Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

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For the car of the same name, see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (car). For the 1968 film, see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (film)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car is a children's story written by Ian Fleming for his son Caspar, with illustrations by John Burningham; it was first published in 1964 by Jonathan Cape in London and Random House in New York.

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Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

There are actually two separate stories with the same basic characters. One is the original novel by Ian Fleming, the second is the story of the films and theatre productions written originally by Roald Dahl.

Caractacus Potts is an inventor who renovates an old car (known then as the Paragon Panther) which was previously a three-time Grand Prix winner, but had fallen into disrepair. After repairing the car, the Potts family head off to the beach for a picnic.

  • Original - In the original story, which was published in a three-part novel, Professor Potts is married. The family explores along the Dover coast in the car, and find a cave with some fake scary devices inside. At the back of the cave is a store of armaments and explosives. The family lights a fuse and hurries out of the cave just before it explodes.

Then the gangsters/gun-runners who own the ammunition arrive. They tie up the parents in the Chitty and leave with the children to go to France. Chitty comes to life and the Potts chase the bandits across the channel to France.

There they meet a French chef and his wife, and they all end up capturing the bandits and handing them over to the police. Chitty then flies the Potts family back to England, with some special French fudge that the chef knew the recipe of. (The recipe was supplied at the back of the last novel.)

  • Stage play and screenplay - In the movies and stage musical, Potts and his two children go to the beach with Truly Scrumptious. (Truly Scrumptious is added as a love interest in the movie and Potts is assumed to be a widower.)

Caractacus spins a story about pirates who are trying to steal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which becomes the central plot.

The pirates are headed by Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria, who captures Grandfather Potts, takes him as hostage and is chased by the Potts family.

However, the two Potts children, Jeremy and Jemima, are then also captured by Baron Bomburst and his scary child catcher, as in the land of Vulgaria children are outlawed.

Eventually, Caractacus and Truly, with some help from the local Toymaker and the town's children (who are hidden in order not to be captured), defeat the Baron and his armies, rescue Jeremy and Jemima, and reunite the town's children with their rightful parents. The Potts family is reunited, and Caractacus and Truly decide to get married, in a classic happy ending.

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Adaptations

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Film

The story was made into a musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1968.

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Theatrical versions

A stage musical based on the book and movie was launched at the London Palladium theatre in 2002 - Chitty the Musical, starring Michael Ball. This version of the show closed in September 2005.

Despite some initial problems with the mechanical flying Chitty used in the show, it has enjoyed a very successful run. A Broadway version of this show opened on April 28, 2005 at the Hilton Theatre in New York City. It was also nominated, but lost, for the following 2005 Tony Awards:

After closing in London, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang took to the road on its first ever European tour. The first stop on this was at the Sunderland Empire, where it previewed from December 9, 2005 and premiered on December 13, 2005. It will tour Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Southampton and Edinburgh.

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Trivia

  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang took its name from a pair of celebrated racing cars built and raced by Louis Zborowski and his engineer Clive Gallop, in the 1920s.
  • In the original novel by Fleming, Caractacus is not a widower; consequently, the adult female interest is represented by his wife Mimsie rather than "Truly Scrumptious." The family's adventure with Chitty takes them across the English Channel to France and involves them with a character named "Joe the Mobster." By comparison, the musical adaptation transforms the original story considerably in a fairytale direction.
  • Beside writing all the original songs for the 1968 motion picture, the Sherman Brothers also wrote all the additional music and lyrics for the stage musical which includes five wholly new songs: "Kiddie Widdie Winkies", "The Bombie Samba", "Teamwork!", "Think Vulgar" (which was replaced a year after the show's London premiere by "Act English") but can still be found on the London Cast's Original Cast Album.
  • The "Vulgarian National Anthem" which opens the Second Act, was written for the motion picture, but mostly omitted from the film. It was introduced into the movie score only as an incidental piece of theme music. On stage the song can be heard in its entirety.
  • Two musical changes in the stage version improve the unfolding of the action:
    • Omitted in the stage version is "Lovely, Lonely Man," in which Truly (alone) expresses her rather rapidly developed love for Caractacus. Despite being a very lovely song and being beautifully sung and filmed in the motion picture, it proves out of place, because Caractacus is narrating the story at this point and later tries to discourage the children from getting him and Truly together right after his story ends.
    • "Teamwork" in the stage show was added obviously to improve upon the weakness of the film reprise of "Hushabye Mountain" in the cave with the orphans -- a weakness noticed by Truly herself in the film!
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External links

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