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An actor who was hired to play Willy Wonka at a "shambles" of an event has described the experience as "where dreams went to die" - as a young "Oompa Loompa" was left disappointed he "didn't even get a Freddo". Willy's Chocolate Experience was brought to a halt on Saturday as parents demanded their money back amid complaints the event was not what was advertised. The £35-a-ticket experience at Box Hub in Glasgow was sold as a "chocolate fantasy like never before" where "dreams become reality". Despite promos pledging a "journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises", families were...

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Midway through the 1932 classic melody, It's Only a Paper Moon, the lyric proclaims: "It is only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea; But it wouldn't be make believe, If you believed in me..." Without a doubt, this old time standard should be the theme song for Senator Elizabeth Warren's 2020 Presidential campaign. In her world of illusion and make believe, a young Anglo child can aspire to be a Cherokee maiden. In her world; angry old white men, and the hammer of racism which they wield and thrash, are the source of all evil and injustice being...

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory star Denise Nickerson has passed away at the age 62. Nickerson was a child actress when she played Violet Beauregarde, the girl who blows up into a large blueberry shape after breaking factory rules, in the 1971 musical film with Gene Wilder.

Denise Nickerson, who played Violet in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," is living out the last moments of her life, because her family tells us they have just taken her off life support. Nickerson, who suffered a stroke last year, was at home Monday and, according to her family, she got into her meds at home and took as many as she could. Her family came to check on her shortly thereafter and rushed her to the ER. Once in the hospital, doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia. On Tuesday, she suffered a massive seizure and doctors put Denise on...

Jack Albertson Harold "Jack" Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981) was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in vaudeville. Albertson is known for his role as John Cleary in The Subject Was Roses (1968), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971); Manny Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure (1972); and Ed Brown in the television sitcom Chico and the Man (1974–78). For his contributions to the television industry, Albertson was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in...

Before Charlie Bucket got a golden ticket to a world of pure imagination, Willy Wonka began a corporate empire of innovative candies that took the world by storm. To tell that story, Warner Brothers are looking to enlist the director of Paddington and its sequel, Paul King, according to The Hollywood Reporter. WB has been rumored to be interested in making a Willy Wonka prequel since at least 2017, with Ryan Gosling rumored to be interested in the title role. Regardless of whoever gets to wear the top hat, however, King and producer David Heyman are apparently in negotiations to...

Johnny Depp’s “Transcendence” bombed last night as expected, taking in just $11.5 million. That’s a disaster for a $150 million movie. This is Depp’s second major flop at the box office, following the catastrophic “Lone Ranger.” And now this poses an important question: can Depp open a movie that isn’t “Pirates of the Caribbean”? The answer is No. He’s made zillions from the Disney adventure movies.

Police hunt for men dressed as Oompa-Loompas after attack on 28-year-old as he left kebab house • Man was left with cuts to his face, nose and lip, as well as two black eyes • Police are now hunting the two men dressed as the fictional factory workers Two men dressed as Oompa-Loompas from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory are being hunted by police after they allegedly attacked a man on a night out. The pair - who had painted orange faces and dyed green hair and were wearing hooped tops like the characters in the 1971...

Mel Stuart, an award-winning documentarian who also directed "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," has died. He was 83.

In a further clarification of yesterday’s remarks that a rebuilt New Orleans would be a “chocolate” city, Mayor Ray Nagin today said he’s planning to recruit Hershey Foods to establish a candy manufacturing plant in the hurricane-ravaged region. The Democrat mayor’s latest clarification builds on yesterday’s explanation that his remarks are not racist because chocolate is made with dark chocolate and white milk forming “a delicious drink.” “We’re in the very, very early stages of discussions with Hershey,” Mr. Nagin said, “It’s still in the pre-meeting, pre-phone call stage. But that’s what this chocolate city concept is all about. It’s...

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Mayor Ray Nagin on Monday called for the rebuilding of a "chocolate New Orleans" that maintains the city's black majority, saying, "You can't have New Orleans no other way." "I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," Nagin said in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

        ~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~Modern Times: Top 10 All Time Favorite Movies     Welcome to the FReeper Canteen! It's great to have you with all of us!! We're going to start a new feature on Tuesdays. We're not sure if we'll run this every Tuesday or every other Tuesday. However, we'd like to open the floor to hot topics of the day. None of which are political. Unless something is absolutely appalling or in need of your reaction!!           You're Opinions Please     Main Topic: My top 10...

Clink in the URL above for the new Tim Burton "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" trailer. The song will worm its way into your brain. Depp, on the other hand, looks disturbingly like Michael Jackson.

Al Gore. State election officials ultimately declared George W. Bush the winner by a margin of 537 votes, but during and after the election dispute, questions remained about the uncounted ballots of 175,010 voters, ballots that had been rejected by error-prone tabulating machines employed in many Florida counties. Confusion and conflict, much of it generated by partisan intrigue, prevented these ballots from being counted during the election controversy. However, in 2001 every uncounted ballot was carefully examined in a scientific study by the University of Chicago, which concluded that when all the votes were counted, more votes had been cast...