May 4 Audrey Hepburn’s Birthday Remembered
Cute Audrey with her mother when she was little
Me when I was about her age then, seven years difference
Audrey, 13, when she lived in Arnhem about 10 miles away from us and when we met
Us on May 5, 1945 when we were so happy that the dreadful war was over and we were still alive.
Ballet in Arnhem at the Conservatorium, 16 years old.
Audrey’s portrait in 1950 that stood on my grand piano.
Me in the French Alps close to Geneva where I worked
Audrey at Tolochenaz near Lausanne where she lived while I worked in Geneva. Public Photo
Audrey as devoted UNICEF Ambassadrice, shortly before she passed away. UNESCO Photos
Far away but always close.
Audrey Hepburn’s May 4 Birthday and Some Women I Have Known
Audrey 16 years old
John 9 years old
John in Geneva and Audrey in Tolochenaz
My sweet memories of Audrey Hepburn are revealed in Chapter 1 of Some Women I Have Known, now published on amazon.com and soon available in paperback and hardcover. The short story I wrote some time ago is incorporated in this book.
My publisher, Willow Manor Publishing Inc., and I wanted it out by May 4, Audrey’s birthday. As many may remember, Audrey died of intestinal cancer in 1993. Maybe the horrible malnourishment during the war-years in Holland that she went through sowed the seeds for that illness in her body. Her departure from her close family and millions of friends shocked everyone. It depressed me for a long time. After her brilliant career as a movie actress, with that lovable face and her unique eyes and smiles, she devoted herself completely to the malnourished children of UNICEF in Africa, South-Asia, and the Far-East, till just a few months before her passing away.
My memories are only on the fringe of her life. I only knew her and her mother when I grew up, and more recently e-mailed a few times with her son Sean. She came to visit my grandparents with her mother and grandfather during World War II when they lived near Arnhem because they were family and good friends, and my grandparents lived close by. I happened to be there on vacation. It was a brief afternoon, the memory of which stuck in my mind because she was such a bright-smiled and amiable girl, some 6 years older than I, and we both suffered so much from this war, she more than I because she was older and her stepbrothers were taken away. Even a little boy remembers such things. In Some Women I Have Known I tell this story, and her sudden apparition many years later in Geneva where I worked and she stayed in nearby Tolochenaz, and we could remember this precious encounter when she was still a little girl herself, not yet discovered, trying to find her way under the guidance of her strong-willed mother, whom I called “Aunt Ella.”
I can’t be but very sentimental about Audrey. Her whole life she kept mesmerizing us at home. She lived at the firmament and we were so amazed that the girl, who came by on a visit, became such a wonderful star. When I studied in Paris, she filmed Charade with Cary Grant and had no time to see me. When I finally succeeded in Geneva, by pure luck, she remembered and told me that filming Charade had been very demanding on her, not in the least because of the exacting Cary Grant.
I hope you enjoy Some Women I have Known. The novel is based on the nine short stories that I published under the same overarching title on Amazon before. I rewrote the stories into a self-standing novel to which is added the story Joy to the World (not previously published) which tells who the author (under the fictitious name of John van Dorn) finally marries. The content of some of the short stories has been slightly modified to mold them into a single storyline.
The title of the novel is taken from the bundle of short stories originally written under the same title by Maarten Maartens, aka Joost van der Poorten Schwartz (1858-1915), my Grand- Uncle, which was published by William Heineman, London, and D. Appleton & Company, New York, in 1901. He wrote 14 novels and 4 bundles of short stories, all still very readable and written in a luscious and illuminating style. His Some Women, in a reprint, is also available on Amazon.com, but their content is, of course, totally different from mine. The book explains why.
The back flap of my Some Women I Have Known tells the interested reader that the novel is a coming-of-age tale in which John van Dorn searches for his true love and meets some playful, perilous, and wonderful women along the way. He rides a pony with soon-to-be film star Audrey Hepburn, senses his first fondness of female attention at elementary school, experiences tender moments with his cello-playing sweetheart while at boarding school, loses his virginity in a risky adventure, then savors several dangerous and unfortunate loves in Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva and the Swiss Alps, learning that life is full of losses and ephemeral relationships. After rescuing a woman in the middle of Africa and a narrow escape of life and death, he finally finds peace of mind with a warm and beautiful Caribbean goddess in the United States.
Each tale can be read in one sitting. So, relax and enjoy with a lush glass of wine, a smooth VSOP brandy or a cup of mellow cappuccino, and smile or drop a tear. The preliminary reviews are positive:
“Paying homage to his great uncle, an ex–World Bank professional makes his debut with a memoir featuring the series of women he encountered in his youth. If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Joost van der Poorten Schwartz (or Maarten Maartens as he was called in publishing circles) scored the jackpot…
A wistful memory…” Kirkus Review.
Enjoy it, and give it a review and the stars you like.
Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund
Dear Guests:
The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund (www.audreyhepburn.com) is in continuous need of money to fund its efforts to save malnourished and orphaned children. I wrote the short story “Audrey” with the purpose of raising some money for the Fund to show my gratefulness of having met her in my personal family life. So I am sending a kind reminder.
Recently, I stumbled on a small picture of Audrey in the house of a Dutch friend in Nice who had kept it for me during the years. She had also met Audrey in her youth in Amsterdam, when, in 1947, Audrey had moved there with her mother, Aunt Ella as I called her, from Arnhem. A sister of Audrey’s mother, whose name was Geraldine, used to help my friend’s father, whose wife had died, to take care of her disabled little sister. Ella took Audrey to that house from time to time.
The picture below got cracked during the years. It was first restored by Kendal Brenneman from Lancaster USA <http://www.kendalbrenneman.com>, a kind friend of the Audrey Fan club, and further refined through my daughter’s office (trial/graphix.com). It was taken by a Dutch photographer in Arnhem, in 1946, probably at the Arnhem Conservatory where Audrey took dancing lessons when she was 16.
The back of the photograph shows the genuine identity of the photograph. The handwriting on the back is that of an Aunt of mine who had received the photograph from Audrey’s mother to keep it for me. The photograph seems rare as I have not seen it anywhere in the many Audrey photo books published.
Audrey, 13 years old
In an earlier blog, I showed a family picture (above) when Audrey was 13, the age I met her during World War II. You can see the similarity between the two foregoing pictures, but also her gradual blossoming into a beautiful woman.The cover of the Audrey story I wrote shows one of the first photographs when she started modeling in London in the early fifties. It is also a rare picture as I have not seen it anywhere else either. She must have been about 21 at that time and you can clearly see how she had grown into the beauty that made her famous.
I am sending these photographs around again to entice you to purchase the Audrey short story published on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKY4CC0) for a mere $0.99 or thereabout, depending on where you are (net proceeds will go straight to the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund), or go directly to www.audreyhepburn.com and make your contribution there. Through recent connections with the Audrey fan club http://www.audrey1.org/ I was surprised to see how many people are still Audrey fans. She did indeed leave a fabulous legacy that few stars can emulate. I just hope it will continue to shine on the needy children through the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund. Give it your best!
Thanks so much!
John