Posted on 07/25/2008 11:55:12 AM PDT by 300magnum
SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) - Maria von Trapp has taken a trip down memory lane to see her old family home just before it opens as a new hotel.
Staying in the house for the first time since the von Trapps fled the Nazi regime in the late 1930s has been a deeply moving experience for the second-eldest daughter of Baron von Trapp, whose story was made famous by the "Sound of Music" film.
"Our whole life is in here, in this house," the 94-year-old told Reuters in an interview. "Especially here in the stairwell, where we always used to slide down the railings."
Von Trapp smiles as she recalls the memory of her and her six siblings clambering and playing in the villa in the leafy suburbs of Salzburg in Austria and spending nights in hammocks in the park surrounding the family home.
"My youngest sister built herself a tree house. Of course, then we all had to have one as well, we loved to climb the trees," she said.
Following the death of Baron von Trapp's first wife, aspiring nun Maria Kutschera joined the family to teach the children, fell in love with the baron and married him in 1927.
The family always sang and played instruments together, and having lost all their fortune in 1935 in the throes of the world economic crisis, their musical talent proved a saviour.
An opera singer heard the children sing in the park and entered them for a competition. Soon the von Trapps started to tour Europe and the United States as a family choir.
"We sang a lot and we sang all the time. We didn't even want to go for a walk alone, because we wanted to sing all the time together," recalls von Trapp.
"My father played the
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
One of my favorite movies... they just don’t make em like this anymore... sigh
Vermont-ish ping
When the movie was released in Spain after a period of censorship (Franco’s censors did not want a movie where a nun leaves the church), it came out under the more suggestive title of “The Rebel Nun.”
That was silly. The whole reason nuns don’t take final vows for five years is expressly so they can leave if it doesn’t suit them....
The mentally ill leader of the SSPX characterizes this movie in particular as being the beginning of the “triumph of the pornographic culture.”
“Especially here in the stairwell, where we always used to slide down the railings”
Beats a fist bump :)
She doesn’t look a day over 80.
Been there?
Here’s a “Did You Know” for Sound of Music fans. Did you know that on the bus ride scene from the abbey to the Von Trapp home, the real Maria Von Trapp is sitting on the bus behind Julie Andrews?
the hills are alive... :)
Because of a woman rejecting the Novitiate? On a different note, after the Von Trapps left Austria their home became a headquarters for Himmler. One of the Von Trapp children said in an interview that he shudders about how many death warrants were signed there.
The age or the Van Trapp home?
She raised us on the soundtrack to this movie, lol.
Did he miss the part about it being a true story? I forgot how hilarious that letter is. I personally love his letter on the education of women.
Back to the topic.....I was stunned to learn she was still alive, could have sworn she died a few years back.
She can also be seen (just barely) walking by the fountain. After seeing the finished product she was made about how little visibility she had considering how many times she was made to do take after take.
This is her daughter. The woman Julie Andrews played in the movie died in 1987.
Heh...I mean the house.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.