What a variety of emotions The Sound of Music has created in all of us, upon whose life story the musical and the movie are based.
All over the world, The Sound of Music became one of the most popular movies ever produced. It made millions upon millions of dollars, and it made millions upon millions of people happy. Its story is forever imprinted into the hearts of those people who have watched this movie not once, not twice, but many times over. In Los Angeles a woman went to see it 58 times, a sailor in Puerto Rico 77 times, and a forty-seven-year-old woman from Wales was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having seen it 940 times.
What makes the movie so popular when there are so many aspects that differ from our real life? I have given this question much thought. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that it does not matter to people whether or not the story is true, but that it is a beautiful, wholesome story that appeals to the emotions of the viewers.
When I saw the musical for the first time, I cried. Others in my family were equally upset. The man on the stage in the naval uniform was not Papá. The play and later the movie, as beautiful as they were, misrepresented our life at home with our father. He was not some naval officer with a distant look and a boatswain’s whistle in his mouth ready to order us children coldly about. In reality he was a dedicated father who saw to our well-being in every way. Among other things, he took us on picnics and camping trips, arranged schooling and music lessons, taught us some of the musical instruments, and made music with us. In fact while The Sound of Music shows our second mother teaching us the basics of music, thanks to our father we already had a repertoire by the time Gustl (Maria) arrived in our home.
The creators of the stage and movie versions made other changes, including altering the names, ages, and sequence of birth of us children. Because it involved the oldest Trapp daughter—in other words, me—I consider the scene with the song “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” to be a pure Hollywood creation. There was no important telegram delivered to our house by a teenage boy riding a bicycle.
The house in Salzburg used in the film was not our home; actually it was a former summer residence of the archbishop of Salzburg. Our villa could not be used because the religious order, to whom we had sold it, would not give permission. Also, we did not flee over the mountains into Switzerland. There is no mountain pass that leads from Salzburg into Switzerland. We simply took the train to Italy.
My father was a man of principle who wanted nothing to do with Hitler and therefore did refuse to fly the Nazi flag from our house. However, we were not directly confronted by the Nazis as dramatically as shown in the movie. Papá did not sing “Edelweiss” when we left. In fact “Edelweiss” is not the Austrian national anthem, as many people believe, but a song written for the play by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
All these things look impressive on the stage and screen, but they were not real. If our name had not been involved, I would have loved the movie, as all the other people did. But because our name was used and our life was portrayed inaccurately, I could not bear the thought of seeing the play and the movie more than once. I would not let them take away my memories.
As I said, I was not alone in feeling this way. Several of us children had the same reaction. My family is at heart a very private family, and only because of circumstances beyond our control did we stand on the stage and perform before audiences for twenty years. We are also sensitive to what is true and genuine and what is not. The Sound of Music did not pass our test.
We had no control over our portrayal in the musical partly because in 1956, Mother had sold all the rights to our story to a German movie producer. The unfortunate saga goes like this: one day someone offered Mother $10,000 for the rights to make a movie from her book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. An agent from the film company told her that if she would accept $9,000, they would give her the check immediately. Not realizing, at a time when she needed money, that she could have made a fortune with our story, she signed the contract and thereby sold all rights to the German film company for $9,000—with no royalties. That film company later sold the rights to the Broadway producers who wanted to make our story into a musical.
The Broadway musical The Sound of Music opened in New York on November 16, 1959, with Mary Martin as Maria and Theodore Bikel as the Captain. After the Broadway opening, the American producers felt it was wrong that we were restricted from getting any royalties. Mary Martin, Richard Halliday, and Leland Hayward were instrumental in seeing that Maria von Trapp received a very small percentage of the royalties. Mother gratefully accepted this unexpected windfall and shared it with Father Wasner and the nine remaining children. The Broadway musical won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The movie version, which was released in 1965, was awarded five Oscars including Best Picture and ranks among the most successful films in motion picture history.1
Millions of dollars did not flow into the pockets of the Trapp Family from The Sound of Music, but we have benefited greatly in other ways. As time went on, something happened that reconciled me with my “enemy,” the play. The shift in my feelings actually came from those who saw The Sound of Music, loved it, and connected it with our name and family. Little by little, I met people on many occasions who recognized me by my last name and connected me with the musical. Their faces lit up, and I felt a wave of friendliness coming toward me.
I did not expect this result from the musical. Warmth and goodwill cannot be bought with millions of dollars. This is a matter of the heart.
Early in 1998, I received a phone call from a lady in New York City asking me to save the date of Thursday, March 12. The producers of The Sound of Music were reopening the musical on Broadway. There was to be an opening night gala performance at the Martin Beck Theatre, followed by a party. When the woman on the other end of the line mentioned the date of March 12, I blurted out, “That is the date of my eighty-fifth birthday!” As soon as the words slipped out, I wished that I had not said them, but she had already heard them.
I received an official invitation, and when the time came, my friend Mary Lou Kane and I went to New York City. I hardly recognized it after all these years since we had stepped off the boat to give our first concerts in America. The taxi driver wiggled and squeezed his vehicle through the heavy traffic. Right and left, cars and trucks inched past our taxi, but our driver managed to get through and deposited us at our hotel, the Doubletree Guest Suites, where the other invited guests were also staying. Upon arrival we were given delicious chocolate chip cookies—the biggest I have ever seen. The family arrived from Vermont and with them Hans van Wees, manager of the Trapp Family Lodge.
The gala performance was to be the next evening, March 12, so my family arranged a wonderful birthday lunch for that day at a Russian restaurant, the Firebird, near the hotel. It was a quaint and cozy little place with a doorman in formal Russian attire at the entrance. To my great surprise, Johannes gave me a birthday toast. I did not expect this honor, and I was deeply touched.
That evening we were taken to the Martin Beck Theatre in a limousine. When we arrived, the sidewalk was filled with people who were coming to the performance. The crowds were pushed to the sides to let us enter. The reporters squeezed through the crowd, and we saw flashes of light all around us from the cameras. To my surprise, I heard a reporter call my name. He turned out to be Chris Olert, whose siblings Mary Lou had taught in our kindergarten. He was then working as a journalist in New York City.
We were seated near the front of the theater; the house lights dimmed, and the show began to the delight of the audience. During the intermission, I was asked to go up to the first balcony. It was difficult to get through the crowds, so Hans took me by the hand and plowed through the throngs and landed me at the right spot on the balcony. A surprise awaited me. I could not believe it, but there it was! A little boy in a sailor suit presented me with a huge birthday cake, iced with the words “Happy 85th Birthday.” After the intermission, Hans escorted me safely back to my seat for the rest of the performance, which was a great success and received a standing ovation.
Following the show, a dinner was planned at the Tavern on the Green for the cast and invited guests. There was so much noise in the restaurant, with everyone celebrating the opening night, that I could hardly understand what anyone said, but it was all very wonderful.
Another special event connected to The Sound of Music took place on December 2, 1998. We von Trapps were invited to New York City to receive the Golden Decoration of Honor from the state of Salzburg for our Austrian Relief efforts following World War II. This lovely medallion is the highest honor bestowed by the state of Salzburg. The movie “children,” who were also not children anymore, were presented the Mozart Medal for the part they played in The Sound of Music, which had brought an increase in the number of tourists coming to Salzburg. This December evening was the first time, since the movie came out in 1965, that we had come face-to-face with those who had portrayed us.
Two years later, another special occasion would bring me closer to my counterpart from the movie, Charmian Carr, who played the oldest von Trapp daughter. When her book, Forever Liesl, came out in the year 2000, Charmy came to Baltimore for a book signing, and we had dinner together. After introducing me to her audience, she read excerpts from her book, followed by a book signing. To my surprise, the people wanted my autograph too. Charmy and I sat side by side signing books. This evening was another moment when The Sound of Music touched me with its warmth.
After meeting so many people over the years who told me how they had derived such great enjoyment and inspiration from the musical and the movie, I finally came to terms with The Sound of Music. I thought, Who am I, then, to criticize this movie?After a long inner struggle, I finally learned to separate the memories of my life from the screenplay. I began to see that while all the details may not be correct, the creators of The Sound of Music were true to the spirit of our family’s story. That freed me from my resentment and made it possible for me to enjoy the play, the movie, and the music as others have. I have even learned to sing and play “Edelweiss”!