I used to watch this movie at least twice a year with my mom. It was her favorite, and I knew all the songs long before I hit double digits!
Eventually, much of the von Trapp settled in Stowe, Vermont, not all that far from where I grew up. The family owns a lodge there, where my family visited when I was young. Years later, one of Maria’s grandchildren was a student at the university where I worked, becoming a student-intern under my supervision. He was not interested in the fame/infamy that came with the name!!
1. the grace that wasn’t
The opening scene of The Sound of Music shows young Maria singing and dancing in a mountaintop meadow. She appears carefree and full of joy. In reality, it was anything but. During filming, it was raining and cold more often than not. And during that specific scene there was a low-flying helicopter used for filming, which created a down draft that repeatedly flattened her into the ground
2. the quintessential Maria almost wasn’t
Although Richard Rodgers wanted Julie Andrews to play Maria, no one else involved agreed. She was a theater actress, and for whatever reason, others thought she wouldn’t do well on a movie screen, in color. But when they saw the rushes from her Mary Poppins role, they changed their minds.
3. trauma drama
Poor little Gretyl, played by Kym Karath… the overturning rowboat scene terrified her. Kym was only 5 and couldn’t swim. When the boat overturned, Julie Andrews was supposed to fall forward and rescue her. But the stunt went wrong, and Julie fall back and couldn’t get to Kym as quickly. The little girl went under, swallowed a lot of water, and then vomited on Heather Menzies-Urick, who played her older sister Louisa.
4. drunk and sad
Christopher Plummer, the iconic Captain von Trapp, hated the movie, even dubbing it The Sound of Mucus. He thought it was terrible, too sentimental. So his solution? To get drunk and eat away his sorrows for the duration of filming. Apparently, he indulged so much that his costumes had to be let out to accommodate his weight increase.
5. inconvenient growth spurt
Nicholas Hammond, the actor who played Friedrich, had an unfortunate growth spurt that caused complications with continuity in the filming of the movie. He started filming at 5’3″ and shot up to 5’9″. To keep the continuity, he had to be shorter than the character Liesl but taller than the character Louisa. When filming began, he wore lifts, but by the end, Charmian Carr (Liesl) had to stand on a box.
6. the yodeling Marias
Years later, the real Maria von Trapp came on an episode of The Julie Andrews Hour, and they yodeled together!!
7. the lies, the lies
In the movie, the family escapes the Nazis after a treacherous crossing through the mountains from Austria into Switzerland. But in reality, the family took a train to Italy. The movie version really makes no sense, as if they had gone that way, they would have crossed into Germany, not Austria, not far from Hitler’s mountain retreat.
8. and more lies
There was actually much about the movie that differed from real life.
- Starting with the children… there were 10, not 7.
- And the real Maria was supposed to be the governess to just 1 child, rather than all of them.
- In the movie, the Captain and Maria marry just before their escape, but in truth, the were married 11 years before the Nazis occupied Austria.
- The real Captain was far from the disciplined, often harsh man in the movie. He was considered to be a kind, loving man.
- It was less a love match in reality, although that changed as time went on. Maria wrote that she married him for the love of his children, not her love for him.
- The Captain in real life actually held the title “Ritter” which was of a higher social status than that of a naval offiver.
- bonus fact: Maria’s grandchild told me that, in truth, it was Maria who was often the harsh, disciplinarian, unlike her character in the movie.
9. cameos, baby
The real Maria makes a cameo in the movie, along with her daughter and granddaughter. The three of them are walking about as Movie Maria leaves the abbey, at about 1:48-1:49 into the video.
10. the attack of the giggles
The iconic love scene between Maria and the Captain was not as romantic as it seemed. The lights above them continuously made rude noises that cause the pair to break scene and giggle. It got so bad that the director finally turned off the lights and filmed them in silhouette instead.
11. do-re-mi… yikes!
It took a couple months of rehearsal to get the bike ride scene ready for filming. Long before traveling to Salzburg for filming, Julie Andrews and the kids would practice riding to the music through the Fox lot. It was incredibly difficult to match the pacing of the riding with the music.
12. the skill sets required
The puppet scene required weeks of rehearsals. Julie Andrews and the children spent weeks rehearsing with puppet choreographers, using specially designed puppets, to get the scene down. Even though they weren’t really controlling them in the movie, they needed to look as if they were.
13. samples and covers
My Favorite Things, one of the most iconic songs from the movie, has been sampled and covered by many artists over the years. Here are a few of my favorite… songs. And the OG.
That was an interesting read. I haven’t seen that movie in years.
I knew someone in high school who had read a book about them and informed us that the movie wasn’t true to life at all, so I’m not shocked by your list. Interesting stuff that I did not know, though. I had heard about Julie Andrews and how it was hard for her to get into movies even though she did well on the stage.