In my surprisingly controversial overview of what I consider to be highly overrated films “classic” much of the most potent vitriol was, perhaps not so surprisingly, directed toward my dislike of overly saccharine Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music. Being the fan of the perverse as I am, I have decided to tempt fate by giving the much lesser known story of what really happened after Maria and the Von Trapp family escaped from the Nazis.
The film ends with Maria and Captain Von Trapp newly married and on the run. In fact, by the time Maria and the Captain were making their escape, not only had they been married for awhile, but she was pregnant with their first, and Von Trapp’s tenth, child. The method of their escape was to pretend they were simply going out for what everybody knew was their regular hike through Alps. Instead, Maria, the Captain and the children hopped aboard a train and made their along the fabulous Alps route that saw them through Italy to Switzerland and then on to France before catching a ship to England on their way to their final destination, America.
Once in America, the family that had enjoyed every luxury known to celebrities were little more than just another bunch of poor refugees fleeing Hitler. Work was a necessity, but they really only had one way to make money: singing. The once lauded Trapp Family Singers were soon making every dollar they could by showing up at weddings and birthday parties. (Wonder how many of those children and brides and grooms realized while watching The Sound of Music that those cutes that sang at their special event were the same ones being portrayed on the silver screen?) Of course, Von Trapp kids were no American Idol winners; they could actually sing and their route from the banquet hall to the concert hall was short and sweet. A little over a year after making their escape, they had managed to save enough money to buy 600 acres worth of prime farmland in Stowe, Vermont. They chose this gorgeous spot of America because it brought back pleasant memories of their days in Austria. Eventually the Von Trapp Family singers were touring the world, but instead of returning to their homeland following the world they called Stowe home.
When Captain Von Trapp died in 1947 Maria set to work opening the Trapp Family Music Camp in Stowe. It was an immediate success; so much so that before too long it was obviously too small to realize Maria’s dreams. This was the impetus behind the Trapp Family Lodge which today covers 2700 acres and is presided over by Johannes, who was still in Maria Von Trapp’s womb as the family made their escape back in the 30’s.
