# Willy Wonka's musical lock

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 31, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554 "2018-08-31T04:26:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554/1 "2018-08-31T04:26:41Z")

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Just before entering the production area of the candy factory in _Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory_, Willy Wonka plays a melody on a keyboard. He explains it is a ‘musical lock’. Mrs. Teevee says, ‘Rachmaninoff!’

Was that a Rachmaninoff melody?

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2018, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554/2 "2018-08-31T05:54:51Z")

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According to IMDB, no:

> [@](#):
>
> The musical code for entering the Chocolate Room played by Willy Wonka is the introduction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”. Mrs. Teevee mistakes it for Sergei Rachmaninoff.

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**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554/3 "2018-09-01T01:13:43Z")

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Here’s the scene on [youtube](https://youtu.be/ksZ-fk2LX7E), along with brief fan commentary right afterwards.

The comments to this video suggest it’s an intentional error to help show the parents as idiots.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554/4 "2018-09-01T01:38:31Z")

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> [@Julius\_Henry](#):
>
> The comments to this video suggest it’s an intentional error to help show the parents as idiots.

This is what I suspected, but I don’t know Rachmaninoff’s music so I wasn’t sure.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willy-wonkas-musical-lock/820554/5 "2018-09-01T02:42:34Z")

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> [@Julius\_Henry](#):
>
> Here’s the scene on [youtube](https://youtu.be/ksZ-fk2LX7E), along with brief fan commentary right afterwards.
> 
> The comments to this video suggest it’s an intentional error to help show the parents as idiots.

Seems less that she’s an idiot, but that she’s pretending to know more than she does.

Isn’t she also the one who says there are no such things as Oompa Loompas?