Child Catcher

Portrayals

In the film, the Child Catcher was played by ballet dancer Sir Robert Helpmann. Whilst filming one of the scenes where the Child Catcher drives his horse and carriage out of the village, the carriage tipped over as it turned a corner with Helpmann on board. Dick Van Dyke recalls Helpmann, with great presence of mind, swinging out of the carriage and skipping across the crashing vehicle to safety. Van Dyke later commented that he had never seen anything as graceful in his life. Helpmann was 59 years old at the time of the film's release. Helpmann's child co-stars recalled that behind the scenes, the actor loved children and was extremely kind to them, often making them laugh between takes, which made it difficult for them to pretend to be afraid of him.

In the theatrical version in London's West End, he has been played by Richard O'Brien, Wayne Sleep (another ballet dancer), and Stephen Gately amongst others. On Broadway, he was played by Kevin Cahoon. In the Australian theatrical version, he was played by Tyler Coppin, who also wrote and performed a solo show about Robert Helpmann called LyreBird (Tales of Helpmann).

The Child Catcher also appeared in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London during a segment dedicated to classic villains of children's literature. He appeared alongside inflatable representations of Cruella de Vil, Lord Voldemort, The Queen of Hearts and Captain Hook. He is noticeably the only villain not to be an inflatable replica, instead being performed by a dancer.

Reception and controversy

In 2005, the Child Catcher was voted "the scariest villain in children's books". In 2008, Entertainment Weekly called Helpmann's depiction of the Child Catcher one of the "50 Most Vile Movie Villains."

However, the character's black hat, long black coat, pointed nose and role as, effectively, a Nazi substitute have been seen by critics as antisemitic.

References

References

1. Kerridge, Jake. (7 December 2020). "Roald Dahl's life was tainted by anti-Semitism – but his work isn't". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
2. Chilton, Martin. (20 December 2018). "10 things you didn't know about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The Independent.
3. Marble, Anne. (2023-01-26). "Who Was the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?".
4. (9 May 2005). "Childcatcher is scariest villain". [[BBC Newsround]].
5. (2008). "50 Most Vile Movie Villains".
6. https://www.kveller.com/is-this-classic-movie-antisemitic/