13 altogether ooky facts about 'The Addams Family'

Learn how Jodie Foster, asbestos and the color pink all relate to the creepy, kooky clan.

Image: The Everett Collection

Long before comic book adaptations were all the rage, Hollywood looked to the pages of daily newspapers for ideas. Half a century ago, comic strips like Blondie and Dennis the Menace became sitcoms. Peanuts kicked off a string of iconic animated Charlie Brown specials. A Saturday Evening Post strip called Hazel became a TV hit on NBC.

Of course, one of the greatest adaptations of a comic strip from the 1960s was The Addams Family, a gothic comedy inspired by one-panel cartoons in The New Yorker by Charles Addams. Premiering on small screens in 1964, the Addams Family has never really gone away. Cartoons followed in the 1970s. A Halloween reunion came later that decade. A trilogy of films revived the characters for a new generation in the 1990s. There have been Broadway shows, video games, and an incredible pinball game based on the Addams. 

So, let's look back at the classic. Here are 13 kooky, spooky things you might not have known about The Addams Family television series.

1. Until the TV show, the characters did not have names.

 

Charles Addams, pictured here in his home office, did not name the creepy, charming characters in his one-panel cartoons. When the show was green-lit, Addams and producers came up with names for the clan. Did you know Wednesday's middle name is Friday?

Image: AP Photo / Ron Frehm

2. Gomez was almost named Repelli.

 

When brainstorming names for the patriarch of the family, Addams proposed two options — Repelli and Gomez. The final decision was given to star John Astin. He made the right choice.

Image: The Everett Collection

3. John Astin originally auditioned for Lurch.

 

Speaking of Astin, it's hard to picture him playing any other member of the family. Coming off the short-lived sitcom I'm Dickens, He's Fenster (he was Dickens), Astin initially tried out for the role of the butler, as yet unnamed. He could not quite envision himself in the role, and thankfully producers saw the potential of him as the father. Astin was an early casting decision. Check out fascinating audition photos from TIME Magazine in 1964, in which Astin tries out potential Morticias, Festers, Lurches and Pugsleys. 

4. Ted Cassidy played two roles.

 

While best known for playing Lurch, Ted Cassidy also lent a hand — literally — by also playing Thing.

Image: The Everett Collection

5. The Addams Family house had pink walls.

 

Though it aired just as television was blossoming from black & white to full color, The Addams Family appropriately filmed in gothic grayscale. Like the simple, inky black of the comic strips, The Addams Family just felt at home in shadowy black & white. Plus, it might have ruined the vibe in color, as the walls of their home were bright pink, as you can see in this promotional photo.

Image: The Everett Collection

6. The sets were recycled from the film 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown.'

 

Some of those home interiors came courtesy of the Debbie Reynolds movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which hit theaters a few months before the Addams Family premiere. Both were productions of MGM.

Image: The Everett Collection

7. The Addams were the first TV family to have a home computer.

 

A couple of years later, Bruce Wayne would utilize his Batcomputer in the Batcave, but the first family "P.C." seen on TV was the UNIVAC on The Addams Family. As you can see, it was not exactly a laptop.

Image: MGM Television

8. Carolyn Jones divorced Aaron Spelling weeks before the premiere.

 

Morticia star Carolyn Jones had split with her second husband shortly before The Addams Family premiere. A New York Times report on the divorce from August 7, 1964, explained the reason for the divorce. "Mr. Spelling stayed out late at night without explanation," testimony claimed. Spelling would go on to produce Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, Beverly Hills 90210, and dozens of other TV shows. Jones did work together with Spelling on his creation The Lloyd Bridge Show (1962-63).

Image: The Everett Collection

9. Astin's suit pockets were lined with asbestos.

 

Gomez could often be seen chomping on a cigar (as in the photo at the top of the page). No wonder — Dutch Masters Cigars was a sponsor of the show. As was his practice, Gomez put out lit cigars in the breast pocket of his coat. Thus, prop-makers lined the suit pocket with asbestos.

10. The studio would not pay for singers, so the theme song is just multiple tracks of the same guy.

 

Da-da-da-dom, *snap* *snap*. Where would The Addams Family be without that brilliant theme song? The tune was the work of Vic Mizzy. Reportedly, the studio was reluctant to spend the cash for multiple singers, so Mizzy multi-tracked his voice to perform as the "trio" heard in the opening credits.

Image: The Everett Collection

11. The Addams Family made their first animated appearance on 'Scooby-Doo.'

 

In 1972, the Addams Family appeared in "Wednesday Is Missing," an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, the hour-long sequel series to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! A year later, the clan finally got its own cartoon with Hanna-Barbera's The Addams Family on NBC Saturday mornings.

Image: Warner Bros. / IMDb

12. Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster voiced Pugsley Addams.

 

The adult cast returned for the Scooby-Doo cartoon — John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy. For the 1973 Hanna-Barbera animated series, only Coogan and Cassidy would remain. They got a little creative in casting the kids. Young Jodie Foster stepped in for Ken Weatherwax to voice Pugsley in both!

Image: The Doris Day Show

13. The Addams Family gave MC Hammer his final Top 10 hit.

 

You probably forget just how huge Hammer was in the early '90s. The Oakland pop-rapper scored five Top 10 hits. The last of his big smashes was "Addams Groove," which was the theme song to the 1991 blockbuster The Addams Family. "They do what they wanna do, say what they wanna say, live how they wanna live…." It "won" the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song that year, but reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Image: Capitol Records

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76 Comments

cperrynaples 26 months ago
A correction on 6: TAF was shot at MGM, but was produced by Filmways! Ironically, MGM acquired most of the Filmways library in the '90's when they purchased Orion Pictures!
shadow 26 months ago
Walls were victorian red wall paper, all the talk of pink walls I think is the result of the color photos aging, their faces appear pretty pink too.
squid 26 months ago
The Addams Family is a classic.
LousCannon 37 months ago
Carolyn Jones was a very beautiful woman. R.I.P
tootsieg 39 months ago
Love the Addams Family!!! Such a fun show. Every character is good.
Hdaneck7 43 months ago
To F5Twister, the 's' was left out of Lloyd Bridges' name. As for the plural of names ending with an 's' an apostrophe is placed at the end of the name. If an apostrophe is placed before the 's' it makes it possessive, e.g. Smith's a jackass.
MichaelFairII Hdaneck7 42 months ago
Actually, 'Smith's a jackass' is a contraction of 'Smith is'. 'Smith's jackass' is possessive.
Wiseguy 43 months ago
Dennis the Menace, Hazel and the Addams Family were all comic panels, not strips (although the writer does refer to the Addams Family as both).
F5Twitster 43 months ago
“The Addams were the first TV family to have a home computer.”

That’s AddamsES, plural. As for

“Jones did work together with Spelling on his creation The Lloyd Bridge Show (1962-63).”

Lloyd BRIDGES Show (the plural of which is Bridgeses).
MarkSpeck 43 months ago
With regards to #6, The Addams Family was NOT an MGM production, but a Filmways production, though through a series of mergers, MGM does now own the rights to the series.

#8...Carolyn Jones also worked with Aaron Spelling when he produced the Dick Powell Theater (the episode "Who Killed Julie Greer?", the pilot for Burke's Law, where she played the titular murder victim) and also for a pair of Burke's Law episodes, one of which, "Who Killed Sweet Betsy?", she played a FOUR-PART role as quintuplets, including that of the murder victim.
F5Twitster MarkSpeck 43 months ago
Neither was the show shot at MGM. If the above information is correct, then Filmways rented or bought sections of the Molly Brown sets from MGM, a not-uncommon practice.
ckg1 43 months ago
Regarding #4: Cassidy signed contracts for BOTH Lurch and Thing. So, yes, he got double pay.

Not a bad set-up.
Deleted 44 months ago
This comment has been removed.
scott 44 months ago
Really?



Just. Stop. It.


Name calling? Surely you can do better. Yet again, likely not.
Catman 44 months ago
Carolyn Jones first caught my eye in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers
BrittReid Catman 26 months ago
And three years before that in House of Wax.
sputnik_57 44 months ago
Fact 4: Ted Cassidy played two roles ----Lurch and Thing. "Thing" was taken from "The Beast With Five Fingers" --- one of my favorite horror movies.
Fact 9: Astin's suit pockets were lined with asbestos. Asbestos is a known carcinogen (but this was probably not known in the '60's) ---- Astin's still alive today...in his 90's!
vinman63 sputnik_57 39 months ago
Irony is that Carolyn Jones died of cancer.
Mirramanee 44 months ago
Actually, my favorite Ted Cassidy appearance outside of the Addams Family was as on Star Trek: TOS. He appeared as Rok on the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". John Astin had an interesting role as the dorky school dance director on "West Side Story". I do not believe that he even got a screen credit for that role. I've looked hard at the closing credits for that movie and I have never seen his name on them, but it was definitely him.
vinman63 Mirramanee 39 months ago
He also played a gardener on Beverly Hillbillies
Gingergirl1 44 months ago
Yay! My favorite show in the world. It was criminal that The Addams Family was cancelled after only 2 seasons. It’s absolutely wonderful.
Both Carolyn Jones and John Astin appeared on Batman in 1966. Jones as Marsha the Queen of Diamonds, and Astin as the Riddler...but I reckon y’all already knew that ;).
RedSamRackham Gingergirl1 44 months ago
* Ted Cassidy appeared as Lurch in the window in a scene where Batman & Robin were climbing the building! ☺
WilliamLAllen Gingergirl1 44 months ago
Joh Astin played the Puzzeler I believe, not the Riddeler. Same costume, different name.
Fuentino WilliamLAllen 43 months ago
Good memory! There WAS a guest villain caller Puzzler on Batman. He was played by Maurice Evans (Samantha's dad and Endora's ex-husband on Bewitched). John Astin did, in fact play the second Riddler on Batman. Frank Gorshin was a very hard act to follow as the first riddler.
Fuentino RedSamRackham 43 months ago
The lurch character always cracked me up. I would expect him to be mute. Then lo and behold he's as eloquent as Efraim Zimbalist Jr. Playing Alfred Pennyworth on Batman the animated series!
vinman63 Gingergirl1 39 months ago
Also vito scotti sam picasso was on as a penguin henchman.
WayneKeith RedSamRackham 26 months ago
[image=https://weigel-comments.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ILnyT-1665899886-LURCH MEETS BATMAN & ROBIN Screenshot 2021-07-07 133957.png]
sputnik_57 44 months ago
Glad to see MeTV finally gets the Addams Family! By the way, fact 7, the "home computer" may have been a UNIVAC but they called it "Whizzo". I recall reading somewhere that Gomez kissing Morticia up and down her arm was controversial at the time and almost censored. They were the first (married) couple to suggest they had a hot sex life!
vinman63 sputnik_57 42 months ago
But Lily and Herman slept in the same bed.
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