The year 1956 was the most successful cinema year in the history of the West German film industry between 1946 and 1969. More than 817 million cinema tickets were sold in West German cinemas in 1956, about half of which were for purely German/German-language films. A huge number that was never to be reached again!
And the most successful film of 1956 was THE TRAPP FAMILY by Wolfgang LIEBENEINER, with more than 26 million cinema tickets sold. With this success behind her, the Essen-born actress Ruth LEUWERIK, who sang and played the main role of Maria von Trapp, finally became the most successful box office magnet in the West German film industry.
The film tells the well-known story of Maria von Trapp, who came to the family of the widowed Baron von Trapp (very pale: Hans HOLT) as a novice at a monastery, captured the hearts of his seven children, married the somewhat boring Baron, fled from Salzburg to America with the whole family to escape the Nazis and began a legendary career there as a member of the family choir. With this material, the busy German film producer and distributor Ilse KUBASCHEWSKI had discovered a real goldmine. The film, with LEUWERIK in the lead role, was even very successful in cinemas in North America (box office: 800,000 USD).
Great pictures from Salzburg and the surrounding area, cute children (including Michael ANDE, who later became very popular in the TV miniseries DIE SCHATZINSEL and the crime series DER ALTE with Siegfried LOWITZ, and stars like Josef MEINRAD and Agnes WINDECK! The biggest box office success (box office equivalent to more than 16 million EURO) in German film history was complete. It was not until WIR CHILDREN FOM BAHNHOF ZOO 25 years later that the earnings of DIE TRAPP-FAMILIE were surpassed.
It is also interesting that the Memoirs of Baroness von Trapp became a major musical success on Broadway in New York in 1959. Mary MARTIN, the mother of DALLAS star Larry HAGMAN, played Maria von Trapp there. The film musical with Julie ANDREWS, which was made six years later, became an enormous box office success in America and worldwide. Only in German-speaking countries was THE SOUND OF MUSIC less well received. Here The version with Ruth LEUWERIK continues to be more popular.
