These are a few of Angela Bishop’s favourite things

“I played Gretl when I was 5 years old as a kid in the musical society. That’s how long I have loved this show,” admits Angela Bishop.

“So to actually go there was a total dream come true for me.”

TEN’s very own TEN Entertainment Reporter is hardly alone in her love of The Sound of Music. The 1965 film is beloved the world over. For its 50th Anniversary Salzburg threw a celebration, with original cast members uniting at key locations seen in the film. It’s all captured in a TEN special airing this Saturday night.

“Salzburg features so much in the movie and it was one of the first films to shoot on location in that way, where the things they referred to were actually the places they went to,” Bishop explains.

“The film was a very big risk for 20th Century FOX. They bet the bank on it because they’d just been up the creek for funding Cleopatra. The head of the studio sold the backlot to pay for The Sound of Music, so it had to work.

“Fortunately it turned out to be a huge hit and has been looking after 20th Century FOX for some years hence!”

Attending a Gala event were original cast members Debbie Turner, Heather Menzies, Duane Chase and Australian resident Nicholas Hammond.

“We take the kids back to a few of the key locations, where the movie was filmed. There’s everything from in and around the Mirabel Gardens where Do-Re-Mi was filmed, to up in the Alps,” she continues.

“(We hear) about the impact it had on their lives and how they came to be in it. And for the first time they go to the Villa Von Trapp which is where the actual children lived. They never went there when they filmed. There are lots of photographs of the children that they played, so they get more of a sense of what their lives were like.

Bishop also spoke to Julie Andrews during her recent Australian visit.

“She was on the set singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and because (Mary Poppins) hadn’t come out, the kids all thought Julie Andrews was making it up.

“It was just the sort of song they thought she could make up to entertain kids. They thought she was just so special.”

Bishop also hears from the youngest of the Trapp Family Singers, who discerns the differences between Hollywood dramatisation and truth.

“Johannes Von Trapp tells us about the real story versus what happened in the movie. And it’s just as interesting as what really happened,” says Bishop.

“The real Von Trapps and the ‘Non Trapps’ as they are called all get together at the Gala.

“One of the surprises that is revealed is what happened to that house after the family left Austria. It gives them a few goosebumps when they walk back into it.”

TEN will also re-screen the film following the special -a film that still draws them in, including its iconic star.

“Julie Andrews said to me that even she will sit down and watch it on the television if it’s on. If you flick through your TV and it’s on, it is one of those movies you just sit down and watch”

The Sound of Music: 50 Years On followed by Movie: The Sound of Music airs from 6:30pm Saturday on TEN.