#thechocolatefactorykids

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The Chocolate Factory Kids : List of drafts

And to begin this kind-of-study, I will start with a quick recap of the different drafts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (source: The Roald Dahl archives + http://www.penguin.com/ajax/books/excerpt/9780698163942) Draft Zero : the first draft Roald Dahl wrote, lost. In this draft we only know that the hero was a little boy visiting a chocolate factory owned by Mr. Ritchie. Here is what Dahl had to say about it : The very first time I did it, I got everything wrong. I wrote a story about a little boy who was going round a chocolate factory and he accidentally fell into a big tub of melted chocolate and got sucked unto the machine that made chocolate figures and he couldn’t get out. It was a splendid big chocolate figure, a chocolate boy the same size as him. And it was Easter time, and the figure was put in a shop window, and at the end a lady came in and bought it as an Easter present for her little girl and carried it home. On Easter Day, the little girl opened the box with her present in it and took it out, and then she decided to eat some of it. She would start with the head, she thought. So she broke off the nose and when she saw a real human nose sticking out underneath and two bright human eyes staring at her through the eye-holes in the chocolate she got a nasty shock. And so it went on. First draft: “Charlie’s Chocolate Boy” (1961) Here ten tickets are hidden in Wonka chocolates bar each week (Mr. Wonka had to abandon his "open-door policy" because everybody wanted to go in his factory and it caused incredible riots. That's why he organize these weekly visits). And each Saturday Mr. Wonka gives a tour of his factory to the ten winners. Here, Charlie finds the ticket on his first attempt; and the nine other kids are not presented until it’s time for their demise. But they stay mainly blank. So, we have: Augustus Pottle. Demise: falls in the Chocolate River. Miranda Grope. Demise: falls in the Chocolate River, despite the example of Augustus Wilbur Rice + Tommy Troutbeck. Demise: both climb in one of the wagons at the foot of the Vanilla Fudge Mountain. They end up in the “Pounding and Cutting Room”. Violet Strabismus (formerly Glockenberry ?). Demise: turns purple after chewing the three-course-meal-gum [Note : no mention of turning into a blueberry] Clarence Crump + Bertie Upside + Terence (formerly Trevor) Roper. Demise: they eat too much of “warming candies” and overheat Elvira Entwhistle. Demise: thrown away by the squirrels in the Nut Room. Charlie Bucket. Demise: (yes, Charlie is a “bad kid” in the original draft) climbs into a “Chocolate Boy” mold in the Easter Egg room (a room full of life-size chocolate animals, men, woman, boys, girls, babies and some eggs the size of automobiles)  and is trapped in chocolate. Taken as a present for Willy Wonka’s son, Freddie. Witness burglars thieving, and then free from the chocolate. As a rewind for helping to catch the thieves, Wonka gives him his own sweet shop, “Charlie’s Chocolate Shop”. (so not much of a real "demise") Note also that in this version : Charlie was black ; he was only feeding on potatoes and not cabbage ; he doesn't get any chocolate bar for his birthdays, he just happened to found a coin in the gutter and by a Wonka Whipped Cream Marshmallow Delight with the Ticket in it Second draft: “Charlie’s Chocolate Boy” (1961) Here, seven tickets are hidden in the bars per week. Augustus Pottle is kept, however it is now mentioned that, after the Chocolate River, he goes to the Chocolate Fudge Room. Miranda Grope becomes Miranda Mary Piker. New mention : after the Chocolate River she goes to the Peanut Brittle Room Violet Strabismus is kept, but now named Violet Beauregarde. Wilbur Rice and Tommy Troutbeck are fused into one character, Henry Trout. Same demise. Clarence Crump, Bertie Upside and Terence Roper are deleted. Apparition of Marvin Prune. However, information officially missing (the famous chapter of “Children’s Delight Room”) Elvira Entwhistle is kept, but now named Veruca Salt. In this version, ghostly voices recite a poem after each children’s demise. The workers are also here simply described as “white-coated assistants”. (I think it’s the same in the first draft) Third draft: basically, duplicated chapters. Not much to say. Fourth draft: Untitled and incomplete (1962) Here, we still have seven tickets but the idea of giving tickets each week was discarded. Now, the tickets is the frenzy-creating event we know. The human-looking workers and the ghostly voices are here replaced by tiny people named the “Whipple-Scrumpets”. A list at the beginning of the draft lists the seven children as follow : Charlie Bucket – a nice boy [Note that it’s the first time Charlie’s grandparents are introduced, and in this version Grandpa Joe was a former worker at Wonka’s] Augustus Gloop – a greedy boy Marvin Prune – a conceited boy Herpes Trout – a television-crazy boy Miranda Mary Piker – a girl who is allowed to DO anything she wants Veruca Salt – a girl who is allowed to HAVE anything she wants Violet Beauregarde – a girl who chews gum all day long Note that the draft end after Augustus Gloop’s demise. Fifth draft: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1962) Picks up the story from where the fourth draft ended. Here we only have six children, Marvin Prune was deleted. Sixth draft: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) Only five children are left, since Miranda Mary Piker is deleted. And the Whipple-Scrumpets are re-named the Oompa-Loompas. According to me, probably the draft of the “Spotty Powder” chapter. At one unknown point, Herpes Trout became Mike Teavee.