I Want Candy

Here we are less than a month since Halloween, and just over a month away from Christmas - two of the biggest holidays for candy sales. If you are already tired of sugar, or if you are looking for a way to enjoy your sweets vicariously for fewer physical side effects, there are several stories in which magical candy plays a major role.

Candy and childhood seem to go hand in hand. Roald Dahl incorporated candy into many of his stories. In 1964 Dahl unleashed the unusual, unforgettable, and uber-creative confectioner extraordinaire Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory upon the world. This story made into two movies, the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005 with Johnny Depp.

In 1971 the Willy Wonka Candy Company began. Eight years it later became part of Nestle, providing versions of the Everlasting Gobstopper and the Wonka Bar, among other treats. You can enter an online wacky Wonka world full of Oompa Loompas various games and activities at www.wonka.com.

In Dahl's book The Witches (1983), the witches insidious plan to rid the world of children involves setting up sweet shops and selling candy spiked with Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse Maker. This was made into a film in 1990 with Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch.

Hansel and Gretel were captured by the witch in the Brothers Grimm story with the house made of candy. You can read an annotated Hansel and Gretel here, as well as view lists of modern versions and similar tales from other cultures. (By the way, if you find the short story Crumbs, by Esther M. Friesner, in a collection and you enjoy reimagined fairy tales read it. It is a sequel of sorts to the original story involving descendants of the witch and the children with a different explanation of what happened and a twist.)

Joanne Harris published Chocolat in 1999, in which Vianne Rocher sets up a chocolaterie in a small French village and shares chocolates that seem to have unusual properties. Interestingly Johnny Depp played a gypsy in the movie in 2000. The sequel to the novel follows Vianne and her daughter Anouk in Paris years later. For some reason, in the U.K. the sequel's title is The Lollipop Shoes, while in the U.S. it is The Girl with No Shadow, losing any reference to candy.

Clover is always giving Levin Thumps candy with unusual side-effects in the uneven childrens' series by Obert Skye starting with Levin Thumps and the Gateway to Foo (2005).

Four children get involved in a war between magicians who make candy that gives the person eating it temporary, supernatural abilities in the highly enjoyable fantasy novel The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull (2007).

Now, maybe you have read any of these books, or watched any of these movies by yourself, with friends, or with your family and you are now in the mood for some candy related activities. There is plenty you can do.

You can always play the almost 60 year old boardgame Candyland, especially if you don't mind the possibility of a never ending game trapsing through the Candy Cane Forest or the Molasses Swamp.

This time of the year, making gingerbread houses is always in fashion.

Go ahead and watch the 1939 film Bright Eyes staring Shirley Temple, and learn the lyrics to "On the Good Ship, Lollipop," which became her trademark song. (You probably won't be able to get the music out of your mind now. You are welcome.)

If you live somewhere along the Wasatch Front, this Friday and Saturday you can attend the 4th Annual Utah Chocolate Show and sample and purchase all kinds of chocolates. (Click here for more information.)

Now, if you are in Utah and looking for cheap (mostly free), candy-themed activities for all ages, here are some other places you can go and, in some instances, get free samples:

Mrs. Cavanaughs in North Salt Lake (click here for information about tours)
Taffy Town in Salt Lake City (click here for information about tours)
Sweet Candy Company in Salt Lake City (click here for information about tours)
Kencraft (Peppermint Place) in Alpine (click here for more information - I don't think they have tours, but they did have an observation area and a video you can watch)

If you are in Las Vegas, you can visit M&M's World next to the MGM Hotel, and even watch a free 3-D movie starring Red and Yellow after making your way through three floors of M&M merchandise (click here for more information). You can also take a tour of Ethel's Chocolate Lounge in Henderson (click here for more about tours).

Lastly, if you are ever in Utah travelling on U.S. Highway 89 between Richfield and Junction, you can stop at and hike Big Rock Candy Mountain, see the Lemonade Spring and even stay at the Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort. Click here for more information.

If you pace yourself, you should be able to read a book, watch a movie, then go on a tour or to an event every other month next year. Have a sweet 2009!

Let Your Hair Down

While I haven't avoided reading variations of the the Brothers Grimm Rapunzel fairy tale (first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales), I have honestly not actively sought them out either.

In my attempts to keep up with books published by authors with Utah ties I read Shannon and Dean Hales' Rapunzel's Revenge (2008).


This graphic novel, illustrated by Nathan Hale (which every single reference you encounter will point out is no relation to the Shannon and her husband Dean) is a fun amalgamation of the Rapunzel story, with Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as other traditional fairy-tale and fantasy elements - all mashed together in a western setting with a various western twists. The Hales actually draw upon many of the overlooked, yet still child-friendly elements of the original fairy tale. The art is good and the layouts varied but easy to follow, although Rapunzel's face is inconsistent. Being a graphic novel, it is a rather quick read.

I get a little hesitant to read some of these modern interpretations of fairy tales where the female characters traditionally have been "damsels in distress" because the authors tend to swing the other way making all the male characters buffoons. This is not the case here - it is a well balanced book.

After reading this western telling of the tale (which I wouldn't be surprised if it is followed by sequels or companion books with similar takes of other fairy tales), I did a little research online. Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits, including a note that the story 'Of Beren and Luthien' in The Silmarillion (1977) by J.R.R. Tolkien seems to draw upon this tale. I didn't know that there is a Rapunzel Syndrome caused by the consumption of hair. Having younger daughters, I knew about the computer animated Barbie version, but I didn't know that Disney was working on a new, animated version with the working title Rapunzel Unbraided due out in 2010. I had forgotten that Rapunzel was in Shrek the Third (2007), and she is a character in Into the Woods (1986 - music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine).

In fact, you can see Into the Woods at the Hale Center Theatre in Salt Lake City from October 1st through November 29th. Click here for more information if you are interested.

Back to my research, I also encountered a new, favorite website for me - www.surlalunefairytales.com. While it has only covered nearly fifty fairy tales so far, for those tales it has the most complete listing of commentaries, illustrations, modern interpretations of, history of, related websites, etc. for those stories. You can even read annotated versions of the stories. Here is the link to the Rapunzel section on Sur La Lune.

One of the reasons that I don't think I ever really liked the basic story is that I couldn't understand why Rapunzel didn't figure out she could use her hair to escape herself since she did let the witch and prince use it to climb up the tower. I guess we could give her the benefit of the doubt since she was raised by a person who might not have let her develop these capabilities for deductive reasoning, but she managed to figure plenty out on her own once the witch cast her out.

OK, lets accept the fact that Rapunzel just didn't make that connection. This makes the prince a complete and utter cad. He should have figured it out. If you read the original version he only suggests that each time he visits he brings a little silk and eventually they will build a latter so she can escape.

In the sanitized version, the witch discovers Rapunzel has been seeing the prince because one time after bringing the witch up Rapunzel comments off-handedly that the witch is not as easy to lift up as the prince. In the original version, Rapunzel off-handedly remarks to the witch that her clothes are getting tight around her waist. Yes, Rapunzel was pregnant meaning that the young, handsome prince was keeping her up in the tower so he could take advantage of her and her naiveté. Yet no one ever complains about the princes' behavior or intentions in this fairy tale.

That being said, enjoy these family-friendly video versions of Rapunzel:

Ray Harryhausen did an 11 minute stop-action animated version back in the 1940's



Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tale version on the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show (1959+)



Lastly, Kermit the Frog reported on the breaking Rapunzel story from Sesame Street.