Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was written by the Sherman brothers for the Disney movie Mary Poppins.  Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke sing the song in the movie. The Oxford English Dictionary estimates the word was first used in the 1940s.  According to Wikipedia, columnist Helen Herman muses about her made up word, Supercaliflawjalisticexpialidoshus, in her A-Muse-ings column Read More

The Sound of Music

Theaters this week are celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music. The film version, starring a then-unknown Julie Andrews and primarily stage performer Christopher Plummer, of the musical first hit theaters in 1965. The stage version first premiered six years earlier in 1959, with Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, in the title roles. Read More

Behind the Song: Edelweiss

Edelweiss is the popular ballad from the musical The Sound of Music.   This was the last song written for the musical. Edelweiss is a white flower found high in the Austrian Alps and was the inspiration for the waltz. The song was written as a vehicle for Captain Von Trapp, played by Theodore Bikel in Read More

Behind the Song: My Favorite Things

My Favorite Things is another song from a popular musical, The Sound of Music,  that is often heard at Christmas although there is no mention of Christmas in the song. The popularity at Christmas is most likely due to the winter-related imagery of “snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that Read More