Posts Tagged interview

Interview with Julie Dawn Cole, Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory!

By on August 30, 2020   /   Articles, Author Interviews  

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

We are in for an enormous treat today!

Whenever I interview anyone, I usually ask them what their favorite childhood movie was. Among the top answers I always receive is Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. It’s among my favorites as well, and that is why this is definitely among the most excited I’ve ever been to conduct an interview. Please help me welcome one of the stars of that film, Julie Dawn Cole, who played one of the most memorable child characters ever, Veruca Salt!

                                                                                                                                     Julie Dawn Cole

JR: Hi Julie, and thanks for joining us today!

To start with, after you agreed to do the interview, I went back and watched Willy Wonka again, and it brought me right back to my childhood. It’s a movie that I watched as a kid, and loved when I got to see it again through that lens when I watched it with my children. The film has such a timeless feel. How often do you go back and rewatch it and can you distance yourself from the film and just enjoy it, or is it a more analytical and emotional experience?

JDC: I confess that I don’t go back and watch it as a whole, but if friends are around and it is on, then I might dip in. Though when I do watch it, it is like watching a scrap book for me, I remember what happened just before we did that etc etc, I remember the stuff surrounding it.

JR: I’m sure in many ways it’s like a home movie. At what point did you realize that the movie would have such tremendous staying power?

JDC: Not until the 80’s probably when it was shown on TV regularly and then gained its cult following. When It was released, it didn’t do well at the box office and came and went. In fact for many years, I hardly mentioned it, and I think for a while I left it off my resume, as it wasn’t relevant, and was a ‘kids movie’ and not a very popular one.

 

JR: That’s still amazing to me how it only got popular years after its release. You are my daughter’s favorite in the movie. Even though you played the perfect bratty child, you’ve picked up a big cult following, including a rock band named Veruca Salt. That’s a testament to your performance. What do you think it is about that character, which even though she was soooo bratty, kids still loved her?

JDC: I guess secretly we all have an inner dark self that we might like to let loose! Veruca does and says what we might secretly think but would never dare do, or be allowed to do.

                                                                                                                        Julie as Veruca Salt and now

JR: Have you had any interaction with the band?

JDC: Sadly no, though I think we connected via twitter.

                                                                                                                                  The band, Veruca Salt

JR: Other than Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie, you were the only kid to have a song, which was a memorable one. That must’ve been a feather in your cap.

JDC: It still annoys Paris, (Mike Teevee) he was desperate to have a song, and used to walk around singing ‘where is love’ hoping they might relent and write him one!

                                                                                                                     Paris Themmen as Mike TeeVee

JR: That’s very funny. Willy Wonka was your first film. What was that like for a kid to go in filming with some established actors and big names like Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, and Roy Kinnear?

I was in awe of the woman who played my mother, Pat Coombs, and she doesn’t even get a credit! But don’t forget I was 12, and didn’t know who Gene and Jack were. I had seen Roy Kinnear on British TV, but as a kid I think you just accept things.

                                                                                                                Julie with Roy Kinnear and Pat Coombs

JR: That innocence was probably a good thing! What are your memories of Gene Wilder?

Gene was very sweet and kind, especially when he found out that I was the only kid who didn’t have a relative with them on location. 3 months in Germany away from home. I think he felt for me with that, and went out of his way to make a fuss of me. Plus probably the British accent helped!

                                                                                                                     Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka

JR: The accent certainly works on my daughter, she’s obsessed with all things British! I just read and loved your memoir, I Want it Now, which was so much fun. You included so many personal items like pictures and letters that you wrote from the time, that I felt like I was a part of the experience. There are tons of great stories that fans of yours and fans of the movie will find amazing and they’ll love being able to reminisce with you. I highly recommend everyone to go and purchase it from your website, https://www.juliedawncole.co.uk/ where they can get a signed and personalized copy, but are there some fun anecdotes from the making of Willy Wonka that you can share with us here?

JDC: I think most of them are covered in the book, apart from the fact that we used to play with an Ouija board in our hotel room. ( I didn’t include that bit,)  let’s face it we were often bored and there was no cable TV.

JR: Actually, the Ouija Board sounds like an interesting evening. I was saddened to read about Denise Nickerson’s unfortunate passing. Did you have contact with her before then?

JDC: I saw Denise regularly, and we were in contact just 2 weeks before she had her stroke. Paris was staying with me on vacation and Rusty Goffe (who played one of the Oompa Loompas), had joined us for lunch, so we gave her a call. Denise and I always called each other Sis. I was incredibly sad, when she died. She had a terrible year following her stroke and never recovered. Paris and I visited her in September just after her stroke. She had recovered well, but her speech was slow, and she struggled, So we sang Willy Wonka songs, and she seemed really happy. It was one of the saddest days I have known. That was the last time I saw her, waving goodbye from her balcony window.

                                                                                                                                    Denise Nickerson

JR: I’m glad you had that time together. You’ve gotten together with the cast many times for reunions. Do you all still keep in touch?

JDC: Yes all still in touch, last time was when I saw Paris and Pete for the launch of a pinball machine! We had a lot of fun.

                                                                                                                               Peter Ostrum

JR: Okay, I have to ask, the Oompa Loompas seemed to be working day and night at the whim of Wonka, shouldn’t they have unionized?

JDC: Of course they should!!!! Wonka was exploiting them.

                                                                                                                                     Oompa Loompas

JR: Speaking of Oompa Loompas, what was your first impression at seeing the chocolate room?

JDC: It was beautiful, and such fun to run round. I used to take my lunch to the riverbank and have my own little picnic.

                                                                                                                          Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Room

JR: I don’t blame you. That set looked magnificent. And I read that you actually hated chocolate? My daughters are the same, and I question their bloodlines because of that, but how was it for someone who hated chocolate to be surrounded by it?

JDC: There wasn’t as much chocolate as most people think there was. I guess the most was in the salts salted peanut factory when they were shelling wrappers, but most of those were dummies.

 

JR: You have had such a lengthy and fantastic career. Out of your post-Wonka roles, which are some of your favorites and why?

JDC: Couldn’t really say, but I have certainly had fun, and got to travel lots. I worked out once that work had taken me to 40 countries!

JR: That’s amazing! You really have been fortunate to get to see so many different places and cultures. Can you share any fun anecdotes regarding some of your other roles?

JDC: I was working on a movie called ‘Camille’ with an amazing cast, including the gorgeous Colin Firth. I shared a trailer with Billie Whitelaw, and we were on location near Versaille. Relaxing after lunch there was a little knock on the door. It was Sir John Gielguid. He asked if he could join us, as he was lonely on his own! What an amazing afternoon. Another time I had to meet Katherine Hepburn, and read a script with her. (I didn’t get the part) she said in that wonderful voice, “Oh you are so much better at this than I am!”. Not true of course, but oh how magical to read with her.

                                                                                                                                   Camille (1984 film)

JR: Do you ever do conventions?

JDC: Yes, we had some planned for the 50th anniversary, but sadly all on hold.

 

JR: That is sad. Would love to get to see you at a convention! How are your interactions with fans?

JDC: Interesting, especially the lady who has a full sized tattoo of me on her back! (Kansas City)

JR: Now THAT’S a fan! On your Facebook page, Julie Dawn Cole – The ORIGINAL Veruca Salt, you recently posted videos of you reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was such a treat. I read the comments in the videos, and you just saw how much that meant to fans. It really was nice of you to do. Did that give you a new sense of how much of a part you played in the childhoods of so many people?

JDC: That was a fun thing to do, and early lockdown was such a scary time for us all. It was lovely to see all the comments, and I feel I know so many of the fans. It was such a thrill that people enjoyed it. When  we first did it, my kids said ‘ who is going to watch it?’ I” don’t know “I replied, ‘but I know the neighbours’ children will be watching, so that is 3.”I was stunned when we were getting thousands of hits. We are thinking of maybe doing it again for a YouTube channel. Watch this space!

JR: Will the videos be up for a while?

JDC: Hope so!

JR: Since we’re a site dedicated to children’s books, what was your favorite childhood book?

JDC: Pookie! By Ivy Wallace. I read them all as a child and have been collecting them for my Granddaughter. I loved them, they are out of print now, but I managed to find a first edition. Pookie got me through some very difficult times in my childhood.

                                                                                                                                     Pookie by Ivy Wallace

JR: With so many people saying that Wonka was their favorite childhood movie, do you have a favorite childhood movie?

JDC: In search of the Castaways, starring Hayley Mills. My childhood heroine!

                                                                                                                               In Search of the Castaways

JR: I enjoyed that one as well! You currently work in a cancer center as a psychotherapist. What made you decide to transition away from acting to pursue that field?                      

JDC: It was time to do something more meaningful.

JR: That’s very admirable. How can people follow you on social media?

JDC: My Facebook page is the best way, Julie Dawn Cole, the original Veruca Salt.

Twitter – @realverucasalt

JR: Julie, I’d like to once again thank you for joining us. This has been a real treat, and you’re welcome back anytime!

JDC: Thank you!

 

Again, I highly recommend checking out Julie’s memoir, I Want it Now! There were so many great behind-the-scenes stories from Willy Wonka, and Julie included perosnal letters and pictures from the time, which made you feel like you were there. 

Check it out:

Julie’s site, where you have an opportunity to have it personalized: https://www.juliedawncole.co.uk/

IndieBound:

B&N:

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STEM Tuesday — Pollinators — Interview with Author Rebecca Hirsch

By on July 28, 2020   /   Pollinators, STEM Tuesday  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Rebecca Hirsch, author of WHERE HAVE ALL THE BEES GONE? Pollinators in Crisis. The book received a starred review from Booklist, saying Hirsch gives “a well-balanced and objective presentation” and that the book is “an important resource for all libraries.”

Mary Kay Carson: How’d you come to write Where Have All the Bees Gone?

Rebecca Hirsch: Around 2010 my children and I began volunteering at the Snetsinger Butterfly Garden, a big pollinator garden in my hometown in Pennsylvania. Our job was to plant and weed a small area. The Master Gardeners who ran the garden would come by and share with us an interesting flower or a plant that was really buzzing with bees. I noticed how excited they were about all the bees. Native bees were something I had not previously given much thought to. Once I started paying attention, I began to notice all the bees too, not only in the pollinator garden but also in my own backyard. Around the same time I began to see news stories about possible declines among native bees. Finally in 2017 I heard about the rusty-patched bumblebee becoming the first bee in the continental US to make the endangered species list. I took the plunge and pitched the idea to my editor of doing a book on bees, and got an enthusiastic thumbs up.

MKC: The book features such great interviews with bee scientists, experts, and others. Can you share a memorable research experience?

Rebecca: A favorite time was the day I spent with a group of high school students and their teacher at a local school. The students are slowly converting the lawns around their school into a series of pollinator gardens. Every year, a new group of students competes to design a new addition to the garden, then all the students help plant and tend the old and new parts of the garden. I visited on a day the students were outside working. These kids were sweating, getting dirty, and having fun. And they took such obvious pride in their garden. The school board has been so impressed, they keep funding new additions to the project. How can you be around something like that and not be inspired?

MKC: How would you describe the approach you took on this book—and why you chose it?

Rebecca E. Hirsch has published close to a hundred books for young readers, ranging from picture books for young children to nonfiction for teens. Her books have been NCTE Notable, Junior Library Guild, and the Children’s Book Committee/Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. Learn more at www.rebeccahirsch.com

Rebecca: I wanted my readers to grasp the importance of the pollinator issue, the urgency of it, but I didn’t want the book to come across as too gloomy. I wrestled a lot with questions like, How do I make readers grasp the immensity of this issue? How do I inspire them to care? I studied techniques of persuasive writing and discovered there’s a whole toolkit of techniques that writers can use. I read other inspiring environmental books, especially Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. If you open my copy of Carson’s book you’ll see lots and lots of my notes about her writing techniques scribbled in the margins.

MKC: Do you choose to specifically write STEM books?

Rebecca: In college I majored in biochemistry and went on to earn a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin. After graduate school I spent a couple of years working as a postdoc in labs at UW and Penn State. I liked laboratory research well enough, but my favorite part of my job was doing scientific writing. I started writing science for children in 2008 when my own kids were devouring books on all sorts of topics. I was very impressed with the books they were reading, and I realized writing science books would be a way for me to use my scientific training and share my passion for science and nature with young readers.

Win a FREE copy of WHERE HAVE ALL THE BEES GONE?

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host is Mary Kay Carson, author of Wildlife Ranger Action Guide, The Tornado Scientist, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, Mission to Pluto, and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

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Author Spotlight: Beth McMullen

By on July 27, 2020   /   Author Interviews  

Today I’m thrilled to interview fellow Mixed-Up Files member Beth McMullen, author of the best-selling middle-grade adventure series, Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls. Her latest book, Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter—the first in a series—is out from Aladdin on August 25, and I was lucky enough to snag a copy. (Spoiler alert: It’s really good.) Here’s a brief summary:

“Having a world-traversing archaeologist dad means twelve-year-old Lola Benko is used to moving around not putting down roots anywhere. But then her father disappears. The official story is that he was caught in a flash flood, but Lola’s research shows the day in question was perfectly pleasant. And it will take more than empty reassurances from suspect strangers for Lola to give up on her dad. She has a feeling his disappearance has to do with a mythical stone he was studying—a stone so powerful, it could control the world. But in the wrong hands, it could end it, too…”

And now, without further ado… heeeere’s Beth McMullen!

MR: Beth! I have so many questions for you. May I start with a confession?

BMcM: Haha! Of course!

MR: I loved Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls and wish I’d written it myself. Kidding aside (okay, I wasn’t really joking), how did you come up with the concept? A 12-year girl who’s drafted into an elite spy ring at a fancy-schmancy Connecticut boarding school is an entirely original idea.

BMcM: I went to boarding school as a kid and always wanted to use the setting because….come on…who thought putting 600 teenagers together day and night with minimal adult supervision was a good idea?? It felt ripe for ridiculous adventures! At the time, I was writing mysteries for adults and made a few attempts to work in the boarding school angle but…no go. I just couldn’t get it to snap. I even tired a young adult version but that, too, felt flat (like, pancake flat). It wasn’t until I landed on Abby Hunter, twelve years old, that it started to come together. The spy idea just naturally followed as I always suspected the school I went to was up to something other than attempting to educate us. Plus, I love spy stories and can’t seem to stop writing them.

MR: Mrs. Smith’s plucky protagonist, Abby Hunter, has a delightfully distinctive voice. In fact, you could teach a master class on MG voice using Abby as an example. What’s the secret?

BMcM: I didn’t want Abby to be a superhero. I wanted her to be real, to be scared of things but walk through them anyway, to rise to the challenges as they appeared even when the result was messy or awkward. Part of the reason I wrote this series in first person present is so I could show the dialog in Abby’s head, how she convinces herself to do something that might otherwise feel overwhelming. To show a girl being brave despite uncertainty was appealing to me on so many levels.

When I’m writing, I keep a list of the main character’s defining traits and keep that close at hand. And then I start working out the details and fine tuning as I move through the plot points. It always takes me about fifty pages to find the ‘voice’ but when it clicks I know it. The key to Abby was her dry sense of humor and sardonic leaning take on the world. Once I figured that out, I was in.

MR: Another secret I’m dying to know: What’s it like to write a series? Did you have the plots for all three books planned out in advance—or did you wing it? Also, how do you keep the enthusiasm going from book #1 to book #3?

BMcM: Oh boy. Series!! I am never prepared! It took me a long time to show Mrs. Smith’s #1 to my agent (I didn’t write for kids and was pretty sure it was a complete disaster) but when I did, she said we had to pitch it as a series. Well…great! Right?! So I went back and rewrote the last quarter to give it series potential but that was the extent of my thought. When the offer to write three Smith’s books came, well..again…great!  The panic didn’t set in until I sat down at my laptop to a blank page and thought, so what is book two about anyway??

The great thing about writing a series is that you’ve done a lot of the hard character work already. On the flip side, you are locked into things that maybe you’d have done differently if you’d known where you were going. I’m hugely envious of authors who plot out an entire series arc before writing a single word. However, I am not one of those people. So I start with plot and additional secondary characters and a destination that hopefully lets the characters learn something new and different about themselves along the way.  And I keep my fingers crossed it works. 🙂

MR: Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter is your second series with a plucky preteen protagonist. How is Lola similar to Abby? How is she different? Also, how did you ensure that Lola’s voice was entirely different from Abby’s? Considering that you’ve had Abby’s voice in your head for so many years, it couldn’t have been easy.

BMcM: That is a great question! Both characters are single minded in their determination and discover that good friends and a team make a world of difference in reaching goals. But Lola is a bit more cavalier, a little more likely to step over the line, very comfortable justifying the means with the end. She believes need is the mother of invention so is constantly tinkering and creating things that will help her in her quest to find her missing father. Lola is worldly in many ways but also clueless about a lot of regular things, like how to make friends. I really enjoyed watching her realize how nice it was to no longer be so alone.

MR: In terms of your writing routine, how has it changed since the pandemic? What have been the biggest obstacles you’ve had to face? Any unexpected positives?

BMcM: This pandemic…wow…didn’t see that one coming. It’s hard to write fiction when real life is so unbelievable, isn’t it? When the shelter in place order came in California I was just finishing up Lola #2 and suddenly I could no longer go to my office and the only reason I have an office is because I am terrible at working from home. TERRIBLE. I had to really discipline myself to finish the draft and also keep it from going too dark because I was absorbing all the horror that was happening in the world. That was pretty tough. And as soon as I turned in that draft in May, I had to launch right into my third series for Simon & Schuster, a more fantasy oriented story which is due in December. That was brutal. But I returned to my office two weeks ago and I’m pleased to say things are improving. Pandemic positives? Working in my bunny slippers, no question.

MR: Finally, Beth, you’ve extremely prolific, having written novels for both children and adults. Not to be repetitive, but what’s your secret? Also, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?

BMcM: I spend a lot of time noodling ideas before I put anything down on paper. Like, years. (And if an idea can survive years in my head, I like to think it has staying power.) This means by the time I sit down to actually write, I’ve worked out quite a bit of what a character is like already. For example, right now I have a middle grade idea that first occurred to me last summer. I keep coming back to it in idle moments. I keep adding things to it, pushing out the edges, and I know at some point I’ll start writing it, if only to free up the space in my head for something new.

The advice I always give to aspiring authors is that you just can’t quit. If you do, you are absolutely guaranteed that nothing will happen. But if you keep at it, keep pushing, who knows where things will go? I’m a firm believer in possibilities. They are limitless.

MR: Oh, one more thing. As you know, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Anything with sugar! Lots of sugar! So much sugar! (Sorry, clearly I’m unhinged.)

Coffee or tea? Coffee. If I could hook up an IV, I would.

Cat or dog? Cat!

Favorite song? Oh boy. This is hard!  “Vienna” by Billy Joel

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? Definitely. It’s 2020. Expect it any minute now.

Superpower? If I drink caffeine I can stay awake forever.

Favorite place on Earth? New Zealand

Hidden talent? I’m a total Type A but no one knows it.

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be? Three tubes of chapstick.

James Bond or Harriet the Spy? (Okay, this was a setup. 🙂 ) I feel like I exist to blend (shaken not stirred) those two together and put them on the page.

MR: Thank you for chatting, Beth—and congratulations on the upcoming publication of Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter! I really enjoyed it, and I know MUF readers will too!

BETH McMULLEN is best known for the Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls trilogy (Aladdin/S&S), middle-grade spy thrillers, packed with action, adventure and humor. She is also the author of the forthcoming Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter series (Aladdin/S&S) about a globetrotting 12-year-old searching for her father, a famous archeologist who has gone missing. And in March 2022, look for Cats & Dragons (Aladdin/S&S), a middle-grade action/adventure series packed with friendship, fantasy, whiskers and wings. Beth lives in Northern California with her husband, kids, cats and a very tolerant parakeet named Zeus. Visit her website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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