June 28, 2025

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.”

AMC All the Time: Substack Did Not See That Coming.

Mock Paper Scissors: News That Will Drive You To Drink.

Bluestem Prairie: U.S. Supreme Court ruling clears way for online pornography restrictions in South Dakota.

Attention space nerds! Scientists discover rare planet at the edge of the Milky Way using space-time phenomenon predicted by Einstein. Ah, the suburbs!

Round Up by driftglass of the Professional Left Podcast and Science Fiction University

Send tips to mbru (AT) crooksandliars (DOT) com

Can you help us out?

For over 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but social media is limiting our ability to attract new readers. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Explore more

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon