I mentioned Robert Helpmann this morning in my post about composer Malcolm Williamson, in connection with the ballet “The Display.” By coincidence, Helpmann, then one of the world’s most famous dancers, played the Child-Catcher in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968), a film that we’ll be discussing on Friday, on a special holiday edition of “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”
You can detect Helpmann’s natural grace in his sinister portrayal. (He was also creepy in the Powell-Pressburger classics “The Red Shoes” and “The Tales of Hoffmann.”) Ironically, it was he himself who was imperiled by an accident during the making of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” But according to Dick Van Dyke, he emerged from the life-threatening situation with élan. At the time, Helpmann, a Sadler’s Wells veteran, was co-director of the Australian Ballet.
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is based on a children’s book by James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Like Helpmann himself, we’ll enjoy our cranberry sauce shaken, not stirred, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Bring your Thanksgiving leftovers to the comments section. There will be plenty of turkey to go around when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, and elsewhere, this Friday evening at 7:30 EST!
Behind-the-scenes anecdote about the Child Catcher here:
