Accent Depundent: The pun about "Fa" being "a long, long way to run" only makes sense in a non-rhotic accent, which Hammerstein spoke with.
Breakaway Pop Hit: In an unusual example, "My Favourite Things" has been adopted as a Christmas carol over the years, despite having nothing to do with the holiday. This is probably because it mentions packages, sleigh bells, snowflakes, and "silver-white winters." Radio stations are especially known for playing The Supremes' and Tony Bennett's cover versions during December. Interestingly enough, this actually predates the movie version; Julie Andrews performed it on the 1961 Christmas Special for The Garry Moore Show and Jack Jones included it on a 1964 Christmas album.
Dawson Casting: Maria is supposed to be 22, but was played by a then 45-year-old Mary Martin in the original Broadway production.
What Could Have Been: The play started out as a Jukebox Musical with songs from the Trapp Family Singers' concerts, and one new number from Rodgers and Hammerstein. However, R&H agreed to write an entirely original soundtrack.
Working Title: The Singing Heart and Love Story, the latter of which became rejected to avoid confusion with other stories and songs with the same name.
The 1965 film
Adored by the Network: Since 2002, ABC has aired the movie at Christmastime, usually on the Sunday before, with its sister channel Freeform often following suit near Easter, with NBC also often airing their version in December. The musical has nothing to do with either holidaynote On the other hand, "My Favorite Things" has often been used as a Christmas song., but its family-friendly qualities make it easily viewable at the gatherings that typically take place at both times.
Bad Export for You: The initial German release of the movie had to remove the entire third act of the movie (which involved Those Wacky Nazis coming into the forefront of the plot). This was due to Nazi Germany still being a very sensitive topic in the 60s, and the local distributor not wanting to cause any further controversy. Later releases have the third act intact, but the movie has remained rather unpopular to this day in Germany.
A bandage can be seen on Liesl's ankle on certain prints, TV broadcasts, and home video releases, as she dances with Rolf in the gazebo. This is because Charmian Carr injured her ankle while filming, and performed the rest of the dance with a bandage on. For the 2000 Five Star Collection DVD, Fox digitally removed the bandage, which also remained absent from every other DVD released that decade. However, it re-appeared on the 2010 45th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray and DVDnote and the 50th Anniversary Edition, which reuses the same discs, with new labels.
During "My Favourite Things", Marta is mouthing the words to a song she was yet to know, the reason was because they had shot it so many times that Debbie Turner had learnt the song.
The iconic boat scene was meant to have Maria holding onto Gretl as the little girl couldn't swim but when it came to the best take Julie falls backwards, so Kym Karath plunged. Thankfully she was grabbed by Heather Menzies who played Lousia.
Regularly the youngest children lost their teeth, but due to shooting the same scenes on different days you can see missing teeth reappearing.
If one looks at Liesl and Lousia step jumping in Do-Re-Mi, they realise they aren't in sync so they quickly jump back into place.
For a couple of shots during "The Lonely Goatherd" Marta can be seen with the children controlling the puppets, rather than in her position at the bottom of the stage controlling the backdrops.
When Liesl enters Maria's window, she's supposed to have climbed from the ground floor, but you can see her enter from the right side.
In Croatia, the movie is known under the same title as in Austria and Germany- My Song - My Dream (Moje pjesme, moji snovi).
Music in the Heart (Portugal).
Creator Backlash: Christopher Plummer was reportedly not particularly proud of his role. He felt Captain Von Trapp was a giant bore, and the the film was "awful and sentimental and gooey", once referring to it as "The Sound of Mucus". In later years, his stance on the film itself had softened a little, but he still felt annoyed that he was frequently associated with this film, as he has an impressive body of work. That said, he considered Julie Andrews one of his closest friends.
Julie Andrews was screenwriter Ernest Lehman's first and only choice for Maria Von Trapp. At a screening of Mary Poppins, Robert Wise said to Lehman, "Let's go sign this girl before somebody else sees this film and grabs her!"
Wise had seen Christopher Plummer on Broadway and wanted him to play Captain Von Trapp, but he turned down the offer several times. Wise flew to London to meet with Plummer and explained his concept of the film; the actor accepted after being assured that he could work with Lehman to improve the character.
Wise championed the casting of Eleanor Parker, who he considered a bona fide movie star having directed her in Three Secrets.
Liesl sings a whole song about how she's "sixteen, going on seventeen," but Charmian Carr was 21 at the time. When Liesl states that she's too old for a governess, she certainly looks it.
Maria is supposed to be 22, but she's played by the then 30-year-old Julie Andrews. She did look a few years younger though, and when you add in the fact the fact that Christopher Plummer was 35 at the time, this is actually a case where this trope worked out for the better.
Deleted Scene: Pictures and script pages exist for an appearance by Rolf in the Salzburg montage. Liesl tries to invite him to their picnic, but he responds, "Picnics are for children", then insults her Curtain Clothing. Rolf also meets Maria, who refers to herself as, "Liesl's friend", as opposed to her governess.
DVD Commentary: Robert Wise provides a commentary in which he stops talking during musical numbers to play what the song sounds like sans vocals.
Dyeing for Your Art: Nicholas Hammond is a natural brunette and had to undergo several painful bleachings to become blond.
Christopher Plummer disliked working on the film and isolated himself from the child actors, playing into the stern relationship the Captain has with his children. However, he had mellowed significantly; he and Charmian Carr got on wonderfully well, Julie Andrews counted him among her closest friends and he had come out and said that the first time he sat down to watch the film, he realized it was the greatest cinematic adaptation of a stage musical ever produced.
The scene where the Captain embraces music again and sings with his children was the last to be shot. Since the actors were sad about parting, their tears are real.
The actors playing the von Trapp children became very tightly bonded on set, several of them noting upon the deaths of Charmian Carr (Liesl) and Heather Menzies (Louisa) that it did feel like they'd lost a sibling. Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich) reflected in one reunion special that "Bob Wise set out to create a family — and he did."
Christopher Plummer admitted that he found Julie Andrews insufferable and annoying during filming, referring to her as Ms. Disney to other cast and crew. He famously said that working with her was like being hit on the head with a Valentine's card. Later he admitted to being immature in his feelings and that she was a great actress who behaved like a true professional, and the two remained good friends until his death.
Robert Wise didn't get along with the real Maria von Trapp when she came to the set, calling her bossy.
The late Charmian Carr, on the other hand, embraced it, and she even wrote a memoir of the film/autobiography called Forever Liesl that's a great favorite among film fans.
Nicholas Hammond did avoid it, mostly by going to Australia and becoming quite a popular actor there (he also played Spider-Man.)
Amongst Christopher Plummer's extensive work, Captain von Trapp is no doubt one of his most iconic. His stance on the film had zig-zagged, initially expressing his displeasure, but in later years had more pleasant thoughts about it.
Though she's also well-known for other works such as Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show and Lost in Space, Angela Cartwright (Brigitta) has embraced all three of them, mentioning she enjoys hearing how much those roles have had an impact on her fans. Whenever a Sound of Music special or a program that utilizes that theme invites someone from the film as a guest appearance, she's often the one who attends.
Debbie Turner (Marta) is happy to write back to fans. She reported in an interview that many present day pre-teen young boys write to her through 20th Century Fox as they feel Puppy Love for the pretty little girl in the movie. In Turner's words:"They are disappointed to find out that I am not seven anymore".
The elderly Peggy Wood's voice had to be dubbed for "Climb Every Mountain", as she wasn't up to the strenuous vocals the number demands.
Christopher Plummer recorded his own vocals, but later decided he wasn't good enough to sing alongside Julie Andrews. Thus he's dubbed by Bill Lee. His renditions of "Edelweiss," "Something Good," and "The Sound of Music (reprise)" have since been released, and whilst they aren't to the standards of Lee, they are more than passable.
Kurt's high note during the first "So Long, Farewell" is done by Darlene Carr, little sister of the late Charmian Carr.
Four additional singers were used to produce a harmonised effect for whenever the children sing. However all seven actors do sing every number. The only time the additional voices aren't used is when they're singing for the Baroness
The movie shares one producer-director (Robert Wise), a screenwriter (Ernest Lehman), an associate producer (Saul Chaplin), and a musical director (Irwin Kostal) with West Side Story (1961), released four years before TSoM hit the big screen. Before either of those, Lehman wrote the screenplays for the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, and two other movies Wise directed — Executive Suite and Somebody Up There Likes Me.
TSoM also shares a lead actress (Julie Andrews), musical director (Irwin Kostal), and two choreographers (Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood) with Mary Poppins. Bonus points for Kostal serving as the musical director for the TV special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall.
Wise, Chaplin, and Andrews would later collaborate again for Star!
Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich) had the world's biggest crush on Julie Andrews, as he had seen her three years prior in her last night onstage in London as Eliza Doolittle. This is rather obvious in the film, especially in "The Lonely Goatherd" where Friedrich can be seen gazing lovingly at Maria.
Charmian Carr (Liesl) had "a huge crush" on Christopher Plummer, and the feeling was apparently mutual, though things never progressed beyond flirtation. Although she admitted on The Oprah Winfrey Show's Sound of Music Reunion that he did indeed teach her how to drink.
According to Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker fell in love with and eventually married the cameraman Raymond Hirsh. He was her fourth husband and they stayed together for nearly forty years, until his death in 2001.
Associate producer Saul Chaplin fell in love with script supervisor Betty Levin during production; they married in 1968 and remained together until his death in 1997.
Nicholas Hammond has admitted to having a huge crush on Julie Andrews during production, dating back several years; he had seen her play Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady three years earlier on her last night in the London production. This is especially evident if one looks at "The Lonely Goatherd". In a couple of shots, Friedrich can be seen gazing dreamily at Maria.
Hammond was apparently prone to precocious crushes, because he admitted decades later that he (at 13) fell hopelessly in love with 21-year-old Charmian Carr during filming — but she only had eyes for 35-year-old Christopher Plummer!
Charmian Carr's feelings for Christopher Plummer were (by his own admission) mutual, but things never progressed beyond flirtation.
Scully Box: 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.
Uncredited Role: Saul Chaplin added some more lyrics to "I Have Confidence" after he and Ernest Lehman agreed that the version Richard Rodgers submitted ran too short. However, the main titles credit only Rodgers and Hammerstein for writing the songs; not even Julie Andrews knew about Chaplin's lyrical contributions until after the movie's release.
The film originally planned to just use newsreel footage of 1930s Austria after the Anschluss, the filmmakers being hesitant to ask if they could hang up Nazi flags as set dressing. However city officials opted to just hang the flags, rather than show the newsreel footage which would depict them welcoming the Nazis to the city.
Grace Kelly was the first choice to play the Baroness. However she had retired from acting after she became the Princess of Monaco. Cyd Charisse, and Eva Marie Saint were also considered.
Before the musical was produced, Paramount originally owned the rights to the von Trapps' story - and planned to cast Audrey Hepburn as Maria. When Hepburn declined, Paramount dropped the plans. Anne Bancroft, Leslie Caron, Angie Dickinson and Doris Day were also considered.
William Wyler was the original director of the film, and wanted to make the tone Darker and Edgier - featuring more of the Nazis in the story. 20th Century Fox were constantly clashing with him, and he ultimately dropped out.
Billy Wilder was asked. He joked that he would have focused on the Nazis. Gene Kelly was also offered the job.
The Baroness would have had a song too (she already had two in the Broadway version), but Word of God is that they didn't want her to seem too sympathetic, so they left it out.
Jeanette MacDonald strongly considered coming out of retirement to play the Reverend Mother. However her health was bad and she felt she wouldn't be able for it. She died a month before the film's release.
Ability over Appearance: Though not impossible, Audra McDonald's Colorblind Casting is unlikely, to say the least. But the fact that she is Audra McDonald — a six-time Tony winner and certified Broadway legend — completely wipes away anything so purely trivial as her skin color.
The 2015 live TV performance
Ability over Appearance: A vocal variant; though her singing voice is well-trained and very pretty, Kara Tointon doesn't have the sheer vocal power of her most notable predecessors, Julie Andrews and Mary Martin — and she's singing opposite Julian Ovenden, an Oxford choral scholar with one of the best voices the West End has ever had. But thanks to how flawlessly she nails the character and how beautifully her voice blends with Ovenden's, she won — and deserved — nigh-universal praise for her performance as Maria.
Blooper: Marta trips over Maria's guitar at the end of My Favourite Things Reprise, however Kara Tointon as Maria stays in character asking "Marta" if she's alright.
," "Something Good