The Hills Are Alive... With the Sound of Former Child Actors
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens! I don't believe it! The fictional von Trapp kids from the iconic movie The Sound of Music are reuniting at Trapp Family Lodge from June 14-18. And you can meet them! No way!
They'll be dedicating an apple tree in memory of Werner von Trapp, who passed away in Oct. 2007. Werner was depicted in the movie as Kurt, one of the seven von Trapp tykes.
The gang's all going to be there. There'll be Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta and even little bratty Gretl. I actually don't know if she was bratty. I probably haven't seen the movie since I was 16 going on 17. And that was a long time ago.
During the reunion, the silver-screen sibs will present a plaque to Werner's sister Maria, one of the two children of Georg von Trapp and his first wife Agathe still living. If you don't know the story — which, beeteedubs, you should if you live in VT — there was this Austrian family and they had a million kids and they were called the von Trapps. Then Capt. von Trapp became a widower and hired a tutor for his kids. That was Maria. She was spunky. The Capt. was all pulling his hair out and wondering how do you solve a problem like Maria? She was a sassy broad. She was all like, "Yeah, I'll tutor your kids and when I'm not tutoring them, we're going to start a family band called the Trapp Family Singers. And people are going to make movies about us and Julie Andrews will play me."
That's probably not verbatim. But you get the point. Then Maria and Georg get married and they move their growing brood to the U.S. because they hate the Nazis. And then they ended up opening a fancy "European" lodge in Stowe in 1942. The rest is history.
What I'm really wondering is whether Julie Andrews, who did in fact play Maria in the movie, will be coming. If so, I totally want to hang out with her. And it would be cool to schmooze with Christopher Plummer, who played the Capt., as well. He's got a marshmallowy voice. Anyway, Julie Andrews, if you're reading this, can you come to the Trapp Family Lodge for the reunion? The folks are really nice there, and Sam von Trapp, Johannes' son (Johannes is the prez of the lodge) is pretty foxy. Granted, he's off the market since he just got hitched, but he's still nice to look at. So come. And call me.
If you want to learn more about the Sound of Music reunion, click this link. And remember, do is a deer, a female deer. And re is a drop of golden sun.
"Because they hate the Nazis?" Is that really they best way to describe why they fled Austria? If you haven't seen the movie since you were 16, you should watch it again.
I watched it three times in a row one weekend about eight years ago and cried to the point of dehydration. I can't say I appreciate the flip tone of this post. Maybe I'm especially sensitive because my father is a concentration camp survivor, but I think you should approach even tangential references to the Holocaust with a little more circumspection and sobriety, Lauren Ober.
By the way the Trapp website says only 5 of the 7 actors will be there.
Posted by: Haik Bedrosian | June 11, 2009 at 09:12 AM
Gretl was NOT a brat.
Posted by: jessica oski | June 11, 2009 at 01:12 PM
Hi Lauren: Cool post. Minor point: The VeeTee's did not, upon arriving in VeeTee, open a "fancy European lodge." It was actually quite modest in the beginning, and only slowly evolved into the landmark resort it has become. BTW, take a gander at the next Hackie column. It's about same. Peace Out, jernigan
Posted by: Jernigan Pontiac | June 13, 2009 at 10:19 AM