Audition: A Memoir, by Barbara Walters
"As I look back, it feels to me that my life has been one long audition -- an attempt to make a difference and to be accepted." Barbara Walters proposes to audition for the listener as she narrates her memoirs. Born into show business as the daughter of impresario Lou Walters, Barbara has experienced the evolution of the industry from vaudeville, through the golden age of television to today's media offerings. As the first female co-anchor of a network news show, she's credited with opening the door for women in broadcast journalism. In Audition, Barbara is brutally honest in discussing the seemingly self-centered choices she's made in her personal life. However, she reveals little known information about the actual role she played in caring for her parents and mentally disabled sister.
Barbara started out working behind the scenes at NBC in the early 1950s, but when she was promoted from gofer to Today Show co-host, her onscreen life began. An old boys' club mentality of the time made it difficult for her to thrive. She is openly critical of the treatment she received from several of the well-known male news anchors of the 50s and 60s. Management presented roadblocks to her success, too. When she wanted to move to 60 Minutes, she was told by a producer, "You don't have the right looks and you don't pronounce your r's right." That inability to enunciate r's became a source of ridicule by comedian Gilda Radner who created the Saturday Night Live character, "Baba Wawa." Although, initially hurt by the joke, Barbara Walters later accepted Gilda's humor and the two became friends.
As titillating as the inside information
about the heralded male gods of early network news shows
is, the most fascinating aspect of this memoir is Barbara's
first person account of her relationships, conversations
and encounters with the major political figures of the
20th and 21st centuries. She tells of cruising the Bay
of Pigs with Fidel Castro in a speed boat and then being
personally driven to the mountain roots of his revolution.
She recounts meetings with Golda Meir, Anwar Sadat,
Menacham Begin, Moshe Dayan, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter
and hosts of other political figures and celebrities.
What keeps this book grounded in reality and addictively
readable is her penchant for pointing out her flaws
and failures. For the most part, she acknowledges them
without apology, explaining that she made particular
choices, right or wrong, and her current situation is
the result. Although, it may seem to her viewers that
she's led a charmed life, it's obvious after listening
to Audition that Barbara Walters is solely responsible,
through her determination, courage and hard work for
all the charm we see in her success.
Ruth Mormon
6/27/08
(As CD read by author is no longer available, changed links to print version 11/18/22, RTA)
