Book Review: The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook by Fred Bronson

Rating:

Created by the original cast of children from one of the most famous musicals of all time, this beautifully-produced book is not only like taking a behind-the-scenes tour of this extraordinary film, it’s like taking a peek into an intensely private, closely-guarded world – the kind of peek that makes you want to peep with movie-goer glee.

You don’t even need to be a major Sound of Music fan (although, who isn’t?) to enjoy this gorgeous book. Featuring a DVD of on-set and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as a mass of cherished memorabilia, the book features such treasures as personal letters, notes, diary entries, cast lists, sketches, sheet music and photos … even an edited page from the original movie script and a ticket to the world premiere.

This book is truly a virtual, 3-dimensional tour – and as close as anyone like you and I could get to the magic of an intoxicating, timeless film we’ve spent our childhoods swooning over.

A comprehensive compendium, the Family Scrapbook is compiled and edited by Fred Bronson, an experienced television writer, with contributions by the child actors from the film:

Charmian Carr: Liesl

Angela Cartwright: Brigitta

Duane Chase: Kurt

Nicholas Hammond: Friedrich

Kym Karath: Gretl

Heather Menzies: Louisa

Debbie Turner: Marta

Each page is built up like a real-life scrapbook, with ‘clippings’ pinned to the pages with virtual sticky tape and paper clips. Several recto pages open fully to reveal facsimile items like a folded and stapled script, a spirax notebook of hand-written observations, crayon-drawn sketches and costuming outlines, with full notes on the outside of the envelope-like page.

It’s easy for the heart to race out of control whilst flicking through this book – there’s just so much to take in. I love the full sections written by each actor, detailing their journey to and beyond The Sound of Music. I also love the beautifully-written insider-info and articles, outlining such topics as the singing and dancing, the choices for film director, the escape by the real Von Trapp family, the movie premiere and more more more.

Like those heart-rendering packages tied up with string, this book certainly tops the list of my favourite things.