On this date in 1964 The Addams Family debuted on ABC. 10 facts about TV’s creepiest family.
The show was based on a series of about 24 cartoons which were featured in the New Yorker. The characters in the cartoons didn’t have names, and were created by a freelance illustrator called Charles Addams. When it came to naming them for the TV series, Addams had ideas for names, although his suggestions were largely rejected. He thought Gomez should be called Repelli and that Pugsley should be called Pubert.
Wednesday’s name comes from the nursery rhyme, Monday’s Child, which states that Wednesday’s child is “full of woe.” Her middle name is Friday.
The family lives at 0001 Cemetery Lane, although their house is based on a real one with the address 21 Chester Place, Los Angeles. The third floor with a tower wasn’t part of that house, but was added by the special effects people to make the house spookier. The house was demolished sometime between 1968 and 1972. The interior of the Addams house was inspired by the real life home of creator Charles Addams, who actually had collections of crossbows and suits of armour in his Manhattan apartment.
Lurch was not, initially, intended to be a speaking role. However, when the actor playing him, Ted Cassidy, decided to ad lib “You rang” the producers liked it and had him say that and a few other simple phrases.
Ted Cassidy often played another character in the show, namely Thing, the disembodied hand. Thing was usually a right hand, but Cassidy occasionally used his left hand instead, to see if anyone noticed. However, in the days before computer generated special effects, if Lurch and Thing were required to appear at the same time, the hand would then belong to associate producer Jack Voglin, or a third hand actor who was never named. Incidentally, Cassidy later became the voice of Ben Grimm (The Thing) in a cartoon series about the Fantastic Four. One final fact about Thing – his full name is Thing T. Thing. The T stands for "Thing".
There are a lot of cousins. The most famous is probably cousin Itt, a hairy creature in a Bowler hat and Sunglasses who speaks gibberish. Other cousins the family talked about included Bleak, Blob, Cackle, Caliban, Clot, Creep, Cringe, Curdle, Droop, Fungus, Goop, Grisly, Melancholia, Slimey, and Vague. Morticia's maiden name is Frump. Her mother occasionally appeared in the show and was played by Margaret Hamilton, best as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
The Addamses were the first TV family to own a home computer (a UNIVAC).
They also had a number of pets. There was a pet Lion called Kitty Cat, a pet Vulture called Zelda (played by a real male vulture called Igor) and two piranhas called Tristan and Isolde. Individual family members had their own pets as well: Morticia had a carnivorous plant called Cleopatra; Pugsley had a jaguar called Fang and an Octopus called Aristotle; and Wednesday had a black widow Spider called Homer and a lizard named Lucifer. She also had a headless doll which she called Marie Antoinette.
Gomez was in the habit of stubbing out his cigars in the breast pocket of his coat. So he didn’t burn or set fire to himself, his jacket had an asbestos pocket. Despite wearing a highly toxic substance close to his chest, the actor who played him, actor John Astin, outlived his co-stars, even the ones playing his children, and at time of writing is still alive and in his 90s.
The theme tune was written by Vic Mizzy, who dubbed his own voice onto the track several times as the TV company were too mean to pay any singers. Mizzy also provided the music when Lurch played the harpsichord. The instrument Lurch is seen playing had dead keys and the music was added later.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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