The Addams Family

The Addams Family has had various forms, from a cartoon strip, a Hanna Barbera cartoon series, a Broadway musical and movies. The most memorable must surely be the original sitcom which ran for 64 episodes between 1964 and 1966.
The series was beaten in the ratings by the largely similar The Munsters. The Addams always seemed more sophisticated than the Munsters, not only in their day to day living but more importantly in the comedy.
Nat Perrin who was series producer (and by all accounts was script editor and had a large hand in writing and plotting many of the scripts) was a writer on several Marx Brothers' movies, so perhaps Gomez Addams' cigar smoking and wisecracks were more than a nod to Perrin's close friend Groucho.
John Astin played Gomez and Carolyn Jones was his wife Morticia, The Addams were a real couple, despite their quirkiness it was easy to believe in their relationship, I'm not sure how anyone could ever think anyone would love Herman Munster.
Jackie Coogan who as a child star had starred alongside Charlie Chaplin in The Kid played Uncle Fester. Everyone has a weird relative knocking about, Fester was that and so much more, Fester was the most handsome, debonair, intelligent, sophisticated man in  the world, or so he believed.
The 6'9" actor Ted Cassidy played the even creepier butler Lurch, his large frame and booming "you rang" whenever he was summoned always caused a reaction in one of the many visitors.
Ken Weatherwax took the role of the Addams' son Pugsley and his sister Wednesday was played by Lisa Loring. Making up the rest of the house were Grandmama (Marie Blake), the severed hand Thing T Thing (or just Thing) and the wondrous Cousin Itt who paid the occasional if nonsensical and hilarious visit.
The Addams Family weren't too far removed from the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens in which the rather frightening Little Edie and Big Edie lived in their own bizarre world, oblivious to their differences with the rest of 'society'. Albeit the Addams had a few more out of this world eccentricities, they were still firmly rooted in it, a fact which annoyed several religious groups at the time.
The Addams Family episodes tended to involve visitors who the Addams treated with great respect but they never seemed to come of well from the visit.
The Addams Family returned in 1977 with all but Grandmama from the original cast, it was hoped the Halloween special would turn into a new series, but this was not to be. Their have been other remakes (1998/9 series The New Addams Family featured Astin in the role of Grandpapa Addams) and several TV companies are talking of new series.
It's probably true that the most memorable part of the show was its unique theme tune, possibly one of the most memorable tv themes of all time, written by Vic Mizzy.


There are lots of full episodes of The Addams family online, so check them out. Here's an interview for the launch of the DVD and a chance to see Cousin Itt without the hair!