Schmoozing with the Von Trapps

It’s not like I need to look at all pop culture through a Jewish lens in order for it to have meaning for me. Well, maybe I do, but The Sound of Music? Come on! Don’t you think that for a story about Nazis and World War II, Jewish people are curiously absent? There is not a single mention of a Jew in the stage play or the film. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the worst thing the Nazis did during the war was to force families to sing at music festivals dressed in their old bedroom curtains.

My daughter Leah recently starred as Captain von Trapp in her theatre company’s version of The Sound of Music. Leah was not the first Jewish Captain von Trapp. The actor who originated the role on Broadway was none other than famed Jewish folksinger and activist Theodore Bikel. Bikel was thirteen when his family left Austria for Palestine, just before the war started. Besides playing von Trapp, Bikel has performed the role of Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" over 2000 times including a recent revival. The man who played Captain von Trapp in the film, Christopher Plummer, was not Jewish but has played a variety of Jewish roles over the years, from King Herod to photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

Leah wore the same wig as Georg von Trapp as when she played Otto Frank the year before. Watching Leah surrounded by her seven children and her posse of mostly Jewish nuns, I thought back to the opening of the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. It took place during the 1965 Passover holiday and we headed downtown to see the film with the story of the Jewish exodus still ringing in our ears.

Throughout my initial viewings of the film, I searched in vain for a single mention of Jews. Had Hollywood succeeded where Hitler had failed? Was their version of or Europe Judenfrei—completely free of Jews? If Jewish director Robert Wise didn’t feel the need to include Jews in this story, I felt I had no choice but to find my own.

The first time I saw Julie Andrews twirling on that Austrian hilltop in brilliant 70-millimeter Technicolor, the image was so vivid I felt as if I could reach into the screen and run my hand through the mountain brook “as it trips and falls over stones on its way.” I longed to join Julie as she “sings through the night, like a lark who is learning to pray.”

But wait, wasn’t this the same woman who I saw the year before as Mary Poppins, the magical nanny every kid in the 1960s dreamed of having who was practically perfect in every way? I always wondered what happened to Mary after she left those ingrates Jane and Michael Banks in London. Now I knew—she emigrated to Austria.

Mary had now become Maria, a postulate, or nun-in-training, at the Nonnberg Abbey in the hills of Salzburg. I already knew what nuns were thanks to my Catholic teachers Debbie Reynolds (The Singing Nun) and Audrey Hepburn (The Nun’s Story). They seemed like nice enough ladies although I was suspicious of the Catholic church in general thanks to my grandfather’s endless diatribes against Pope Pius XII for not doing enough to help the Jews during the war.

In my hunt for Jews in The Sound of Music, I finally decided that Maria herself must be Jewish. Maria/Mary was obviously a front for the name she was born with: Miriam. “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” the nuns sing early in the film, evoking the Nazi rhetoric about “the Jewish problem.” Indeed, I came to believe that the problem of Maria was that she was a Jewess masquerading as a nun. It was painfully obvious that she didn’t belong with this somber group. From the very first scene in the film, Maria breaks all of the convent’s rules by dancing and singing in the hills, missing mass, and messing up her clothes.

I hate to have to say it
But I very firmly feel
Maria’s not an asset to the Abbey.
I’d like to say a word on her behalf.
Maria…makes me laugh!

Jews have always had a role in entertaining the goyim of Europe. Were the nuns tolerating Maria as some a kind of convent jester? Where were Maria’s real parents, I wondered, and why were they never mentioned? Perhaps the Nazis had already taken them away and young Maria had found shelter in the convent down the hill from her Jewish shtetl. Some of the nuns, including the Reverend Mother, seemed kind and benevolent, like many of the Righteous Gentiles who helped hide Jews during the war. But others clearly despised Maria for her differences. Remember that anti-Semitic bitch Sister Berthe calling Maria a “demon?” I wouldn’t be surprised if she was hiding copies of “Der Stürmer” under her wimpole.

The problem of Maria is eventually solved by forced exile—Maria is sent to care for the seven children of the recently widowed Captain von Trapp, a hero of the Austrian navy. Again, there is not a Jew to be found in the von Trapp mansion but at least Georg von Trapp is a fierce opponent of the encroaching Nazi regime. Still, Captain von Trapp runs his household as if it were an SS training camp. The children wear uniforms and answer to individualized whistles. “The von Trapp children don’t play,” the housekeeper warns Maria on her arrival, “they march!”

Maria changes all that. On her first day, the mischievous von Trapp children drop a frog in their new governess’ pocket and put a pinecone on her chair which makes her jump up and yelp in pain. Instead of punishing the little devils or telling their father, Maria thanks fhe children profusely for the kind, welcoming behavior. By the end of her speech, all seven are reduced to tears. Maria’s skill at producing guilt in others was another sure sign that she was Jewish.

How I envied the seven von Trapp children as they began to blossom under Maria’s loving care and their exposure to Yiddishkeit. Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and little Gretl. What Jewish child in America didn’t want to be one of them? What Jewish boy didn’t have a crush on Liesl, the eldest of the brood? How could we protect sweet Liesl from her boyfriend Rolf, a true Hitler youth, who later in the film will inform on the entire family?

After Maria opens up the children’s hearts, Captain von Trapp returns from a trip to Vienna with his new fiancée in tow, the Baroness Elsa Schraeder. Although rich and cultured, we soon learn of her secret plan to ship the children off to boarding school as soon as she and Georg are married. Boarding school? Was that another euphemism of the day, like the Jews being sent to “work camps” or “relocated in the East?” I wondered about Elsa’s late husband. Was Baron Schraeder a high-ranking Nazi official? The Baroness seems to possess the Nazi skill of sniffing out Jews wherever she finds them. “There goes a young woman who’s never going to be a nun,” she remarks after meeting Maria.

At the request of the Baroness, the Captain agrees to throw a lavish party just prior to the Anschluss, the Nazi annexation of Austria. The whole town is invited, including Nazi sympathizers such as the evil Herr Zeller who will soon not have to hide his swastika pin behind his lapel or muffle his Heil Hitler salute. Maria leads the children in a song that warns the Austrians of the dangers that lie directly ahead and of the “cuckoos” that are about to take over their beautiful homeland.

Regretfully they tell us
But firmly they compel us
To say goodbye to you.

It is during the party that the Baroness tricks Maria into leaving the house by claiming that the Captain is in love with the would-be nun. Maria abandons her post and returns to the Abbey, but the Reverend Mother convinces her that she cannot hide within the walls of the convent, she must “climb every mountain” in the search for her beshert or her destiny.

Maria returns to the children and, sure enough, Georg confesses his love for her and sends the Baroness packing. Maria realizes that she loves the Captain and she can’t believe her good fortune. She reviews her humble shtetl past:

Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth
For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should.

Whether or not he should love her? Was this a reference to the Nuremberg laws, now in effect in Nazi Austria, that prohibited Aryans from marrying Jews? It’s true that as soon as the two get married, nothing but trouble follows. They return from their honeymoon to find a giant Nazi flag hanging in their doorway and then Herr Zeller announces that the Captain must accompany him to Berlin at once to take a post in the German navy. Oy, has Maria brought all this tsuris on her new family?

Never fear. Despite the passivity of Pope Pius, the nuns hide the fleeing von Trapps from their Nazi pursuers. Amidst glorious song and a breathtaking Technicolor sunrise, the family escapes by foot up into the Austrian Alps and down into the safety of neutral Switzerland. No matter that this maneuver is geographically impossible (the real-life von Trapps simply took the train to Switzerland), it’s the perfect ending to a near-perfect film.

My confusion over Maria’s religious background wasn’t helped the following year with the release of Julie Andrews’ next film. In Thoroughly Modern Millie, she sings a Yiddish song called “Trinkt L’Chaim” during a wedding scene and her Yiddish accent sounds as authentic as my great-grandmother Alta Toba’s.

In films and in life, Julie Andrews seemed to embody all of the qualities of the aishet chayil (women of valor) we studied in Hebrew School. She was kind, strong, confident, and never afraid to speak her mind. Though she may be considered the quintessential shiksa to the rest of the world, to me Julie Andrews will always be Jewish.

Comments

[Rosie]

wow..Danny...that's a very interesting analysis...I never thought of the film in that way before.

I presume Leah's production had a good run?

[Melinama]

Hysterical! I love it. "Funny, she doesn't LOOK Jewish..."

[Heather]

That's some ingenious code-cracking, Danny. No one has to twist my arm very hard to get me to watch The Sound of Music again -- this time I will be keeping my out for more subtext. ;-)

[Randi(cruisin-mom)]

Danny, I'm lmao!!! I've always loved Sound of Music and Mary Poppins...now I understand the reasons why. They are movies about my heritage, the triumph of a nice Jewish girl. WHO KNEW?!!!

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

Absolutely Wonderful Danny...A companion piece to "The Wizard Of Oz" piece!!!
Funny and also so true...Where indeed, were the Jews??? Writing the show! Making the movie! I think you should do a whole series of articles about "where are the jews", or the fact that all these things are the hidden message....Hilarious and brilliant, my dear Danny.

[margalit]

I was a young kid when the SOM came out, and my mother was furious that there wasn't a Jew in the movie. We saw it in a huge theatre, and she muttered thru the whole movie as if it were a personal affront to our family. We never saw it again and I was brought up to consider it only with great derision.

Your theory that Maria was really Jewish Miriam was very interesting. I do like the whole hidden agenda thing that you found throughout the movie, but I'm just not sure that any of this actually happened. In fact, I know it didn't, which really sucks, doesn't it?

One aside: My father was a pilot in WW2, flying B-24 bombers over Europe. He and his crew were shot down in the Italian Alps and walked into Switzerland where he was interned in Davos. They later escaped, walked back over the Alps and rejoined their unit. So it is possible. And if you knew my father, the quintessential urban Jewish guy with a square body and a complete lack of physical training, you would be even more amazed.

[Neil]

Does the LA Times know you have this blog? Because this post is clearly from the mind of one crazed Jew! Julie Andrews is about as Jewish to me as a pastrami and cheese sandwich. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood because I HATE "The Sound of Music" -- Rogers and Hammerstein's WORST.

But I did almost crash into Julie Andrew's car once in the Beverly Center garage. I guess it was odd that she started cursing me out in Yiddish.

[eve]

Sorry to tell ya, her Yiddish is totally British (i.e., not an accent anyone I know would believe). Where is Professor Higgins when one needs his tough love and strict diction? Every other person on the web who mentions this scene goes out of their way to say how unconvincing Julie sounds here. T-e-r-r-i-b-l-e, with extremely high camp factor though.

[tiggin]

hey lovin this website
lots of love
babytiggs
(tiggin)

[realist]

The Sound of Music is based on a real story, and I'm sorry to say, Maria was not Jewish. The story takes place in Austria, where the issue with Hitler had to do with him wanting to take over the world. The musical and movie didn't really touch on that part of the war because that wasn't part of the story. The terrible things that happened to Austrian Jews after that, or even before, weren't part of the story because it didn't affect the family.

[Rebekah]

I just love your comparisons of non-Jewish films to Jewish culture and history. It does shock me that, considering the era, there were no Jewish characters in this story. Funny that I never thought of that before. But then again, I was young when I first saw this movie and was still fairly ignorant of World War II history.
I'm going to have to watch this musical again, since after reading your article, I've realized that I've forgotten most of the plot...

[reuven guttman]

what is your problem ,with the sound of music,the greatest movie of all times you insecure little twerp ,you think that jews have to be in every movie,lunatic ,what is the percentage of jews to non jews whether it is even in war time europe,hollywood today is very pro jewish & many films have jewish material surronding the film,so get a life leave the sound of music alone ,it has nothing to do with being jewish ,it was a movie`way ahead of its time ,a beautiful story & probably one of the best movies of all time ,so you continue with your self hatred insecurity about not having jews in the film & just bring about more anti semitism with your stupid comments ,sometimes you have to understand why there is so much antisemitism ,even though most of it is due to jealousy due to the success of the jewish people however some of it is warranted & this is one that unfortunatley is.

[Larry King]

Yes, and not a single mention of the Romani, the mentally disabled, the homosexuals, the Slavs or any of the other millions killed by Hitler. Just like in your entire web site.

The Jewish Holocaust is not the only one in history. Why do you not care about them?