The real Maria had quite an eventful childhood. She was born on a moving train on the way to the hospital. She was orphaned by the young age of ten. She was then sent to live with a violent uncle, whom she decided to run away from. Maria felt an affinity for the Catholic Church, and naturally found her way to a convent.
Her connection to religion was surprising, since her foster parents were atheists. It’s a good thing that she felt that spiritual pull, otherwise she would have never met the von Trapps and spent her life with them!
It’s Was Not A Hit In Austria
Despite its massive success in the United States and many other countries around the world, The Sound of Music wasn’t a hit everywhere. In Austria the movie was only on the big screen for three weeks when it was released in 1965 and wasn’t shown on TV until the year 2000. Austrians didn’t like the movie because they felt that it was too Americanized and portrayed Austrian culture in an insensitive way.
Critics also believe that Austrians took offense to the portrayal of some of their countrymen as Nazi sympathizers. They look back at the occupation with utter contempt and certainly don’t want any reminders of that dark time in their country’s history.
Fans Got A Writer Fired
The Sound of Music has some seriously devoted fans! When the film came out it was reviewed by Pauline Kael for McCall’s magazine. She felt that it was too much of a popcorn flick, and went on to say the movie was, “a sugar coated lie that people seem to want to eat. Wasn’t there perhaps one little von Trapp who didn’t want to sing his head off? Or who got nervous and threw up if he had to get on a stage?”
Fans were outraged and the review caused such an outrage that Kael was actually fired for writing it. She went on to write for The New Yorker, where her cynicism could finally be appreciated.
More Than She Bargained For
Maria had no idea that she would end up taking care of so many children. When she received the request, she was supposed to serve as a governess for only one of the children who was sick at the time with scarlet fever. After she started working, her responsibilities increased to include all the other von Trapp children as well.
Unbelievably, the von Trapps ended up with ten children, and not just the seven shown in the film. She may have been daunted by the enormous task at first, but she quickly fell in love with each and every child in the house.
Not A Whole Lot Of Love
In the movie, romance quickly blossoms between Maria and George, but in real life nothing was further from the truth. Maria had no particular feelings for the captain, she saved them all for his children. When she met them for the first time, now that was love at first sight, but her love for George took more time to develop.
When he asked her to marry him, she accepted because of the way he proposed, asking for her hand so that someone would take care of the children. Maria was torn between her religious duties at the convent and Georg’s offer of marriage, but in the end even the nuns believed she should tie the knot.