Julia Starring Miss Diahann Carroll

It was only on for three years, easy to be forgotten without enough episodes for syndication.

Diahann was charming. And lovely.

But the show was hardly I LOVE LUCY. It has not aged....well.

My mother was a RN growing up so I like watching the show because she dressed the same style uniform. All my other friends moms were stay at home house Fraus so I couldn't relate to a mother just just sat at home all day.

I remember watching it as a kid when it was on network.

I never saw it syndicated anywhere. I'd pretty much forgotten about the series until people here on DL mentioned it here and there.

White woman trapped in a black woman's body. More importantly, she wore a nursing cap. The caps kept one's appearance/hair tidy. When men joined the profession the caps disappeared and scrubs became the universal RN garb.

My mother used to have a nursing cap like that. And when she was young, before I was born, she had a nursing cape! They all did. Like a super hero. My sisters fought over it when she died.

Caps began disappearing from nurses early as 1970's and certainly by 1980's. Students still wore them along with full uniforms at clinicals, but nearly every professional licensed RN or LPN got shot of the things at hospitals and perhaps nursing/care homes. Some old school doctors liked nurses who staffed their offices to wear full starched whites and that included caps, but that was another matter.

First and foremost caps were seen by younger nurses as badges of servitude, which in a way they were. Caps evolved out of the hair covering commonly worn by Victorian women when Florence Nightingale began laying foundations for a modern nursing profession.

Many nurses hated the things because caps were always getting caught up in various orthopedic equipment, privacy drapes/screens, IV lines, etc.. This and caps were a magnet for toddlers and young children to yank upon if a nurse got her head anywhere close enough.

Oh and the things were unsanitary. Standards began to drop and upshot was many nurses didn't bother washing their caps. Worse the things were just thrown into a locker after coming off duty (or on floor), this and were taken off during tour of duty and laid down on desks or anywhere else handy. Often they remained off a nurse's head entire shift unless a head nurse, assistant head nurse, or a supervisor with hair across their behind for all nurses being in full uniform was about.

By 1980's and into good part of 1990's there was a serious shortage of RNs for various reasons. As such nurses gained some clout and began laying down law to hospitals. Some of the things they won was for hospitals and care homes to update the manuals and standards of practice to something more recent than 1940's or 1950's and that included dress code. Nurses wanted to be seen as professionals and employed at a decidedly less boarding school or convent environment.

Dress codes were updated to allow scrubs and colors for all nurses, not just those in units or OR, and caps were gone as part of required uniform. Some nurses still wore them up until day they retired, and you still see them in numbers during Nurses Week", but that's pretty much that.

Men then and now make up such a small population of nurses that their arrival had nothing to do with caps.

By 2000's nearly every RN nursing program in USA got rid of not only student nurse uniforms and caps, but separate capping and pinning ceremony for graduates.

All I know is my mom and my two older sisters loved wearing caps. They were always washing them, ironing them, starching them. They had stacks of them. All perfectly pressed like sheets of thick white cardboard. It was not doom and gloom like that article. In fact I remember they were kind of bummed out when they were not required anymore. They were kind of a status symbol too. Different strips went on the hat like men in military uniforms.

Nursing cape is another throwback from Florence Nightingale days.

Victorian fashions for women often didn't make getting a coat on easy or even possible, so as women (and many men) did for ages prior people wore capes. Other source for tradition of capes for nurses predated arrival of Florence Nightingale, the various religious orders who provided nursing care that had capes as part of their habits.

Back in old days of West Village St. Vincent's Hospital had their school of nursing on Christopher Street. You'd see various student nurses going back and forth between hospital campus and school in their cute uniforms carrying their caps in cases.

St. Vincent's graduates had a funny cap that often frightened young children. Some students and alumni didn't like wearing it because thing sat on front of head, and if not anchored properly would slide down and or off.

She basically invented nursing and figured out people die of infections not just the original wounds.

R8

Stripes or bands on a cap indicated level of education, and or at least one was a graduate of a professional nursing school.

R10

Florence Nightingale not only revolutionized practice and profession of nursing, but by extension that of medicine as well.

"Although Nightingale did not accept the concept of bacterial infection, she deplored crowding and unsanitary conditions. She put her nurses to work sanitizing the wards and bathing and clothing patients. Nightingale addressed the more basic problems of providing decent food and water, ventilating the wards, and curbing rampant corruption that was decimating medical supplies."

More..

Florence Nightingale planted seeds of what evolved into evidence based practice.

It was syndicated at some point, right? I wasn’t even born yet when it originally aired, but I remember watching it in the afternoons when I was a kid. I remember it being cute, and Diahann was certainly charming, but I don’t remember it being a laugh riot or anything.

My sister had a Julia Barbie doll. Probably would be worth something today, but she's long gone.

Image of modern nurse either male or female is someone in scrubs with a scope slung around their neck.

it wasn't that long ago physicians would be howling mad because such nurses "look like doctors".

It was on here in England when I was a kiddie. The only thing I never forgot was when she promised her little boy a special dinner "tonight" and he said longingly "STEAK?" and she said no, too much money! I had no idea steak was such a luxury. I still sometimes remember those two when I buy a steak.

(he was a dollface and she was lovely)

OMG! I had no idea she was dead.

DL fav Elaine Stritch guest starred in an 1983 episode of Trapper John, M.D. titled "Super Nurse".

You can see from early in episode hospital reflected what was going on in real life, staff nurses were still in whites, but some wore caps, others did not. Administration (as in director of nurses, etc...) long since by then ditched caps and starched whites in favor of street dress with a white coat).

1980's was time when advanced practice nurses were gaining ground in states who were allowing them to do more than what normally was allowed under state mandated scope of practice for professional nurses. Needless to say many doctors hit the roof and good number did everything they could to prevent "nurses from playing at practicing medicine"

Today of course even "just" a RN without any advance degree can start and adjust IVs, adjust medications, and other things (within limits) that just forty or thirty years ago would have had said nurse brought up on charges of practicing medicine without a license.

R8

In most clinical settings today nurses are discouraged from wearing caps, outside of perhaps Nurses Week".

Main reason given by administration is that patients and others automatically assume and gravitate towards a nurse wearing said cap. This gives illusion she is only nurse about, which rarely is true.

Caps are gone and never coming back for states like New York, or local areas like New York City that have expansive anti-discrimination statues.

NYC revised it's anti discrimination laws a few years ago to further trans equality. Upshot is all uniforms for schools, employment or whatever cannot be gender based. That is if a man wants to wear a dress to work, so be it...

Thus no healthcare facility in NYC can mandate (even if they would) nurses wear caps, but restrict that part of dress code to females only. Ditto for nursing schools.

Most male nurses one knows both gay and straight have no intention of wearing starched whites (as in a dress, hose, and shoes), and cap to work. But there are a few out there that just might (usually trans), that get off on that sort of hyper femininity fetish.

86 episodes, not enough for a five times a week syndication strip, but I’m sure it would fit somewhere on Decades or MeTV or one of the black substations.

I’m another gayling who never missed an episode, but I wonder what about it has not aged well. I’d be interested in seeing a few episodes to judge for myself.

this is very sad from the NYT article about her TV son:-

Not having a mother of my own to return to, I began asking Ms. Carroll if I could go home with her when we finished shooting for the day. I loved staying with her in her Beverly Hills home, which I did a lot during the show’s first season. It was the lap of luxury, filled with elegant artwork and furniture. She had a wonderful garden where you could pick fresh fruit.

She had a daughter named Suzanne. And though I began to regard Suzanne as my real sister, the feeling was not mutual. Who could blame her? Had Ms. Carroll been my real mother, I would not have wanted to share her, either. I didn’t understand how unhappy the arrangement made Suzanne until I read Ms. Carroll’s memoir “Diahann: An Autobiography.”

“Eventually I had to confront the reason for Suzanne’s anger and begin to remove myself from Marc,” she wrote. “‘Suzie’s my real daughter,’ I explained. ‘And you’re my television son. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you very much. I do. But when the day is over, you must return to your home and I want to do to the same.’ It was such a painful moment. Marc couldn’t understand what was wrong and was terribly hurt.”

Now I want to read that book, R22. I've always liked her, but hadn't given it any thought as to whether or not she'd ever written a memoir.

It was amazing to see a black woman on weekly TV who wasn't named Beulah or Eunice and who spoke as if she were educated.

2021 interview with Marc Copage who played Corey on the series.

Link to the New York Times piece mentioned upthread.

[quote]Most male nurses one knows both gay and straight have no intention of wearing starched whites (as in a dress, hose, and shoes), and cap to work.

My mother had to wear that whole white uniform including white hose and shoes. My father did the taxes because he was cheap so sure enough one day they got audited. I remember going with her to the office with a box of paper recipes. At one point the IRS guy said she could not deduct her hose because they were not part of the uniform. I remember she looked at him and and said "they are WHITE! What woman would wear white pantyhose outside of being a nurse?" I think that pissed her off more than being audited.

@R27

Remember reading in Vouge many years ago now an editorial piece on white summer fashions. Vouge commented in their usual upper class way that wearing white shoes and stocking was like a nurse looking in search of a uniform...

I always liked her too, a lovely lady. Dick Cavett has some smart funny interviews with Diahann Carroll, you can tell they really liked each other, a great relaxed rapport, but Cavett is an expert interviewer, but their chemistry is so real and sweet and genuine... YouTube it. :-)

That was a really good piece at r25, brought a tear to my eye

I've stated this here before, but there's an episode where Julia has a yellow coat, with bits of grey and white. I thought it was the coolest thing!

In 2014 or so, Target had a bedspread with that same yellow pattern as Julia's coat. I knew a queen must've been the designer!

If you watch the pilot episode, she leaves the son alone for 2 hours while she goes on a job interview. That wouldn’t fly today.

[quote]What woman would wear white pantyhose outside of being a nurse?"

I remember when that look was briefly in style in the mid-80's, my Mom who was a nurse in the early 60's and had to wear them for work referred to the pale hose nurse's nylons and did not think it was a good look outside of the nurse's uniform (she was right). Now unless they are wearing tights in colder weather, panty hose of any color is pretty much a thing of the past. I remember playing with the empty egg containers they came in as a kid.

She looks like Monét X Change in OP's photo.

I am so conditioned by now, I was actually tense watching the little black kid with the white family. I kept waiting for something racist to happen.

"This Fall, meet America's most pleasant negress--Julia!"

I remember one of the girls in our class had a Julia lunchbox. It was the envy of our class...for a week, then we went back to discussing if Rock Hudson and Jim Nabors really were married.

I would like nurses to still wear caps and capes. Elegant and professional. Now they are so overworked they just slob around in scrubs and crocs.

Yes. This practical uniform (including the sexy, strappy shoes) will really optimize patient care for those hard-working gals.

I was too young for this unfortunately but my grandma and my mother loved Diahann Carroll because she was a nonstereotypical depiction of a black woman and she had a beautiful young son. It's easy to disregard the importance of actors like Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, Herb Jeffries, Ethel Waters, Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge and Canada Lee had during the time.

It's crazy to think but 20 years before, you had actors in blackface and even children's cartoons done in blackface style with big eyes and huge pink lips speaking in exaggerated Southern accents. So many talented actors like Hattie McDaniel, Lillian Randolph and James Baskett were reduced to playing slavery era stereotypes and the Hays Code made it even worse. It felt like propaganda to justify segregation. Josephine Baker left to go to France because she was limited by her race.

I'm grateful my mom educated me on how tough things were and how many sacrifices our ancestors made. It made me more grateful, got an education and try my best to work hard.

Diahann talks about the reaction to the show.

I've read very disparaging posts about her over the years on various theater and TV forums from people who've had to work with her. I'm not talking about gossip sites like CDAN, Blind Gossip or TMZ. I'm talking about places like our own Theater Gossip threads. Words like entitled, demanding, diva, bitch and cunt come up regularly.

Well, Dynasty did her wrong.

She can't have been as monstrous as Cosby. It is funny that Julia's not talked about more. It was a groundbreaking series and, unlike the Cosby clan, Julia's not affluent. She's a working mother.

At least when students still wore uniforms and caps there was something nurses could relate to I suppose. But since that ended many decades ago now most young or nurses otherwise below age of say 50 just don't have any idea, nor do they want to know.

At least in 1990's staff/floor nurses at Lenox Hill hospital on UES wore whites (and yes, those who wore dresses had white hose), but when that place was bought by North Shore-Long Island Jewish all that ended, it was scrubs for everyone.

Ironically IIRC the nursing assistants or housecleaning staff at LH then voted to wear what was long one of the standard issue student nurse uniforms (one with bib).

White seems sanitary. Well, at least in appearance.

Saint Paul's school of nursing on Staten Island at least then wore said "bib" uniform, but only tops for females.

Some waiter on here had a funny story about Carroll insisting on a type of wine that didn't exist. She had a problem with alcohol, apparently.

Someone else had a story about their musician grandpa who walked out on a gig with Carroll because she'd accuse the orchestra of stealing her jewellery.

*accused

Miss Diahann Carroll's introduction as "Dominique Deveraux" remains one of if not the top of evening television dramas. Queens, trans, drag queens.. everyone has milked that scene again and again for all it's worth.

Then came the battle of the wigs; Dominique meets Alexis. Latter couldn't lay a glove on former, with Dominique gaining upper hand early on and it was "set, match, game" afterwards.

R40 Since you mentioned actor Canada Lee in a post about Diahann Carroll, just thought I’d mention that both are at rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Canada Lee’s actor son Carl Lee is there too.

Diahann Carroll wrote at least two memoirs, one is called Diahann! the other is The Legs Are The Last To Go.

Carroll was one of the most beautful women to grace a screen but Stephanie Beacham was leagues ahead of her in the acting department.

She sang with Judy Garland.

I wonder if she ever hooked up with sexy Tom Jones.

Another great actor born and raised in Bronx, NY., and Ms Carroll chose to go home for her final resting place.

I wonder what she thought of the food choices in her area.

[Quote]I wonder what she thought of the food choices in her area.

Satisfying and affordable.

Her box was boring.

Now, this is what I call a box.

I saw her once in real life when I was a gayling working at the Baltimore in Santa Barbara as a bus boy. It was during her Dynasty years and she was dressed up just like she walked off the set. Hat included.