1 of 6 | Brigitta von Trapp (Angela Cartwright, third from left) joins her siblings in song led by Maria (Julia Andrews, R) in “The Sound of Music,” returning to theaters Friday. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (UPI) — Angela Cartwright, who plays Brigitta von Trapp in the 1965 film The Sound of Music, hopes the new 4K restoration, in theaters Friday via Fathom Entertainment, removes some of the bruises she incurred while making the film. The 4K edition is available to own Sept. 23.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Cartwright, 73, reflected on filming the musical when she was 11 and 12 years old. Technology now exists to cover blemishes which were visible in previous editions, and Cartwright hopes they use it.
“In the old version of the movie, you can see where I’ve skinned my knee,” Cartwright said. “We’ll have to look in 4K whether we’ll see it or not. We’ll see if they’ve taken that out.”
Mishaps on ‘The Sound of Music’
Cartwright recalled one accident that occurred while filming the “Do-Re-Mi” song in which Maria (Julie Andrews) teaches the von Trapp children how to sing musical scales. The kids are riding bicycles and Debbie Turner, who plays Brigitta’s sister Marta, bumped Cartwright’s bike.
“I’m sure it was accidental, but she hit the back of my bike, and I did go flying,” Cartwright said.
Despite the injury, Cartwright enjoyed the musical number, which traveled through the city of Salzburg, Austria. The Sound of Music director Robert Wise instructed the children to ride past Mirabellgarden, the Pegasus Fountain and other famous sites.
“He really accomplishes that, taking you on a tour of the city while singing this song,” Cartwright said. “It was really the first music video ever, if you think about it.”
One scene that did go smoothly involved the von Trapp children hanging out of trees. Cartwright suspects they wouldn’t let child actors perform such a scene in a modern production, however.
“They put us up there with the ladder,” she said. “That was really us.”
The classic musical had several other mishaps, including an instance where the rowboat containing Julie Andrews and all seven children capsized in the wrong direction. In the film, the boat tips forward, sending the actors flying.
In one take, Kym Karath, who plays Gretl, fell backwards and splashed until Heather Menzies, who portrays Louisa, rescued her. Cartwright said she enjoyed splashing around in the lake and managed to avoid her major fear — leeches.
“It was cold, and I was terrified I was going to get leeches on my legs, because there were leeches in that lake,” she said.
Cartwright remembered another incident with Charmain Carr, who plays Liesl, singing “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” on top of a glass gazebo.
“They did forget to put rubber on the bottom of her shoes, and she went right through the glass,” Cartwright said. “In the earlier versions of the movie, you can see where they’ve wrapped her leg with, like, an Ace bandage.”
The history of ‘The Sound of Music’
Overall, The Sound of Music had a smooth production. Robert Wise directed the adaptation of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, which is based on the memoir of real-life Trapp Family Singers matriarch Maria von Trapp.
Andrews’ Maria fell in love with Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) as she worked as a governess for his children. Together, they fled Austria rather than serve the Nazi party in 1938.
The children appear in many scenes where their caretakers confront members of the Third Reich who say, “Heil Hitler.” Cartwright said their on-set teachers, Mrs. Klamt and Seaman, took care to teach them the actual history of the story they were portraying.
“We did take a trip up to the Eagle’s Nest,” she said. “Our teacher was very involved in making sure we saw the history of Austria. During our school time, when we weren’t shooting, we had days off, we did a lot of field trips.”
Cartwright still remembers Austrians’ reactions to certain scenes from the film. She said many locals were cast as extras but did not quite understand the film was depicting the country’s painful past.
“They did bring people in off of the streets in Salzburg,” she said. “They were very upset when the Nazis marched through their city. That was very, very upsetting to them, because it was really pretty raw. I think it had only been, like, 20 years.”
Learning to sing
Cartwright began acting at age 3 in the film Somebody Up There Likes Me, and was cast in The Danny Thomas Show at 4 years old. Singing was a requirement for Danny Thomas, so she was effectively a professional singer by the time she made The Sound of Music.
Extensive rehearsals ensured every performer knew the lyrics and hit their marks when it came time to film on set, Cartwright said.
“I remember it was a big bare stage,” she said. “We would do the choreography with, like, a mattress just on the floor so we all knew what we were supposed to be doing.”
She said the actors who play the von Trapp children remained friends and share a text chain. Cartwright also runs TheSOM7.com to collate her co-stars’ activities. The site includes information about the film’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
“When we come together and have one of these celebrations, it’s just like we pick up where we left off,” Cartwright said.
From ‘The Sound of Music’ to ‘Lost in Space’ and beyond
Immediately after The Sound of Music, Cartwright landed the role of Penny Robinson on the CBS series Lost in Space. She remained on the same 20th Century Fox studio lot in Los Angeles to film the show.
Cartwright said she still hears from Lost in Space fans, and thinks the recent Netflix adaptation got the Robinson family dynamic right. She does think the 1998 Lost in Space film “missed the boat,” though she had a cameo as a reporter in the film.
Her critiques of the movie were that it minimized the family dynamics, and its casting for a time travel subplot showing Will Robinson as an adult. The film cast Jared Harris as the adult version of Will instead of Bill Mumy, who played the character on the TV series and had aged 30 years by that time.
“It’s supposed to be Will grown up,” she said. “Well, Bill Mumy was grown up. Why not? I don’t get it.”
Cartwright pulled back from acting roles after the mid-’80s, but does not consider herself retired. She hosts the Pasticcio podcast and co-wrote multiple books on Lost in Space, along with Styling the Stars: Lost Treasures from the Twentieth Century Fox Archives.
“I got married, and I had children, and I wanted to be home with them, and so my life kind of took a little bit of a shift,” she said. “Being in show business as a young kid wasn’t just the only person that I was. I felt there was so much more that was part of me.”
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