Rivermaya's Coffee Corner

Here’s the REAL scoop on the singing von Trapps, the clan immortalized in The Sound of Music. The real Maria was a taskmaster with a volatile temper–her demands made many of the von Trapp children miserable for years.

Georg von Trapp, born in 1880, became a national hero as a captain in the Austrian navy during World War I. He commanded submarines with valor and received the title of “Ritter” (the equivalent of the British baronet or “Sir,” but commonly translated as “Baron”) as a reward for his heroic accomplishments.

Georg married Agathe Whitehead, the granddaughter of Robert Whitehead, the inventor of the torpedo, in 1912. They had seven children together: Rupert, 1911–1992; Agathe, 1913– ; Maria, 1914– ; Werner, 1915– ; Hedwig, 1917–1972; Johanna, 1919–1994; and Martina, 1921–1952. After World War I, Austria lost all of its seaports, and Georg retired from the navy. His wife died in 1922 of scarlet fever. The family was devastated by her death and unable to bear living in a place where they had been so happy, Georg sold his property in Pola (now Pula, Croatia) and bought an estate in Salzburg.

The von Trapps never saw much of the huge profits The Sound of Music made. Maria sold the film rights to German producers and inadvertently signed away her rights in the process. The resulting films, Die Trapp-Familie (1956), and a sequel, Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika (1958), were quite successful. The American rights were bought from the German producers. The family had very little input in either the play or the movie The Sound of Music. As a courtesy, the producers of the play listened to some of Maria’s suggestions, but no substantive contributions were accepted.

How did the von Trapps feel about The Sound of Music ? While Maria was grateful that there wasn’t any extreme revision of the story she wrote in The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, and that she herself was represented fairly accurately (although Mary Martin and Julie Andrews “were too gentle-like girls out of Bryn Mawr,” she told the Washington Post in 1978), she wasn’t pleased with the portrayal of her husband.

The children’s reactions were variations on a theme: irritation about being represented as people who only sang lightweight music, the simplification of the story, and the alterations to Georg von Trapp’s personality.

As Johannes von Trapp said in a 1998 New York Times interview, “it’s not what my family was about. . . . [We were] about good taste, culture, all these wonderful upper-class standards that people make fun of in movies like ‘Titanic.’ We’re about environmental sensitivity, artistic sensitivity. Sound of Music simplifies everything. I think perhaps reality is at the same time less glamorous but more interesting than the myth.”

Incoming search terms

Since his death in 1935, the extraordinary career of T E Lawrence has continued to fascinate historians, writers, military strategists and the wider public. Known throughout the world as ‘Lawrence of Arabia‘, he remains one of the most famous and enigmatic figures of the twentieth century.

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel (through his British company, Horizon Pictures), from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (Lean and Spiegel had recently completed the acclaimed film The Bridge on the River Kwai). The film stars Peter O’Toole in the title role. It is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in the history of filmmaking.[citation needed] The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre, and Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young, are also hugely acclaimed.

The film depicts Lawrence’s experiences in Arabia during World War I, in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Its themes include Lawrence’s emotional struggles with violence in war (especially the conflicts between Arab tribes and the slaughter of the Turkish army), his personal identity, and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army, and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes.

Various members of the film’s crew portrayed minor characters. First assistant director Roy Stevens played the truck driver who transports Lawrence and Farraj to the Cairo HQ at the end of Act I; the Sergeant who stops Lawrence and Farraj (“Where do you think you’re going to, Mustapha?”) is construction assistant, Fred Bennett; and screenwriter Robert Bolt has a wordless cameo as one of the officers watching Allenby and Lawrence confer in the courtyard (he is smoking a pipe).

It has been noted that the film is unusual in that it had no women in credited speaking roles .

U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel) is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer, a man working on a top-secret government project, from a group of Serbian rebels. Wolfe and his team manage to get Plummer off an enemy boat; moments later, Wolfe and Plummer are shot while boarding the escape helicopter. Plummer is killed in the attack. Wolfe spends two months in the hospital. Wolfe’s commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett (Chris Potter), is assigned to escort Plummer’s widow Julie (Faith Ford) to Zurich, where a safety-deposit box belonging to the Plummers has been discovered. Wolfe is assigned to stay at the Plummer residence to search for the secret project called GHOST, hidden somewhere in the house, and to look after the family’s five children: Zoe (Brittany Snow), Seth (Max Thieriot), Lulu (Morgan York), Peter (Logan and Keegan Hoover), and Baby Tyler (Bo and Luke Vink).

The kids prove to be difficult to handle, even with the help of nanny Helga (Carol Kane): Zoe and Seth rebel against Wolfe’s authority; Lulu is obsessed with the new houseguest; the pet duck, Gary, resents Wolfe; and Helga finally quits when one of Zoe and Seth’s pranks goes wrong.

Fawcett and Julia are forced to remain in Zurich longer when they learn that they must provide a password in order to access the box. Wolfe is left to drive the kids to school. There, he meets their strict, nearly-obnoxious vice principal Murney (Brad Garrett), and the beautiful principal Claire Fletcher (Lauren Graham), a sometime military trainee of whom Wolfe becomes enamored. After school, Wolfe saves Seth from a group of bullies, but later is led into the sewers when Zoe intentionally drops the tracking device he put on her into the toilet.

When they finally reach home, they encounter an unexpected house party hosted by Zoe and her boyfriend, Scott. Wolfe forces all the guests to clean up the house before going home. Zoe yells at him. They are then attacked by a pair of masked ninjas, whom Wolfe eventually defeats. He explains the entire situation to the kids, who agree to co-operate with him.

A few days later, Murney brings the facts that Seth has cut and bleached his hair for no apparent reason, has a Nazi symbol in his locker, and has skipped every wrestling practice for the past month, to Wolfe’s attention. At home, Seth furiously yells that he only joined the wrestling team in obedience to his father’s wish. He sneaks out of the house, tricking the alarm system with a freezer magnet. Wolfe, leaving Zoe in charge, follows him to the town theater, where he learns that Seth has secretly joined the production of The Sound of Music. The director quits when he believes the show will be a failure, whereupon Wolfe volunteers to take his place, and juggles this task with taking care of the house, giving Zoe driving lessons, and teaching Lulu and the Firefly Scouts martial arts.

Later, Seth quits the wrestling team. When Murney threatens the boy, Wolfe challenges him to a wrestling match in front of the entire school. Despite Murney’s show of bluster, Wolfe easily wins.

The training Wolfe gives the Firefly Scouts becomes useful when they once again have a conflict with the Easter Bunny Scouts. The girls beat and tie up the boys, refusing to let them go until the thugs agree to stop bothering them.

Zoe and Wolfe share stories of their fathers, both of whom have died in similar circumstances. They are interrupted by a phone call from Julie, who has guessed the password (“My Angel”), retrieved the item in a box (a special key), and is on her way home. The kids immediately begin to plan a ‘Welcome Home’ party. Less than an hour later, Wolfe discovers a secret vault underneath the garage, which requires a key to open. Fawcett and Julie arrive. When mother and children are reunited, Fawcett and Wolfe go to the garage, where Wolfe says he is rethinking his career. The two ninjas seen earlier arrive armed, and pull off their masks, revealing themselves as the Plummers’ North Korea neighbours, the Chungs. Fawcett suddenly knocks out Wolfe, proving that he is in fact a double agent. They tie up and gag Zoe, Seth, and Lulu, place Peter and Tyler in the play pen, and take Julie to the vault. They manage to open the door, but the dangerous security system prevents them from going any farther.

The children escape Mr. Chung, and awaken Wolfe, who goes to the vault to help Julie, sending the kids to summon the police. Mr. Chung follows them in his car; with Zoe at the wheel, the kids force him to crash. Wolfe figures out how to get past the security system, using a dance (“The Peter Panda Dance”) used to make Peter go to sleep each night to avoid its traps. He, Julie, Fawcett, and Mrs. Chung engage in combat, and end the fight when Julie knocks out Mrs. Chung. Wolfe’s voice activates the final vault, knocking out Fawcett with the door. By then, the children have lured a large crowd of police to the house. Mr. Chung, however, holds all of them at gunpoint. Wolfe notices Principal Claire Fetcher right behind him, having followed the chase when she saw it pass by the school. Wolfe, aided by Garry the duck, distracts Mr. Chung, whereupon Claire knocks him unconscious.

With their missions accomplished, Wolfe and the Plummers say their goodbyes, and Wolfe and Claire share a kiss. The family attends Seth’s performance, where we learn that Wolfe has quit the Navy and joined the school staff as the new wrestling coach. Mr. Murney is shown briefly on stage, where he is singing Climb Ev’ry Mountain off-key while dressed in a nun’s dress, as the film concludes.

The Pacifier is a 2005 action comedy film, directed by Adam Shankman, and written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant. It stars Vin Diesel, Faith Ford, Lauren Graham, Brittany Snow, Max Thieriot, Carol Kane, and Brad Garrett. The film was released in March 2005 by Walt Disney Pictures, and earned US$30 million in its opening weekend. It is also the first and only live action movie Vin Diesel starred in that did not earn a PG-13 rating or above. This movie was shot partly in Forest Hill Public School.

Incoming search terms