The Addams Family

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The Addams Family is the creation of American cartoonist Charles Addams. A satirical inversion of the ideal of the perfect American nuclear family, they are an eccentric wealthy family who delight in everything grotesque and macabre, and are never really aware that people find them bizarre or frightening.

Addams's cartoons in The New Yorker magazine gained popularity in the 1930s. Addams was noted for his morbid sense of humor, and over the years various bizarre people and creatures who lived in a huge decaying Second Empire house became recurring characters. The mansion is full of unusual decorations and oddities like a mounted swordfish with a man's foot sticking out its mouth, and a polar bear skin rug on the floor in the entryway that roars when unwary visitors step on it.

[edit] Premise

The Addamses are the descendants of a very long line of witches, freaks, ghouls, and other assorted social outcasts. The family that the cartoons, movies, and shows are based around are said to be but one surviving branch of the Addams clan. Many other "Addams families" exist all over the world. Their family credo, according to the film version, is Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc (Latin: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us").

They reside, next to a cemetery and a swamp, at 0001 Cemetery Ridge, in a gloomy, gothic 19th century mansion. Their location is never mentioned, but the inference is that the family lives on old money inherited from a New England-based clan going back to the Salem witch trials. (Charles Addams was first inspired by his home town of Westfield, New Jersey, an area full of ornate Victorian mansions and archaic graveyards.)

The Addamses are a close-knit family. Morticia and Gomez remain passionate toward one another, and it drives Gomez crazy when she speaks French. She sometimes calls him "Bubbele" (Yiddish: Little Boy), which he responds to by kissing her up and down her arms. They are deeply concerned with the well-being of their children. Though they all share an obsession and interest in macabre subjects, the Addamses cannot be considered evil people; in several of the TV episodes, Gomez is willing to donate remarkably large sums to worthy causes, to the shock of the already disturbed visitors. They are unfailingly friendly to anyone they happen to meet, whether the other party likes it or not.

The family holds Truth as a worthy and noble ideal, yet the ideal is not a remote philosophical concept to this family. They have found a way to implement this principle on a practical basis in their daily lives:

They Never Lie.

Not to one another; not to outsiders; not to themselves: They Never Lie.

[edit] Family Members and Servants

The Addams family consists of Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Uncle Fester, and Grandmama, who are attended by their butler, Lurch, and their servant, Thing. Various houseguests and neighbors also made appearances in the cartoon and the television series that was based on it.

[edit] Gomez

Gomez Alonzo Addams studied to be a lawyer, but rarely practices while taking absurd pride in losing his cases. He is wealthy from inheritance and extensive investments, though seems to have little regard for money. Gomez is of Castilian origin and loves to smoke cigars and play destructively with his model trains. Though head of the household, he is also the most naïve and childish member of the family, with a short attention span and endless optimism. Despite his macabre sense of humor, he is extremely generous and known for going out of his way to help those he considers friends.

[edit] Morticia

Gomez is married to Morticia A. Addams (née Frump), an elegant vampish woman clad in a Vampira-esque skin-tight black gown with octopus-like tendrills at the bottom. As played by Carolyn Jones in the television series, the cultivated Morticia dabbles in art, raises man-eating plants, and trims her roses by clipping off the buds and saving the stems in a vase ("Oh, the thorns are lovely this year"). When she says anything in French, her husband Gomez is thrown into a fit of wild, passionate kissing, starting at her hand and working up to her shoulder. With her aristocratic detachment, she remains the cool, calm center in the middle of the chaotic events that continually swirl around the family.

[edit] Pugsley and Wednesday

Gomez and Morticia have two children, Pugsley and Wednesday. Wednesday, whose middle name is Friday, was originally — as her name suggests — a quiet, somewhat pathetic child, full of woe. In the TV show she was a sweet-natured, happy child, largely concerned with her pet spiders. A favorite toy was her Marie Antoinette doll, which she had guillotined, and which she often showed to visitors. The movies gave her a serious personality with a deadpan wit, and a morbid fascination with trying to physically harm or possibly murder her brother (she was seen strapping him into an electric chair, for example, and preparing to pull the switch). She is apparently often successful, but Pugsley never dies. Like most members of the family he seems to live in a semi-immortal state.

For his part, Pugsley is largely either oblivious of the harm his sister tries to inflict on him, or an enthusiastic supporter of it. In his first incarnation, Pugsley (originally to be called Pubert) was depicted as a diabolical, malevolent child next door. In the TV series, he was a devoted older brother and an inventive and mechanical genius, although his brilliance was lost in the movies, in which he appears to be of below-average intelligence. In the films, he loses his wit, and becomes Wednesday's sidekick, leaving it up to her to do the evil deeds, with him cheerfully helping in any way possible. He also becomes her younger brother, as is stated a few times in the second movie, including when they are going to throw the baby off of the roof, he says he's "still on fractions," implying that Wednesday is more advanced at school than he is.

In the most recent animated series, Pugsley's and Wednesday's personalities seem to be a mix of their previous ones, with Wednesday being back to her happy and somewhat optimistic child, while retaining her sophisticated manner from the movies and Pugsley having regained some of his genius when it comes to chemistry and machines, but his intelligence still seems to be rather underdeveloped at times.

[edit] Pubert

In Addams Family Values, Gomez and Morticia had a third child, a son named Pubert (voiced by Cheryl Chase), a moustachioed and seemingly indestructible baby with the ability to shoot flaming arrows. (Charles Addams first created the name Pubert for the '60s TV series, but it was rejected so he changed it to Pugsley.)

[edit] Uncle Fester and Grandmama

Other members of the family who live with Gomez and Morticia include Uncle Fester and Grandmama. In the original television series, Fester was Morticia's uncle, and therefore technically not an Addams, although at times he claims the family name as his own (in one episode, Fester became confused when someone asked what his last name was, implying that he had none at all). In all other animated and filmed content, Fester became Gomez's older brother, and therefore the uncle of Wednesday and Pugsley. Grandmama is Gomez's mother in only the 1960s live-action TV series. In all other content, Grandmama is Morticia's mother (in fact, both animated TV series have one episode each where Grandmama's surname is mentioned as "Frump"). In the original TV series, Mother Frump exists as a separate character from Grandmama.

[edit] Thing, Lurch, and Cousin Itt

The family has a servant in the form of a disembodied hand named "Thing". Thing has been Gomez's friend since childhood. He (it is implied that he is male) often performs common, everyday tasks such as retrieving the mail. They also have a tall, ghoulish manservant named Lurch. Morticia and Gomez summon him by means of a bell pull in the form of a hangman's noose which produces a crashing gong that shakes the house, to which Lurch responds instantly with "You rang?" (in the TV series, that is – he never speaks in the magazine cartoons or the films.) He is also very adept at playing the harpsichord. Lurch has ejected several visitors from the premises. Gomez also has a Cousin Itt who often visits the family; his long hair covers his body entirely, from scalp to floor, and it is unclear what, if anything, is beneath the hair. Itt's speech consists of unintelligible chatter, which the family members have no trouble understanding.

[edit] Houseguests

Guests include Morticia's older sister Ophelia (also played by Carolyn Jones in the sitcom) and Morticia's mother (and Fester's sister), Hester Frump (played in the sitcom by Margaret Hamilton, best known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz). The Addamses have many other eccentric relatives who, in the sitcom, were described but never shown.

[edit] Neighbors

Most of the Addamses' neighbors are less than understanding, however. Within the larger community, the Addamses are viewed as oddballs, dangerous, or worse. Both the TV shows and movies deal with outsiders attempting to understand and "correct" the behavior of the family, and remain frustrated and horrified by the things that the Addamses find amusing. The Addamses, for their part, are just the opposite, and are often shocked and horrified at the actions of "mainstream" society, such as the idea of Summer Camp. The underlying moral premise of the series thus seems to be a message against being judgmental and trying to impose universal standards of morality.

[edit] The nature of The Addamses

The exact nature of the Addamses is never established. They all seem to share a bond with the occult and supernatural. Uncle Fester is often portrayed as something of a mad scientist, and Grandmama as a fortune-teller, but these activities don't really explain the Addamses' seemingly immortal state. The food they live on is inedible or outright deadly for normal humans to eat, and there is also the family's interest in painful activities like walking across minefields, and having a sharp pendulum cut them in half.

In the 1960s television series, virtually every member of the family demonstrated some uniquely "non-human" trait. Morticia is able to light candles with the touch of a fingertip and relaxes by literally "smoking", curls of smoke emitting from her body. Gomez is remarkably athletic and can perform complicated calculations in his head, which makes a mechanical sound as he does so. Fester can generate both electricity and magnetism, while Grandmama, in addition to being able to whip up potions of varying effects, can fly on a broom (although she is not considered a witch by the family's standards, since the episode "Halloween, Addams Style" is partially devoted to a neighbor raising doubts in the children's minds about whether or not witches exist).

Pugsley is able to hang from tree branches by his teeth (although this trait is only referred to and not seen), while six-year-old Wednesday is strong enough to bring her father down with a judo hold. Lurch is superhumanly strong, and Thing (whose paranormal nature speaks for itself) can apparently teleport from box to box almost instantaneously, since he emerges from various boxes throughout the house. None of these traits are considered unusual by any others in the family but treated simply as individual talents that anyone might possess by chance or development. All are capable of enduring such experiences as lying on a bed of nails, being stretched on a rack, and so on without pain and, indeed, derive pleasure from such experiences; Fester can survive a cannonball directly to the head with minimal effect.

Although the Addamses are frequently labeled as nonconformists, this is not really the case. While they have little use for conformity, they do not consider their tastes to be nonconformist per se, since they are under the impression that most people share them and, thus, when an unsuspecting visitor reacts with shock to some of the disturbing artifacts and activities in the house, they invariably attribute the reaction to another cause, since the notion that anyone might find such things odd simply does not occur to them. Occasionally, the 1960s series featured guest characters who shared the Addamses' tastes, which, along with the fact that the family obviously purchases its yak meat, explosives, etc. from somewhere, implies an entire subculture of people who share the family's tastes (as seen in several Charles Addams cartoons). In contrast, the Addamses themselves consider such things as daisies, chocolate fudge, the Boy Scouts, and other such traditionally "wholesome" things—as well as any distaste for such things as swamps, octopuses, and hanging upside-down from the ceiling—to be odd, if not outright disturbing. Fester once cited a neighbor family's meticulous petunia patches as evidence that they were "nothing but riff-raff."

[edit] Television, film, and games

For cast listings in each medium, see "Cast" below.

[edit] Live-action

The Addams Family
Genre	Situation comedy
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural sound
Running time	30 minutes
Creator(s)	Charles Addams
Starring	John Astin Carolyn Jones
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 18, 1964–April 8, 1966
No. of episodes	64
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

In 1964, the ABC-TV network created a television series based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles Addams of THE NEW YORKER magazine, entitled THE ADDAMS FAMILY. The 30 minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments from(September 18, 1964 – September 2, 1966). It was originally produced by Filmways TV at General Service Studios in Hollywood, California, which also produced such television classics as THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, MR. ED, and GREEN ACRES. Today, successor company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (via Sony Pictures Television for broadcast syndication; Twentieth Century Fox for home video/DVD) owns the rights to the ABC-TV shows.

The Munsters, another 1964-66 television series that shared a similar spooky theme, ran for the same two television seasons (on CBS-TV). Shot at Universal Studios, THE MUNSTERS was a situation comedy whose look was based on the classic Universal Studios monsters of the 1930s/40s. Comparing the two shows, THE ADDAMS FAMILY was written in a more sophisticated style, while the comedy of THE MUNSTERS was broader and more "slapstick".

A TV reunion movie, Halloween With The New Addams Family, aired on CBS in October 1977. It featuring most of the original cast, except Blossom Rock, who had played Grandmama but was very ill at the time; she was replaced by Jane Rose.

In the 1990s, Orion Pictures (which by then had inherited the rights to the series) developed a film version, The Addams Family. Due to the studio's financial troubles at the time, Orion sold the US rights to the film to Paramount Pictures. Upon the film's initial success, two sequels followed: Addams Family Values (1993, with worldwide distribution by Paramount), and Addams Family Reunion (1998). Loosened content restrictions allowed the films to use far more grotesque humor that strove to keep the original spirit of the Addams cartoons. The second film's title is a piece of word play on family values, the Addamses seeming to represent values the polar opposite from the term's usual meaning (in fact, the Addams exhibit many laudable values; in particular, they are a close-knit, loving family).

The third film was released direct-to-video, this time by Warner Bros. through its video division. The movie has no relations to the Paramount movies, including Pubert. It is in fact a full-length pilot for a second live-action television version, The New Addams Family, produced and shot in Canada, ran during the 1998–1999 season on Fox Family. A large continuity error, as the third movie's Gomez follows the style of Raul Julia's, played by Tim Curry, while the new sitcom's Gomez is John Astin's style. Most episodes were remakes of the original series' episodes, although some re-scripting was done to account for the new relations between characters, and the more macabre versions of Wednesday and Pugsley, to try and fit the episodes into the movies' universe. John Astin returned to the franchise in specific episodes of this series, albeit as Grandpa Addams (Gomez's grandfather, a character introduced in Addams Family Reunion).

[edit] Animation

The Addams family in the second animated series. From top to bottom: Wednesday, Grandmama, Uncle Fester, Cousin Itt, Pugsley, Gomez, Morticia, and Lurch with Thing on his shoulder.

Two animated television spin-offs and an animated guest appearance have also been produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

The Addams Family's first animated appearance was on the third episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "Scooby-Doo Meets the Addams Family" (a.k.a. "Wednesday is Missing"), which first aired on CBS Saturday morning September 23, 1972. Four of the original cast (John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, and Ted Cassidy) returned for the special which involved the Addamses in a mystery with the Scooby-Doo gang. The Addams Family characters were drawn to the specifications of the original Charles Addams comics. After the episode aired, fans wanted more animated adventures featuring the Addamses, and Hanna-Barbera responded in kind.

The first animated series ran on Saturday mornings from 1973–1975 on NBC. In a departure from the original series, this series took the Addamses on the road in a Victorian-style RV. This series also marked the point where the relations between characters were retconned so that Fester was now Gomez' brother, and Grandmama was now Morticia's mother (though the old relations would be revisited in the 1977 TV-movie, to keep continuous with the original sitcom). Although Coogan and Cassidy reprised their roles, Astin and Jones did not, their parts being re-cast with Hanna-Barbera voice talents Lennie Weinrib as Gomez and Janet Waldo as Morticia, while none other than an eight-year-old Jodie Foster provided the voice of Pugsley. Again, the characters were drawn to the specifications of the original Charles Addams comics. One season was produced, with the season rerunning the following year.

The second animated series ran on Saturday mornings from 1992–1995 on ABC after producers realized the success of the 1991 Addams Family movie. This series returned to the familiar format of the original series, with the Addams Family facing their sitcom situations at home. John Astin returned to the role of Gomez, and celebrities Rip Taylor and Carol Channing took over the roles of Fester and Grandmama, respectively. New artistic models of the characters were used for this series, though still having a passing resemblance to the original comics. Two seasons were produced, with the third year containing reruns. Oddly in this series, Wednesday maintained her macabre, brooding attitude from the Addams Family movies, but her facial expressions and body language conveyed the happy-go-lucky, fun attitude of her portrayal in the original television show.

[edit] Games

Six video games released from 1989 to 1994 were based on The Addams Family. Fester's Quest (1989) was a top-down shooter that featured Uncle Fester. The Addams Family platformer was released for Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy, with later ports for Sega Genesis (based on the Super NES version), Master System and Game Gear (both based on the NES version but with different graphics), TurboGrafx-CD (developed separately) and ZX Spectrum; these games, released by Ocean Software (Flying Edge in the case of the Sega consoles ports) (ICOM Simulations for the TurboGrafx-CD version), these were based on the first movie rather than the TV series or cartoons. The games' sequel, The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt (1993), also by Ocean Software was based on the ABC animated series, and was released for Super NES, NES and Game Boy (although the latter two were just 8-bit remakes of the first SNES game, swapping Pugsley and Gomez's roles). Addams Family Values (1994) by Ocean was based on the movie's sequel and returned to the style of gameplay seen in the original Fester's Quest.

A Game Boy Color game was released in the 1990s for promotion of "The New Addams Family." The game was simply titled, "The New Addams Family Series."

A pinball game by Midway (under the Bally label) was released in 1992 shortly after the movie. It broke previous sales records by selling over 20,000 units.

• See also: The Addams Family (pinball)

[edit] Cast

Addams Family Values DVD cover

Gomez Addams

Gomez is Morticia's husband and the Addams Family patriarch. Originally Grandmama's son, this was retconned later on to make him Grandmama's son-in-law. His brother (originally uncle-in-law) is Uncle Fester. He is portrayed as a charming, handsome (in a gothic sort of way), and successful man, yet takes a childlike eccentric enthusiasm to everything he does. For instance, his personal portrait depicts him as standing gleefully on his head. Generally he dresses in a dark pinstriped suit with short, slicked-back hair and sports a pencil-thin moustache. Though a peaceful man he is known to be well-versed in many types of combat. He and Morticia fence with foils sometimes. He is extensively wealthy, and in the TV episodes is quite willing to contribute to charitable causes. His endless love for Morticia shows that while the family is strange, they are indeed good people. Gomez is quite proud of the fact that his law class voted him "Least Likely to succeed." The original Gomez John Astin made a cameo on the second TV series as the father to Gomez Addams—an in-joke tribute to the original series.

• Portrayed by:
  • John Astin (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977, Animated TV 1972, 1992–1994).
  • Lennie Weinrib (Animated TV 1973–1974)
  • Raúl Juliá (Live-action movies 1991, 1993)
  • Tim Curry (Live-action movie 1998)
  • Glenn Taranto (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Morticia Addams

Morticia is the matriarch of the Addams Family, serving as its heart and soul. Her original mother was Hester Frump (played by Margaret Hamilton in the sitcom), but her origins were later retconned and she became Grandmama's daughter. (Grandmama subsequently became known as Esmerelda Frump.) Morticia has an older sister named Ophelia. In the sitcom, her marriage brought her uncle Fester into the family. She has pale skin and a gothic appearance. She also knits strange items of clothing for various members of the family. She is portrayed as elegant, artistic, and musically inclined (opera singing, tango dancing, and playing numerous instruments). Gomez said she was pale and mysterious the first time he met her.

• Portrayed by:
  • Carolyn Jones (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977, Animated TV 1972)
  • Janet Waldo (Animated TV 1973–1974)
  • Anjelica Huston (Live-action movies 1991, 1993)
  • Nancy Linari (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • Daryl Hannah (Live-action movie 1998)
  • Ellie Harvey (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Pugsley Addams

(See above for differences between the Addams children in the cartoons/TV series and films).

• Portrayed by:
  • Ken Weatherwax (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977)
  • Jodie Foster (Animated TV 1972–1974)
  • Jimmy Workman (Live-action movies 1991, 1993)
  • Jeannie Elias (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • Jerry Messing (Live-action movie 1998)
  • Brody Smith (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Wednesday Addams

(See above for differences between the Addams children in the cartoons/TV series and films)

• Portrayed by:
  • Lisa Loring (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977)
  • Cindy Henderson (Animated TV 1972–1974)
  • Christina Ricci (Live-action movies 1991, 1993)
  • Debi Derryberry (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • Nicole Fugere (Live-action movie 1998, Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Uncle Fester

Fester is a bald, stooping, barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and a devilish grin. He seems to carry an electrical charge and can illuminate a light bulb by sticking it in his mouth. In one episode of the TV series, he claimed to possess 110 watts of power. In the second TV series, Uncle Fester is kidnapped by aliens who make a "twelve pack" of Uncle Fester clones to power their spaceship.

In the first Addams Family movie, Uncle Fester and Gomez had a disagreement that led to Fester's 25-year disappearance. Brainwashed by gold-digging Abigail Craven (Elizabeth Wilson) into believing he was her adopted son Gordon, the two hatch a scheme with the Addams' lawyer, Tully Alford (Dan Hedaya), to steal the family fortune, only to ultimately be thwarted by a lightning strike to Fester's head, which jogs his memory.

In the second Addams Family movie, Fester again finds himself in the clasp of a gold-digger, this time in the form of Debbie Jellinsky (Joan Cusack), a nanny the Addams hire to watch over their newest son "Pubert." Marrying Fester in order to kill him in an "untimely" death, Debbie's plans are eventually spoiled not only by the Addams' apparent invulnerability, but also by Pubert himself.

• Portrayed by:
  • Jackie Coogan (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977, Animated TV 1972–1974)
  • Christopher Lloyd (Live-action movies 1991, 1993)
  • Rip Taylor (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • Patrick Thomas (Live-action movie 1998)
  • Michael Roberds (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Grandmama

Grandmama is first known as Eudora Addams (Gomez's mother). Later on she was retconned to be Esmerelda Frump (Morticia's mother). Grandmama is a witch who deals in potions, spells and hexes of all kinds. She even dabbles in fortune-telling. Grandmama often argues with Fester, and wins. Her trademarks are her shawl and frizzy hair.

• Portrayed by:
  • Blossom Rock (Live-action TV 1964–1966)
  • Janet Waldo (Animated TV 1972–1974)
  • Jane Rose (Live-action TV 1977)
  • Judith Malina (Live-action movie 1991)
  • Carol Channing (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • Carol Kane (Live-action movie 1993)
  • Alice Ghostley (Live-action movie 1998)
  • Betty Phillips (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Lurch

Lurch is the shambling, groaning, 8 ft (2.4 m)-tall Frankenstein's Monster-like butler to the Addams family. He tries to help around the house like any other butler, though occasionally he botches things up due to his great size and strength. Aside from a headless doll named Marie Antoinette, Lurch is Wednesday's best friend. Surprisingly, he is often seen playing the harpsichord and organ with a great degree of skill. Much of Lurch's history, (including his first name), or the nature of his relationship to any other Addamses is unknown.

For unexplained reasons, Lurch talks in the TV series (albeit, only in brief phrases), but merely groans in the films.

• Portrayed by:
  • Ted Cassidy (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977, Animated TV 1972–1974)
  • Carel Struycken (Live-action movies 1991, 1993, 1998)
  • Jim Cummings (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • John DeSantis (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Thing

Thing is a disembodied hand. Always credited as being played by "Itself" in the TV series, he would appear out of ubiquitous boxes or other convenient containers throughout the house. In the movies and in The New Addams Family, Thing is an entirely mobile hand, thanks to the introduction of filming on a bluescreen.

• Portrayed by:
  • Ted Cassidy (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977)
  • Jack Voglin (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977) (when Thing and Lurch had to both appear)
  • Christopher Hart (Live-action movies 1991, 1993, 1998)
  • Steven Fox (Live-action TV 1998–1999)

Cousin Itt

Gomez's cousin, he is a short-statured hairball who speaks in a squeaky, high-pitched gibberish language that only the family understands. None of his body other than hair is visible. In the second animated series, Itt was a super-spy for the U.S. Government.

• Portrayed by:
  • Felix Silla (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977) (on screen)
  • Roger Arroyo (Live-action TV 1965, 2 episodes) (on screen)
  • Tony Magro (Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977) (voice)
  • John Stephenson (Animated TV 1972–1974)
  • John Franklin (Live-action movie 1991, 1993)
  • Pat Fraley (Animated TV 1992–1994)
  • Phil Fondacaro (Live-action movie 1998)
  • David Mylrea (Live-action TV 1998–1999) (on screen)
  • Paul Dobson (Live-action TV 1998–1999) (voice)
  • Leo Kennedy (Live-real) (on screen) (present)

The second animated series introduced three new regular characters, The Normanmeyers (Norman, Normina, and N.J.), a family of "normal" people living across the street from the Addamses. While Norman and Normina are constantly appalled and shocked at the Addams' macabre behavior, their son N.J. counts Wednesday and Pugsley as his best friends, and the feeling is mutual. Norman owns and works at an underwear factory and is utterly obsessed with underwear, decorating the entire Normanmeyer house with an underwear motif, which arguably makes him less "normal" than the Addamses themselves.

[edit] Trivia

• In Addams' original cartoons, the characters were not named. When the television show was developed, Charles Addams was asked to contribute names, and all of his suggestions were used except for Pubert, who was renamed Pugsley. The name Pubert was eventually used in Addams Family Values for Wednesday and Pugsley's newborn brother. Pubert sported a moustache similar to Gomez's.

• Of the names Addams suggested for the family members, "Gomez" was the only the one that wasn't "ghoulish" (in the manner of Morticia or Fester). When asked why he suggested the name Gomez for the character, Addams replied that he "thought he [the character] had a bit of Spanish blood in him." However, Addams had trouble deciding whether the father character was Spanish or Italian. He decided that if he were Spanish, he would be called "Gomez", if Italian, he would be "Repelli".

• When Lurch is shown in the TV series playing the harpsichord, the music is acually played by Addams Family composer Vic Mizzy. Mizzy was very busy in television and film in the 1960s and 70s, composing music for TV's Green Acres, as well as a score of films, including Don Knott's The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, The Shakiest Gun In The West, and The Reluctant Astronaut.

• In the television series, "The Thing" is ambiguously credited to "Itself." (A similar credit existed for the title character of the television series Mister Ed.) Ted Cassidy provided the hand for Thing in most of the episodes. When Lurch and Thing are seen in the same shot, the assistant director usually "stood in" for Thing.

• The Addams Family characters originally appeared as line-art cartoons in The New Yorker magazine, under the guidance of that weekly's original editor Harold Ross. Ross's successor William Shawn continued to accept Addams Family drawings for the magazine. Throughout this period, Charles Addams was also a prolific contributor of other (non-Addams Family) cartoons to the magazine. However, during the original television run of the Addams Family television series, editor Shawn refused to publish any Addams Family cartoons in The New Yorker, even though he continued to accept and publish Charles Addams' non-Family cartoons. Considered something of a snob, Shawn regarded his magazine as being for a highly specialized readership, and he did not want The New Yorker to contain drawings of characters who could be seen on television by just anybody. After the television series was cancelled, Shawn ended his boycott and the Addams Family made a welcome return to his magazine's pages.

• The Addams Family "mansion" was inspired by College Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where Charles Addams attended University of Pennsylvania.

• The Addams Chronicles, a book on all things Addams, by Stephen Cox (HarperCollins), includes behind-the-scenes stories, cast biographies, an episode guide, rare photos, and memoribilia of all sorts. Cox has authored a prolific series of books on vintage television shows and films, including The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, The Three Stooges, and The Munsters, as well as the 1939 MGM classic, The Wizard of Oz.

• Addams Family's fan and collector Bob Morris has a collection which includes original set props used on the classic TV series, as well as vintage toys, original scripts, and authentic Charles Addams artwork. Included amongst the ephemera is "Bruno", the original 11 foot mounted Polar Bear prop (used on both the original 1960s Filmways TV series and in the 1991 Paramount film), the "Iron Maiden" prop from the Addams' playroom, and a Carolyn Jones "Morticia" dress. As a child, Morris was a pen pal of sorts to cartoonist Charles Addams.

The cast of Histeria! spoofs the opening to The Addams Family.

• The Histeria! episode "The Know-It-Alls" opened up with a parody of the intro the 1964 live-action Addams Family series. Also, at the beginning of the episode "The American Civil War", Pepper Mills mistakes Abraham Lincoln for Lurch.

[edit] External links

• Unofficial Addams Family website
• An unofficial website dedicated to The Addams Family
• Interview with Lisa Loring (Wednesday) and Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley) on the podcast The Future And You (behind the scenes on the TV comedy The Addam's Family)
• The New Addams Family at TV.com
• The New Addams Family at the Internet Movie Database