“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” says a newspaper editor in the 1962 Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Then, as if to prove the point, the quote itself became a widely misremembered legend, often mangled into something like, When you have to choose between history and legend, print the legend.
Another good example of well-told myth being preferred to historical accuracy: me on the Sound of Music tour I took in Salzburg, Austria, several years ago.
The guide made an admirable effort to tell the true story of the real-life von Trapp family on whom the Broadway musical–turned–1965 movie classic was based.
And while it was interesting to hear audio clips of the real Maria yodeling, a part of me couldn't help but think, OK, but where's the flippin' gazebo??
I am not alone. The Sound of Music brings many international tourists to Salzburg, where director Robert Wise shot the film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical on location in 1964.
But, according to the New York Times, Austrians have been much less enamored of the movie, often dismissing as "kitsch" Hollywood's depiction of the singing Salzburg family who fled Austria when the Nazis took over in 1938.
To bridge that gap (or ford ev'ry stream) between reality and fantasy, a new museum that opened this week on the grounds of Salzburg's Hellbrunn Palace aims to chronicle the entire Sound of Music phenomenon—fact, fiction, brown paper packages tied up with strings, you name it.
What to expect at the Sound of Music Salzburg museum
Housed in the palace's Hunting Lodge, Zookeeper's Lodge, and Coach House, the museum, known as Sound of Music Salzburg, contains hundreds of artifacts relating to both the real and fictionalized von Trapps, including movie props and costumes, posters, audio recordings, film footage, and memorabilia.
Per a news release, "The museum traces the journey from Maria von Trapp’s memoirs through the German films that preceded the musical and the 1959 Broadway premiere to the 1965 Hollywood movie."
The exhibit's starting point is the aforementioned gazebo, which is located in the park at Hellbrunn. The structure's exterior makes a memorable appearance in the movie's "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" scene—though you'll find the gazebo is way too small to accommodate the dance portion, which was shot on a Fox Studios soundstage in California.
Fortunately, the new museum's Coach House has a replica of the onscreen interior with projections to give you that moonlit thrill of first love. (Here's hoping you choose better than Liesl von Trapp did.)
From there, the facility walks you through the genesis of the musical, details the shoot in Salzburg (there's audio of Julie Andrews complaining about the weather), displays iconic props and costumes, screens behind-the-scenes footage, and shows off a large collection of souvenirs attesting to the film's enduring global popularity.
Get to know the real von Trapps
Then, upstairs, another exhibit chronicles the actual history of Georg von Trapp, a submarine commander in the Austro-Hungarian navy, who had seven children with his first wife, and, after her death, married the kids' governess, Maria Augusta Kutschera, in 1927.
After rejecting Nazism and leaving Austria, the family eventually settled in Stowe, Vermont, where their descendants still run the von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort.
The musical basically tells the same tale but takes liberties, such as presenting Captain von Trapp as stern and cold, whereas the real guy was not like that, according to his family.
The museum helps set the record straight and lets fans ponder how true events become larger-than-life legends.
Other Sound of Music sites in Salzburg
Though this is the first permanent facility in Salzburg dedicated to The Sound of Music's origins and legacy, it joins several guided tours (like the one I took) that take you to other filming locations you'll recognize, such as Mirabell Gardens (seen in the "Do-Re-Mi" sequence), Nonnberg Abbey (Maria's convent), Schloss Frohnburg (the front of the von Trapp mansion), and Schloss Leopoldskron (the back).
Somewhere, there's a photo of me clicking my heels together near the spot where Julie Andrews did the same during the "I Have Confidence" scene. I'll spare you that.
Tickets for the Sound of Music Salzburg museum are €8 ($9) for adults and €4.80 ($5.50) for seniors ages 65 and older as well as young people ages 6 to 26.
The latter are discouraged from performing elaborate farewell musical numbers or cladding themselves in window treatments.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to SalzburgMuseum.at.