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Whenever I see the phrase “Based on a true story” at the beginning of a movie, I chuckle to myself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that the producers and directors want to give us a peek, if only through a camera lens, into some event, or life, or situation they want us to see.
But there’s always that first word…”based”. The word that gives them license to take their story from the pages of history and massage it to be whatever they want. The changes from what really happened might be barely noticeable, or what really happened might be barely noticeable. It just depends on what the word “based” means to those making the movie.
Which brings us to the von Trapp family or, more specifically, Maria von Trapp. Nearly all of us know that before she was Mrs. von Trapp, she was a beautiful singer, she loved to spin about in the mountains with arms extended, was a constant cause of consternation in the convent where she lived, and looked an awful lot like Julie Andrews.
She left the convent to take care of Georg von Trapp’s children and taught them all kinds of whimsical musical songs about “mi, a name I call myself.” She chopped up the drapes to make play clothes for the 7 children, one of whom (Liesl?) was “16, going on 17“, and took them all around the city of Salzburg.
Then she fell in love with Georg, married him and went on a honeymoon. They returned, only to be forced to flee Austria after the Anschluss by climbing over the Alps and going to Switzerland.
At least that’s the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical we all know and (mostly) love. It’s “based” on the true story.
Maria Augusta Kutschera was born in Vienna on January 26, 1905. She was in a convent. She was sent to Georg von Trapp’s home. The children did sing, but mostly because the global depression of the late 1920′s and 30′s wiped out the von Trapp fortune. Maria did fall in love, though with his 7 children and not (at least initally) Georg himself. She did marry Georg, but in 1927 and not at the time of the Anschluss (1938). They did leave Austria, not by walking to Switzerland, but rather by train to Italy. And Maria and Georg had three children of their own.
And coincidentally, the real Maria made a brief appearance in The Sound of Music, the super-engaging musical movie “based” on her life that managed to get so many of the details wrong.
Happy Birthday, Maria von Trapp!!
