my favorite things.

movie still from The Sound of Music, 1964











album cover from the RCA Victor original soundtrack of
The Sound of Music, 1964

I am about to reveal one of the biggest pet peeves of my childhood. Although it wasn't big to anyone else, it sheds light on the kinds of things that I spent my time thinking about and just exactly what kind of adult I would become. It has to do with this album cover and what I saw as the dishonesty of the graphic representation of the characters portrayed there.

The Sound of Music. I was obsessed with it. I listened to it repeatedly on the "Hi-Fi" in our downstairs family room. I portrayed the entire story in puppets (which was no easy matter when it came to the puppet show portion of the story...think puppets doing puppets...I only have two hands). I knew every single word by heart. I still do.

So, imagine the heartbreak I felt when I realized that the marketing department of RCA Victor had desecrated my beloved Maria, the Captain and those 7 dahhhling children for a sexier, more modern color palette on the original soundtrack album cover. Hello? Maria never wore a pink dress. The Captain would have never worn a khaki jacket with offset lapels, let alone contrasting trousers. And the children, oh, the children. Well, suffice it to say that those drapes from which their play clothes were made were not, I repeat, not a color that might have been called "Banan-appeal"...what was this, the Sound of Music Vegas Revue?

This was, however, my first introduction to creative license and the steps that companies will take to make things more attractive to the buying public - not that that musical needed it. I suppose that in 1964, when the film was made, it might have seemed too sentimental or traditional for some record buyers. I can just hear the discussion in the meeting right now:

First Record Executive: "So, let me get this straight. We're going to have this chick on the cover running up a hill with 7 children behind her?"
Graphic Artist: "uh...Yes, that's right."
Second Record Executive: "Hmmm...and you say she's holding a guitar?"
Graphic Artist: "Yes, in one hand and...um...and a carpet bag in the other."
First Record Executive: "A carpet bag? You've got to be kidding. A carpet bag and a guitar, isn't that a little 'folksy'? Where'd she come from, a nunnery? Is the chick at least a looker? I mean, does she have nice legs...anything we can work with, here?"
Graphic Artist: "Well, you don't really see her legs in the movie, so I don't know, but I suppose we could..."
Third Record Executive: "Nevermind about that for now. What about the guy? Where's the guy in the picture?"
Graphic Artist: "Well, he's sort of over off to the side...looking stern."
Second Record Executive: "Stern? People don't want stern. People want happy. This is really not good. um...What are they wearing?"
Graphic Artist: "Well, the girl is wearing a brown jumper, the man is wearing a grey Austrian suit with loden green lapels and the children...you're gonna love this...the children are wearing play clothes that the governess girl - you know the one with the guitar? - made out of green and white patterned drapes! Isn't that just too much?"
First Record Executive: "It's not too much...in fact, it's not enough."
Second Record Executive: "He's right...this is definitely NOT groovy enough for our time. People want something hip, something sexy. They don't want children dressed in upholstery."
Third Record Executive: "Okay...here's what we're going to do. Make the chick's dress bright pink and try to accentuate her curves. And raise the hem on her dress. Let's see a little leg."
First Record Executive: "I like it. And the guy...well, let's give him a bit of style, too. Something...I don't know...think 'Elvis'. But that still leaves the kids. What to do about the kids?"
Second Record Executive: "Well, the oldest is a beauty and has a great little figure. Let's put all of the other kids downhill from her, put her front and center with her arms back so we see...well, so that she's the one we see. And, PLEASE, don't use the patterned curtains on the clothes - even if that is how the costumer designed them. Let's change the color. Let's change it to...hmmm...I know - change it to the color of the sun...people are really diggin' the sun these days."
Graphic Artist: "But, excuse me...um...sirs...that's not the way the movie looks and this IS, afterall, the soundtrack for the movie, isn't it?"
First Record Executive: "Don't get wrapped up in the details, kid. People will never notice. Well, most people won't...unless you're some third grade girl in Texas who becomes obsessed with the movie...but how many of those could there be?"
[everybody laughs]