A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Sound of Music -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Marco S]

Has anyone seen Mary Martin as Maria in the Original Broadway Production?? Our Choir Director took the boys choir to see it at the Fisher Theater in Detroit in 1963 or 1964, but I don't remember who played Maria. I remember some similarities between the movie and play--The "So Long, Farewell" number looked the same.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Marco S
Has anyone seen Mary Martin as Maria in the Original Broadway Production?? Our Choir Director took the boys choir to see it at the Fisher Theater in Detroit in 1963 or 1964, but I don't remember who played Maria. I remember some similarities between the movie and play--The "So Long, Farewell" number looked the same.

I don't believe that Mary toured with The Sound of Music. She went into another show Jennie after her run in The Sound of Music, and after that closed after a short run, I think she next toured the world and opened the London version of Hello, Dolly!

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Marco S
Has anyone seen Mary Martin as Maria in the Original Broadway Production?? Our Choir Director took the boys choir to see it at the Fisher Theater in Detroit in 1963 or 1964, but I don't remember who played Maria. I remember some similarities between the movie and play--The "So Long, Farewell" number looked the same.

The national tour was from Feb 1961 to Nov 1963. Florence Henderson did the National tour from 1961 to 1962 and replaced by Barbara Meister, who toured with it from June 1962 to November 1963. Mary Martin bowed out of the Broadway company in 1961 and was succeeded by Martha Wright, Karen Gantz, and finally Nancy Dussault. The Broadway show closed June 1963.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Still, Julie really got the short end of the stick.

$225,000 was VERY good money for a leading actress in 1965. Considering that the average movie budget at that time was around $4 million (SOM cost about $8 million), and the average yearly income for an American at that time was about $6,000. She was making double what she made on her previous film. By her next film she was making truly big money, with $750,000 for Torn Curtain.

Also the first actor to get $1 million for a single movie was William Holden for The Bridge on the River Kwai. That was only 10 years before and that was considered outrageous.

Doug

 

[FoxyMulder]

$225,000 was VERY good money for a leading actress in 1965. Considering that the average movie budget at that time was around $4 million (SOM cost about $8 million), and the average yearly income for an American at that time was about $6,000. She was making double what she made on her previous film. By her next film she was making truly big money, with $750,000 for Torn Curtain.

Also the first actor to get $1 million for a single movie was William Holden for The Bridge on the River Kwai. That was only 10 years before and that was considered outrageous.

Doug

Cary Grant got $750,000 for To Catch A Thief in 1955 but also 10% of the profits when the film made over $8m so maybe he ended up earning over a million, in 1942 Katharine Hepburn earned $250,000 for Woman Of The Year, that's a huge salary for 1942.

I was actually trying to think of some actors with huge salaries after i read your post because i find the subject of how much money the classic stars made compared to todays actors interesting and then i cross referenced with IMDB and the bio page, i note Humphrey Bogart got $125,000 but a massive 30% of the gross for The African Queen, can you imagine a studio today giving that much of the gross away.

 

[Matt Hough]

Marlon Brando got $1 million for Mutiny on the Bounty. Elizabeth Taylor was paid $1 million in salary and had a percentage of the grosses which netted her $7 million total for Cleopatra. Audrey Hepburn was paid $1 million for My Fair Lady (Julie's asking price during early negotiations was $75,000).

 

[Rob_Ray]

Julie's salary for "The Sound of Music" was quite respectable when you consider that she had not yet appeared on a single theatre screen at the time that "The Sound of Music" was filmed. I would guess that "Star!" was the picture where she was grossly underpaid, because by that time she was the biggest name in show business and was probably being paid $250,000 to fulfill her two-picture commitment to 20th Century-Fox.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Cary Grant got $750,000 for To Catch A Thief in 1955 but also 10% of the profits when the film made over $8m so maybe he ended up earning over a million, in 1942 Katharine Hepburn earned $250,000 for Woman Of The Year, that's a huge salary for 1942.

I was actually trying to think of some actors with huge salaries after i read your post because i find the subject of how much money the classic stars made compared to todays actors interesting and then i cross referenced with IMDB and the bio page, i note Humphrey Bogart got $125,000 but a massive 30% of the gross for The African Queen, can you imagine a studio today giving that much of the gross away.

Technically Jimmy Stewart was the first actor to make over a million dollars for a single film around 1950. I don't remember what the film was (maybe have been Winchester 73), but the money came primarily from profit points. Holden was the first actor get get $1 million up front.

Doug

 

[Douglas Monce]

Originally Posted by Rob_Ray
Julie's salary for "The Sound of Music" was quite respectable when you consider that she had not yet appeared on a single theatre screen at the time that "The Sound of Music" was filmed. I would guess that "Star!" was the picture where she was grossly underpaid, because by that time she was the biggest name in show business and was probably being paid $250,000 to fulfill her two-picture commitment to 20th Century-Fox.

From the information I can find, She was paid $1,000,000 for Star!

Doug

 

[Adam_S]

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce
Technically Jimmy Stewart was the first actor to make over a million dollars for a single film around 1950. I don't remember what the film was (maybe have been Winchester 73), but the money came primarily from profit points. Holden was the first actor get get $1 million up front.

Doug

Stewart had a two picture deal negotiated for Harvey and Winchester 73 where he was paid no salary but earned a percentage of the gross.

 

[ahollis]

We might have forgotten that THE SOUND OF MUSIC was Julie's third film. As good as she was and winning an Oscar for MARY POPPINS, she had only made THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY previous to Music and I believe that she signed for Music before MARY POPPINS was released though it was finished and screened by Robert Wise. She was still not a proven box office attraction and Fox was also on the brink of bankruptcy. THE SOUND OF MUSIC was their final try at staying open. They did everything they could to keep costs down including not paying the principals much. There was also talk of filming the everything in the States and going on location. Thank goodness Wise talked them out of doing that. It just would not seem right seeing Julie singing among the Rocky Mountains and not the Alps.

 

[Douglas Monce]

Stewart had a two picture deal negotiated for Harvey and Winchester 73 where he was paid no salary but earned a percentage of the gross.

Well and again technically Stewart's company was paid, not him personally. At the time people making that kind of money were paying about 60% in personal taxes. His corporation however was taxed around 30%.

Doug

 

[warnerbro]

For the record, Charmian Carr is still alive. There was a previous post indicating that she had died. It's possible that he was referring to an actual Von Trapp child that had died but the way he worded his post, he made it sound like Charmian Carr had died.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Yes, it was the actual Agathe Von Trapp who passed away a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Charles Smith]

Like I said before, every story about it has caused double-takes because no one could resist including the name Liesl in the headlines. This happened to me repeatedly, even after I knew the score. Got to wonder how many panicked calls Charmian Carr and her friends and family have received!

 

[Robin9]

Originally Posted by Mark B
"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" has a pre-recorded verse which was ditched for a live on set vocal, but once the band comes in it reverts to the same prerecording used on the soundtrack. Other than that I am not aware of any vocals on the soundtrack that differ from those which were used in the film.

Last night I played the musical numbers from the new Pal Joey disc in the Kim Novak box-set. I can't at present play the vinyl soundtrack album because the bearing on my turntable has "gone" and needs fixing. So, going from memory . . .

The "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" number is almost identical. The only difference is that in the movie Sinatra sings "Till I met you" and on the soundtrack album "Then I met you". The "I Could Write A Book" number is completely different; different tempo, different arrangement and in the movie Sinatra persuades Kim Novak to join in. On "The Lady Is A Tramp" the tempo and arrangement are the same in both versions but in the movie, second time around, Sinatra's vocal is different. For example, on "she loves the theater but never comes late" he adopts an English accent. That is not on the soundtrack album.

The "There's A Small Hotel" number is, I think, identical. The "Bewitched" number is completely different. In the movie Sinatra sings it wordlessly at a moderate tempo. On the soundtrack album he sings it very slowly and with words.

 

[Mark B]

disc in the Kim Novak box-set. I can't at present play the vinyl soundtrack album because the bearing on my turntable has "gone" and needs fixing. So, going from memory . . .

The "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" number is almost identical. The only difference is that in the movie Sinatra sings "Till I met you" and on the soundtrack album "Then I met you". The "I Could Write A Book" number is completely different; different tempo, different arrangement and in the movie Sinatra persuades Kim Novak to join in. On "The Lady Is A Tramp" the tempo and arrangement are the same in both versions but in the movie, second time around, Sinatra's vocal is different. For example, on "she loves the theater but never comes late" he adopts an English accent. That is not on the soundtrack album.

The "There's A Small Hotel" number is, I think, identical. The "Bewitched" number is completely different. In the movie Sinatra sings it wordlessly at a moderate tempo. On the soundtrack album he sings it very slowly and with words.

Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about "Tramp" and "Book" having differences. I disregarded "Bewitched" since they basically discarded it for the actual film. When I play that soundtrack I tend to focus on the instrumentals and the girls' songs. I have a ton of Sinatra recordings and have heard several versions of his numbers so it all becomes a blur. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Rob_Ray]

The Sound of Music BluRay box set is now available at Costco for the amazingly low price of $19.99! What does that say about how well it sold initially I wonder?

 

[Charles Smith]

Meant to post this yesterday, when I saw it there and FINALLY relented and bought a copy.

I'd been content with the Target digibook these past two years. Actually, I'm still content with it. This particular big box never had enough of what it takes to ring my bell these days. But for a twenty, I had to see it. It's...nice. But I still might gift it to someone who really would appreciate it and give it a good home.

 

[Charles Smith]

I don't think one of those UCE boxes had ever dropped below $39.99 at Costco.