| Audrey Jr. | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Audrey Jr. |
|
First Appearance |
The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) |
|
Created by |
Charles B. Griffith |
Origin[]
Audry Jr., a mix between a Venus flytrap and a Butterwort, began as a fairly regular potted plant grown by the clumsy florist Seymour Krelborn and named after his female coworker and crush Audrey Fulquard. The penny-pinching shopowner, Gravis Mushnick, was unimpressed with its withered appearance till a customer suggested that Audrey Jr.'s uniqueness might attract people from all over the world to see it.
Seymour was given one week to revive it, but soon discovered that the usual kinds of plant food did nothing to nourish the plant and that the plant's leaves opened up at night. By accidentally pricking his finger on another plant, Audrey Jr. opened wider, eventually causing Seymour to realize that the plant fed on blood. Seymour would continue to nurse his creation with blood from his fingers the following nights, causing Audrey Jr. to grow and attract more customers.
The plant developed the ability to speak and demanded that Seymour continue feeding it. After accidentally killing a man at the railroad tracks during break hours, Seymour collects the body parts of the victim and feeds them to Audrey Jr. in an effort to hide the evidence. Mushnick soon discovered the plant's unusual appetite and considered telling the police, but decided against it upon seeing the line of people waiting to spend money at his shop.
Seymour met with another terrible mishap when he killed Dr. Phoebus Farb, forcing him to feed the dentist's body to Audrey Jr. The plant had now grown several feet tall and was about to blossom when the man's disappearance drew the attention of the authorities. While Seymour was on a date with Audrey, Mushnick stayed at the shop to see that Audrey Jr. did not hurt anyone else. He tricked a robber into thinking that the money he was looking for was in the plant, which then crushed and ate him. Not only did the monstrous plant's growth increase with this latest meal, but its intelligence and abilities did as well, which scared Mr. Muchnik, but not enough to make him back off of making money off of it.
After being forced to damage his relationship with Audrey to keep her from discovering the plant's nature, an angry Seymour confronted the plant asserting he will no longer do its bidding just because it orders him. The plant then employs hypnosis on the feckless lad and commands him to bring it more food. He wanders the night streets aimlessly until pursued by a rather aggressively persistent street walker, Leonora Clyde, intent on making a score. Believing him harmless, she flirts with him to no avail until he inadvertently knocks her out with a rock and carries her back to feed Audrey Jr.
A special sunset celebration at the shop, during which Seymour was presented with the trophy and Audrey Jr.'s buds are expected to open. As the attendees look on, four buds open and inside each flower is the face of one of the plant's victims. As the crowd breaks out in shock and fright, the police realized Seymour was their culprit, who fled from the shop with the police in hot pursuit. Managing to lose them in a junk yard with the help of Mushnick, Seymour eventually makes his way back to Mushnick's now empty shop. Audrey Jr. demanded Seymour to feed it, but he cursed the plant for ruining his life, grabbing a kitchen knife and climbed into Audrey Jr.'s maw, saying, "I'll feed you like you never been fed before!"
Later that evening, Audrey, Winifred, Mushnick, Fink, and Stoolie returned to the shop where they discovered Audrey Jr. beginning to wither and die. One final bud opens to reveal the face of Seymour, which pitifully moaned "I didn't mean it!" before drooping over.
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Notes[]
- While the original 1960 version of Audrey Jr. is in the public domain, the version seen in the 1982 musical and its 1986 film adaptation (referred to as Audrey II) is NOT in the public domain.
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