Fun Facts About the Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is certainly one of my all-time favorite musicals, but I didn't know how little I knew about it until fairly recently. Here are a few items I learned while looking something else up:

#1. If you watch carefully, you'll be able to see the real Maria Von Trapp in the movie. She has a cameo appearance during the "Confidence" number: she's the older of the two peasant women in the background just as Julie Andrews goes through the brick arch.

#2.During the same number, watch for the stumble that Julie Andrews makes. That was actually a real stumble, but it was left in because it was consistent with the mood of the number.

#3. Does that gazebo in the "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" number look larger on the inside that it does on the outside? It is. The outside was filmed in Austria. The inside is a recreation made for a sound stage in Los Angeles, and had to be big enough for the dance number.

#4. Charmian Carr (Liesl) injured herself rehearsing for that number, and in the original print it was possible to see an ace bandage around her ankle, carefully covered with makeup. When the film was digitally remastered for the DVD, however, the bandage was removed.

#5. Love the song "Edelweiss?" I do. It's not an Austrian folk song, however, although many people think it is. It was the last song written by Oscar Hammerstein before his death in 1960. Christopher Plummer hated the song, and called it "schmaltzy."

#6. Actually, Christopher Plummer wasn't a big fan of the movie in general. He was known to refer to it as "The Sound of Mucus" or "S & M." Plummer learned to play the guitar for this movie, and his own singing was recorded, but eventually both the singing and guitar work were dubbed.

#7. When you watch this movie again, take a good look at Sister Sophia. She's played by Marni Nixon. You may not have seen Marni in very many films, but you've certainly heard her: she dubbed the singing voices of Deborah Kerr (in The King and I and An Affair to Remember), Natalie Wood (in West Side Story), and Audrey Hepburn (in My Fair Lady.)

#8. Kym Karath, who played Gretl, couldn't swim. In the scene where the boat overturns with Maria and the children, the plan was that Julie Andrews would catch her and carry her in. When it actually came time to film, however, Julie fell from one side of the boat, and Kym from the other. Kym was caught by Heather Menzies (Louisa). Kym swallowed a little too much water, though, and ended up vomiting all over Heather.

#9. Poor Kym. She also put on a little weight during the filming, so in the scene where the Von Trapp family escapes over the mountains, that's not really Kym making the journey. Since the Baron had to carry Gretl on his back, Plummer requested a stunt double, and got one.

#10. The wedding scene is just gorgeous, isn't it? Unfortunately, someone neglected to summon the actor who played the Bishop, so when Maria and Georg got to the altar, there was no one there to marry them. Fortunately, a stand-in was handy. Yup, that's the real Bishop of Salzburg performing the ceremony.

#11, How accurate is the movie? Well, for starters, according to the Von Trapp family, the Baron wasn't really all that strict. And Maria was hired as a governess for one Von Trapp child: Maria (called Louisa in the movie), who had been ill with scarlet fever and needed to study at home.

The family did leave Austria, but they weren't being actively pursued by the Nazis at the time. They took a bus to Italy, and from there traveled to England, and finally to the United States. Since Georg Von Trapp had been born in Zara, Austria, which became part of Italy after World War I, he and his family were technically Italian citizens. It's a good thing, too. They wouldn't have gotten far hiking over the mountains, since Salzburg is actually located near the German border.

#12. The Sound of Music has been a hit all over the world, although not necessarily by that title. In Spain it was called Smiles and Tears, in France Melody of Happiness, in Argentina and Brazil The Rebellious Novice, and in Austria and Germany My Song, My Dream.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sound_of_music; http://www.moviemistakes.com/film1196/trivia.