“I think the show works because it was a little jolt for everybody uh to remind
them how exciting life was, how exciting the ordinary or the strange thing wow wow
spider isn't that exciting. And also we showed real affection. Gomez and Morticia
could really have had children as opposed to the characters in the other TV shows at the time who
would have had to actually, the stork really would have brought their kids, you know.”
Ironically, a show about a family obsessed with darkness and death did make us appreciate life.
Viewers get a jolt of life in them every time they visit the creepy, kooky Addams family.
Their house is a museum in that it’s a comfortable place to visit. The show is
both a relic of the past and a cultural phenomenon that continues to this day with modern iterations.
One way to keep its legacy alive is to watch it again
for mistakes you didn’t notice before. Keep watching as Facts Verse Presents:
This scene wasn't edited, look again at the Addams Family blooper.
The Show Gave the Characters Names Cartoonist Charles Addams was content to leave
his characters nameless, except for Cousin Itt was the TV show that changed that. He worked with
producers and David Levy, former vice president of programming at NBC, to name all of them.
There are a few details about their names you may not know. He named Wednesday after the
Fred Penner poem Monday’s Child because it describes Wednesday’s child as being
“full of woe.” The day-of-the-week poem may also explain why her middle name is Friday.
Gomez was almost named Repelli. The actor who played him, John Astin,
was the one who got to choose. Charles preferred the other option.
Pugsley was almost called Pubert, but it was changed to avoid any sexual connotation. It
was later used for the third Addams family child in the 1993 film Addams Family Values.
The Theme Song The Addams Family has one of the most recognizable
theme songs of all time with its catchy verses and snaps. It was composed by Vic Mizzy.
There’s a rumor that the studio didn’t want to pay for a trio of singers. Instead,
he layered multiple tracks of his voice to play all three vocal parts.
The Cast And Crew John Astin appeared in
The Wheeler Dealers, produced by Filways. His contract said he could choose one of
three projects after that: The Americanization of Emily, The Loved One, or The Adams Family.
He originally auditioned for Lurch but struggled to get into the character.
The producers still recognized that he’d be right for the part of Gomez instead.
He discovered Charles Adams’ work at John Hopkins University in 1952. He was a fan and decorated
his room with the comics but took a deeper look after joining the series. He told the Baltimore
Sun that they weren’t about being morbid but about burying cold, stale habits and cliches.
Ted Cassidy played two roles. He’s famous for playing Lurch. He was also Thing,
the disembodied hand that appeared out of boxes in each room of the mansion and the mailbox outside.
Lurch was meant to be almost completely silent. Ted heard the servant bell ring in
his audition and added the brilliant bit of improv with, “you rang?”
Carolyn Jones was Charles Addams’ first pick for Morticia. The producers wanted Barbara Steele,
but she was living in Rome at the time and turned it down.
Carolyn’s estranged husband Aaron Spelling told her about the part. She was an Academy
Award-nominated film actress but wanted to be the lead in a TV series as well. She was already a fan
of the Addams. Despite a meeting where her dog bit him, they grew to be close friends.
Ken Weatherwax played Pugsley. He was born into showbusiness as the nephew of 30’s film star Ruby
Keeler. Before being cast, he’d already been on TV as the face of Gleem toothpaste commercials.
The pilot was directed by Emmy-nominated Arthur Hiller. After The Addams Family,
he won a Golden Globe and Academy Award
nomination for 1970’s Love Story. Debuting at an Unfortunate Time
Sometimes all you have to do is release at the same time as a similar project to get
called a knockoff. The Addams Family was released the same week as The Munsters,
another creepy black-and-white family sitcom. The two shows did everything they could to
set themselves apart from each other. They even avoided having the same guest stars.
John always said in interviews that they were different. The Munsters looked like monsters
but acted like normal humans while The Addams Family looked normal but behaved eccentrically.
Creator David Levy said much the same thing and emphasized how he wanted to live up to the spirit
of the original cartoons. Sets and Props
Pink isn’t the color you’d think of for The Addams Family home, but the set for their
house had fully pink walls. The transition to color TV didn’t break the illusion because
the show was filmed in grayscale. Many of the interior sets came from
a surprising place. They were recycled from The Unsinkable Molly Brown, a movie about a
woman who survived the Titanic disaster. It had only been released a few months earlier,
and both were under MGM Studios. A few props went missing when the
show was canceled. Carolyn got to keep the wicker chair that Morticia sat in,
which she kept for the rest of her life. Like and subscribe to FactsVerse for more
crazy details. Keep watching to learn why this scene wasn’t edited, look again at the
Addams Family blooper. Goofs and Bloopers
“Mostly what you didn’t get to see was this stuff moving in and
out during between scenes uh yea quite remarkable the way it was all handled.”
That high praise for the effects department from John didn’t stop
goofs and bloopers from getting through. Ted was a tall man who’d have to bend over
and hide when playing Thing. You can spot him from time to time,
such as a bit of his clothes or a shoe. You may also spot crewmembers. There’s a
moment in episode two where Uncle Fester’s climbing down a tree and you can see the
shadow of a moving dolly mic. One goof was done on purpose
to see if fans would notice. In the pilot, you’ll see the mailman
approach the family’s mailbox. When he opens it, you’ll see he’s right-handed. The goofy part is
that later in the episode he appears left-handed. Ted provided the hands here, just like he did for
Thing. He wanted to see if viewers would notice the difference and switched throughout the series.
Addams Family Firsts The Addams Family was the
first show to ever feature a home computer. It was a UNICAV or Universal Automatic Computer.
That first affected TV forever. Bruce Wayne had one in the Batcave a few years later,
but it was the same one the Addams Family used. Scooby-Doo and the Addams Family
The third episode of the animated New Scooby-Doo Movies is called Wednesday is Missing,
aired in 1972. It included several original cast members including Carolin, Jackie,
and John. A young Jodie Foster voiced Pugsley. The episode launched the animated Addams
Family series in 1973. Jodie returned for that as Pugsley.
Irritating Costumes Dressing up as The Addams Family wasn’t always
easy. Hairy Cousin Itt may have had it the worst. [Felix] “They started out with a a real um a real
human hair it was very heavy and very hot. [Chuck] I mean like then how did you how long
were you in that actual uh costume for the day because obviously you couldn’t
be in it all day you’d pass out. [John] You see he had a bad agent,
had a lousy agent at the time and he
had to stay in it all week- [Felix] No actually I stayed
in there maybe 20 minutes half an hour at a time it wasn’t that bad I guess.”
That wasn’t all. You may think that Gomez’ smoking habit was just a bit
of character detailing. It was actually an early example of product placement.
He’d often pull out a Dutch Masters Cigar. John had a unique way of using them. He’d
put them out on the breast pocket of his coat. The prop department had to line his
suit with toxic asbestos to kill the flames. Ken was allergic to the 100% wool costumes
his designer made. His mother had to buy all the clothes he wore on the show to avoid irritation.
Carolyn’s costume didn’t cause health problems, but it was a nuisance. Designer Nolan Miller
considered it the most difficult job she ever took on, and she had to make 30 identical ones
for off-camera moments. Carolyn said that it took her two
hours to get her wig, makeup, and costume off. The dress alone took 20 minutes to get out of.
Morticia and Gomez’s Real Relationship Morticia and Gomez’s clear attraction
was part of what made The Addams Family so popular. It was different from the lack of
sexuality in other shows of the time. John claims that it wasn’t an act. They
were attracted to each other but wanted to keep it professional.
He remembers getting pushbacks from networks but still working to create a “grand romance”
between them. He even tried to slyly work it into the advertising. As he described it,
“I think I was in Baltimore as a matter of fact. I said, ‘Hi,
I’m Gomez Adams. My wife Morticia and I are the best-adjusted couple in television.”
An Addams Inspired New Laws Jackie Coogan played Uncle Fester
but had plenty of acting experience before he signed on. He worked with
Charlie Chaplin in a vaudeville act at the age of four. He played an orphaned
boy in the silent star’s 1921 film The Kid and the tile role in Oliver Twist the next year.
Jackie’s image went on everything, including dolls, stationery, peanut
butter, and even whistles. The estimated earnings from his career are $2-4 million.
That money should have been all his, and it was until tragedy struck. His
father managed his funds until he died in May 1935 before Jackie’s 21st birthday.
He’d been getting a weekly allowance of $6.25 until then. His mother Lillian and stepfather
Arthur said they wouldn’t return any of his millions to him. They squandered it and he sued
them over it. All he got back was $35,000. The law hadn’t been on Jackie’s side,
but he helped to change it. California introduced the California Child Actor’’s Bill, also known as
Coogan’s Law. The law says that all child star’s earnings must be deposited in a court-administered
trust fund. It went into effect in 1939 and has been modified and upheld ever since.
Wednesday’s Skills Lisa Loring proved to be an
exceptionally talented actress from a young age. She was memorizing lines before she could read.
She was chosen partially because she looked like Carolyn Jones. At her audition,
producer David Levy read her lines aloud to her. After two times through, she could read
them back to him and aced her screen tests. She also doesn’t remember anyone teaching
her the dance scene in the season 2 episode Lurch’s Great Romance. She didn’t dance that
way as a child and doesn’t remember who taught her to do it. Did she come up with it herself?
Who’s your favorite TV family? Let us know in the comments below.