In honor of my informative interview with actor, writer, director NICHOLAS HAMMOND (Episodes 45 & 46) who is best known for playing the role of Friedrich von Trapp in the 1965 Oscar-winning movie musical “The Sound of Music” I put together this entertaining trivia list showcasing fun facts about the classic holiday film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer for you to test your knowledge with. Enjoy!
William Wyler originally signed on to be the director, and started casting. He was the one who hired Julie Andrews, not Robert Wise. Wyler dropped out of the project eventually because he felt his heart wasn't really in it. Wise picked up where Wyler left off.
Producer and director Robert Wise considered Yul Brynner for the role of Captain Von Trapp. Brynner, who had originated the Rodgers and Hammerstein role of the King of Siam on Broadway and reprised it in the film version of "The King and I", reportedly "lobbied heavily for the role" of Captain Von Trapp.
Rehearsals for the film commenced 10 February 1964 on Stage 15 at the 20th Century Studios on the Los Angeles Westside where on 26 March - after six weeks of rehearsal - the first scene was shot for the film: the musical number "My Favorite Things".
The original Broadway production of "The Sound of Music" opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City, New York on November 16, 1959. It ran for one thousand four hundred forty-three performances and won (in a tie) the 1960 Tony Award for the Best Musical.
The first musical number in this movie “The Sound of Music” was the final sequence shot in Europe before the cast and crew returned to Los Angeles, California. It was filmed in late June and early July of 1964. Despite the warm and sunny appearance, Dame Julie Andrews notes that she was freezing running up that mountain over and over again. Producer and director Robert Wise has said that he had to climb one of the trees nearby to be able to overview the helicopter shoot without getting in the picture.
"Sixteen Going On Seventeen" was shot in the gazebo, one of the last to be done. On the first take, Charmian Carr (Liesl) slipped while leaping across a bench, and fell through a pane of glass. Although she was not badly injured, her ankle was hurt and the scene was later shot with her leg wrapped and make-up covering the bandages.
The front and back of the Von Trapp estate were filmed at two different locations in Salzburg, Austria.
Location shooting in Salzburg lasted three months.
Kym Karath (Gretl) couldn't swim, so the original idea was to get Dame Julie Andrews to catch her when the boat tips up and they all fall in the water. However, during the second take, the boat toppled over so that Andrews fell to one side and Karath fell to the other. Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa) had to save her instead. Andrews stated that she felt guilty about this for years.
Maria never used the Captain's first name, "Georg", in this movie. Instead, she called him Captain, Sir, and Darling.
The songs "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good" were written especially for this movie by Richard Rodgers, the latter song replacing "An Ordinary Couple" from the stage version. The two numbers became so popular and so integrated into the musical that most subsequent stage productions, including the 1998 Broadway revival, have felt the need to add them on (and delete "An Ordinary Couple" in the process).
Nicholas Hammond claimed that he had a huge crush on Charmian Carr during production. In a couple of shots, Friederich can be seen gazing dreamily at Liesl.
This movie is not by definition a holiday movie. But the song "My Favorite Things" gets frequent radio airplay during the holiday season due to lyrics that talk about gifts, presents, snow, and winter.
The singing of Peggy Wood (Mother Abbess) was dubbed, as she declared that she was too old to handle the vocals.
The song "Edelweiss" was written for the musical and is little known in Austria. The song was the last that Oscar Hammerstein II wrote before his death on August 23, 1960.
Christopher Plummer learned to play the guitar for his part, but the guitar (like his vocals) were re-dubbed.
Julie Andrews sang "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to the children in the cast to entertain them between shooting. Since Mary Poppins hadn't yet been released, they just thought she'd made up the song for them.
At the beginning of filming, Heather Menzies-Urich (Louisa) was about three inches taller than Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich). He had to wear heel lifts to make him look taller. By the end of the shoot, Nicolas Hammond had grown six inches (5'3" to 5'9"). He often filmed in no shoes and Charmian Carr had to stand on a box to make her taller. All of the Von Trapp children grew a lot during filming, so heel lifts and various camera tricks were used to keep their heights steady.
The movie is based on Maria von Trapp's 1949 memoir, "The Story of the Von Trapp Family Singers". She also published another book, "Maria", in 1972 and said that while she was able to attend the opening of the musical on Broadway, she did not have the same luck with this movie premiere in 1965. She was able to convince Twentieth Century Fox to let her see a preview of the movie and expected an invitation to the premiere but "when I didn't hear anything about it and no invitation arrived, I really humbled myself to go and ask the producer whether I would be allowed to come. He said he was very sorry, indeed, but there were no seats left"
The famous marionette puppet sequence for "The Lonely Goatherd" was produced and performed by the leading puppeteers of the day, Bil Baird and Cora Baird.
This is credited as the movie that saved Twentieth Century Fox after the debacle of Cleopatra.
Every year, the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California hosts an annual Sound of Music sing-a-long where the song lyrics are shown underneath the screen. The actors and actresses who played the Von Trapp children and the real Von Trapp children often make appearances at what has consistently been a sold-out event.
Robert Wise didn't get along with the real Maria Von Trapp when she came to the set, calling her "bossy".
In the background of the picnic in the mountain pasture when Maria and the children start singing "Do Re Mi", you can dimly make out a castle on top of a hill. This castle featured more prominently in the Richard Burton-Clint Eastwood thriller Where Eagles Dare.
Friedrich was supposed to be a blond, but Nicholas Hammond was a brunette, so Robert Wise ordered that the young actor be bleached. The process was intense for Hammond and his hair wound up falling out in patches during the bleaching. This left bald spots on his head here and there, which is why he is wearing a Tyrolean Traditional Alpine hat for most of the "Do-Re-Mi" number.
This is Rodgers and Hammerstein's last musical. Oscar Hammerstein had already been diagnosed with cancer when he and Richard Rodgers began working on a new musical based on Maria von Trapp's memoirs.
The Von Trapps never saw much of the huge profits this movie made. Maria sold the movie rights to German producers and inadvertently signed away her rights in the process. The resulting movies, The Trapp Family (1956), and a sequel, The Trapp Family in America (1958), were quite successful. The American rights were bought from the German producers. The family had very little input in either the play or the movie. As a courtesy, the producers of the play listened to some of Maria's suggestions, but no substantive contributions were accepted.
When the Best Picture Oscar went to this movie on April 18, 1966, it was the first time the Academy Awards had ever been broadcast in color.
Trivia items from IMDB
To listen to my fascinating conversation with actor NICHOLAS HAMMOND about playing the role of Friedrich von Trapp in the 1965 Oscar-winning movie musical “The Sound of Music” on my podcast click on the links below. Enjoy!
