Charles Addams was a
born cartoonist. Originally drawing cartoons for the Westfield High School
newspaper, Addams eventually found himself at Manhattan’s Grand Central School of Art. During that period, he sent in a submission to The New Yorker, which was accepted and ran in the February 6, 1932
issue. Addams continued submitting to periodicals while working in the layout
department of MacFadden Publications until a steady stream of work allowed him
to quit his day job.
![]() |
The very first Addams Family strip. |
In 1937, Addams began
what would be his longest running and most well-known creation: the Addams
Family. Running as single panel gags the Addams family initially was the
antithesis of the typical American family. They were dark and relished in the
macabre, engaging in acts of depravity and malicious, though mostly harmless,
hijinks. Originally unnamed, the first Addamses featured were the stern and
aloof matriarch, a rendering of Addams’ ideal woman that would come to be known
as Morticia, and their faithful mute servant Lurch, who originally sported a
beard. Gradually, other members of the family began to appear: Morticia’s
husband Gomez, often depicted as reading in their creepy mansion with a tubby
body and generally grotesque appearance; their son Pugsley, initially depicted as
a young genius; their daughter Wednesday, who was her mother’s daughter in
appearance and nature; the bald and cloaked Uncle Fester, a caricature of how
Addams envisioned himself; Grandmama or Grandma Frump, a naive elder who spent
many of her appearances doing witch-like activities, either with or without the
rest of the family; and Thing, who was a figure that remained in the background
watching the family and never seen fully. The Addamses appeared in 150
unrelated strips, only half of which appeared in The New Yorker during Addams’ tenure there until 1988.
In the 1960s, former
NBC executive David Levy saw Addams’ book Homebodies,
a collection of Addams’ cartoons, in a book store and snatched it up. Becoming
enamored with the Addams Family, Levy contacted Addams and formed the basis of
what would become the 1964 sitcom. It was at this point Addams finally had to
refine the personalities and relationships of his characters and give them
names. Addams chose Morticia (Carolyn Jones), Wednesday (Lisa Loring) after a line
in the nursery rhyme “Monday’s Child,” Fester (Jackie Coogan), Eudora for
Grandmama (Blossom Rock) and Lurch (Ted Cassidy). Addams wanted to call Pugsley
(Ken Weatherwax) “Pubert,” but the executives asked him to change it. He also
couldn’t decide between Gomez and Repelli (for repellent) for the patriarch,
and left it up to actor John Astin to decide when he took the role (Astin,
incidentally, was a fan of Addams’ strips). Cassidy also pulled double-duty as
Thing (with Jack Voglin filling in when Cassidy had to be Lurch at the same
time), now a disembodied hand an arm that traveled between boxes around the
mansion.
![]() |
Meet the TV family (left to right): John Astin, Lisa Loring, Jackie Coogan, Carolyn Jones, Ted Cassidy, Blossom Rock and Ken Weatherwax. |
The series was
radically different from the strip in that it was less macabre and more wacky.
The eccentricities of the characters merged with their almost supernatural
origins, which allowed them to engage in (and survive) otherwise fatal
activities and have living inanimate objects around their house. Eccentric
millionaire Gomez was madly in love with his refined and pale wife Morticia, stopping
to passionately kiss her whenever she spoke in another language. They resided
with their two children and Gomez’s mother, Grandmama, and Morticia’s Uncle
Fester. The Addamses were oblivious as to how the world perceived them. Gomez
liked to play with, and destroy, model trains, while Morticia spent a lot of
time in her greenhouse tending to her pet African Strangler Cleopatra.
Occasionally, other relatives would stop by the visit; such as Morticia’s
sister Ophelia (also Jones), her mother Grandma Hester Frump (Margaret Hamilton), and the hat-wearing walking 3-foot pile of hair Cousin Itt (Felix Sillia and Roger Arroyo). Cousin Itt was actually created by Levy, and
later introduced into the strips by Addams.
![]() |
The Addams Family heads for browner pastures. |
The series lasted
only two seasons, ending in 1966. Shortly after, reruns aired in syndication
for the years following, finding new audiences and developing a growing
interest in America’s kookiest family. As a result, it was decided to give the
characters a chance at a new afterlife on Saturday mornings.
No comments:
Post a Comment