Twentieth Century Fox, the once proud
company that produced The Mark Of Zorro (1940) and The Grapes Of Wrath
(1940) was in desperate financial straits after the release of Cleopatra
in 1963. The Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor debacle had lead to massive
firings. The studio had been forced to sell their huge back lot to
developers who created Century City. Director Billy Wilder sent Fox head
Daryl Zanuck a letter suggesting,"that the sooner your studio is
bulldozed to the ground the better." But Daryl and his son Richard
decided to go ahead with a property they had purchased three years
earlier, a popular Broadway Musical that had been panned by the critics,
Richard Rodgers And Oscar Hammerstein's The Sound Of Music.
The
two famous song writers source material came from the stories that Maria
von Trapp (1905-1987) would tell audiences while performing with her
nine singing stepchildren. How her late husband Georg had been a former
Captain in the Austro-Hungarian Navy as distinguished in his country as
General Eisenhower. How when the Empire broke up it left Austria without
a coast and Georg without a job. How he had recognized that his
children's singing ability were enhanced by their new Governess, Maria
Kutschera and financial desperation had allowed him to overcome his
distaste for a show business career. And how after Hitler had invaded
Austria they had fled to America leaving all their belongings behind.
The von Trapps later learned that Heinrich Himmler, the head of the
Gestapo himself, had moved into the family home.
The Zanucks
and Director Robert Wise, after failing to land Doris Day were
interested in Julie Andrews playing Maria. She was popular on stage but
untested in the movies. Jack Warner had chose Audrey Hepburn over her
for the film version of My Fair Lady (1964) claiming she was not
photogenic. But she was making Mary Poppins for Walt Disney and getting
good buzz. In Hollywood a strict tradition was you never show an
incomplete film to your competitors but Walt was so high on Andrews he
delighted in letting the Fox brass see rough cuts of Mary Poppins.
Richard Zanuck and Wise were convinced that Andrews was perfect for the
part. But Julie wasn't certain. She and Carol Burnett had made fun of
The Sound Of Music during a television special in 1962. It sounded so
saccharine. A singing nun and seven children running through the
Austrian Alps. Then Robert Wise pointed out that the Sound Of Music
would be in direct box office competition with My Fair Lady. "Lets
do it," Andrews said immediately.
Most of the interiors
were filmed in Los Angeles and the exteriors were shot in Austria. The
nuns were confused by having to run through abbeys at Fox and coming out
the door in Salzburg. Kym Karath who played the youngest of the seven
Von Trapp children gained a lot of weight eating cream cakes during the
six month stint in Europe. For the final scene when Christopher Plummer
as the Captain lead the family to their escape through the Alps, the
Canadian actor had to carry the heavy child for several hours. After
several takes he screamed at Robert Wise to get it right, his back was
breaking. Although Plummer would come to appreciate the film in later
years, during the shoot he became dispirited and complained constantly.
He referred to the picture as The Sound Of Mucus.
Robert Wise
said it was good that Plummer was distant toward the children, it helped
them to be scared of him on screen. Conversely, Andrews was as warm as
she needed to be. She helped the child actors get over their nerves by
making funny faces. The production was held up constantly by rain.
Andrews would entertain the bored crew by bursting into song or doing
Buster Keaton like pratfalls. It was her idea that Maria should
sometimes be cross or exhausted having to take care of so many children,
that she be more spirited than sweet. But she couldn't always keep her
humor. For the opening sequence with Maria running through the hills
Wise used a helicopter to the get the shot. The force from the blades
kept blowing Julie over. In between takes she would spit out dirt and
grass, cursing like a sailor.
The first reviews of the film
were extremely negative. The premiere party was like a wake. But the
initial slow business turned into a phenomenon as The Sound Of Music
became the most successful film of all time in 1965, surpassing even
Gone With The Wind (1939). The Hollywood Studios including Fox saw
salvation in Musicals. Many such as Doctor Dolittle (1967) and On A
Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) lost millions of dollars. Bitter
film executives who failed to cash in or who were fired because of being
copycats blamed The Sound Of Music for ruining the movie business.
One person who had a great time was Maria von Trapp who made a
brief cameo in the film. She loved how Hollywood changed things. So what
if in real life the Von Trapps had no problem getting out of Austria,
that their real problem had been getting past American immigration. Who
cared if she had lashed out at her stepchildren when they wanted to quit
their music careers and had felt uncomfortable all living together out
of a bus for eighteen years. And the best part was the handsome young
actor they got to play the Captain. When she married Georg he was old.
It had been more for security than love. When introduced to Christopher
Plummer, the former nun shocked him by greeting him with a big kiss on
the lips. "My God, darling I wish my husband looked as good as
you!"
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks
Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales of Hollywood, gives tours of
Hollywood and is the Host of the syndicated One Minute Hollywood
Stories Radio Feature. To find out more about his products and services go
to http://www.hollwoodstories.com
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