ik)d

Do c ks n D etroit

ulie Gilbert has seen 45 dif-
ferent performances of Show
Boat, but the draw goes deep-
er than classic entertainment.
That's because the musical is
based on Edna Ferber's novel
of the same name, an anchor
for some of Gilbert's most out-
standing personal and pro-
fessional experiences.
As Ferber's grandniece, Gilbert was giv-
en the first name of a main character in
Show Boat (1926), grew up to the stories
and songs surrounding the book and sub-
sequent productions and memorialized all
of it in a hard-cover volume soon to be
reprinted in paperback, Ferber: A Biog-

raphy of Edna Ferber and Her Circle.

`The first songs I remember among my
lullabies were 'Can't Help Lovin' Dat
Man' and 'Bill,' recalled Gilbert, who took
her professional surname from a char-
acter in an F. Scott Fitzgerald book giv-
en to her by Ferber, also author of So Big
(1924), for which she won the Pulitzer
Prize; Cimarron (1930); Saratoga Trunk
(1941); and Giant (1952).

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Julie Gilbert: "Aunt Edna" served as a role model
- _ for her grandniece and biographer.

"Her dream for me was to play Magno- a collection than anybody ever has esti-
`The owner of the boat befriended her,
lia some day, and she was so supportive mated," said Gilbert.
and I think that the flavor of that period is
and optimistic about my career as a young
`There were boxes upon boxes that went very much the flavor of what's evoked in
actress that she didn't really bother with to a warehouse. I had them shipped to an this production.
the details — for instance, that I really office, and I just sat down on the floor day
"Aunt Edna would tell me about seeing
couldn't sing. She was extremely loyal to after day and went through everything."
the play for the first time and the second
her family."
Gilbert's book reprints the correspon- time and the hundredth time. She never
Although that hoped-for acting success dence Ferber had with the many celebri- stopped getting chills when Joe went on
never came to the granddaughter of Edna ties who filled her life through the plays stage and sang '01' Man River.'
Ferber's sister, Gilberes skills as an author and films that gave sonorous voice to her
"She remembered the first time Jerome
were nurtured by the relative she describes fiction. Gilbert recounts occasions where Kern came to her home to play it for her.
as independent, sensitive and gen-
There were no words at that time;
erous toward her.
it was just a melody. He started in,
Ferber's temperamental nature
and the hairs on the back of her neck
toward others also is described in
literally stood up."
the biography that recounts in-
In the process of looking back,
stances of the late author's fighting
Gilbert, married to acoustics spe-
anti-Semitism despite being raised
cialist Francis Daniel, wonders
in a family that did not observe Jew-
why the younger generations nev-
ish traditions.
er thought it strange that a Jew-
"I don't remember feeling any-
ish family celebrated Christmas
thing but affection for Aunt Edna,"
and Easter while quite open about
recalled Gilbert, who lives in New
acknowledging their religious her-
York and recently has written a bi-
itage.
ography of actress Paulette Goddard
Gilbert discloses a private dedi-
and novelist Erich Maria Remar-
cation, found among Ferber's notes,
que, Opposite Attraction.
of the author's autobiography, A Pe-
"She saw to it that we spent time
culiar Treasure: "To Adolf Hitler,
alone, and although the time was
who has made of me a better Jew
not enormous, it was always top
and a more understanding and tol-
quality. We had very special days of
erant human being, as he has of mil-
going to Schwarz's toy store, eating
lions of other Jews, this book is
a fancy lunch, seeing a ballet or mu-
dedicated in loathing and contempt."
sical comedy and taking a walk to
Gilbert writes about Ferber's sup-
the park.
porting four distant relatives, Ger-
"She trained me early to have a
man Jewish children brought to the
writer's eye. We'd sit on a bench
United States after their parents
Author
E
dna
Ferber
in
1920,
six
years
before
she
wrote
Show Boat.
near the zoo, and she'd ask what I
were killed in the Holocaust.
thought of people passing by; and then, I she met stars such as Elizabeth Taylor,
While Gilbert's biography is full of Fer-
would tell her. It was a game, but it actu- Rock Hudson and James Dean and how ber's incidents of temperament and rec-
ally was extremely instructive of how to in- exciting that was for a youngster.
onciliation shown toward people like
tuit what people are like."
There are many stories about Ferber's playwright Moss Hart, actress Katharine
In getting to know what her great-aunt writing Show Boat, which happened after Hepburn and various producers, the grand-
was like beyond their personal relation- the popular author took a respite on the niece likes to dwell on what she found in-
ship, Gilbert went through vast numbers type of floating theater depicted in her spirational.
of records — diaries and correspondence work.
"Ferber gave me backbone, and she
— kept by Ferber, whose very early years
"Aunt Edna was an avid researcher, was my role model," said Gilbert, who
were spent in Kalamazoo, where her fa- and she was so vicarious that she would keeps Ferber's letters to her as well as
ther had a dry goods business.
just live somebody else's life," Gilbert the author's mahogany desk and a book-
"The bulk of Ferbees estate went to the reminisced about her single aunt, whose case filled with her great-aunt's first edi-
University of Wisconsin, but as with any social schedule was filled with glamorous tions. "For her, every day was a new play
famous person who dies, there's more of parties.
to be played." ❑