‘The Sound Of Music’ Tonight: Fun Facts About The Classic Holiday Film


The Sound of Music airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. on ABC, and it’s already been the subject of many different Twitter discussions — not the least of which being discussions surrounding the parallels between the story of the von Trapp family’s exodus from Austria to escape Hitler and the current status of politics in America. But this 1965 film — which has endured for more than 50 years — actually has a lot of interesting stories that come from behind the scenes, and they’re some that you might want to keep in mind as you watch The Sound of Music tonight.

For example, for folks that won’t be tuning into The Sound of Music tonight because they don’t like it, they can take comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their dislike of the classic holiday film. In fact, according to Mental Floss, Christopher Plummer — who played Captain Georg von Trapp — hated the film so much that he would frequently throw shade at it by dubbing it “The Sound of Mucus.”

“It was so awful and sentimental and gooey. You had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some minuscule bit of humor into it.”

Plummer proceeded to eat and drink his feelings away all throughout Austria. He later admitted that he was drunk during the filming of the “Austrian Folk Festival” scene, and he’d put on so much weight that his costumes had to be let out to accommodate his additional girth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g84dejrJXI

Speaking of which, if you do happen to enjoy The Sound of Music tonight, take comfort in knowing that it was close to never happening at all. In addition to the aforementioned Plummer hating the film, there were several other key components that needed additional coaxing before they could do the film, according to the Telegraph.

For example, Robert Wise — the film’s director — originally didn’t want to direct the film because he, like Plummer, felt it was too “saccharine.” Also, Julie Andrews — who played the adorable, lovable Maria — almost didn’t take the part because she felt it was too much like her previous role in the titular Mary Poppins. At the time, in fact, she even said that she hoped she wouldn’t only be considered for “nanny” roles in the future!

Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer will star in “The Sound of Music” tonight on ABC. [Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

Finally, according to Refinery29‘s report about The Sound of Music broadcasting tonight, there was a lot of scandal going on behind the scenes. According to Charmaine Carr, the late actress who played Liesl, she performed her infamous dance scene with Dan Truhitte (who played Rolf) with a badly sprained ankle. She had to wrap her ankle in a bandage to finish the scene, and before the advent of digital technology — which would magically remove the offending evidence — the “bulge” from the bandage was evident.

In addition, according to Carr, while there was no real-life romance between herself and Truhitte (who, interestingly, would go on to have a son that he would name Rolf, after his most infamous role), she did have a crush on another actor she worked with: Christopher Plummer. There was one fly in the proverbial ointment, however: Plummer was 35 years old and married. According to Carr, however, nothing happened between her and the Captain, though that certainly would have made for some interesting stories if it had, indeed, happened.

Did you know that there was all kinds of scandal behind the scenes of “The Sound of Music”? [Image by David Buchan/Getty Images]

Be sure to check out The Sound of Music when it airs tonight on ABC. Will you be tuning into The Sound of Music tonight?

[Featured Image by Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

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