Willy Wonka, Shirking Responsibility and a Great Night Out!

 OompaLoompas

Tonight in Detroit you can once again blame your parents.  The punchline for the Oompa Loompa’s many songs dealing with Charlie and his competing four brats for the keys to the fabled chocolate factor is “The mother and the father.”  

I was only six years old when this classic film premiered and I remember nodding my head in the theater thinking, “Yeah, the little creepy orange guys are right.  Those kids are spoiled rotten.”  Perhaps it was some kind of smugness that I would later have a stuffy professor explain to me as the same joy that the Greeks took in tragedies–“Whew, glad that’s Oedipus and not me!”

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At Detroit’s historic Redford Theatre this afternoon and tonight, you can not only see the film again in a classic 1920’s theater, complete with organ recitals before the show and during intermission just like they had for the silent films.

Teevee

And special guests include the actors who played Charlie himself (Peter Ostrum) as well as the soon-to-be-shrunk, Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen).  One can only wonder at the forty years of silly questions they’ve had to answer.

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Anthony Newley’s catchy songs (similar to his score of Dr. Doolittle) have locked themselves into the three generations’ subconsciousness–my favorite, Jack Albertson’s pajama song, “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket,” most recently re-used for a DirectTV add for the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket.”

If you haven’t had the chance yet to visit one of Detroit’s gems, grab the kids, grandkids and head down Lahser just north of Grand River and be taken back to psychedelic boat rides, clogged chocolate drains and giant blueberries.

Hope you can make it.  We’re going to be at the 8pm show!

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About Kevin Walsh

Kevin began MyMediaDiary.com in 2013 as an experiment that was as simple as "What's a blog?" and ended up becoming a forum for fellow writers. He's been a high school teacher for 28 years and worked as an administrator and instructor in colleges for 10 years since then. Contact him at: kevin@mymediadiary.com He is also the producer of the web-series and blog, www.DiggingDetroit, founder and producer for MMD Productions at www.mmdphotovideo.com which offers quick, professional photography, video and multimedia solutions for individuals, organizations and businesses. His high school media production text, "Video Direct," has been used in 40 states--and he occasionally still sells a few. He is the current president of the non-profit DAFT (Digital Arts Film and Television) which sponsors the Michigan Student Film Festival. He lives in Royal Oak, Michigan, is married to Patrice and is tolerated by his two kids Aidan and Abby who have all graciously allowed him to write about them on occasion.

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