The Family Story Behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This is told by my late brother Michael’s first born son Christopher:

This is the story that has been passed down through our family concerning our great-grandmother, Frances Culhane (née Schumm), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

According to the old family story, Frances wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and somehow sold or passed the story to either Disney or Roald Dahl, who was believed to have had a connection with Disney at the time.

I have a vague personal memory of Nani Boege (Frances Culhane) telling me that she wrote the story, although I was only about four years old at the time, so obviously I can’t say with certainty how accurate that memory is. I also remember her reading my tarot cards around that same time, which was pretty wild in itself.

What makes the family story especially interesting are the names in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If you look at our family tree on Ancestry.com (my tree is cculhane17), there appear to be a number of striking similarities.

Frances’s father’s name was Joe, and his middle name was Augustus—the same combination of names as Grandpa Joe and Augustus Gloop in the book. Frances also had a sister named Josephine, and there are family members named George and Georgina as well.

Frances Schumm was married to our great-grandfather, Willie Culhane. His father was also Willie Culhane. One of the brothers in that family was Charlie Culhane, while another was James Culhane.

The family also has a long history connected to the confectionery business. I can find numerous examples of Culhanes owning or operating confectionery stores, going back to Ireland before the family immigrated to the United States.

In the early 1900s, The Pendergast Candy Company was established by R. F. Pendergast and E. J. Culhane. There are historical records documenting that connection.

Interestingly, the Pendergast company was associated with the development of a fluffy nougat used in candy bars. The company’s process was reportedly copied by Frank Mars in developing the Milky Way bar.

So the potential chain is:

E. J. Culhane → Pendergast Candy Company → Minneapolis Nougat → Fat Emma → Frank Mars → Milky Way

That part of the family history is particularly interesting because Charlie and the Chocolate Factory contains a similar storyline involving competitors and spies trying to steal secret candy-making formulas.

There is another connection that makes me wonder whether there was more to Frances’s story.

A relative named Shamus (James) Culhane was a prominent animator who worked for Disney and other animation studios. James Culhane was also the name of another Culhane in our family and the name of one of our ancestors who immigrated to the United States from Ireland.

My theory is that Frances may have been connected to Shamus Culhane and, through him, possibly to Disney and Roald Dahl. It’s possible that she may have contributed to or written stories that were later published under someone else’s name.

My theory is that Frances may have been a ghostwriter or behind-the-scenes contributor to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, or other Roald Dahl stories from that period.

The old family story even says that Frances was paid $25 for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Whether that actually happened, however, is something I have never been able to prove.

There is certainly a lot more information somewhere in the family records, but this is what I can remember and pull together quickly.

If anyone has questions or knows anything else about Frances, the Culhane family, Shamus Culhane, Disney, Roald Dahl, or the history of the family’s confectionery businesses, I’d love to hear it.

And, of course, I’d be curious to know who else this story has been passed down to. 🙂