Granbury, Texas is the home to many people, historic places, and special gems including a rare piece of cinema history.

Chris Christian is a songwriter and record producer from Abilene, Texas. Christian is the owner of the only costumes, worn by the Von Trapp children and Maria, made specifically for the movie production of The Sound of Music.

He has offered to loan out the use of one of the curtain costumes from the original production of the movie to the Tarleton State Theatre Department for the upcoming musical.

Christian’s songs have been recorded by some of the greatest names in history, including Elvis Presley, Olivia Newton-John, Natalie Cole, and many more. He was also a member of the trio Cotton, Lloyd, & Christian in the early 1970’s, performing on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and Midnight Special.

Christian’s best known work as a record producer is starting Amy Grant’s music career when she was only 16 years old.

He has won four Grammy Awards for albums that he has produced, five Gospel Music Association Dove Awards as an artist, songwriter, and producer, and also released 16 albums as a solo artist.

In 1992 Christian purchased The Studios at Las Colinas, along with partner Steve Jarchow who was bought out by Ross Perot Jr. in 1993.

Christian said that he “wanted to open a family friendly atmosphere for his customers.” That same year Christian attended an auction put on by Western Costume, a costume company in Hollywood, Calif.

The company had just been bought out by new owners and was in debt, so as a way to bring in revenue, Western Costume decided to sell some of their inventory. The company often sells costumes from their well-known films at auctions for the general public.

This year in particular, items at auction included all the pieces from the original film production of The Sound of Music, along with some original pieces from The Wizard of Oz. Pieces from The Sound of Music included the outfits worn by Julie Andrews and the children made out of the curtain material in Maria’s room, the dress that Maria wore in the very first scene, the guitar that Julie Andrews played in the Do-Re-Mi scene, and the matching outfits worn by the Von Trapp children when they are first seen in the movie.

 “The Sound of Music is my favorite musical, and since I was opening my own movie studio I wanted to add those pieces to my collection,” Christian said.

Christian sold the movie studios in 2003 but has kept almost all of his pieces from The Sound of Music. He sold a few pieces in an auction on July 31^st of 2013, but kept the pieces he felt were of most value to him.

The pieces that he retained include the curtain costumes and pictures of the cast of the movie trying on the costumes and wearing them.

Theatre at Tarleton is putting on a production of The Sound of Music Feb. 26 through March 1 starting every night at 7:30 p.m., in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center.

Christian has offered to loan the use of one of the costumes worn by the children for the run of the musical.

The costume will be displayed in the Fine Arts Center only during the run of the musical, and only during performance times.