美国国家公共电台 NPR Willy Wonka-Inspired 'Candy Alchemist' Spins Sugar Into Pure Imagination

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LYNN NEARY, HOST:

As Roald Dahl's "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" comes to Broadway this spring, across town, a real-life Willy Wonka is whipping up his own new confections. Allyson McCabe takes us inside the darkly, whimsical world of a mysterious Brooklyn candy alchemist.

ALLYSON MCCABE, BYLINE¹: This tiny storefront lab isn't easy to find. The facade² is black. The signage is practically nonexistent. Inside, behind a purple satin curtain, a scientist toils³ away on his latest invention.

EUGENE J.: There's so many variables - temperature, the humidity. You look at solubility⁵ charts. When you add certain ingredients...

MCCABE: Not much is known about this man in black who calls himself Eugene J.

EUGENE J.: Since it's a seven-hour process, you get kind of taken away. Pretty much have to put in earplugs and enter a state of Zen, I suppose (laughter).

MCCABE: As hundreds of Day-Glo pellets tumble hypnotically inside a revolving⁶ silver sphere, he recalls some of his earliest prototypes.

EUGENE J.: Everyone else had an Easy-Bake Oven. And I had this, like, candy making kit⁷, which - with like a little double boiler⁸ and little gizmos to cast gummies into little molds.

MCCABE: Eugene j. studied chemical engineering in college, then took a job in manufacturing. But he continued his experiments after hours. He moved to Berlin not far from a popular nightclub.

EUGENE J.: I would bike out at 2 a.m. in the morning and out of a briefcase⁹, sell my double-sided lollipops¹⁰.

MCCABE: Returning to New York, he quit his day job to apprentice¹¹ at Dylan's Candy Bar, stocking shelves at what's billed as the world's largest confectionery emporium. What he lost in salary, he gained in inspiration.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY")

GENE⁴ WILDER: (As Willy Wonka) (Singing) Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination.

EUGENE J.: Stocking Wonka Nerds and Wonka Runts or Wonka SweeTARTS, you know, Wonka was fully¹² in my head.

MCCABE: He opened the Eugene J. Candy Company a year ago - stocking wax fangs¹³, gummy brains and scads of other offbeat¹⁴ novelties. He also makes his own candy called FG. Freaks - a playful nod to Willy Wonka's rival, Fickelgruber.

EUGENE J.: So we're just going to take a ladle over here and add some of this sugar syrup¹⁵ to the batch¹⁶.

MCCABE: But when pushed for details, he's not entirely¹⁷ forthcoming.

EUGENE J.: (Laughter) You're in Wonka's realm now, so anything is possible.

MCCABE: When the batch is complete, he funnels¹⁸ the freaks into a glass apothecary¹⁹ jar, stamps the wax top with an off-kilter jack-o'-lantern and places it on a slanted²⁰ shelf - part candy, part curio.

EUGENE J.: There is something to embrace about the perfectly²¹ imperfect.

MCCABE: These kids find Eugene J.'s mysterious freaks irresistible²².

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I like it. Good.

MCCABE: For NPR News, I'm Allyson McCabe in Brooklyn.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE CANDY MAN")

SAMMY DAVIS JR.: (Singing) Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew, cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two? The candy man, the candy man can.