On this day in in 1971, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory enjoyed its original silver screen premiere in Chicago, Illinois! The original novel, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, was a book my mom read to her fourth grade classes every year. One of thousands of fond memories I have of her.
Gene Wilder agreed to Willy Wonka under this condition: “When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp,” he said, according to Letters of Note. “After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself; but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.”
Why?
“Because from that time on, no one will know if I’m lying or telling the truth.”
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