie...
•
julie’s distinct style of singing is like a whisper— a soft, sultry, haunting voice.
•
back in the day, many called her singing delicate and small… but while her volume is gentle, i would never use the word “small” to describe her impact.
•
because her singing was quiet, her style never seemed to work with many of the overproduced orchestral numbers of the day.
•
in a way, this made her “minimalist” tracks some of the most raw recordings of their time.
•
julie glowed with just a single guitarist, some tracks even recorded in her own living room. (near unheard of for highly produced artists in the 50s-60s).
•
she’d lock herself away to work alone, practicing for hours and hours to perfect one song. but even after recording a masterpiece, she was quoted saying she “didn’t think (she) was a very good singer at all.”
•
having read her biography, it fascinated me to learn that julie fought a lifelong battle of low self-esteem and lack of confidence in her music.
•
she was introverted and shy, and would rather drink her smirnoff, smoke her marlboros and sing jazz in her living room with her closest friends than perform at a grand venue. (goals, sis, goals).
•
after over a decade of performing, she’d still get sick with anxiety to step on stage!
•
it humbles and astounds me that some people just can’t recognize their own talent.
•
i wonder what she’d think if she knew that nearly 70 years later, there are people like me, still listening in amazement and admiration.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

As a biography, Go Slow is an easy read that rarely gets bogged down or goes off on tangents. The author sticks to the chronological history with a focus on the recordings/films/tv roles rather than Julie London's personal life. But the author is clearly a fan and as often happens, perhaps loses a bit of subjectivity in the process. There isn't really anything negative to be found in the book about the singer/star and it feels like we are left on the outside looking in - never really getting any understanding of the singer/actress. The read was very disaffecting and felt more like an extensive Wikipedia entry than an in depth examination of someone who must have been more interesting than as presented here.

The text flows smoothly and the author is very personable. From the sources, it appears Owen mostly talked with London's confidants, relatives, and good friends. As such, nary an unkind word was to be found. I did find too many instances of hero worship: anything she touched he felt she turned to gold or it was a magnum opus (if that is possible). After while, anything she did was full of superlatives whether it succeeded or not (and if it didn't, the failure was due to things outside of London's control). There are hints only at the end of the book that drinking was a problem, she gambled excessively, and had a problematic relationship with her children - but that's it. Maybe 1-2 sentences in the entire book hint at anything less than pleasant going on. Especially missing is her relationships with her two husbands, both of whom appeared to have a very complicated and very different relationship with London. The focus is clearly on London's accolades and not London herself.

I do wish the author had taken the biography to a more in depth place. Julie was a private person and it is almost as if he is respecting that; but at the same time, why would I want to read a biography that reads more like a catalog of achievements? By the end of the book, I didn't really feel like I knew her any better and so much of it was very forgettable because it was a bit bland. Nothing really scandalous or revealing, none of the problems with husbands or children, none of the reasons why she drank so much or why she felt the need to protect herself so much. There's a lot of tell but little show -e.g., we're told a lot that she was strong willed and stood up for herself, but never given any actual situations that demonstrated that trait. We have to take the author's word for it.

Especially missing were details. A good example is the brief pages about the Emergency! years - there are no anecdotes from episodes, funny outtake examples, or anything about those 5 years other than that the paycheck was great and the cast liked to come over to her house. There's no real insight by the biographer and that leaves the book feeling very flat. Most of the book is about her recordings and describing the songs on the many albums she recorded. We learn absolutely nothing about her children and her relationship with them.

So, although the book was clearly well researched, it has no flavor or personality. Somehow, Julie London comes off as being as boring as the book itself - and there's nothing to remember her by other than the author's glowing descriptions of her achievements. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3-1/2 stars) Back in the days of Napster (end of the 90s into early 2000s), I discovered the music of Julie London. A sultry version she sang of the bubblegum song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was included on an episode of Six Feet Under. I was quite taken with it, searched Napster for recordings by her, and downloaded a handful of them. This eventually led, as Napstering often did, to me buying some of her music on CD and later on iTunes. I never watched the TV show Emergency for which she is probably best remembered now (aside from her one big chart hit "Cry Me a River") so I knew little about her. So I excited when I saw this book at the library.

It ended up being more about her career and music than about her as a person, which is par for the course for bios that are pieced together mostly from press releases and old interviews. Still, if this is never really scratches the surface of her personal life, it is a fairly exhaustive survey of her albums and her concert and club appearances. If Owen couldn't hunt down many people who knew her well (she died in 2000), he did manage to collect lots of information about her recording sessions, her live shows, and her movie roles. It seems that London didn't really think much of her own singing, and admitted she didn't have the drive or ambition to keep a career going full steam ahead. Owen occasionally hints that she may have had problems with alcohol--she often needed a nip or two before recording--but he never digs up much evidence of real alcohol abuse. The middle of the book drags, becoming a string of unvarying descriptions of her live show, but still I enjoyed the chapters about her recordings, and I am now more interested than ever in getting more acquainted with her music.

[Barred Owl Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been said that the records of singer and actress Julie London were purchased for their provocative, full-color cover photographs as frequently as they were for the music contained in their grooves. During the 1950s and ’60s, her piercing blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and shapely figure were used to sell the world an image of cool sexuality.

The contrast between image and reality, the public and the private, is at the heart of Julie London’s story. Through years of research; extensive interviews with family, friends, and musical associates; and access to rarely seen or heard archival material, author Michael Owen reveals the impact of her image on the direction of her career and how it influenced the choices she made, including the ultimate decision to walk away from performing.

Go Slow follows Julie London’s life and career through its many stages: her transformation from 1940s movie starlet to coolly defiant singer of the classic torch ballad “Cry Me a River” of the ’50s, and her journey from Las Vegas hotel entertainer during the rock ’n’ roll revolution of the ’60s to the no-nonsense nurse of the ’70s hit television series Emergency!

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I sing low and sexy because I can't sing any higher." Never one to have a high opinion of her singing or acting, Julie London seemed far too modest, in retrospect. London's impressive career resulted in over 30 albums and most are still available today. As Michael Owen points out in his excellent biography of London, it may have been the sexy cover albums that lured record buyers to try her albums, but it was her sultry voice combined with spare jazz productions that made lifelong fans. Those fans as well as curious newcomers to London's music will get the most out of "Go Slow." Owen details her records and live performances perhaps to the detriment of coverage of her marriages to actor/producer Jack Webb ("Dragnet") and writer/performer Bobby Troupe ("Route 66"). The latter was a happy union for London both professionally and personally. Troupe and London would find late career success in acting on "Emergency!" a Jack Webb production, giving both a new generation of fans who were clueless as to their music careers. "Go Slow" (named for one of London's favorite songs) does justice to a singing career worth rediscovering. Start with "Cry Me a River." Recommended.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Julie London's records still sell well, and her hits from the 1950s and 60s are often featured on TV and in advertising, little is known of the lady herself. A striking beauty, she deserves to be considered among the finest popular singers of her era, but her laidback, sensual vocal style has been criminally underrated. This is, incredibly, her first major biography (barring the 2013 book, Lady Liberty: The Definitive Julie London Handbook, which arguably laid the groundwork.) Author Michael Owen makes a compelling case for reviewing her musical legacy, revealing a serious artist whose shyness and self-deprecation sometimes worked against her. Owen also covers her unhappy first marriage to Dragnet star Jack Webb, her heavy drinking and smoking which was something of an occupational hazard, and her lasting happiness with second husband, composer Bobby Troup. She also had an interesting film career which never quite took off, long before her best-known role in the 1970s TV series, Emergency!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Goodreads and Chicago Review Press for the opportunity to read this book.

To be honest, I didn't know anything about her except that she was a pretty blonde (during her Emergency days), and was once married to Jack Webb and Bobby Troup, her co-star on Emergency. I didn't know much about him either and I found out that he was a star in his own light, as a piano player, song writer and performer.

She really didn't want to be in the spotlight, but persevered and was very popular, on the stage, but hardly in her bit roles in movies.

I learned a lot and really enjoyed this book. Of course the end of her life was sad, due to a stroke and years of drinking and smoking.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recieved this book from winning a goodreads giveaway. I honestly had never heard of Julie London so was curious to read it and learn about her. I found that Michael Owen did well writing the book and really put it so I was able to see and relate to her. I was sad to hear how her life ended but enjoyed the book learning about her life/ legacy.

[Marisa Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of the singer and actress Julie London - her successes and failures, her marriage and divorce from Jack Webb, her marriage to Bobby Troup and her children. Book provides insight on the ups and downs of her musical career. One problem with I had with book is that it is too detailed at parts (song titles, album names, reviews and reviewers).

[Carol Havlik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ended up skimming through most of the book. It was okay but had many reviews on her music which is good. Skipped up to the chapter on Emergancy which I know her most from so it was interesting to read about her life before the show

[Donie Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Looked forward to learning more about Julie London, but instead got a recitation of London's records, films & TV shows with few details about her life. Reminiscent of the Stevie Nicks bio "Gold Dust Woman". Writer is great at indexing, but has no insight or revelations about his primary character.

[Rob Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brisk and entertaining.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, even-handed biography of a singer I hadn't known much about, other than her hits and appearance in THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT.

[Simon Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read, a great insight into the life of Julie London. All the more worth a read as there is so little written about this remarkable singer.

[Timothy Musser]

Although most people of my generation knew Julie London asDixie McCall, she had a musical career in which she cut 32 albums, a mix of songs by various artists, covers, as well as songs written by Bobby Troupe, her husband of many years.

While interesting, it's a bit disappointing that the first 200 pages of the book was written as a love affair with her music, while her time on Emergency!, only covers about 15 pages, and then covers Bobby's passing and eventually her own.

As the title is Go Slow, so does the book.