America might love the Addams Family at Christmas more than Halloween

Hundreds of families requested to use this Charles Addams Christmas comic for their holiday cards in the Sixties.

The Addams Family has a reputation for the macabre, but that doesn’t mean fans don’t think of Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Lurch and Thing only around Halloween.

In the much-cherished Addams Family episode "Christmas with the Addams Family," fans loved seeing the Victorian mansion decked out with holly, with Morticia dressing the Christmas tree and every single member of the family posing as Santa to fool their trickster kids.

Ken Weatherwax told The Asbury Park Press in 2006 that he especially loved acting in this Addams Family Christmas episode because it "was one of the special shows that centered on the kids. It was great."

In the Sixties, people became just as fond of The Addams Family at Christmas not just because of this classic episode, but also because arguably the most popular Charles Addams comics of all time featured the Addams family at Christmas.

The same year the Christmas episode aired, Addams told the Alternative Press that "probably the most famous and delightfully shocking" of all his cartoons was "a holiday-time drawing of the haunted mouldering Victorian house, obviously on Christmas Eve."

This comic showed a troupe of children caroling in front of the Addams’ house, singing cheerfully. Unbeknownst to the children, up on the rooftop, Gomez, Morticia and Lurch prepare to empty a cauldron over their "innocent heads."

This may not seem totally in the Christmas spirit, but it resonated around the holidays all the same.

"Literally hundreds of people wrote to me asking permission to reproduce it – for their Christmas cards," Addams said.

It would appear that the spooky, ooky family simply helped inspire many families to add more adjectives to their holidays than "merry" and "bright."

In "Christmas with the Addams Family," though, the episode ends on a legitimately merry note, showing the cast earnestly singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," with Cousin Itt even joining in for his own solo.

So although we celebrated "Halloween with the Addams Family" a year before in 1964, and it seemed perfectly natural to watch Gomez carve a pumpkin, in 1965, audiences discovered their favorite time of year with the Addams Family just might be Christmas.

It’s fun to imagine Lurch responding to a more wholesome call, not to fetch a medieval weapon, but to bring us some figgy pudding.

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68 Comments

Todd 23 months ago
If I remember correctly, the 1991 Addams Family movie actually opens with a re-creation of the cauldron cartoon. Even in the 1940s and 1950s, some people were sick of the never-ending marathon of gooey "Holiday Cheer" crapola that we suffer through every year at this time.
sputnik_57 24 months ago
It was my Christmas wish that Me would keep Addams Family in mothballs until Halloween.
bagandwallyfan52 24 months ago
Chuck Cunningham 2 Randolph Roberts and Roger Phillips Ted McGinley the 2
Basketball Guys will be seen on METV
ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 11TH FROM
2PM -4PM. THE CHRISTMAS EPISODE
WIRH CHUCK CUNNINGHAM 2 WILL BE
SEEN AT 2PM AND THE CHRISTMAS EPISODE WITH ROGER PHILLIPS 1 WILL
BE SEEN AT 3:30pm on Dec.11th.
Well that's nice that you will get a little bit of one of your favorites in the Sunday Block.
phritzg 24 months ago
I couldn't see the cartoon with the cauldron on this page for some reason, if it was even here. If you couldn't either, you can see the Chas Addams Christmas cartoon with the cauldron above the caroling kids here: https://www.addamsfest.com/masquerade-ball-2021
tootsieg 24 months ago
The Addams Family was way ahead of its time. Very good episode.
Karellen 24 months ago
My favorite Addams cartoon had the children's stockings hung over the fireplace, which had a roaring fire going. Morticia says "They still believe!"
Runeshaper 24 months ago
This episode sounds AWESOME! (-:
Sway 24 months ago
That photo would make a great Christmas card.
Runeshaper Sway 24 months ago
Agreed!
Runeshaper 38 months ago
That sounds like an episode I have to watch! The photo alone in this article of the family is worth a thousand words (-:
JudithReboy 38 months ago
I'm surprised that the article doesn't mention that the cartoon with the carolers was recreated in the beginning of the live action Addams Family movie.
CaptainDunsel 38 months ago
I used that cartoon one year for some cards. Another year I used this one:
Runeshaper CaptainDunsel 38 months ago
That's AWESOME!
CaptainDunsel Runeshaper 38 months ago
For the first one (with the carolers), the inside read "Wishing you all the warmth of the holiday season."
Runeshaper CaptainDunsel 38 months ago
hahahaha that's great!
bnichols23 CaptainDunsel 37 months ago
I remember that one. Addams, Peter Arno, Thurber, & George Booth were the New Yorker's best cartoonists, IMOVHO.
CaptainDunsel bnichols23 37 months ago
If you're a fan of the cartoons from The New Yorker, this is not cheap but well worth it: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cartoons-New-Yorker-Book/dp/1579123228/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=new+yorker+cartoons&qid=1634836152&s=books&sr=1-3
bdettlingmetv 38 months ago
I just checked out a 'highlights" video of "Christmas with the Addams Family" on The Tube. Very cute and funny. I will keep my eyes open for the full episode as we get nearer to the holiday.
bagandwallyfan52 38 months ago
Since Popeye cartoons are seen on METV does anyone know
Why The name of BLUTO was
Changed to BRUTUS??
Why did EGGHEAD disappear from Looney Tunes and Egghead
Vanished into THE CARTOON ZONE which is similar to The
SITCOM ZONE.
CoreyC bagandwallyfan52 38 months ago
There was some copyright issues with Disney I believe cause kids would confuse him with Pluto.
CoreyC bagandwallyfan52 38 months ago
As for Egghead the character evolved into Elmer Fudd.
Moverfan CoreyC 19 months ago
As I recall, when they started making the cartoons, they thought somebody else (maybe the comic book creators) had a trademark for the name Bluto, so they changed it to Brutus in the cartoons. When they found out there was no such trademark, they went back to the original name. It's been years since I heard the story, do I'm not promising I'm remembering it correctly.
bagandwallyfan52 38 months ago
There should have been a
Christmas Episode of Leave
It To Beaver with
Beaver Wally Ward and June
And
Eddie Haskell
Lumpy Rutherford
Chester Anderson
Tooey Brown
Larry Mondello
Whtey Whitne
Bengie Bellamy
Gilbert Bates
Miss Landers
Gus
Bill Scott
Uncle Billy
Aunt Martha
Also I wis that BOTH
Judy Hensler and Penny Woods
Had been on been on Leave It
To Beaver at the same time.
It also would have been great
if Spike and Chachi had both
Been on Happy Days at the same time and it would have been great if Moose(Barry Greenberg) Bag Zombroski
(Neil J. Schwartz) Spike(Danny
Butch) Eugene Belvin(Denis Mandel) Melvin Belvin(Scott
Bernstein) and Chuck Cunningham (either Randolph Roberts OR Gavan O Herlihy)
Had not vanished from Happy Days with no explanation.
Penny Woods was played by
Karen Sue Trent and Judy Hensler was played by Jeri
Weil and Tooey Brown was played by Tiger Fafara and
Chester Anderson was played by
Buddy Hart and Bill Scott was played by David Kent.
vinman63 bagandwallyfan52 37 months ago
Years later in the the New leave it to beaver. Hugh Beaumont’s real live sister did a cameo in a Thanksgiving Episode.
NYRY11 38 months ago
Munsters>Addams Family
Pacificsun NYRY11 38 months ago
I think you have that backwards. It's AF is greater than M. After all, this IS an AF thread. In fact I think there should be a quiz survey to find out which show is more popular just for Halloween.

Come on MeTV Writers you can get it out there just in time for Oct. 31.
bagandwallyfan52 NYRY11 38 months ago
I liked the cartoon movie
The Jetsons Meet The
Flintstones and I wish that
METV would show this movie. Back in 1964 or 1965
I wish that there had been
A spooky comedy movie
Called The ADDAMS FAMILY
MEET THE MUNSTERS.
bagandwallyfan52 NYRY11 38 months ago
I would like to see the
Following on METV:
ALICE
MY FAVORITE MARTIAN
THE ADVENTURES of Ozzie and Harriet
I Dream of Jeanne
Bewitched
I Love Lucy
The Lucy Show
Partridge Family
The Little Rascals
Laurel and Hardy Shorts
Eddie Cantor Movies
Joe Penner Movies
PEE WEE HERMAN Movies
Pee Weeks Playhouse
Shirley Temple Movies
Ernest Movies and
Elvis Presley Movies
bagandwallyfan52 NYRY11 38 months ago
Correction
Pee Wees Playhouse.
AnnieM Pacificsun 38 months ago
I'd love to see a poll like this! I'm genuinely curious which would turn out to be more popular. I like them both, but have to say I prefer the Munsters (Herman was adorable!). I think the Addams Family had more of a dry wit, where the Munsters were more slapstick.
Cartoons were never as competitive as TV series. Unfortunately TV networks were. Neither would admit the other show existed much less consider a cross-over. But it would've been so much fun if they had! What a great movie it would've made. But part of that restriction also had to do with the Cartoonist behind the Addams Family who was very proprietary about his original creation. It was difficult just getting it to TV because so much attention needed to be paid to the original images/caricatures. Of course bringing it to TV, some adaptation needed to be made. Read more about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family_(1964_TV_series)
Zip 38 months ago
"It would appear that the spooky, ooky family simply helped inspire many families to add more adjectives to their holidays than "merry" and "bright.""

Like "scary" and "fright", maybe?
WGH 38 months ago
I used to go to the library with my dad when I was in grade school for one reason… they had a book of Charles Adams cartoons and I loved reading it over and over!
sputnik_57 38 months ago
My favorite line in all the AF episodes is when Morticia says to Gomez: "Darling when we're together every night is Halloween"
bnichols23 sputnik_57 37 months ago
Or as the interchange between Raul Julia (God rest him. **GREAT** actor.) & Anjelica Huston: "The old ball & chain." "I'll get them."
Moriyah 38 months ago
Man, I wish they made a Gomer Pyle Christmas episode! Who agrees with me?! (Let me know)
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Moriyah bagandwallyfan52 38 months ago
Yes, they definitely should've done that! But I don't know why they did that
bagandwallyfan52 Moriyah 37 months ago
The Gomer Pyle USMC episode where Sgt. Carter
Had a nightmare that he
Married Bunny was very funny because GOMER was
The best man preacher
Organist and he was in one
Of the church pews telling
The preacher that Vince
Carter and Bunny were
Perfect for each other and
Go ahead and tie the knot.
I also like the episode of
TAGS where Andy Barney
And Gomer went to the
Old Rimshaw "haunted"
House to pick up Copies
Baseball and Otis and Big
Jack Anderson tried to
Scare them.
Did you ever see that episode of The Andy Griffith Show and did you
Watch Gomer Pyle when he
Was on Andy Griffith's show.??
bagandwallyfan52 Moriyah 37 months ago
I also liked the Haunted
Episode of Happy Days
At the old Simpson House
Where Bag Zombroski (Neil
J. Schwartz) tried to scare
Richie and everyone else
And Ralph and Potsie tried
To scare everyone also.
Moverfan bagandwallyfan52 19 months ago
Is Barney Five any relation to Johnny Five from the short Circuit movies? (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
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