Author Roald Dahl is probably best known for two books that were made into movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, the latter of which was released in theaters on this day in 1996. James and the Giant Peach tells the story of young orphan, James Henry Trotter, who finds that life is the pits when he is sent to live with his wicked and miserly aunts. The live portion of the movie soon escapes into an animated dream world where James flies over the ocean on a giant peach, accompanied by a wondrous group of human-sized insects, en route to an exciting adventure. Although James and the Giant Peach was the first Disney film based on Dahl’s work, in his early career as a short story writer, Dahl wrote “Gremlin Lore” about the mythical creatures that sabotaged Royal Air Force aircraft. Walt Disney had an interest in turning that story into an animated film, and while that never occurred, in 1943 Disney did illustrate and publish Dahl’s story as “The Gremlins,” the writer’s first published book.
