Julie Andrews rehearsing with choreographer Marc Breaux.
Designing dance sequences where actors covered lots of ground, such as in the “Do-Re-Mi” number, was a bit tricky. That’s where Zuberano’s storyboards came in. Breaux and Wood would judge the distances from the sketches. Then they would rehearse everything at the studio before going to Salzburg. For instance, to rehearse the sequence in which Maria and the children ride bikes down a tree-lined road, Andrews and the children would get on bikes and ride down a street on the Fox lot, timing the riding with the music.
Rehearsing “I Have Confidence.”
Two weeks before the company was to travel to Salzburg to begin filming, Marc Breaux and Saul Chaplin flew to the city ahead of the cast to further perfect the timing of the dance sequences. (Dee Dee Wood stayed on in Hollywood to rehearse with the cast.) They took along a prerecording of “Do-Re-Mi” and “I Have Confidence in Me,” the only two songs filmed on location. They had already rehearsed these complicated numbers on the lot at Fox, so they had an idea of how far the actors needed to go to get from, say, one end of the street to the other, and how many bars of music it would take for them to get there. Now Chaplin and Breaux had to see if they were right. If they weren’t, Irwin Kostal could redo the tracks back in Los Angeles and get them ready before the company began location shooting.
It must have been a silly sight, the choreographer and associate producer pacing musical numbers in the middle of traffic. Chaplin stood on the street corner, poised with a tape recorder in hand, and as soon as the traffic light changed he gave it some juice and Breaux would take off down the street, his “dancing” becoming a mixture of his own choreography and his weaving as he dashed between the cars. Invariably the light would change again before the music ended and Breaux would then be stuck in the middle of the street. This happened again and again until finally a policeman stopped them and began questioning them in German. Since neither of them spoke fluent German, they couldn’t readily explain what they were doing. But they were lucky. The policeman, realizing they were Americans, just shook his head and walked on, as if their nationality were explanation enough for their behavior.
The children began rehearsals on February 10. All the children got along famously, right from the beginning. Heather Menzies and Angela Cartwright became inseparable. They were obsessed with the Beatles and spent any free time drooling over teen magazines. Kym Karath’s first crush was Nicholas Hammond. They became such good friends, in fact, that Hammond later took Karath to her first prom. The studio, in compliance with California law, had all the children, except for Kym Karath, work just six hours a day. Because she was not yet six, Karath could work for only four hours. She was always being teased by the others because not only did she work fewer hours, but her mother was required to accompany her every time she went to the bathroom. Karath’s happiest memory of the picture was the day she turned six. “Oh, thank God!” she remembers saying. “Now I can finally go to the bathroom by myself!”
Saul Chaplin and Marc Breaux (Dee Dee Wood in background).
On the Fox lot, timing the bike-riding scene from “Do-Re-Mi.”
The children were also required to be in school three hours a day. Their “schoolhouse” was located in an office on the Fox lot, where they were tutored by veteran studio teacher Frances Klamt. A typical day for the children, before they began filming, would be:
8:00-10:00: School
10:00-12:00: Rehearse with vocal coach, Bobby Tucker
12:00-1:00: Lunch
1:00-2:00: School
2:00-3:00: Vocal coach again
3:00-4:00: Learn dance steps with Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood
4:00-5:00: Work with dialect coach Pamela Danova
Charmian Carr didn’t have to go to school, so her day began at 9:00 with Pamela Danova, and she took guitar lessons from 1:00 to 2:00; she had to look convincing playing the guitar in the “Edelweiss” scene.
Celebrating Kym Karath’s sixth birthday.
Lunchtime!
An American obsession, even for the “von Trapp” children.
Carr with instructor, learning how to play the guitar.
Danova worked on the children’s dialects every day, even when they traveled to Salzburg. All cast members were given lists of commonly used words and how to pronounce them. Vowels sounding like a British good were fulfill and look, for example. Vowels sounding like the German herr were prayer, careful, farewell. Vowels sounding like few were fortunate, Tuesday, tunes. Friedrich was pronounced Freedrik. Georg sounded like Gay-org. The list went on.
When the children weren’t busy with these activities, they were in wardrobe fittings or makeup, or they were having their portraits taken. Dan Truhitte and Nicky Hammond had to have their hair dyed for their parts. Both had dark brown hair, and it was no small task turning them into blonds.
“They had to bleach not only my hair but my eyebrows too,” recalled Truhitte. “Then, in Salzburg, they ran out of whatever they usually used on my hair, and the wardrobe mistress used this European stuff. I should have known then that this would be a problem, because she looked very concerned when she put it on my hair. I don’t know if that’s what did it, but my hair never grew back right after that. I lost half my hair, and it thinned out a lot. I had to start wearing hairpieces at twenty-one, and it hasn’t been the same since.”
Julie Andrews and Pamela Danova.
Truhitte wasn’t the only actor whose hair was damaged by the hair dye. Julie Andrews’s hair was dyed blond for her role of Maria, but that was not the original intention.
“I came in for the hair tests,” recalled Andrews. “They always test your hair and makeup and wardrobe when you start a picture. I had natural blond highlights in my hair, but they said it was a little dark at the back of the neck. So they decided to put in more highlights to give it a blond effect. But the highlights bled, and my hair came out orange! We were all mortified! So to cover it up, they bleached my hair blond all over.”
Though she was happy to have her hair cut short for the film, when they dyed her hair orange, Andrews said, “We were all mortified!”
Prerecording was a major factor in preproduction. Prerecording songs is necessary in a musical film because there has to be a consistent tempo against which to shoot musical numbers. Every scene in any film is shot in pieces, called takes. One scene could literally have hundreds of takes. Sometimes one scene could take days or even a week or more to shoot. If a live orchestra was on the set, there would be no way it could keep the tempo exactly the same for each take.
Different looks for Liesl.
When Irwin Kostal, the musical arranger, began the prerecording sessions on the music stage at the studio, he had both a large orchestra and the singers on the stage. He recorded them, however, on separate sound tracks, so the sound technicians would have ultimate flexibility in balancing the two when final dubbing was completed. The separate music track was also used later for dubbing in foreign countries. The orchestra, with eight to ten microphones scattered through the various instruments, was recorded on several stereo sound tracks. The singer was in a remote sound “box” at the side of the stage. The box had glass panels so the singer could see the orchestra and the conductor. Each singer’s voice was recorded on a single, intimate microphone.
The songs were recorded in pieces. “It’s almost impossible for an orchestra and a singer to go through a whole three-or four-minute number,” said Wise. “So you may do bars one through twenty-eight, get that right, and then pick up with bars twenty-nine through fifty, and so on. You set all your tempos there. I used to be known as ‘Ten Percent Wise.’ I’d come into a rehearsal, and I’d listen to the recording, and often I’d say, ‘Yeah, it’s swell, but it needs to be ten percent faster.’ And usually it was better.”
Julie Andrews rehearses songs with orchestra led by music supervisor and conductor Irwin Kostal.
“It’s hard to prerecord a song without knowing what you’re going to be s
hooting,” said Andrews. “Like in ‘The Sound of Music.’ It was hard to lay down that song definitively without knowing precisely what the movements were. I knew I wanted it to be joyous and thrilling, and to this day, when I sing it in my concerts, that song still gives me a thrill. But back then I had to try to outguess myself and project what I would be doing.”
If prerecording a song was hard for the actor, it was even more complicated when using a voice double. Voice doubles were used when the real actor’s voice wasn’t strong enough. “You always have the actor at the recording sessions,” said Wise. “That way the actor’s interpretation can be worked into the song. The actor doesn’t sing along with the double, but he gives the double his input. He might say, ‘I would play it this way.’ The actor is there to help give the acting dimension to the singing.”
Wise and Chaplin rehearse a song with Kym Karath.
Peggy Wood’s voice was dubbed by Margery MacKay, the wife of the rehearsal pianist Harper MacKay. Even with all the voice lessons and rehearsals, the children’s voices had to be reinforced.
“The voice lessons are really to teach the actors how to sing the songs in sync with the recording,” said Harper MacKay, “It makes the singing more realistic.”
Irwin Kostal used seven children and five adults to fill in the children’s voices. “The only time the children actually sing alone,” said Kostal, “is in the scene after Maria has left and the children are sad. They try to sing ‘The Sound of Music’ on their own. That is their real voices. That’s the best they could do.”
Coincidentally, one of the singers hired to dub the children’s voices was Darleen Farnon, Charmian’s younger sister. “They didn’t even know she was my sister,” Carr said in a 1964 interview with a Fox publicist. “The same agent who took me out on a date took her out. It wasn’t until after they signed her that I told them she was my sister.”
Production on The Sound of Music almost came to a complete halt before the movie even began filming when Christopher Plummer threatened to quit the picture. Plummer was determined to have his own voice recorded on the film, and to that end he took voice lessons every day with Bobby Tucker. But when Plummer was told that his voice was going to be dubbed, even in the prerecording, he almost walked off the set.
“Plummer hadn’t understood that they were going to prerecord his songs with a voice double,” said Wise. “That meant that he would have to sing in sync with that ‘dummy’ voice as he was acting in front of the camera. Plummer wanted to do his own prerecording, with the chance to redo his singing, if necessary, after shooting was completed. He felt that by the time the picture was in postproduction he would have improved on his voice enough so that it could stay in the picture.”
“No one wants to do voice dubbing,” said Irwin Kostal. “You do it only as a last resort. Chris was very conscientious about his lessons. Bobby Tucker spent a lot of time working with him.”
However, no matter how much he rehearsed, Plummer’s voice just wasn’t strong enough. When Plummer announced that he was going to quit, Ernest Lehman, who had already left the picture and was at work on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was called back to talk to him.
“He said he felt emasculated,” said Lehman. “He said that knowing his voice would be dubbed destroyed his ability to play the role.”
The case was taken all the way up to Dick Zanuck. Zanuck finally told Plummer that he could do the prerecording. Then after the shooting was completed, they would rerecord his voice for the picture if Plummer thought his voice was good enough. A clause to this effect was inserted in Plummer’s contract, and he was led to believe that his voice could still be in the picture if he worked on it sufficiently. Wise also agreed to this plan of action, for he thought it just might be possible that Plummer’s voice would improve enough to go into the completed film.
“This has happened in a lot of pictures where the star doesn’t have a strong enough voice,” said Harper MacKay. “I’ve worked with Audrey Hepburn on My Fair Lady and Rosalind Russell on Gypsy. It’s all the same. The stars work very hard on their voices, and everyone encourages them and tells them how well they are doing, and then they begin to believe it themselves. And when they are finally told that it’s not good enough, there are a lot of hard feelings.”
The prerecording wasn’t completed before filming began, so extra recording sessions had to be fit into the shooting schedule. When the actors weren’t required for a scene, they would be busy finishing the prerecording.
“It was a tense and edgy period,” Wise recalled of those last few days before beginning production. “No matter how much preproduction preparation time one has on a film, and we had six months of it on Music, on that first day of shooting you feel like a high diver taking the plunge into a pool far below. The anticipation is very nerve-racking, and it’s only when the plunge has been made and the shooting starts that the nerves settle down.”
Final Shooting Schedule
Ernest Lehman might have written a tightly fluid constructed story of Maria’s early experiences with the von Trapp family, but the film was not shot that way. As with all pictures, the film was shot out of sequence. Following is the breakdown of the way the film was actually shot, based on available daily production reports.
LOS ANGELES
March 26-April 1, 1964-Scene 17
Int. Maria’s Bedroom—Night
Frau Schmidt brings in material … tells Maria that the Captain will marry the baroness … As Maria prays, Liesl enters through the window. Lightning and thunder bring in the other children. Maria begins “My Favorite Things.” They all join in. The Captain enters, and the children all leave. The Captain has a few words with Maria, and then he too leaves. Maria examines soon-to-be-replaced drapes and conceives idea for playclothes. She begins the song again.
April 2, 1964—Scenes 5 and 6
Ext. Abbey Cloister—Dusk
Nuns walk to chapel as we hear the chant, “Dixit Dominus.”
April 3-8, 1964-Scene 8
Ext. Abbey Cloister—Dusk
“Maria.”
April 9, 1964-Scene 60
Int. Room Off Abbey Cloister—Day
Mother Abbess and others prepare Maria for the wedding. They escort Maria to cathedral gate. She goes through the gate while the nuns remain inside.
April 10, 1964—Scenes 8, 79, 81, and 83
Int. Maria’s Room, Abbey—Night
(8) Maria is kneeling in prayer. Sister Margaretta comes to tell her that the Mother Abbess wants to see her. Maria and Sister Margaretta walk to the Mother Abbess’s quarters. Maria is summoned inside.
(79) The Captain and his family hear Nazis. Mother Abbess leads them out of the abbey. She cautions Sister Berthe to be slow in opening the gate.
(81) Zeller and his men hear a car racing away and rush out as the sisters move to the window.
(83) The sisters confess they immobilized the Nazis’ cars … show parts to Mother Abbess.
April 13-17, 1964-Scene 80
Ext. Abbey Graveyard and Crypt—Night
Mother Abbess leads the family to the abbey crypt. They hide from the Nazis. Rolf discovers them and tries to turn them in. The family escapes.
COMPANY TRAVELS TO SALZBURG
April 23, 1964—Scenes 59 and 61
Int. Mondsee Cathedral—Day
Wedding of Maria and the Captain.
April 24, 1964-Scene 7—St. Margarethen Chapel
Int. Chapel—Day
Nuns kneel in prayer.
April 25, 1964-Scene 9—Dürer Studios
Int. Mother Abbess’s Quarters—Day
Reverend Mother tells Maria that she must go to the von Trapp home.
April 27-May 5, 1964—Scene 75
Int. Rocky Riding School—Night
Festival scene.
May 4 and 6, 1964—Scene 66
Int. Rocky Riding School—Day
Zeller arrives at rehearsal and asks Max when the Captain will be coming home from the honeymoon.
May 7, 1964-Scene 67
Ext. Rocky Riding School—Day
Max and the children are rehearsing, and Liesl spots Rolf delivering a telegram. He ignores her.
May 8, 1964—Scene 53—Nonnberg Abbey
Ext. Abbey—Day
The children go looking for Maria.
May 9, 1964—Scenes 53, 78, 79, and 82—Nonnberg Abbey
Ext. Abbey—Day
(53) The children look for Maria.
Ext. Abbey—Night
(78) Nazi cars speed toward the abbey.
(79) The sisters open the door to Zeller.
(82) Zeller and his men cannot start their cars.
May 11, 1964—Scene 10
Ext. Path over Toscaninihof—Day
“I Have Confidence in Me.”
Ext. Abbey—Day—Nonnberg Abbey
Beginning of “I Have Confidence,” when Maria leaves the abbey.
May 12, 1964—Scenes 28 and 29
Ext. Mirabell Gardens—Day
“Do-Re-Mi” sequence.
May 13, 1964—Scene 24
Ext. Winkler’s Terrace—Day
“Do-Re-Mi” sequence.
May 14 and 15, 1964—Scene 10
Ext. Kapitelplatz, Residenzplatz, Domplatz
“I Have Confidence” and “Do-Re-Mi.”
May 16, 1964—Scenes 18 and 19
Ext. Marketplace and Footbridge—Day
“Do-Re-Mi” sequence.
May 19-21, 1964—Scenes 20 and 28
Ext. Horse Fountain—Day
(20) In the middle of the “Do-Re-Mi” montage, Liesl meets Rolf, who is out delivering telegrams. Liesl introduces him to Maria.
The Sound of Music Page 10