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I Want It Now! a Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
In 1970, Julie Dawn Cole was cast as the unforgettable Veruca Salt in the classic motion picture Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. Since its release in 1971, this epic musical has endured as a favorite of children from around the world with a fan base that encompasses generations of movie goers. With its unforgettable characters, chocolatey landscapes...more
Paperback, 252 pages
Published
February 22nd 2011
by Bearmanor Media
(first published February 12th 2011)
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I want an Oompa Loompa NOW!
Veruca Salt was always my favorite Dahl character simply because she wanted EVERYTHING.
And I don't see anything wrong with that.
I was an only child who wanted everything. Was I spoiled? I don't think so. For years, I asked for a pet lamb every birthday and Christmas, and I NEVER got one, so obviously, my parents didn't give me EVERYTHING I asked for...
Julie Dawn Cole, who breathed life into the character of Veruca Salt for the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Fa...more
Veruca Salt was always my favorite Dahl character simply because she wanted EVERYTHING.
And I don't see anything wrong with that.
I was an only child who wanted everything. Was I spoiled? I don't think so. For years, I asked for a pet lamb every birthday and Christmas, and I NEVER got one, so obviously, my parents didn't give me EVERYTHING I asked for...
Julie Dawn Cole, who breathed life into the character of Veruca Salt for the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Fa...more
Julie Dawn Cole's portrayal of Veruca Salt was one of my earliest crushes. It wasn't until I saw the Tim Burton version of "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory", and saw another actress play Veruca, that I realized fully how brilliant Ms Cole was.
I hate memoirs that bog down in ancillary details, soft-peddling the "main event" as it were.
In "I Want It Now!" Julie Dawn Cole strikes the perfect balance. She gives us some of her backstory, then a huge, wonderfully detailed account of "Willy Wonka"s...more
I hate memoirs that bog down in ancillary details, soft-peddling the "main event" as it were.
In "I Want It Now!" Julie Dawn Cole strikes the perfect balance. She gives us some of her backstory, then a huge, wonderfully detailed account of "Willy Wonka"s...more
While reading this free Kindle book from Amazon, I found that I was constantly going into imdb.com and then back to the text to see the actors about whom Julie Cole was discussing, and also to see where the Wonka kids are now. It also made me desperately want to watch "Willy Wonka" again, and I will. Many times more. Cole brings a very gentle description of the movie process, from her humble beginnings through to her selection to play Veruca Salt, and then a very quick glimpse of her life beyond...more
This was a fun read.
The first half of this book hit me perfectly in two ways. First, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a favorite movie from my childhood. (I still love it, in fact. I admit I cry when Charlie finds the Golden Ticket. Everyone does, right?)
Second, when I was a kid, I had a couple of books that were behind-the-scenes looks at movies that featured child actors. I particularly remember one about Annie and another about E.T.. I LOVED these books and read them over and over, i...more
The first half of this book hit me perfectly in two ways. First, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a favorite movie from my childhood. (I still love it, in fact. I admit I cry when Charlie finds the Golden Ticket. Everyone does, right?)
Second, when I was a kid, I had a couple of books that were behind-the-scenes looks at movies that featured child actors. I particularly remember one about Annie and another about E.T.. I LOVED these books and read them over and over, i...more
I picked up this book as a free Kindle book a week or so ago, especially since it covers the topic of one of my favorite childhood movies. The author is the actress who played Veruca Salt, and the book is mostly comprised of her memories of the time spent working on the movie, along with the experiences after the movie was revived in the 1990s for home video. The book is rounded out with some biographical details of the author's life, including her early schooling and later acting success on tel...more
I discovered this book while browsing on Amazon.com. I have always liked the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so I thought it would be fun to read. Although I recogized some of the adult actors (certainly Gene Wilder) when I first watched the movie I did not recognize then or since any of the child actors. In this book, however, I discovered that although Veruca Salt was Julie Cole's first TV or film experience she went on to have quite a career in British television and films.
I reall...more
I reall...more
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For fans of Wonka there are easter eggs galore in Julie's memoir. For the rest of you, you're not likely to get much out of reading this. It's fairly light on, and by that I mean you notice the same stories or same sentences get reused throughout the book, and the repetition gets a little tiresome. It certainly feels like repeating the same stuff is in order to make the book feel more substantial, as there obviously wasn't enough scandal on set or in her life to fill a book. If you want that, re...more
We watched both versions of this movie. We loved the original and I then read this book to learn the inside scoop. It's best if you watch the movie immediately prior to reading the book.
There's a little about Ms. Cole's beginnings (not spoiled and not posh!) and a little about after the movie, but most of it is about the making of the movie--how they did what, what the actors were like, and so forth. Definitely a must-read if you are a Willy Wonka fan.
There are lots of pictures and so forth and...more
There's a little about Ms. Cole's beginnings (not spoiled and not posh!) and a little about after the movie, but most of it is about the making of the movie--how they did what, what the actors were like, and so forth. Definitely a must-read if you are a Willy Wonka fan.
There are lots of pictures and so forth and...more
This book was a lot of fun. If you like the original Willy Wonka movie or if it was a key part of your childhood, you will probably find Cole's memoir quite interesting. She has a light writing style - this is a very easy read. A lot of great memories about filming the movie (Cole played Veruca Salt), fellow cast members, etc. Not just good Wonka trivia, but an interesting snapshot of the life of a child actor in the 1970's.
Over 1/2 the book is about Cole's Willy Wonka experience - the rest of t...more
Over 1/2 the book is about Cole's Willy Wonka experience - the rest of t...more
I loved the movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. If you view my profile on my blog, it's listed as a favorite. I thought all of the actors were really talented and had probably had several other movies or shows under their belts prior to the movie. I was surprised to learn, that wasn't the case and in fact, a few even went on to end their acting careers afterward. Such was the case of the actor who played "Charlie Bucket"! (And he was my favorite!)
This memoir is the story of Julie Daw...more
This memoir is the story of Julie Daw...more
I really enjoyed this book!! I have always loved the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie and when I saw there was a book written by one of the characters I immediately wanted to read it. I loved reading about the filming of the movie and how the characters interacted on and off screen. I only took off one star because at the end when she is describing her life after Wonka there is a lot of jumping around and I feel like some things were left out. For example on one page she was breaking...more
Veruca Salt has always been one of my favorite characters from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, so this chance to get a peek behind the scenes was a lot of fun.
Julie Dawn Cole writes from a very honest and fond nostalgia as she tells stories of being on the set, meeting Gene Wilder and the other child actors, working with the director and stage hands, and eating the props.
The writing is a little inconsistent in that some stories and facts are repeated far more often than necessary and othe...more
Julie Dawn Cole writes from a very honest and fond nostalgia as she tells stories of being on the set, meeting Gene Wilder and the other child actors, working with the director and stage hands, and eating the props.
The writing is a little inconsistent in that some stories and facts are repeated far more often than necessary and othe...more
This book was just okay for me. The first part was great but the second part was a little, eh, for me. I really enjoyed hearing the background to Willy Wonka and all the the magical-ness that added to it. I think it makes the movie that much better hearing that it was just as great to film. I was a little sad that with such a classic, the actors didn't get compensated very well for it. Most of them only have their memories left. They should have been paid so much better considering the amount th...more
As a fan of everything Willy Wonka related (the Roald Dahl books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory & Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, the movie with Gene Wilder, and the movie with Johnny Depp), I was interested to read this memoir by the actress who played Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The book is full of pictures and mementoes of the actress (including her copy of the novel with messages written by many of the other actors in the movie.) She describes not just...more
Jan 14, 2012
Denise
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Fans of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Shelves:
read-in-2012,
memoir-biography
I am a huge fan of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so this was a must read for me. Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca Salt in the movie, takes readers behind the scenes of the movie who captured the hearts of countless people. Julie talks about how her experiences with the movie changed her life and how her early life was like the life of Charlie Bucket.
It was great reading about all the things that happened behind the scenes and getting to see pictures from Julie Dawn Cole's personal coll...more
It was great reading about all the things that happened behind the scenes and getting to see pictures from Julie Dawn Cole's personal coll...more
It's cute. And nice to hear the inside scoop on the set of one of my all time favourite films. But I felt that there was not a lot of substance. There was very little personal detail, nothing on her marriage breakdowns, or any real gutsy truths t be found. It felt a lot like a glossy answer to the 'what's been happening?' Question. Also, the quotes for the pictures and photographs were super annoying because they repeated things you'd just read, or were the first time for something you were just...more
I got this book as a kindle freebie from Amazon. I loved the Willie Wonka movie as a kid and sort of had a crush on Gene Wilder (see my Outlaw review for a more in-depth discussion of my groupie tendencies.) I found this book boring and never felt engaged in the author's story (she played Veruca Salt in the movie). I don't know if it is because of my visceral dislike for child actors, or Julie Dawn Cole's storytelling ability, but I decided that this was a book I didn't want to finish about 5 pa...more
It's available for $0.0 on Kindle right now so in that vein it's a bargain...honestly, this book is exactly what you'd expect...it's light and fluffy...about 40% is her life before Willy Wonka (skipped) and after Willy Wonka (you'd have to be English to know any of the shows she did and so I skipped this chunk as well)...there is certainly no revelations...everyone is remembered fondly in that classic Hollywood kind of way in which everyone says how wonderful the entire cast/director was regardl...more
This is a decent memoir that spends most of its time recounting the events of 40 years ago on-set shooting the film.
Nostalgic and sappy at times, it's clear that Julie has no shortage of "precious memories" and things that she "truly treasures" and "will always hold dear" and yadda yadda. There is a drinking game here if you read between the lines.
A solid 25% of the (e)book is taken up by image captions which, in some cases, could be chapters themselves. And in fact they often do repeat the text...more
Nostalgic and sappy at times, it's clear that Julie has no shortage of "precious memories" and things that she "truly treasures" and "will always hold dear" and yadda yadda. There is a drinking game here if you read between the lines.
A solid 25% of the (e)book is taken up by image captions which, in some cases, could be chapters themselves. And in fact they often do repeat the text...more
I think I could probably have read an entire book devoted strictly to her time on Wonka. The Willy Wonka portion does encompass a majority of the book, but much of it is, appropriately, sugar-coated memories and brief recollections of childhood joy. There really isn't much in the way of details of the set, behind the scenes notations, additions to the script, on set changes, etc. I would have loved another chapter or two covering a bit more of the adult cast reunions and any mention of the Tim B...more
As a fan of the movie (the orginial one, in all its campy charm, NOT the remake), and a fan of free books, I couldn't pass this up when it showed up on my kindle freebies list. I really enjoyed Julie's recollections of her time on the movie set, and how it ultimately led to a successful acting career. It was a quick and easy read. My only complaint is that the book contained a lot of photos and handwritten notes. In the kindle format, the photos took up a TON of room, and the handwriting was imp...more
I really enjoyed this book about Veruca Salt and how she came to be who she is. This book could use a bit of editing - it repeats itself numerous times - sharing the exact information even to the point of using the same wording. But it was interesting and engaging for the most part. And I enjoyed the copies of some of her memorabilia from the movie as well as her writings to and from home. You can really hear her little-girl voice through her postcards and letters.
Overall, I enjoyed this book fo...more
Overall, I enjoyed this book fo...more
I downloaded this for free as an eBook from Amazon. It's an interesting, quick read about the author's experiences playing Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). It has a lot of photos throughout the text, which was a plus. The captions, however, are often redundant and there is repetition throughout. Cole had a career on British television after the movie, which was less interesting to me as I was unfamiliar with the shows. The writing is solid and she keeps most of the fo...more
i saw this book mentioned on one of my amazon sites, and it sounded interesting, but not enough for me to pay a lot of money for it! so when i found it free a little while later, i snapped it up, and i must say, i enjoyed it. i got it for kindle, so the pictures were small, and the reproductions of letters were impossible to read, but overall, it was a pretty decent read. it's always interesting to see what happened to people after they were famous when they were young. the author did gloss over...more
This is a short and insubstantial autobiography about the actress who played Verruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It's obviously mostly aimed at the American market as most of the detail of her childhood in England refers to American TV shows and films. It would seem she never watched anything homegrown.
There are a lot of photos and reproductions of her childhood letters which is a problem for the Kindle edition as they're too small to see properly and you can't enlarge them.
A...more
There are a lot of photos and reproductions of her childhood letters which is a problem for the Kindle edition as they're too small to see properly and you can't enlarge them.
A...more
Dawn Cole tells a fascinating tale of her ascent from a low income life to a notable actress through her break-out role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I enjoyed hearing about her life, and this semi-rags-to-riches story is filled with fun facts. The main reason I liked this book rather than giving it a higher review, was that it was hard to tell how much of her life was actually as exciting as she made it, or the reminiscings of an older woman recalling her glory days. Still, an enjoy...more
Jun 26, 2012
Therese
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
movie lovers, especially this one
Shelves:
biography-and-memoir
$0.0
I snagged a good deal when I picked this book up for free because I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I have never seen this film version just the later one with Jonny Depp, but I will be on the lookout for this DVD. It also helps that the author is the same age (actually only a year older), so I can relate to much of what she is saying about the time although not about making a movie or acting.
She had a rough start as a small girl. Her father left her mother, her sister and her wh...more
I snagged a good deal when I picked this book up for free because I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I have never seen this film version just the later one with Jonny Depp, but I will be on the lookout for this DVD. It also helps that the author is the same age (actually only a year older), so I can relate to much of what she is saying about the time although not about making a movie or acting.
She had a rough start as a small girl. Her father left her mother, her sister and her wh...more
As a fan of the "Wonka movie," this book was entertaining as it gave a new perspective on what went on as the movie was made. I am excited to rent it and see it with "new eyes" with all of the funny behind the scenes information that she provided. However, the life of the actress saddened me. I suppose I didn't want to hear about the less wholesome adult experiences from a favorite child movie character. :) However, it was a good book and gave an interesting insight into the life of an actress.
A fun read for any fans of the original Willy Wonka movie. The background stories and pictures were very enjoyable. Ms. Cole comes across as a very likable, kind person, much unlike the bratty character Veruca Salt she played in the movie. One criticism, however minor: a lot of the stories were retold throughout the book. It was like
Iistening to your slightly forgetful grandma who tells the same story in different ways, but because you love dear ol' granny you don't mind hearing it again. And a...more
Iistening to your slightly forgetful grandma who tells the same story in different ways, but because you love dear ol' granny you don't mind hearing it again. And a...more
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Feb 06, 2013 06:16am
Thanks Kaethe
:O)
Feb 06, 2013 06:43am