following is a list of characters in the Roald Dahl children's books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and the former's 1971 and 2005 film adaptations.

Willy Wonka[link]

In the novels and films, Willy Wonka is the eccentric owner of a chocolate factory - a factory that workers are never seen to enter, but that truckloads of chocolate and candy exit. Without explanation Wonka holds a contest, hiding five golden tickets within the wrappers of candy bars. The individuals lucky enough to find them are promised both a prize and a private tour of his mysterious chocolate factory.He is shown as the main protagonist.

Grandpa Joe[link]

Grandpa Joe is one of Charlie's four bed-ridden grandparents. He tells Charlie (and the reader) the story of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and the mystery of the secret workers. When Charlie finds the Golden Ticket, Grandpa Joe leaps out of bed for joy for the first time in almost twenty years. Charlie takes Grandpa Joe to accompany him on the factory tour, Mr. Bucket reasoning that Joe is the better person as he knows more about the factory than the rest of them. In the sequel book, Grandpa Joe accompanies Charlie, Willy Wonka, and all members of Charlie's family in the Great Glass Elevator and plays a crucial role in the rescue of the Commuter Capsule from the Vermicious Knids.

An original backstory to Grandpa Joe's past was added to Tim Burton's 2005 film adaptation. In both the book and the 1971 film, Joe merely knows of Willy Wonka. In Burton's 2005 film, it is said that Joe actually worked for Wonka for five years, beginning when Wonka opened his first candy shop, until the day he fired all his workers from his factory. He then tells this to Wonka, and is welcomed back.

The character was played by Jack Albertson in the 1971 film adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. He constantly talks about getting out of bed to support his family but never does get out of bed until Charlie finds the Golden Ticket. On the tour Grandpa Joe encourages Charlie to disobey Wonka's orders by stealing Fizzy Lifting Drinks, later criticizing Wonka for threatening to give Charlie nothing simply because of that one mistake.

The character was played by David Kelly in the 2005 film adaptation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Gregory Peck was originally slated to play the role, but he died before filming began.

Charlie Bucket[link]

Charlie Bucket is a nice, kind hearted poor boy who is about 11 years old who lives with his mother and father and four bedridden grandparents. In the 1971 film adaptation, he has a newspaper route after school. He is curious and interested in Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. He gets one chocolate bar a year for his birthday. In the 1964 novel, he keeps every chocolate bar in a wooden box to save it so it lasts about a month.

He soon realizes Willy Wonka's factory will be opened to five children who find a Golden Ticket in an ordinary Wonka bar. He finds out that a greedy boy named Augustus Gloop found the first Golden Ticket, spoiled brat Veruca Salt finding the second, preteen gum chewer Violet Beauregarde finding the third and television crazed boy Mike Teavee finding the fourth.

One evening, as the Golden Ticket craze dies down, Charlie finds some money on the sidewalk and buys a chocolate bar. Regardless of the golden ticket inside (in novel and 2005 film adaptation), he finds it and he rushes home, surprised. The next day (Feb 1st, novel and 2005 film) (Oct 1st 1971 film), Mr. Wonka greets the children and their guardians into the factory. However, the rest of the children disappear due to their bad behavior and Charlie ends up being the only one left. Mr. Wonka then says he needs an heir and he lets Charlie bring his family too.

Veruca Salt[link]

The opening pages of the book describe Veruca Salt (in some early editions, Veruca Cruz) as "a girl who is spoiled by her parents". She is the second person to find a Golden Ticket and the third ejected from the tour. She is stated in the 2005 film to be from Buckinghamshire, England, and is implied to live in some part of England in the 1971 film. In all three versions of the story, this golden ticket is acquired for her by her wealthy father, who purchases Wonka’s chocolate bars in large quantities for his workers to open until it is found. All three versions portray her as constantly making demands of her parent/s for various objects that take her fancy – all of these demands begin with the words ‘I want –'. In the book and earlier film, she screams if her demands are met with resistance, while in the 2005 film, she is less temperamental. In the book and 2005 film, Veruca demands a squirrel from the Nut Room and, when denied by Wonka, invades the Nut Room to take one for herself. The squirrels pin her to the floor, deem her a bad nut and throw her down the rubbish chute, which Wonka explains leads to the incinerator. In both versions, she is seen leaving the factory at the end covered in rubbish.

In the 1971 film, the Nut Room is replaced by a room dedicated to large geese that lay golden chocolate eggs which are judged good or bad by the Eggdicator. When Wonka refuses to sell one of these geese to her father, Veruca sings the song "I Want It Now", while wrecking the room. At the end of the song, Veruca stands atop an Eggdicator, which determines her as a bad egg and drops her into the garbage chute. In the films, Veruca is accompanied by her father, who complies with her demands and also falls into the chute. In the novel, she is also accompanied by her mother who is described as being fat. Both films portray her mother as being thin; in the 2005 film, she is significantly younger than Veruca’s father. Veruca's father is the only parent to share their child's fate.

Mike Teavee[link]

Mike Teavee, ‘a boy who does nothing but watch television’, is the fourth Golden Ticket finder and fourth to be ejected from the tour. He is from Marble Falls in the 1971 film and from Denver, Colorado in the 2005 film. His portrayal varies across the novel and films: in the novel, he is described as being adorned with nineteen toy pistols that he ‘fires’ while watching gangsters on television. In the earlier film, he watches Westerns and dresses as a cowboy. In the 2005 film, he plays video games and uses a complex method, involving consultation of the Nikkei Index, to find the Ticket. He is more bad-tempered than in previous incarnations, but also more intelligent. his father is a geography teacher at a highschool

In all three versions, Wonka responds to his questions with comments on his mumbling. In the book and films, Mike uses a machine Wonka created to transmit chocolate into televisions (where they can be plucked from the screen by the viewer) to send himself by television and is shrunk in the process. Wonka’s suggested remedy for this is to stretch him using the Taffy Puller (in the novel, he suggests a machine he uses to test the stretchiness of chewing gum). In the book and 2005 film, he is seen leaving the factory, but is now tall and as thin as a rake.

In the book, both of Mike's parents tour the factory with him and following his shrinking, his mother and father become worried that he won't be able to go to school. When Mike says happily, that he still can watch TV, his furious parents announce that the TV is causing Mike's poor behavior and that they will be disposing of their television when they get home much to Mike's anger. In the 1971 film, Mike is accompanied by his mother, who incorrectly attributes the piece Wonka plays on the musical lock to Rachmaninoff (the piece was actually by Mozart). Upon hearing Wonka’s proposed solution to Mike’s ‘accident’, she faints and is dragged away by two Oompa-Loompas. In the 2005 film, Mike is accompanied by his father, who claims he cannot understand most of what his son says. In both films, Mike’s parent states that he or she is a geography teacher, to try to prove that Loompa Land doesn't exist, but Wonka confusingly takes their words to mean that they know a lot about it. The geography line was spoken by Veruca’s mother in the novel.

Violet Beauregarde[link]

Violet Beauregarde, 'a girl who chews gum all day', is one of the Golden Ticket winners, from Miles City, Montana in the 1971 film and from Atlanta, Georgia in the 2005 film. Violet is the third child to find a Golden Ticket and the second to be ejected from the tour. Violet chews gum obsessively and boasts that she has been chewing the same piece for six months. In the 2005 film, she is also aggressively competitive and has won trophies for a variety of sports and activities, including gum-chewing.

When Wonka shows the group around the Inventing Room, he stops to display a new type of gum he is working on that doubles as a filling three-course meal. Violet is intrigued and, despite Wonka's protests, snatches and chews the gum. She is delighted by its effects but, when she gets to dessert - blueberry pie - her skin becomes blue and purple and her body swells and changes until she resembles an enormous blueberry. Wonka summons a group of Oompa-Loompas to take Violet - who is now unable to move on her own - to the Juicing Room where some of the effects of the gum can be reversed. In the book and 2005 film, Violet leaves the factory restored to her normal shape, but remains blue and purple and with superhuman flexibility.

In the book, both of Violet's parents go to the factory with her. In the 1971 film, she is accompanied by her father, a fast-talking used car salesman. In the 2005 film, she is the only child to come from a single parent family, living with her mother. It is implied that Mrs. Beauregarde is primarily responsible for Violet's competitive nature.

Violet's infamous inflation scene has been subject to many parodies (most notably on That '70s Show in a dream sequence with Mila Kunis), and even started several online inflation sites.

Augustus Gloop[link]

Introduced in the opening pages of the book as ‘a greedy boy’, "Augustus Gloop" is the first person to find a Golden Ticket and the first to be ejected from the tour. He hails from Dusselheim, Germany in the 1971 film, and Dusseldorf, Germany in the 2005 film. In the novel and both films, he is portrayed as being ‘enormously fat’ and also gluttonous. The circumstances in which he is removed from the tour are consistent across all three versions of the story: while drinking from the Chocolate Room’s chocolate river (despite the exhortations of his parent/s and Wonka), he falls into the river and is sucked through a pipe to a room where fudge is manufactured (called ‘the Fudge Room’ in the 1971 film). In the books and 2005 film, he is seen leaving the factory at the end; in the novel he has been squeezed thin by the pipe, while in the 2005 film, he is covered in chocolate.

In both films, Augustus’ mother accompanies him to the factory and his father is a butcher. In the novel and films, his mother takes great pride in his gluttonous eating and seems to enjoy the attention of the media focused on her son. Upon his removal from the tour, Wonka has an Oompa-Loompa escort his parents/mother to the Fudge Room to locate him.

Arthur Slugworth[link]

Novel[link]

In the book, Arthur Slugworth is one of Willy Wonka's rival chocolatiers. Slugworth, along with Wonka's other rivals Mr. Fickelgruber and Mr. Prodnose, sent in spies to steal the secret recipes to Wonka's treats. Having obtained these, he began making candy balloons that a consumer blows up to incredible sizes, and then causes to burst before eating them; a plagiarized invention. The work of Slugworth (along with the other rivals) came close to ruining Wonka's factory. Wonka was forced to close his factory and fire all his workers. A few years later, Wonka's factory began working again (operated exclusively by Oompa-Loompas) and his work continued to dominate the candy industry, with no rival able to plagiarize his work because using the Oompa Loompa as his workers enables Wonka to operate his factory without regular employees and keeping it off-limits to the public, so no spies can infiltrate. Slugworth is never heard from again, but it is stated that Slugworth, Prodnose, or Fickelgruber would each give their front teeth to enter Wonka's inventing room (a laboratory) for three minutes.

1971 film[link]

In the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Slugworth's company is in business. Inside Bill's Candy Shop, Wonka's products and signs are the most visible; but Slugworth's Sizzlers are also prominently displayed, and one is even sold to a child called June Marie. Also seen are signs for Fickelgruber's candy. Grandpa Joe describes Slugworth as the worst of Wonka's rivals, telling Charlie that he was one of those who sent his spies in dressed as Wonka workers to steal Wonka's Recipes.

A man calling himself Slugworth is a prominent character later in the film. As each Golden Ticket is found, a sinister man approaches the finder and whispers something into his or her ear. After Charlie finds the last ticket, the same man approaches Charlie as well, and delivers what is presumably the same speech he has given the other children. He introduces himself as Arthur Slugworth, president of Slugworth Chocolates Incorporated, and bribes the child to bring one piece of the newly-invented Everlasting Gobstopper to him so he can discover and plagiarize the formula. Two of the children respond to Slugworth's bribe. Veruca Salt crosses her fingers behind her back when Willy Wonka asks the children to promise not to show the Everlasting Gobstopper to anyone else. Mike Teavee asks his mother what secrets they can sell to Slugworth; his mother is also heard telling her son to keep his eyes peeled and his mouth shut. Grandpa Joe also responds near the end of the movie. After Willy Wonka snaps at him and Charlie Bucket for sampling Fizzy Lifting Drinks, (probably a final test by Wonka of character) Grandpa Joe threatens to give Slugworth the Everlasting Gobstopper. However, Charlie can't bring himself to betray Wonka and thus returns the Everlasting Gobstopper to Wonka.

Although at first it seems as though Slugworth is the film's main villain, Wonka eventually reveals at the end of the film that the man is not Slugworth, but a fellow Wonka worker named Mr. Wilkinson, and that his offer was a moral test of character.

The movie does not explain how the false Slugworth was able to approach each winner so soon after they found their tickets. However, it's implied Wonka somehow managed to keep track of each ticket's destination and then he told Wilkinson where they're most likely to be found. The movie also doesn't explain whether or not Slugworth was another person, and if the false Slugworth was just pretending to be him.

Slugworth/Wilkinson was played by Günter Meisner, a West German actor.

2005 film[link]

Slugworth only makes a split-second appearance in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He receives a secret recipe from Prodnose and is not heard of again. Examples of the plagiarization are shown, as is Wonka closing the doors on his workers, including Grandpa Joe. When Grandpa Joe meets Wonka, he tells him he used to work in his factory. Wonka does not seem to recognize Grandpa Joe, instead demanding if Grandpa Joe was one of the spies. When Grandpa Joe says that he wasn't one of the spies, Wonka says "Welcome Back." He is played by Philip Philmar.

Prince Pondicherry[link]

Prince Pondicherry is a prince who lives in India. He appears in the third chapter of the novel when Grandpa Joe is telling Charlie a story. In the story Willy Wonka makes him a chocolate palace in India that melts because of the hot weather. He is absent from the 1971 film version. His name derives from the city of Pondicherry (officially spelled Puducherry since 2006) in southeastern India.

2005 film[link]

The Prince makes a brief appearance in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where he is played by Nitin Ganatra. He tells Wonka to build him a palace entirely out of chocolate, and Wonka assures him that it will be done. Despite India being a normally hot country, the construction of the palace saw no chocolate that was melted by the sun. The only molten chocolate in the construction was pre-melted by the construction workers.

Despite this, once Wonka completes the palace, he warns Pondicherry that he must start eating it straight away before the chocolate starts to melt. It is never exactly explained why he could make non-melting ice cream and not non-melting chocolate, unless there are certain issues with the formula. Clearly not a practical man, Prince Pondicherry ignores the advice and takes up residence in the palace (though he does eat one bite of the throne off).

Soon after, during "a very hot day with a boiling sun," Pondicherry is being fed chocolate by his princess when drops of melting chocolate begin to fall on the prince's head. The palace begins to fall apart, and the Prince and his lovely wife (played by Shelley Conn) escape unharmed but covered in chocolate, looking on at the melted palace, which is still seen falling down on itself. He then sends Wonka an urgent telegram requesting a new palace, but unfortunately Wonka has problems concerning industrial espionage in his factory and therefore cannot come.

This version follows closely to the version told in the book, but adds the Princess (who was never mentioned in the novel) and states that the Prince, who had been dozing, found himself immersed in a lake-sized pool of molten chocolate.

Oompa-Loompas[link]

Oompa-Loompas are known for their short stature, green hair, orange skin and white pants with protruding knees. In early editions of the novel, Oompa-Loompa are shown as African pygmies. Following growing controversy and criticism, in later editions of the book, Oompa-Loompa are white skinned and golden haired.^[1]

Oompa-Loompa come from Loompaland, which is a region of Loompa, a small isolated island in the Atlantic Ocean. The Oompa-Loompa would end up being preyed upon or attacked by Whangdoodles, Hornswogglers and Snozzywangers, which also lived there. Wonka ended up inviting them to work at his factory and get away from their natural predators. In the book, Oompa-Loompa are the only people Willy Wonka will allow to work in his factory, because of the risk of industrial espionage committed by his candy-making rivals. Oompa-Loompa are only knee-high, with astonishing haircuts, and are paid in their favourite food, cacao beans, which were extremely rare in their island. Oompa-Loompa insist on maintaining their native clothing: men wear skins, women wear leaves, and children wear nothing (in the 1971 film, the Oompa Loompas wore Germanic clothing with striped shirts and baggy lederhosen-like pants, in the 2005 film, the Oompa Loompas wore tribal clothing in their native Loompaland and typical factory worker uniforms in the factory). In the 1971 film the male Oompa-Loompas are seen working in the factory, in the 2005 film only one female worker, a secretary Mr. Wonka addresses as Doris (when the Great Glass Elevator passes through the administration offices) is seen, though in Quentin Blake's illustrations both male and female Oompa-Loompas are shown rolling away Violette Beauregarde after her transformation into a blueberry. Presumably the females remain in the village seen briefly from the Great Glass Elevator.

Oompa-Loompa are also mischievous, love practical jokes, singing and are very good at improvising according to Wonka. As each bad child makes his/her exit, Oompa-Loompa sing moralising songs accompanied by a drum beat, and tend to speak in rhyme.

In the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Oompa-Loompa are portrayed as orange-skinned. In the film, Vermicious Knids were also the enemies of the Oompa-Loompa alongside the Whangdoodles, Hornswogglers, and Snozzwangers.

Kenyan-Indian actor Deep Roy played all 165 Oompa Loompas in the 2005 film. Roy took pilates and dance classes to prepare for the role.

In some of Roald Dahl's earlier versions of the book, Oompa-Loompa's were originally called "Whipple-Scrumpets". This was only changed just before the publishing of the book.

Vermicious Knids[link]

Vermicious Knids are a fictional species of amorphous aliens that invade the Space Hotel USA in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. They are also mentioned in the 1971 feature film adaptation, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, except on this occasion they are referred to as being one of the species of animals that inhabit Loompaland. The other named animals are the Snozzwangers and the Whangdoodles.

In their natural form, Vermicious Knids are huge, dark, egg-shaped beings who do not have any teeth, but swallow their victims whole. The Knids are quite at home in the vacuum of space, originating on the planet Vermes, a fictional planet located (as stated in dialogue) 184,270,000,000 miles from Earth (this would place it at 52 times Pluto's distance). Their one weak point is that they are show-offs; they cannot resist shaping themselves to spell the word "SCRAM" - the only word they know - before they attack. Wonka knows that this interval is ideal for escaping an encounter with the Knids.

According to Willy, numerous sentient alien species have been wiped out by the Knids' predations. Wonka claims that the only reason humans have escaped this fate is because the Knids - not being heatproof and not possessing retro-rockets – cannot enter Earth's atmosphere without being burned up by friction. In fact, Wonka says, what humans believe to be shooting stars are really shooting Knids burning up as they enter our the atmosphere.

In Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, a swarm of Knids take advantage of the new Space Hotel USA to lie in wait for humans. When the transport capsule brings the first guests to the Space Hotel, the Knids attack, devouring some of the guests and leaving the survivors to retreat to the capsule. Unfortunately the transport capsule, unlike Wonka's Great Glass Elevator, is not Knid-proof, and the Knids again attack, damaging its rockets and leaving it unable to return to Earth. Wonka, Charlie, and Grandpa Joe decide to rescue the damaged capsule by towing it back to Earth. One Knid wraps itself round the Elevator, then the rest form a line, and the end one forms a hook, planning to hook onto the one wrapped round the Elevator and tow it away. However the Elevator then returns to Earth, and the Knids burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere.

The Vermicious Knids also make a brief appearance as, again, an animal species native to Loompa Land in the 2005 adaptation Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Wonka travels to Loompa Land in search of new flavors for candy, and when a giant green hornet-like animal (a Knid) attacks him he quickly kills it with a machete. Ever in search of new flavors, Wonka tastes the blood on the knife, but finds it wholly unsuitable for use in candy.

When Nestle created their interpretation of Wonka's world to sell chocolate bars under the name "Wonka", they released a number of downloadable flash games. In these games, Knids seem to have entered the factory and have the appearance of flying green blobs with single red eyes.

The etymology of the name was not provided by Dahl. Pronunciation of Knid is said in the book to approximate adding a schwa between the "K" and "nid", or in Dahl's words, "K'nid". Cnidaria is the name of the taxonomic phylum containing stinging aquatic invertebrates such as jellyfish and coral, itself derived from the classical Greek word for nettle, κνίδη. Vermicious is a real word, meaning "worm like".

The Vermicious Knids are also mentioned in several other Dahl stories, including James and the Giant Peach (after police see that the peach has landed on the Empire State Building) and The Minpins.

Others[link]

References[link]

James Phillip Rome (born on October 14, 1964), known as Jim Rome, is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications.

Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts The Jim Rome Show on radio. For a number of years Rome hosted a television show Jim Rome Is Burning (formerly Rome Is Burning), which aired on ESPN in the United States and TSN2 in Canada. In 2011, Rome ended his relationship with ESPN to join the CBS network where it is reported he will host his own show, as well as an interview-format show on the Showtime channel.^[1] His past hosting jobs included sports discussion television shows Talk2 (ESPN2), The FX Sports Show (FX), and The Last Word (Fox Sports Net). The Jim Rome Show is tied for the #21 most listened to talk radio show in the United States ^[2] and Rome is the #29 most influential talk radio personality^[3] according to Talkers Magazine.

Born in Tarzana, California, Rome graduated from Calabasas High School in 1982^[4] and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) with a degree in Communications in 1987.^[5][6] He lives in Irvine, California with his wife Janet and their two children.^[5]

Early broadcasting start[link]

Rome started his radio career at college radio station KCSB-FM while at UCSB, where he was Sports Director for one quarter, and at news station KTMS, also located in Santa Barbara. He eventually moved to XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego, where he started what is now known as The Jim Rome Show, or "The Jungle," with a loop of the instrumental intro of Iggy Pop's song "Lust for Life" and the instrumental intro of Guns N' Roses' song "Welcome to the Jungle" as the show's signature music. The show became syndicated in 1996. It can now be heard on over 200 radio stations across the United States and Canada. In 1998, Rome released an album entitled Welcome to the Jungle, which featured memorable sound bites and music from the show.

In early 2003, Rome was interviewing friend Mark Shapiro, executive producer of programming and production at ESPN, on his radio program. Unexpectedly, the two began to discuss a possible return of Rome to ESPN, and within a few months, Rome was officially rehired to host Rome Is Burning. Rome openly attributes that interview as the impetus to his return to television.

In July 2006, Rome announced that his nationally syndicated radio show would remain on terrestrial radio instead of going to satellite radio. The radio show is heard on more than 200 stations across the United States and Canada and has an audience of approximately 2.5 million.^[6]

Controversy and incidents[link]

Rome gained notoriety for an incident in his ESPN2 show Talk2 in 1994 when his guest was NFL quarterback Jim Everett. Rome had previously referred to Everett as "Chris" (after Chris Evert, the female tennis player), suggesting that Everett shied away from getting hit. Appearing as a guest on the show, Everett warned Rome about repeating the insult. Rome continued his taunt, causing Everett to overturn the table between them and shove Rome to the floor while still on the air. This situation never resulted in a lawsuit for either party. Rome considers this event one of his early career mistakes.

In 1997, hockey legend Gordie Howe announced an attempt to play a shift with the International Hockey League's Detroit Vipers, which would allow Howe to claim having played professional hockey in six decades. Rome challenged the 69-year-old ex-hockey star, offering a bounty of $3,000 to any player on the team playing against the Vipers to take Howe out of the game permanently by saying, "Putting this old fool back to reality." Howe and his wife threatened Rome with a lawsuit, and the bounty went away.

Celebrity appearances[link]

Rome made cameo appearances in the movies Space Jam, Two for the Money, and the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. He appeared in Blink-182's music video "What's My Age Again?" and appeared on the HBO sitcom Arliss.

On May 3, 2004, Rome hosted the memorial service for Pat Tillman.^[7] On January 28, 2006, Rome was elected to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.^[8]

The Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday features John C. McGinley playing the brash sportscaster "Jack Rose," a character based on Jim Rome.^[9]

Horse racing[link]

After poking fun at horse racing for some years, saying "it's not a sport, it's a bet," Rome seemed to take more interest in horse racing after interviewing great jockey Kent Desormeaux many times on his radio talk show. Rome has recently taken up a stronger interest in buying thoroughbreds. He was a part owner in Wing Forward, who, in his North American debut, made a dramatic last-to-first comeback to win the race. Rome mentioned it as "one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had."

In 2008, Jim and his wife Janet purchased a stake in a two-year-old colt, giving them a potential shot at the Triple Crown stakes races in 2009. Listeners have suggested names for the horse. The colt was eventually named Gallatin's Run.^[10]

Jim now owns part or all of seven horses in connection with Little Redfeather Racing and Billy Koch, including:

• El Manuel
• Hot n' Dusty
• Gallatin's Run
• Surfer Girl (owns outright)

Tour Stops[link]

Jim Rome's Tour Stops (also referred to as The Jim Rome World Tour) was a series of limited access live shows, often held in arenas, or other outdoor venues, which features sports-related guests and activities. The tour originated from The Jim Rome Show radio program, which is featured on over 200 affiliate radio stations in the United States and Canada. Generally, Rome would hold a few Tour Stops each year, with a very irregular schedule. They were quietly and informally discontinued after the Tour Stop at Cleveland in 2004. Rome has cited a more demanding television and radio schedule for the discontinuation of tour stops, most notably because of the inception of Jim Rome is Burning on ESPN. Show listeners, referred to as the "Clones," considered the Tour Stops a way of celebrating the popularity of the show, and a means of meeting other fans of the program. Since 2000 Rome promised to hold a Tour Stop in the city whose NFL team finished the season 0-16, his so called "dream season." The Detroit Lions finally accomplished the feat in 2008, but no Tour Stop has been held thereafter in Detroit.

Tickets to a Tour Stop were normally free, but needed to be acquired from the local affiliate. Some Tour Stops have reportedly had over 10,000 in attendance. One of the Tour Stops' main attractions was the appearance of sports figures from local teams. Tour Stops were not broadcast on the radio, but Rome typically played clips from the activities and guests on the next regular program.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jim Rome Rome's official website
• Jim Rome Is Burning Video on ESPN Video Archive
• Jim Rome's Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Page

This article is about the fictional character. For the candy company, see, The Willy Wonka Candy Company.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since February 2009. It needs attention from an expert on the subject. Tagged since February 2011. Its introduction may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines. Tagged since February 2011.

Willy Wonka is a major character of Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the film adaptations that followed. The book and the 1971 film adaption both vividly depict an eccentric Wonka — a feature arising from his creative genius. He bewilders the other characters with his antics, but Charlie enjoys Wonka's behavior. In the 2005 film adaption, Willy Wonka's behavior is viewed more as a (sympathetic) character flaw.

Appearances[link]

1971 film adaption[link]

Candy maker Willy Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets amongst his Wonka Bars. The finders of these special tickets will be given a full tour of his tightly guarded candy factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate. The contest sets off a global craze with everyone desperately seeking out the tickets. They are eventually found by five different children from around the world.

Wonka greets the winning children and their guardians at the factory gates. He immediately shows his unpredictability by slowly hobbling towards the gate with a cane, then pretending to fall, only to do a somersault and spring back to his feet with a flourish. Once he and his visitors are inside, Wonka requires each to sign a contract before the tour can begin. The tour progresses though many fantastic rooms and labs in the factory, all run by Wonka's crew of Oompa Loompas. Along the way, four of the children misbehave against Wonka's warnings, resulting in serious but comical consequences and removing them from the tour.

Eventually, Charlie Bucket is the only remaining child. Wonka informs him that the tour is over, politely dismisses him and Grandpa Joe, and disappears into his office without mentioning the promised prize of a lifetime supply of chocolate. Grandpa Joe and Charlie enter the office, where Wonka tells them that Charlie does not get the prize because he broke the rules. When questioned on the existence of the said rules, Wonka irritably reveals the forfeiture clause of the contract Charlie signed. Charlie's part in the theft of Fizzy Lifting drinks earlier in the story means that he violated the contract, and therefore he receives nothing. Now seemingly enraged, Wonka again dismisses them with a furious "Good day!".

When Charlie subsequently returns a gobstopper to Wonka that he initially planned to give to an industrial spy, Wonka joyfully tells Charlie that he "won" and begs his guests' forgiveness. He reveals that the spy "Slugworth" is actually an employee named Wilkinson, whose offer to buy the gobstopper was a morality test for the Golden Ticket winners, and Charlie was the only one who passed. Wonka leads Charlie and Joe to the "Wonkavator", a multi-directional glass elevator, and fly out of the factory in it. As they soar over the village, Wonka tells Charlie that his actual prize is not just the chocolate but the factory itself, as the Golden Ticket search was created to help Wonka search for an honest and worthy child to be his heir. Charlie and his family will reside in the factory and take over its operation when Wonka retires.

2005 film adaption[link]

Willy Wonka, the owner of a famous chocolate factory, has long closed access to his factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage that ultimately led him to fire all his employees, among them Charlie's Grandpa Joe. One day, Wonka informs the world of a contest, in which five Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will be given a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate, while one ticket holder will be given a special prize at the end of the tour. After all five of the tickets are found, Wonka greets Charlie and the other ticket holders outside the factory and leads the group into the facility. During the tour, Wonka tempts each of the bad children to disobey his orders with something related to their individual character flaws. Wonka then invites Charlie to come live and work in the factory with him, and reveals that the purpose of the Golden Tickets and the tour was to make the "least rotten" child the heir of the factory itself, so he can have someone carry on his legacy when he dies. The only condition, however, is that Charlie must leave his family behind, because Wonka believes family is a hindrance to a chocolatier's creative freedom, a philosophy Wonka developed due to his dentist father, Dr. Wilbur Wonka, denying his son candy because of the potential risk to his teeth. After secretly sampling some candy, Wonka was instantly hooked and ran away to follow his dreams. After being refused Charlie's offer, Wonka falls into a state of emotional depression and returns to Charlie to seek advice. Wonka soon reunites with his estranged father and allows Charlie's family to live in the factory, forever.

Concept and creation[link]

2005 film adaption[link]

Early on in the production of the 2005 film, Nicolas Cage was under discussions for portraying Willy Wonka, but lost interest.^[1][2] Warner Bros. president Alan F. Horn wanted Tom Shadyac to direct Jim Carrey as Willy Wonka, believing the duo could make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory relevant to mainstream audiences, but Roald Dahl's widow Liccy Dahl opposed this.^[3] After Tim Burton was hired as director in May 2003, Burton immediately thought of Johnny Depp for the role of Willy Wonka, who joined the following August for his fourth collaboration with the director.^[4]

Burton and screenwriter John August worked together in creating Wilbur Wonka, Willy's domineering dentist father. "You want a little bit of the flavor of why Wonka is the way he is," Burton reasoned. "Otherwise, what is he? He's just a weird guy."^[5] Warner Bros. and Burton held differences over the characterization of Willy Wonka. The studio wanted to make Willy Wonka the idyllic father figure Charlie Bucket had longed for his entire life. Burton believed that Wonka would not be a good father, finding the character similar to a recluse.^[6] "In some ways," Burton protested, "he's more screwed up than the kids."^[7] Prior to Burton's involvement, Warner Bros. considered or discussed Willy Wonka with Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, Michael Keaton,^[1] Brad Pitt, Will Smith^[5] and Adam Sandler.^[3] Johnny Depp was the only actor Burton considered for the role,^[7] who signed on without reading the script under the intention on going with a completely different approach than what Gene Wilder did in the 1971 film adaptation.^[8] "Regardless of what one thinks of that film," Depp explained, "Gene Wilder's persona, his character, stands out."^[3] Reportedly, Depp cited Marilyn Manson as his inspiration for his portrayal of Wonka.

Comparisons were drawn between Willy Wonka and musician Michael Jackson. Burton joked, "Here's the deal. There's a big difference: Michael Jackson (d. 2009) likes children, Willy Wonka can't stand them. To me that's a huge difference."^[6] Depp explained that the similarities with Jackson never occurred to him. "I say if there was anyone you'd want to compare Wonka to it would be a Howard Hughes, almost. Reclusive, germaphobe, controlling."^[9] Burton agreed with the Hughes similarities, and additionally supplied Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane as inspiration. "Somebody who was brilliant but then was traumatized and then retreats into their own world."^[7] Depp wanted to sport prosthetic makeup for the part and have a long, elongated nose, but Burton believed it would be too outrageous.^[5]

Critical analysis[link]

Wilder's performance as Willy Wonka was well received and remains one of his best-known roles. Time Out Film Guide called it "Great fun, with Wilder for once giving an impeccably controlled performance as the factory's bizarre candy owner."^[10] Critic Jeffrey M. Anderson, of Combustible Celluloid, wrote "...when the movie does actually reach the factory, and Gene Wilder takes the stage, the movie is saved. Wilder was in the middle of an incredible run of subtle comic performances... and he was at the height of his powers here."^[11] Regarding Wilder's effect, Anderson wrote "If you're a kid, Wonka seems magical, but watching it now, he has a frightening combination of warmth, psychosis, and sadism."^[12] Kevin Carr, of 7M pictures wrote "This is Gene Wilder's legacy. He was perfect for the role, and it was his mixture of childlike wonder and bitter, deserved vengeance that made the character so compelling."^[13], while critic Widgett Walls simply called it "Probably Gene Wilder's finest, most manic hour." ^[14] Wilder received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his role as Willy Wonka, but lost to Chaim Topol as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.^[15]

Critical response to Johnny Depp's performance as Willy Wonka was often enthusiastic but more mixed overall. Critic Andrew Sarris, of The New York Observer, who did not enjoy the film's style in general, wrote "I wonder if even children will respond to the peculiarly humorless and charmless stylistic eccentricities of Mr. Burton and his star, Johnny Depp."^[16] However, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka may be a stone freak, but he is also one of Burton's classic crackpot conjurers, like Beetlejuice or Ed Wood."^[17] Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle found that "all the laughs [in the film] come from Depp, who gives Willy the mannerisms of a classic Hollywood diva".^[18] Roger Ebert wrote "Depp, an actor of considerable gifts, has never been afraid to take a chance, but this time he takes the wrong one. His Willy Wonka is an enigma in an otherwise mostly delightful movie from Tim Burton,"^[19] while Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone magazine that "Depp's deliciously demented take on Willy Wonka demands to be seen. Depp goes deeper to find the bruises on Wonka's secret heart than what Gene Wilder did."^[20] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post also criticized Depp's acting; "The cumulative effect isn't pretty. Nor is it kooky, funny, eccentric or even mildly interesting. Indeed, throughout his fey, simpering performance, Depp seems to be straining so hard for weirdness that the entire enterprise begins to feel like those excruciating occasions when your parents tried to be hip."^[21] Joe Lozito of Big Picture Big Sound questioned the intention as well, writing "Depp's Wonka exudes none of the gravity required for the role. It's as though he didn't take the role seriously. Rather than an intimidating candyman teaching brats a lesson, this Wonka is simply a freak."^[22] Depp received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his role as Willy Wonka, but lost to Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.^[23]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Willy Wonka" the stage musical
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film website
• The Willy Wonka Candy Company

A depiction by Gustave Doré.

	"Little Red Riding Hood" The version found in The Book of Fables and Folk Stories by Horace E. Scudder.
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Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings. The story was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697.^[1]

This story is number 333 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales.^[2]

Tale[link]

Little Red Riding Hood, illustrated in a 1927 story anthology

The story revolves around a girl called Little Red Riding Hood, after the red hooded cape/cloak (in Perrault's fairytale) or simple cap (in the Grimms' fairytale) she wears. The girl walks through the woods to deliver food to her sick grandmother.

A wolf wants to eat the girl but is afraid to do so in public. He approaches Little Red Riding Hood and she naïvely tells him where she is going. He suggests the girl pick some flowers, which she does. In the meantime, he goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl. He swallows the grandmother whole,(In some stories, he locks her in the closet), and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandma.

When the girl arrives, she notices that her grandmother looks very strange. Little Red Riding Hood then says, "What a deep voice you have,""The better to greet you with," said the wolf."Goodness, what big eyes you have.", said the little girl."The better to see you with.", said the wolf. "And what big hands you have!" exclaimed Little Red Riding Hood, stepping over to the bed. "The better to hug you with," said the wolf. "What a big mouth you have," the little girl murmured in a weak voice. "The better to eat you with!" growled the wolf, and jumping out of bed, he swallowed her up too. Then, with a fat full tummy, he fell fast asleep.

A lumberjack, however, comes to the rescue and with his axe cuts open the wolf, who had fallen asleep. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother emerge unharmed. They fill the wolf's body with heavy stones. The wolf awakens and tries to flee, but the stones cause him to collapse and die. (Sanitized versions of the story have the grandmother shut in the closet instead of eaten, and some have Little Red Riding Hood saved by the lumberjack as the wolf advances on her, rather than after she is eaten.)^{[citation needed]}

The tale makes the clearest contrast between the safe world of the village and the dangers of the forest, conventional antitheses that are essentially medieval, though no written versions are as old as that.

Relationship to other tales[link]

The theme of the ravening wolf and of the creature released unharmed from its belly is also reflected in the Russian tale Peter and the Wolf, and the other Grimm tale The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, but its general theme of restoration is at least as old as Jonah and the Whale. The theme also appears in the story of the life of Saint Margaret, where the saint emerges unharmed from the belly of a dragon.

The dialog between the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood has its analogies to the Norse Þrymskviða from the Elder Edda; the giant Þrymr had stolen Mjölner, Thor's hammer, and demanded Freyja as his bride for its return. Instead, the gods dressed Thor as a bride and sent him. When the giants note Thor's unladylike eyes, eating, and drinking, Loki explains them as Freyja not having slept, or eaten, or drunk, out of longing for the wedding.^[3]

"The better to see you with": woodcut by Walter Crane

Tale's history[link]

Earliest versions[link]

The origins of the Little Red Riding Hood story can be traced to versions from various European countries and more than likely preceding the 17th century, of which several exist, some significantly different from the currently known, Grimms-inspired version. It was told by French peasants in the 14th century as well as in Italy, where a number of versions exist, including La finta nonna (The False Grandmother).^[4] It has also been called "The Story of Grandmother". It is also possible that this early tale has roots in very similar Oriental tales (e.g. "Grandaunt Tiger").^[5]

These early variations of the tale differ from the currently known version in several ways. The antagonist is not always a wolf, but sometimes an ogre or a 'bzou' (werewolf), making these tales relevant to the werewolf-trials (similar to witch trials) of the time (e.g. the trial of Peter Stumpp).^[6] The wolf usually leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to eat, who then unwittingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. Furthermore, the wolf was also known to ask her to remove her clothing and toss it into the fire.^[7] In some versions, the wolf eats the girl after she gets into bed with him, and the story ends there.^[8] In others, she sees through his disguise and tries to escape, complaining to her "grandmother" that she needs to defecate and would not wish to do so in the bed. The wolf reluctantly lets her go, tied to a piece of string so she does not get away. However, the girl slips the string over something else and runs off.

In these stories she escapes with no help from any male or older female figure, instead using her own cunning. Sometimes, though more rarely, the red hood is even non-existent.^[8]

Charles Perrault[link]

French images, like this 19th-century painting, show the much shorter red chaperon being worn

The earliest known printed version^[9] was known as Le Petit Chaperon Rouge and had its origins in 17th century French folklore. It was included in the collection Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals. Tales of Mother Goose (Histoires et contes du temps passé, avec des moralités. Contes de ma mère l'Oye), in 1697, by Charles Perrault. As the title implies, this version^[10] is both more sinister and more overtly moralized than the later ones. The redness of the hood, which has been given symbolic significance in many interpretations of the tale, was a detail introduced by Perrault.^[11]

The story had as its subject an "attractive, well-bred young lady", a village girl of the country being deceived into giving a wolf she encountered the information he needed to find her grandmother's house successfully and eat the old woman while at the same time avoiding being noticed by woodcutters working in the nearby forest. Then he proceeded to lay a trap for the Red Riding Hood. The latter ends up being asked to climb into the bed before being eaten by the wolf, where the story ends. The wolf emerges the victor of the encounter and there is no happy ending.

Charles Perrault explained the 'moral' at the end so that no doubt is left to his intended meaning:

From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, And it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner. I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!

This, the presumed original, version of the tale was written for late 17th century French court of King Louis XIV. This audience, whom the King entertained with extravagant parties and prostitutes, presumably would take from the story the intended meaning.

Brothers Grimm[link]

Wilhelm (left) and Jacob Grimm (right) from an 1855 painting by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann.

In the 19th century two separate German versions were retold to Jacob Grimm and his younger brother Wilhelm Grimm, known as the Brothers Grimm, the first by Jeanette Hassenpflug (1791–1860) and the second by Marie Hassenpflug (1788–1856). The brothers turned the first version to the main body of the story and the second into a sequel of it. The story as Rotkäppchen was included in the first edition of their collection Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales (1812)).^[12]

The earlier parts of the tale agree so closely with Perrault's variant that it is almost certainly the source of the tale.^[13] However, they modified the ending; this version had the little girl and her grandmother saved by a huntsman who was after the wolf's skin; this ending is identical to that in the tale The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, which appears to be the source.^[14]

The second part featured the girl and her grandmother trapping and killing another wolf, this time anticipating his moves based on their experience with the previous one. The girl did not leave the path when the wolf spoke to her, her grandmother locked the door to keep it out, and when the wolf lurked, the grandmother had Little Red Riding Hood put a trough under the chimney and fill it with water that sausages had been cooked in; the smell lured the wolf down, and it drowned.^[15]

The Brothers further revised the story in later editions and it reached the above mentioned final and better known version in the 1857 edition of their work.^[16] It is notably tamer than the older stories which contained darker themes.

After the Grimms[link]

Numerous authors have rewritten or adapted this tale.

Andrew Lang included a variant called "The True History of Little Goldenhood"^[17] in The Red Fairy Book (1890). He derived it from the works of Charles Marelles, in Contes of Charles Marelles. This version explicitly states that the story had been mistold earlier. The girl is saved, but not by the huntsman; when the wolf tries to eat her, its mouth is burned by the golden hood she wears, which is enchanted.

James N. Barker wrote a variation of Little Red Riding Hood in 1827 as an approximately 1000-word story. It was later reprinted in 1858 in a book of collected stories edited by William E Burton, called the Cyclopedia of Wit and Humor. The reprint also features a wood engraving of a clothed wolf on bended knee holding Little Red Riding Hood's hand.

In the 20th century, the popularity of the tale appeared to snowball, with many new versions being written and produced, especially in the wake of Freudian analysis, deconstruction and feminist critical theory. (See "Modern uses and adaptations" below.) This trend has also led to a number of academic texts being written that focus on Little Red Riding Hood, including works by Alan Dundes and Jack Zipes.

Interpretations[link]

Red Riding Hood by George Frederic Watts

Besides the overt warning about talking to strangers, there are many interpretations of the classic fairy tale, many of them sexual.^[18] Some are listed below.

Natural cycles[link]

Folklorists and cultural anthropologists such as P. Saintyves and Edward Burnett Tylor saw "Little Red Riding Hood" in terms of solar myths and other naturally-occurring cycles. Her red hood could represent the bright sun which is ultimately swallowed by the terrible night (the wolf), and the variations in which she is cut out of the wolf's belly represent by it the dawn.^[19] In this interpretation, there is a connection between the wolf of this tale and Sköll, the wolf in Norse myth that will swallow the personified Sun at Ragnarök, or Fenrir.^[20] Alternatively, the tale could be about the season of spring, or the month of May, escaping the winter.^[21]

Ritual[link]

The tale has been interpreted as a puberty ritual, stemming from a prehistorical origin (sometimes an origin stemming from a previous matriarchal era).^[22] The girl, leaving home, enters a liminal state and by going through the acts of the tale, is transformed into an adult woman by the act of coming out of the wolf's belly.^[23]

Rebirth[link]

Bruno Bettelheim, in The Uses of Enchantment, recast the Little Red Riding Hood motif in terms of classic Freudian analysis, that shows how fairy tales educate, support, and liberate the emotions of children. The motif of the huntsman cutting open the wolf, he interpreted as a "rebirth"; the girl who foolishly listened to the wolf has been reborn as a new person.^[24]

Sexual awakening[link]

Red Riding Hood has also been seen as a parable of sexual maturity. In this interpretation, the red cloak symbolizes the blood of menstruation,^[25] braving the "dark forest" of womanhood. Or the cloak could symbolize the hymen (earlier versions of the tale generally do not state that the cloak is red). In this case, the wolf threatens the girl's virginity. The anthropomorphic wolf symbolizes a man, who could be a lover, seducer or sexual predator. This differs from the ritual explanation in that the entry into adulthood is biologically, not socially, determined.^[26]

Norse myth[link]

The poem Þrymskviða from the Poetic Edda mirrors some elements of Red Riding Hood. Loki's explanations for "Freyja's" (actually Thor disguised as Freya) strange behavior mirror the wolf's explanations for his strange appearance.

The red hood has often been given great importance in many interpretations, with a significance from the dawn to blood.^[27]

Modern uses and adaptations[link]

WPA poster by Kenneth Whitley, 1939.

There have been many modern uses and adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood, generally with a mock-serious reversal of Red Riding Hood's naïveté or some twist of social satire; they range across a number of different media and styles. Multiple variations have been written in the past century, in which authors adapt the Grimms' tale to their own interests.

The tale can be told in terms of Little Red Riding Hood's sexual attractiveness. The song "How Could Red Riding Hood (Have Been So Very Good)?" by A.P. Randolph in 1925 was the first song known to be banned from radio because of its sexual suggestiveness. The 1966 hit song "Lil' Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs takes the Wolf's point of view, implying that he wants love rather than blood. In the short animated cartoon Red Hot Riding Hood by Tex Avery, the story is recast in an adult-oriented urban setting, with the suave, sharp-dressed Wolf howling after the nightclub singer Red. Avery used the same cast and themes in a subsequent series of cartoons.^[28] Allusions to the tale can be more or less overtly sexual, as when the color of a lipstick is advertised as "Riding Hood Red".^[29]

This sexual analysis may take the form of rape. In Against Our Will, Susan Brownmiller described the fairy tale as a description of rape.^[30] Many revisionist retellings depict Little Red Riding Hood or the grandmother successfully defending herself against the wolf, including a version developed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which ends with Little Red Riding Hood cutting her own way out of the wolf's stomach and saving her grandmother.^[31]

The story may also serve as a metaphor for a sexual awakening, as in Angela Carter's story "The Company of Wolves", published in her collection The Bloody Chamber (1979). (Carter's story was adapted into a film by Neil Jordan in 1984.) In the story, the wolf is in fact a werewolf, and comes to newly-menstruating Red Riding Hood in the forest in the form of a charming hunter. He turns into a wolf and eats her grandmother, and is about to devour her as well, when she is equally seductive and ends up lying with the wolf man, her sexual awakening.^[32] Such tellings bear some similarity to the "animal bridegroom" tales, such as Beauty and the Beast or The Frog Prince, but where the heroines of those tales transform the hero into a prince, these tellings of Little Red Riding Hood reveal to the heroine that she has a wild nature like the hero's.^[33]

Little Red Riding Hood is also one of the central characters in the 1987 Broadway musical Into the Woods by Steven Sondheim and James Lapine. In the song, "I Know Things Now" she speaks of how the wolf made her feel "excited, well, excited and scared," in a reference to the sexual undertones of their relationship. Red Riding Hood's cape is also one of the musical's four quest items that are emblematic of fairy tales.^[34]

Publishers like BeeGang and So Out maintained unaltered the original story written by Charles Perrault mainly adding interactivity or educational content to their book apps; Other publishers like BlueQuoll, an Australian publishing group, have pushed further the boundaries of the narration and re-invented the story even in the title, Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes that puts the wolf at the center of the narration. In their version the element of good vs evil is removed from the story and the wolf is not portraited as a negative character that deserves to die miserably at the end of the story.

See also[link]

Children's literature portal

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Little Red-Cap

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Little Red Riding Hood

• Little Red Riding Hood at the Internet Movie Database
• A three dimensional book of Little Red Riding Hood – created by Jan Hogan and held by the Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland
• SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Annotated Little Red Riding Hood.
• Little red Riding Hood felt Board Story from Felt Works
• Another collection of different versions of Little Red Riding Hood.
• A free online video of Little Red Riding Hood.
• Homepage of the Little Red Riding Hood Project
• Terri Windling's 'The Path of Needles or Pins: Little Red Riding Hood' – a thorough article on the history of LRRH.
• Catherine Orenstein's 'Dances with Wolves' from Ms. magazine. – a shorter article on the history of LRRH (by the author of a book on subject).
• Olivier Dezutter's 'Little Red Riding Hood : a Story of Women at the Crossroads' – an article concerning different stories and images of LRRH.
• The Disney version of Little Red Riding Hood at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
• Full text to Little Red-Riding-Hood from "The Fairy Book"
• Original versions and psychological analysis of Little Red Riding Hood
• Little Red Riding Hood, audio version (French)
• eBook Le Petit Chaperon Rouge with sound and modern pictures, Zabouille éditions (French)
• Link to the Publisher BeeGang
• Link to the Publisher So Ouat
• Link to the Publisher BlueQuoll
• Link to the page of Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes

Gene Wilder
Wilder at a book signing, May 2007
Born	Jerome Silberman (1933-06-11) June 11, 1933 (age 79) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Washington High School
Alma mater	University of Iowa
Occupation	Actor, Director, Writer, Author, Activist
Years active	1961–2003
Spouse	Mary Mercier (m. 1960–1965, divorced) Mary Joan Schutz (m. 1967–1974, divorced) Gilda Radner (m. 1984–1989, her death) Karen Boyer (m. 1991–present)
Children	Daughter
Signature

Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933) is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, author and activist.

Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the TV series Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1962. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde, Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Young Frankenstein, a script which garnered the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wilder is known for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991). Wilder has directed and written several of his films, including The Woman in Red (1984).

He was married to actress Gilda Radner. Her death from ovarian cancer led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club.^[1]

Since his most recent contribution to acting in 2003, Wilder has turned his attention to writing, producing a memoir in 2005, Kiss Me Like A Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, and the novels My French Whore (2007), The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008), and What Is This Thing Called Love (2010).

Early life and education[link]

Born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 11, 1933, Gene Wilder is the son of William J. and Jeanne (Baer) Silberman. He adopted "Gene Wilder" for his professional name at the age of 26, later explaining, "I had always liked Gene because of Thomas Wolfe's character Eugene Gant in Look Homeward, Angel and Of Time and the River. And I was always a great admirer of Thornton Wilder."^[2][3] Wilder first became interested in acting when at age 8, his mother was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and the doctor told him to "try and make her laugh."^[4] When Jeanne Silberman felt that her son's potential was not being fully realized in Wisconsin, she sent him to Black-Foxe, a military institute in Hollywood, where he wrote that he was bullied and sexually assaulted, primarily because he was the only Jewish boy in the school.^[5] After an unsuccessful short stay at Black-Foxe, Wilder returned home and became increasingly involved with the local theatre community. At age fifteen, he performed for the first time in front of a paying audience, as Balthasar (Romeo's manservant) in a production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.^[6] Gene Wilder graduated from Washington High School located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1951.

Acting career[link]

Early starts: Old Vic and Army[link]

Wilder studied Communication and Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa, where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity.^[7] Following his 1955 graduation from Iowa, he was accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, England. After six months of studying fencing, Wilder became the first freshman to win the All-School Fencing Championship.^[8] Desiring to study Stanislavski's system, he returned to the U.S., living with his sister and her family in Queens. Wilder enrolled at the HB Studio.^[9]

Wilder was drafted into the Army on September 10, 1956. At the end of recruit training, he was assigned to the medical corps and sent to Fort Sam Houston for training. He was then given the opportunity to choose any post that was open, and wanting to stay near New York City to attend acting classes at the HB Studio, he chose to serve as paramedic in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Valley Forge Army Hospital, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.^[10] In November 1957, his mother died from ovarian cancer. He was discharged from the army a year later and returned to New York. A scholarship to the HB Studio allowed him to become a full-time student. At first living on unemployment insurance and some savings, he later supported himself with odd jobs such as a limousine driver and fencing instructor.. Wilder's first professional acting job was in Cambridge, England, where he played the Second Officer in Herbert Berghof's production of Twelfth Night. He also served as a fencing choreographer.^[11]

After three years of study with Berghof and Uta Hagen at the HB Studio, Charles Grodin told Wilder about Lee Strasberg's method acting. Grodin persuaded him to leave the Studio and begin studying with Strasberg in his private class. Several months later, Wilder was accepted into the Actors Studio. Feeling that "Jerry Silberman in Macbeth" did not have the right ring to it, he adopted a stage name.^[12] He chose "Wilder" because it reminded him of Our Town author Thornton Wilder, while "Gene" came from Thomas Wolfe's first novel, Look Homeward, Angel. He also liked "Gene" because as a boy, he was impressed by a distant relative, a World War II bomber navigator who was "handsome and looked great in his leather flight jacket."^[12][13] He later said that he couldn't see Gene Wilder playing Macbeth, either. After joining the Actors Studio, he slowly began to be noticed in the Off Broadway scene, thanks to performances in Sir Arnold Wesker's Roots and in Graham Greene's The Complaisant Lover, for which Wilder received the Clarence Derwent Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Nonfeatured Role."

Mel Brooks[link]

In 1963, Wilder was cast in a leading role in Mother Courage and Her Children, a production starring Anne Bancroft, who introduced Wilder to her boyfriend Mel Brooks.^[14] A few months later, Brooks mentioned that he was working on a screenplay called Springtime for Hitler, for which he thought Wilder would be perfect in the role of Leo Bloom. Brooks elicited a promise from Wilder that he would check with him before making any long-term commitments.^[14] Months went by, and Wilder toured the country with different theatre productions, participated in a televised CBS presentation of Death of a Salesman, and was cast for his first role in a film—a minor role in Arthur Penn's 1967 Bonnie and Clyde. After three years of not hearing from Brooks, Wilder was called for a reading with Zero Mostel, who was to be the star of Springtime for Hitler and had approval of his co-star. Mostel approved, and Wilder was cast for his first leading role in a feature film, 1968's The Producers.^[15]

The Producers eventually became a cult comedy classic,^[16][17] with Mel Brooks winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Wilder being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Nevertheless, Mel Brooks' first directorial effort did not do well at the box office and was not well-received by all critics; New York Times critic Renata Adler reviewed the film and described it as "black college humor."^[18][19]

In 1969, Wilder relocated to Paris, accepting a leading role in Bud Yorkin's Start the Revolution Without Me, a comedy that took place during the French Revolution. After shooting ended, Wilder returned to New York, where he read the script for Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx and immediately called Sidney Glazier, who produced The Producers. Both men began searching for the perfect director for the film. Jean Renoir was the first candidate, but he would not be able to do the film for at least a year, so British-Indian director Waris Hussein was hired.^[20]

[edit] Willy Wonka, Young Frankenstein, and Richard Pryor

In 1971, Mel Stuart offered Wilder the lead role in his film adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Wilder was initially hesitant, but finally accepted the role under one condition:

When Stuart asked why, Wilder replied, "because from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth."^[21]

All three films Wilder did after The Producers were box office failures: Start the Revolution and Quackser seemed to audiences poor copies of Mel Brooks films, while Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory seemed, to many parents, a moral story "too cruel" for children to understand, thus failing to attract family audiences.^[19] After hearing that Wonka had been a commercial failure, Woody Allen offered Wilder a role in one segment of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). Wilder accepted, hoping this would be the hit to put an end to his series of flops. Everything... was a hit, grossing over $18 million in the United States alone against a $2-million budget.^[22]

Wilder in 1984

After Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Wilder began working on a script he called Young Frankenstein. After he wrote a two-page scenario, he called Mel Brooks, who told him that it seemed like a "cute" idea but showed little interest.^[23] A couple of months later, Wilder received a call from his agent, Mike Medavoy, who asked if he had anything where he could include Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman, his two new clients. Having just seen Feldman on television, Wilder was inspired to write a scene that takes place at Transylvania Station, where Igor and Frederick meet for the first time. The scene was later included in the film almost verbatim. Medavoy liked the idea and called Brooks, asking him to direct. Brooks was not convinced, but having spent four years working on two box office failures, he decided to accept.^[14] While working on the Young Frankenstein script, Wilder was offered the part of the Fox in the musical film adaptation of Saint Exupéry's classic book, The Little Prince. When filming was about to begin in London, Wilder received an urgent call from Mel Brooks, who was filming Blazing Saddles, offering Wilder the role of the "Waco Kid" after Dan Dailey dropped out at the last minute, while Gig Young became too ill to continue. Wilder shot his scenes for Blazing Saddles and immediately afterwards filmed The Little Prince.^[14]

After Young Frankenstein was written, the rights were to be sold to Columbia Pictures, but after having trouble agreeing on the budget, Wilder, Brooks and producer Michael Gruskoff went with 20th Century Fox, where both Brooks and Wilder had to sign five-year contracts. Young Frankenstein was a commercial success, with Wilder and Brooks receiving Best Adapted Screenplay nominations at the 1975 Oscars,^[24] losing to Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo for their adaptation of The Godfather Part II.^[25] While filming Young Frankenstein, Wilder had an idea for a romantic musical comedy about a brother of Sherlock Holmes. Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn agreed to participate in the project, and Wilder began writing what became his directorial début, 1975's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.^[26]

In 1975, Wilder's agent sent him a script for a film called Super Chief. Wilder accepted, but told the film's producers that he thought the only person who could keep the film from being offensive was Richard Pryor. Pryor accepted the role in the film, which had been renamed Silver Streak, the first film to team Wilder and Pryor. While filming Silver Streak, Wilder began working on a script for The World's Greatest Lover, inspired by Fellini's The White Sheik. Wilder wrote, produced, and directed The World's Greatest Lover, which premièred in 1977 but was a commercial and critical failure.^[27] The Frisco Kid (1979) would be Wilder's next project. The film was to star John Wayne, but he dropped out when the Warner Brothers executives tried to dissuade him from charging the studio his usual $1-million fee. Harrison Ford, then an up-and-coming actor, was hired for the role.

Sidney Poitier and Gilda Radner[link]

In 1980, Sidney Poitier and producer Hannah Weinstein persuaded Wilder and Richard Pryor to do another film together. Bruce Jay Friedman wrote the script for Stir Crazy, with Poitier directing, for Columbia Pictures. Pryor was struggling with a severe cocaine addiction, and filming became difficult; but once the film premiered, it became an international success. New York magazine listed "Skip Donahue" (Wilder) and "Harry Monroe" (Pryor) # 9 on their 2007 list of "The Fifteen Most Dynamic Duos in Pop Culture History," and the film has often appeared in "best comedy" lists and rankings.^[28][29]

Poitier and Wilder became friends, with the pair working together on a script called Traces—which became 1982's Hanky Panky, the film where Wilder met comedienne Gilda Radner. Through the remainder of the decade, Wilder and Radner worked in several projects together. After Hanky Panky, Wilder directed his third film, 1984's The Woman in Red, which starred Wilder, Radner, and Kelly LeBrock. The Woman in Red was not well-received by the critics, nor was their next project, 1986's Haunted Honeymoon, which failed to attract audiences.

TriStar Pictures wanted to produce another film starring Wilder and Pryor, and Wilder agreed to do See No Evil, Hear No Evil only if he was allowed to rewrite the script. The studio agreed, and See No Evil, Hear No Evil premiered on May 1989 to mostly negative reviews. Many critics praised Wilder and Pryor, and even Kevin Spacey's performance, but they mostly all agreed that the script was terrible. Roger Ebert called it "a real dud";^[30] the Deseret Morning News described the film as "stupid," with an "idiotic script" that had a "contrived story" and too many "juvenile gags";^[31] while Vincent Canby called it "by far the most successful co-starring vehicle for Mr. Pryor and Mr. Wilder," also acknowledging that "this is not elegant movie making, and not all of the gags are equally clever."^[32]

1990s–2000s[link]

After starring as a political cartoon writer who falls in love in the 1990 flop Funny About Love, Wilder did one final film with Richard Pryor, the 1991 box office flop Another You, in which Pryor's physical deterioration from multiple sclerosis was clearly noticeable.^[33] The film marked both Pryor's last starring role in a film (he would appear in a few cameos until his death in 2005) and also marked Wilder's last appearance in a feature film. His remaining work consisted of television movies and guest appearances in TV shows.

In 1994, Wilder starred in the NBC sitcom Something Wilder.^[34] The show received poor reviews and lasted only one season. He went back to the small screen on 1999, appearing in three television movies, one of which was the NBC adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. The other two were mystery movies for A&E television in which Wilder played Larry "Cash" Carter, a theater director turned private eye (those two films were also co-written by Wilder). Three years later, Wilder guest-starred on two episodes of NBC's Will & Grace, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor on a Comedy Series for his role as Mr. Stein, Will Truman's boss.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

Wilder met his first wife, Mary Mercier, while studying at the HB Studio in New York. Although the couple had not been together long, they married on July 22, 1960. They spent long periods of time apart, eventually divorcing in 1965. A few months later, Wilder began dating Mary Joan Schutz, a friend of his sister. Schutz had a daughter, Katharine, from a previous marriage. When Katharine started calling Wilder "Dad," he decided to do what he felt was "the right thing to do,"^[36] marrying Schutz on October 27, 1967 and adopting Katharine that same year. Schutz and Wilder separated after seven years of marriage, with Schutz thinking that Wilder was having an affair with his Young Frankenstein co-star, Madeline Kahn. After the divorce, he briefly dated his other Frankenstein co-star, Teri Garr. Wilder would eventually become estranged from Katharine.^[14][37]

Wilder met Saturday Night Live actress Gilda Radner on August 13, 1981, while filming Sidney Poitier's Hanky Panky. Radner was married to G.E. Smith at the time, but she and Wilder became inseparable friends. When the filming of Hanky ended, Wilder found himself missing Radner, so he called her. The relationship grew, and Radner eventually divorced Smith in 1982. She moved in with Wilder, and the couple married on September 14, 1984, in the south of France. The couple wanted to have children, but Radner suffered miscarriages, and doctors could not determine the problem. After experiencing severe fatigue and suffering from pain in her upper legs on the set of Haunted Honeymoon, Radner sought medical treatment. Following a number of false diagnoses, it was determined that she had ovarian cancer in October 1986.^[38] Over the next year and a half, Radner battled the disease, receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. The disease finally went into remission, giving the pair a respite, during which time Wilder filmed See No Evil, Hear No Evil.^[38] By May 1989, the cancer returned and had metastasized. Radner died on May 20, 1989.^[39] Wilder later stated, "I always thought she'd pull through."^[40]

Following Radner's death, Wilder became active in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club, a support group to raise awareness of cancer that began in New York City and now has branches throughout the country.^[7]

Semi-retirement and authorship[link]

Wilder at a book signing in May 2007

While preparing for his role as a deaf man in See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Wilder met Karen Webb (née Boyer), who was a clinical supervisor for the New York League for the Hard of Hearing. Webb coached him in lip reading. Following Gilda Radner's death, Wilder and Webb reconnected, and on September 8, 1991, they married.^[40] The two live in Stamford, Connecticut, in the 1734 Colonial home that he shared with Radner. The Wilders spend most of their time painting watercolors, writing, and participating in charitable efforts.^[14] In October 2001, he read from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as part of a special benefit performance held at the Westport Country Playhouse to aid families affected by the September 11 attacks.^[14][41] Also in 2001, Wilder donated a collection of scripts, correspondences, documents, photographs, and clipped images to the University of Iowa Libraries.^[2]

In 1998, Wilder collaborated on the book Gilda's Disease with oncologist Steven Piver, sharing personal experiences of Radner's struggle with ovarian cancer. Wilder himself was hospitalized with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1999, but confirmed in March 2005 that the cancer was in complete remission following chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.^[14]

On March 1, 2005, Wilder released his highly personal memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, an account of his life covering everything from his childhood up to Radner's death. Two years later, in March 2007, Wilder released his first novel, My French Whore, which is set during World War I.^[42] His second novel, The Woman Who Wouldn't, was released in March 2008.^[43] In 2010, he released a collection of stories called What is This Thing Called Love?.^[44]

In a 2008, Turner Classic Movies special Role Model: Gene Wilder, where Alec Baldwin interviewed Wilder about his career, Wilder said that he was basically retired from acting for good. "I don't like show business, I realized," he explained. "I like show, but I don't like the business."

An unauthorized biography of Wilder entitled Gene Wilder: Funny and Sad by Brian Scott Mednick was published in December 2010 by BearManor Media.

Work[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

• Voice for The Electric Company's segment The Adventures of Letterman (60 episodes, 1972–77)
• Something Wilder (1994–95)
• Will & Grace (2002) Episode "Boardroom and a Parked Place" (Guest Star – Mr. Stein)
• Will & Grace (2003) Episode "Sex, Losers & Videotape" (Guest Star – Mr. Stein)

Stage[link]

• The Complaisant Lover (Broadway, 1962)
• Mother Courage and Her Children (Broadway, 1963)
• Death Of A Salesman
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Broadway, 1963)
• The White House (Broadway, 1964)
• Luv (Broadway, 1966)
• The Scarecrow (Broadway, 1972)
• Rhinoceros (1974)
• Laughter on the 23rd Floor (London, 1996)

Publications[link]

• Piver, M. Steven and Gene Wilder. Gilda's Disease: Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ovarian Cancer. Broadway Books, 1998. ISBN 0-7679-0138-X.
• Wilder, Gene. Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art. St. Martin's Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-33706-X.
• Wilder, Gene. My French Whore. St. Martin's Press, 2007. ISBN 0-312-36057-6.
• Wilder, Gene. The Woman Who Wouldn't. St. Martin's Press, 2008. ISBN 0-312-37578-6.
• Wilder, Gene. What is this Thing Called Love?. St. Martin's Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-312-59890-7

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Piver, M. Steven and Gene Wilder. Gilda's Disease: Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective On Ovarian Cancer. Broadway Books, 1998. ISBN 0-7679-0138-X.
• Radner, Gilda. It's Always Something. Simon and Shuster, 1989. ISBN 0-671-63868-8.
• Wilder, Gene. Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art. St. Martin's Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-33706-X.

External links[link]

• "The Films of Gene Wilder", video compilation of movie clips, 4 minutes
• Gene Wilder at the Internet Movie Database
• Gene Wilder at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gene Wilder at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Gene Wilder at the TCM Movie Database
• Gene Wilder at AllRovi