“neat”…”sweet”….”petite”
But the kind of sad part was I never found them creepy, or cooky, mysterious, or spookie. Instead I loved them.
I was a rerun kid. Especially on sick days’ home from school. And one of my absolute favorite 60’s sitcom shows was the original Addams Family. Now I know this isn’t much of a horrific thing, but again this was a gateway to horror, a family I honestly treasured, and not because my home life was bad, but just because it was amazing to see a family on (70’s) television at the time that wasn’t busy fighting with each other, but instead was completely strong in their unique place in the world together.
I know they have been captured in two films (which I also love), and I know that they came from Charles Addam’s series of cartoons for New Yorker Magazine, but the black and white sitcom version is and always will be the Addams family to me for several reasons. First of all John Astin as Gomez embodied the wide-eyed eternally (sometimes manically) devoted husband of Carolyn Jones’ Morticia. And I will say this, for a sitcom family, their ability to rise above all the household and community chaos completely together was and is an amazing example of marriage to this day.
I hate to admit it but Fester (Jackie Coogan) was always my favorite. He was much more light and eccentric in this 60’s version. A dark optimist might be the best way to put it. And I loved how he always seemed to blithely suggest the most extreme or potentially morbid solution to a problem in the most upbeat way imaginable.
I also think for most of my childhood I wished I had Lurch (Ted Cassidy) as a butler. Not only was he amazing on the harpsicord, his slow and almost zombie like manor, combined with his almost unworldly strength would have come in quite handy, and I could always imagine what Halloween would have been like if he had answered our door.
Grandma (Blossom Rock) was always down for something devious which was hysterical, and cousin it (Felix Silla), always seemed to freak out the household visitors and scare them away quick.
Thing (listed in the credits as “itself”, but usually portrayed by Cassidy) in typical low budget style was presented as an arm extending (and closing its own) box. Not bad for 60’s TV, and always handy when the phone rang or the family was looking for something. And Wednesday and Pugsley (Lisa Loring and Ken Weatherwax) were portrayed as very innocent, which wasn’t bad, but just didn’t seem to fit into the overall family dynamic all that well.
See it wasn’t the Addams that were the “villians” in the show. They just thought they were a typical family. It was the rest of the community that didn’t seem to understand they simply marched to a different drum. If anything Morticia and Gomez went out of their way to try and integrate their amazingly diverse extended household into the community they lived, only to be rejected and reviled. It also and rightfully didn’t change who they were or how they lived their life. This was their power, their strength, and what made them a joy to watch. An important lesson to learn from a family of “freaks” at a young age, and one of the reasons I consider this a key show in my childhood horror development.
They also made frequent cartoon visits to one of my favorite horror cartoon series Scooby Doo….hmmm
Here are some clips of the show
