Eleanor Cameron

Then there was the candy bar that the film was created to promote in the first place, and the serious production problems that it faced.

Oh, and the fact that the author of the original book despised the finished film intensely.

All of these things culminated in Paramount eventually deciding that the movie was not valuable enough to keep distributing just a few years after its release.

And yet, more than 55 years later, it's difficult to imagine this movie being anything other than a beloved classic from childhood for so many people.

Which raises a very Wonka-like question.

How much of the magic depends on something being real, and how much of it survives simply because we want to believe in it? Welcome to Actually, forgotten stories for curious minds.

I'm your host, and in this episode, we are looking at the strange history of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the corporate marketing plan that created it, the author who rejected it, the filmmaking tricks that made it unforgettable, and the very modern argument over who gets to control a performance after the performer is gone.

The origin of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory begins, appropriately enough, with a child.