Forever Liesl: A Memoir of The Sound of Music - Softcover

Carr, Charmian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140298401 ISBN 13: 9780140298406

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

The magic of The Sound of Music lives on in the minds and hearts of everyone it has touched. Now, Charmian Carr, who in 1965 captivated moviegoers as Liesl "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" von Trapp, tells what it was like to be a part of the film that has become a cultural phenomenon. It's all here: from how she got the role (and why she almost didn't) to romances on the set and wild nights in Salzburg; from the near-disaster during the gazebo dance to her relationships--then and now--with her six celluloid siblings. Charmian offers stories from fans and friends and a treasury of photographs. And she reveals why she left acting, what she learned when she met the real von Trapp children; and how The Sound of Music has helped her get through stormy times in her own life.

Forever Liesl celebrates the spirit of the movie and what it stands for: family love, romance, inspiration, nostalgia, and the joy and power of music.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Charmian Carr was 21 years old when she played Liesl von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Now an interior designer, Carr continues to promote the movie on special occasions. She lives in Encino, California.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Forever Liesl

A Memoir of the Sound of MusicBy Charmian Carr

Penguin Books

Copyright © 2001 Charmian Carr
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0140298401

Chapter One

Maria

    We stood in the hotel lobby, Nicholas and Heather andDuane and Angela and Debbie and Kym and I, awkward and uncertain.The von Trapps were easy to spot. There were six in all, the sole survivingchildren of Georg and Agathe and Maria von Trapp. Dressed intraditional Austrian clothes, the women in dirndls with their gray hair inbraids, they stood out among the other guests.

    "This is very intimidating," Nicholas whispered into my ear. I noddedas the von Trapps glanced at us shyly, and then turned away. Theseven of us who had portrayed them in the 1965 film The Sound of Musicwanted to approach them, but this was such a momentous occasion,none of us knew how to proceed.

    It was December of 1998. We were all in New York to be honored bythe State of Salzburg. The von Trapps were to be awarded the GoldenDecoration of Honor for the many ways in which their family hadhelped Austria, and we seven were to receive the Mozart Medal for ourpart in spreading the von Trapps' story worldwide.

    In all the years since we made the film, I had never met our real-lifecounterparts, only their stepmother, Maria Augusta Kutschera, whomJulie Andrews portrayed in the film. In 1964, while we were filming onlocation, Maria traveled to Salzburg, met the cast, and was given a walk-onpart. As Julie Andrews sings "I Have Confidence" on her way fromNonnberg Abbey to the Trapp Villa, and passes beneath an arch indowntown Salzburg, in the shadows behind her is the real Maria vonTrapp. Getting those few seconds on film took thirty-seven takes, betweenthe master shot and the reverse angles, and when it was all doneMaria von Trapp told director Robert Wise, "Mr. Wise, I have just abandoneda lifelong ambition to work in the movies."

    I never saw the real Maria again before she died in 1987. Now that themoment had finally arrived that I would meet the "children" we'd portrayed,it was daunting. It felt as if we were impostors. For more thanthree decades, the seven of us had been applauded for being von Trapps,and suddenly we were faced with the real ones.

    We all retreated to our hotel rooms surprised at how awkward thatfirst moment felt, and wondering why we found it so hard to speak tothem. I realized how much I wanted these people to accept us. We hadportrayed them, but we were aware that members of the von Trapp familywere not entirely enamored of the film. Since its release in 1965, theyhad lived with the burden of being fictionalized. Important facts aboutthem had been changed or obscured. People expected them to be like thefilm characters, and were disappointed to find the von Trapps were notmirror images of the children in the film?nor did they want to be.

    Unlike the story told in The Sound of Music, Maria, a young noviceat Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, was sent to the von Trapp home to carenot for all seven children, but for only one child. Georg von Trapp,a widowed World War I submarine captain, had contacted the abbeyseeking a tutor for his twelve-year-old daughter, whose name was alsoMaria. The Captain's wife had died of scarlet fever, and then Maria, histhird child, had been stricken by the virus. Though little Maria had survived,her heart had been weakened. She was fragile and unable to attendschool.

    Maria Kutschera's arrival in the von Trapp home set in motion a seriesof events that decades later would be the basis for The Sound of Music.Some parts of the story were entirely accurate. Maria, the youngnovice, was the latest in a long line of governesses and teachers that theCaptain had hired to look after his family. He was courting an Austrianprincess. And he did marry his young daughter's tutor within a year'stime. But many other facts were changed.

    At midday, the seven of us who'd been in the film were invited to jointhe vice-governor of Salzburg for lunch in the hotel's restaurant. As wewere led to our table, we passed by the von Trapps sitting at their own.Once again, we all glanced at each other but no words were spoken.

    Finally, the woman who was really responsible for everything stoodup at the von Trapp table. Maria von Trapp?the younger Maria, who asa frail child had been the cause of Maria Kutschera's moving into theTrapp Villa?had not only survived childhood but outlived at least fourof her siblings. Now eighty-four, she strode across the room to ourtable. I looked into her eyes, afraid and hopeful at the same time, as shereached out her hand to me, saying, "I felt I should come and meet youat last."

    I jumped from my seat. "I'm so glad you did!" I gestured toward mysix film siblings. "We've all been so nervous."

    "We have, too." She grinned. Suddenly her arms were encircling me,and my arms instantly went around her. The embrace overwhelmed me.The Sound of Music had affected my life in so many ways. And it all beganbecause of this woman in my arms, with the silver braids and theface that spoke volumes of the history she has lived.

    "You are beautiful," she said to me, smiling. "It means so much forme to meet you."

    "And I you," I whispered.

    One by one, timidly, her brothers and sisters came over to where westood, and Nicholas and Heather and Duane and Angela and Debbieand Kym jumped up from the table to join us. The awkwardness waspast, and now we were huddling close together, talking and laughing,reveling in the connection between us, as if at a family reunion?which,in a very true sense, is exactly what it was.

    I hadn't expected this sensation. I hadn't expected to feel I was cominghome. For the first time, I realized how much I owed this lovelywoman and her family.

    "This is incredible," Maria said, reaching out to hug me again. As Iheld on to her, I could not help wondering about the forces that hadbrought us together. We were strangers, born thousands of miles apart,separated by generations and events, yet we were bound to each other,like relatives long lost. I gazed into her face and wondered what life Iwould have led if this robust woman had not been a sickly child. I tightenedmy embrace and thought back on how it all began.

Chapter Two

Somewhere He Opens
a Window

There is a flash of lightning. Liesl enters through the widow. Her dress is wet and smudged with dirt. She starts to tiptoe to the hall door. Maria sees her out of the corner of her eye, but continues:

MARIA God bless the Reverend Mother, and Sister Margaretta and everybody at Nonnberg Abbey. And now, dear God, about Liesl?

(Liesl stops and gives Maria a startled look) Help her to know that I am her friend, and help her to tell me what she's been up to.

LIESL Are you going to tell on me?

       That was to be the first line I uttered as Liesl von Trapp. Itwas March 27, 1964, the second day of shooting The Sound of Music andmy very first day as an actress. But on the first take director Robert Wiseyelled, "Cut?" before I even came in the window. I had missed my cue.

    "Charmy? Where are you?"

    Everything was choreographed: Julie's praying, the lightning, thethunder, my entrance. I was supposed to come through the windowwhen Julie said the line, "God bless what's-his-name." The problemwas, the thunder was so loud, I could barely hear her.

    "Sorry." I had arrived on the set two hours early that day feelingtense and excited?and worried that if I didn't do well they'd just getsomeone else. So, when I missed my cue, I should have been concernedthat my film career would be over before the lunch break. In fact, I wasjust too cold to care.

    Minutes earlier, Bob Wise had approached me with a man who wascarrying what looked like a garden sprayer. "You know," Bob saidsoftly, "in this scene you're climbing in the window after being caught ina rainstorm. Well ... meet Mr. Rainstorm."

    Without saying a word, the man lifted the sprayer's hose and dousedme with water that was so cold I gasped.

    "More," said Bob as he inspected me when the man was done. "Iwant to see drops beaded on her face, and her dress needs to be clingingto her body."

    The man with the sprayer adjusted his nozzle, dousing me anew. Thewater hit me with enough force that I staggered backward a step; it keptcoming until I was totally drenched.

    Then up stepped a woman who was carrying an aerosol spray canwith the word "DIRT" stenciled on it. She sprayed my dress from top tobottom with the canned dirt.

    "She looks like she's been in a coal mine," protested Betty Levin, thescript supervisor.

    Bob stood his ground. "She's been climbing up a trellis in the middleof a thunderstorm, so she'd be this dirty." He smiled. "She's perfect."

    Filthy, soaked, and shaking, I waited to make my acting debut. Thestarting bell rang on the set, a red light flashed, and the film began toroll.

    Not only did I miss my first cue, but I also missed my second. I shiveredin the wings, awaiting my entrance, trying to keep my teeth fromchattering. All I heard was Bob yell, "Cut!" again.

    I was shaking as Bob Wise approached me. For a moment I thoughthe was going to tell me to pack my things and head home, but he askedcalmly, "Can you hear anything back here?"

    "Not really," I said. "Just my teeth." I held my breath. Maybe Iwouldn't get fired yet. Maybe he'd give me one more chance. And hedid. Rather than make me feel like an amateur or that I was ruining thescene or upsetting his star, Bob Wise took the time to help me become anactress. His attitude always was, if there was a problem, there was a solution."Julie, let's have you say that one line loud. Really loud."

    Of course, I wasn't the only one nervous that day. Julie Andrews hadfar more pressure on her. The Sound of Music in many ways rested onher shoulders. She wasn't a superstar yet?in fact, in March of 1964, shewas virtually unknown in Hollywood. Although she was a star onBroadway, Bob Wise and Saul Chaplin, the film's associate producer,had to be convinced she was photogenic enough to play the role ofMaria von Trapp in their movie. They were able to view some footageof her at Disney Studios in the not-yet-released film Mary Poppins. Afterseeing just a minute of Julie, in what would be an Oscar-winning performance,Bob and Saul looked at each other and said, "Let's get out ofhere and hire her before someone else does!"

    Still, even though they believed in Julie's potential, she was not yet aproven star in film, and had to be feeling a great deal of pressure in thosefirst days before the cameras. She might have exploded in anger, complainedthat I was destroying her concentration, and demanded that theyget someone a little less deaf to play Liesl. But instead she smiled at meencouragingly and knelt beside the bed to begin her prayer for the thirdtime.

    "Ready? Action!"

    Julie ran through her lines. "God bless the Captain, God bless Liesland Friedrich, Louisa, Brigitta, Marta and little Gretl?and, oh, yes Iforgot the other boy?what's his name?" I was straining to hear behindthe wall of the set when all of a sudden Julie belted out, "Well, God blesswhat's-his-name!"

    I nearly jumped out of my skin. I slipped through the curtains of thewindow, and my being nervous and cold and startled all helped thescene. Liesl was supposed to be nervous. She didn't want to be caught;she wanted to get out of that room without Maria seeing her.

    "Are you going to tell on me?" I asked anxiously. It was my first momentever on film, and I looked as if I knew what I was doing.

    "Great? Bob said when we'd finished. "That was good. Very good.Let's get one more from this angle and then we'll set up for a differentpoint of view."

    Thus began a long, cold day of filming. While I was on camera, Iwarmed up under the big arc lamps?and then Bob would have themdouse me with water again. I began each take the same way, soaking wetand shaking. I don't know if it was Bob's intention, but it gave the scenecontinuity and realism.

    With each successive take, acting amid all the lights and the camerasand the dozens of people began to feel natural to me. I credit Julie Andrewswith making that happen. She was always supportive, alwayswitty off camera, and always perfect when Bob yelled, "Action!"

    After many hours and fifteen different setups, we were finally done.I retreated to my dressing room and got into some warm clothes. No onecame by to tell me I was fired. Before leaving the set, I checked the callsheet for the next day?and there was my name. I'd made it through myfirst day as an actress.

    As I drove home, I thought about Julie and Bob, and how grateful Iwas to them. Not once did they make me feel bad about messing upthose first takes. I may be the only one who remembers what happened,but even now, decades later, when I see the film I cringe when Julie says,"God bless what's-his-name? Perhaps no one else notices how she emphasizesthat line, but the words always jump out at me, reminding methat I missed my first cue!

    That night, wrapped in a warm blanket on my mother's couch, Istudied my lines for the next day. We'd be back in Maria's bedroom,shooting the song "My Favorite Things." The only thing that wouldhave to be wet was my hair. Hurrah!

    That was as far as I could see into my future: the next scene, my nextlines, and whether or not I'd be rained upon by the man with the watersprayer. I could not possibly have imagined how being a part of TheSound of Music was going to change my life. Yet my future was changedforever that day in' March of 1964. When I came through that windowinto Maria's bedroom, I passed through a portal. I left behind the childI'd been and the life I might have lived. From that moment on, I becameLiesl von Trapp, and she and I would be intertwined forever.

       There was a man who saw The Sound of Music over and over atthe same theater, always sitting in the same seat. Years later, when the theaterwas going to be demolished, he actually bought the seat.

    In some ways, I don't understand that kind of obsession. I've never feltsuch a strong attachment to something so intangible. Yet I do understand hisyearning to cling to a special memory. We all cry to find ways to hold on tothings that are precious to us.

    The walls of my home and office are covered with photographs of thepeople and moments of my life that I cherish. There are mementos from myjourneys that rest on my shelves, and chests full of favorite things that belongedto my children when they were younger. Perhaps I shouldn't questiona man's desire to own a single theater seat in which he spent many happyhours.

    In my mind, I can see this man in his home, sitting in the old theater seat.He is not a young man anymore. His hands run gently over the maroon velvetarmrests?and he is smiling.

Chapter Three

Blue Eyes

       Being cast as Liesl changed the course of my life. Yet whetheror not I would be selected for the role came down to something overwhich I had no control: the color of my eyes.

    In January of 1964, Marian Garner, a friend of my mother's who wasa casting agent, had exhausted her pool of young girls who looked sixteento send to Twentieth Century Fox for a film based on the stage musicalThe Sound of Music. Marian got an anxious call from the studio. Didshe know of any other actresses she could recommend? And Marian rememberedthat my mother had three daughters.

    "Rita," Marian asked my mother over the phone, "can any of yourgirls sing and dance and pass for sixteen?"

    "Charmian could," Mom answered eagerly. "My middle daughter.She just turned twenty-one, but she could pass for sixteen."

    I had no serious ambition to become an actress. That dream belongedto my sister Sharon, who was a year older than I was. Sharonworked hard, all the while worrying about me and my lack of resolve."What you going to do with your life, Charmy?" she'd ask, shaking herhead. "You walk around like a zombie. You've got to have goals, a passion!"

    I'd defend myself. "I do have goals. I want to travel." I dreamed ofgoing to Europe and visiting fairy-tale castles. I was attending collegepart-time and working for a doctor. The doctor was an old flirt who literallychased me around his office, but I put up with him because the twodollars an hour he paid me brought me closer to a European vacation.

    Mom met me at the door that night when I got home from work."You've got an audition for a role in a film!"

    "What?"

    "It's all set. You're to go to Fox Studios tomorrow and meet with thecasting director."

    Mom never even asked me if I wanted to try out for the part. But Igrew up in a show business family. My father was a big-band conductorand Mom had been a vaudevillian. I knew that for her my getting a partin a film would be a much bigger deal than earning a college diploma.

    I had no idea that the film I was trying out for would be shot partlyin Europe. In fact, Mom didn't know anything about the role. I assumedit would be a small one, since I had no professional acting experience.

    With no clue as to what I was going to have to do in my audition, Idrove over to Fox the next day. The secretary for casting director MikeMcLean gave me a copy of a single scene. I wasn't quite sure how thisworked. I glanced at the three pages, then back at the secretary, andasked in a low voice, so no one else in the room would guess how inexperiencedI was, "Do I have to memorize all this right now?"

    She looked up at me. "No, hon. You just read right from the script."

    I nodded, trying to look as if I really knew that and had just beenmaking sure. I sat down and read through those three pages as quicklyas I could. I had ten minutes to prepare before I was called into MikeMcLean's office. Mike sat facing me and fed me the lines for Rolf.

LIESL (lightly) Don't worry about Father. He's a big naval hero. He was even decorated by the Emperor.

ROLF I know. I don't worry about him. But I do worry about his daughter.

LIESL
(eagerly)
Me? Why?

ROLF
Well, you're ... so ...

LIESL
What?

ROLF
You're such a ... baby ...

LIESL
(pleased?not frowning)
I'm sixteen. What's "such a baby" about that?

    I'd performed in dozens of shows in our basement and backyard withmy sisters, and Sharon had recruited me to be in one play in college, butthat was the extent of my acting experience. I read those lines as sincerelyas I could, and then Mike McLean very nicely ushered me out thedoor. When I got home and my mother asked me how it went, I wasn'tsure if I'd done a good job or not. But a few days later, Mike's secretarycalled me. Could I come in for a second reading?

    "Yes, of course."

    "And they'll want to have you sing as well."

    "Oh." I'd had years of dance classes but had never had a singlesinging lesson, so this news made me a little nervous. The only time Ihad sung in public was in the church choir. I expressed my concern tomy mother, and she immediately sat down at our piano and told me tosing. She kept coaxing me and working with me, and by the time I wentto my second audition, I was ready to sing for them.

    This time I read the same scene again, not only for Mike McLean butalso for associate producer Saul Chaplin. I was smitten with Saul fromthe first moment I met him. Tall and skinny, with a radiant smile, he remindedme of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. He put me immediatelyat ease. More than once that day, when I was nervous, I would lookover at Saul and relax. It's no surprise that he ghostwrote some of thelyrics to "I Have Confidence," one of the two songs written specificallyfor the film. He always gave me confidence in myself.

    Again I read the part of Liesl. I thought it a strange name and pronouncedit "Lysol." Saul took me aside and whispered, "It rhymes with`weasel.' Lee-zil." Then he handed me the music for the song "SixteenGoing on Seventeen" and I sang it a capella.

    The practicing with my mother paid off. I wasn't even very nervous.Saul seemed to like me very much, and I thought they were going to tellme I had the part. But again I was shown the door. I went home perplexed,sure I had failed.

    Days later, I was called back once more, this time to read for MikeMcLean, Saul Chaplin, and the film's director, Robert Wise. Now I wasnervous. My latent ambition had risen to the surface. I wanted to beLiesl! I didn't even know how big the role was, not having seen a fullscript, but by then I wanted to play the part very much.

    So, once again, I read and sang. Then the three of them marched medown to the dance-rehearsal stage, where choreographers Dee DeeWood and Marc Breaux quickly showed me some of the dance steps thatwould ultimately be a part of Liesl's dance with Rolf in the gazebo. NowI was on my own turf. I'd been dancing since I was four years old. Finally,all those ballet lessons paid off. The steps were not difficult for meto master, and I could tell they were all pleased. Yet, once again, theykindly led me to the door and said goodbye.

    Unbeknownst to me, Robert Wise felt I wasn't right for the part thefirst moment he saw me: much later, I learned that he thought my eyeswere too blue and would look strange on film. But two things wereworking in my favor.

    The first was Saul Chaplin, who became my champion. "She's Liesl,"he insisted to Bob. "We've finally found her."

    The second was the fact that, by the time I interviewed for the part,dozens and dozens of potential Liesls had gone through the castingdirector's office, including young actresses named Mia Farrow, KimDarby, Lesley Ann Warren, Teri Garr, Shelley Fabares, Patty Duke, andGeraldine Chaplin. Bob and Saul and Ernie had a very clear picture intheir minds of what Liesl would be like. Their casting notes reveal thevision they had: "She's 16 going on 17. Part child and part youngwoman. Sometimes fresh and snippy?but still eager and expectant,lovely?must be able to dance well." Their notes on various other actressestrying out for the part also reveal how difficult it can be to get castin a role. Here's what they had to say about some of the Liesl hopefuls:"too hammy," "too short," "too tall," "too old," "too young," "too-too!!,""can't act," "nothing great?but nice face," "great looking but awfulreading: too bad," "heavy in legs," "big in fanny," "not strong enough,""not outstanding," "not for us," "a little too worldly," "pregnant."

    Mike McLean had seen hundreds of young actresses and Bob andSaul had interviewed several, but their Liesl still had not been found.The six other children had already been cast, as had Julie Andrews andChristopher Plummer, and they were already in rehearsal. So Bob andSaul were at a point where they had to find the actress for the part. Saulfought hard for me: "Let's give her a try."

    Bob Wise finally agreed that Saul could give me a screen test to seehow my eyes looked. But a soundstage wouldn't be available for my testfor two weeks. Saul hired me without a contract, telling me I was temporarilyLiesl and warning me that I wouldn't be permanently cast unlessI passed the screen test two weeks down the road.

    Despite this caveat, I was thrilled. I quit my job at the doctor's officethat very afternoon and the next morning drove to the Fox lot, fresh andexuberant. Even though I only had the job conditionally, I was excited.I had a job as an actress in a movie!

    Whether or not I would ultimately become Liesl, however, hingednot on how well I could sing or dance or act, but on how my blue eyeswould look on film. Life is like that sometimes?determined by thingsyou can't control, like who your new governess turns out to be, or thecolor of your eyes. All we can do is look straight into the lens and let fatelead us where it will.

Continues...

Excerpted from Forever Lieslby Charmian Carr Copyright © 2001 by Charmian Carr. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0140298401
• ISBN 13: 9780140298406
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 256
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar