The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. Earlier Addams had worked in collaboration with his friend Ray Bradbury. In a 2001 interview Bradbury states that after failing to find a publisher, they went their own separate ways, with Bradbury creating the Elliott Family and Addams creating the Addams family.
The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy family who delight in the macabre and are unaware that people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as a series of single panel cartoons in The New Yorker magazine, which gained popularity in the 1930s. They have since been adapted to other media, including television series, films and video games.
They reside next to a cemetery and a swamp at 0001 Cemetery Lane, in a gloomy mansion. Charles Addams was first inspired by his home town of Westfield, New Jersey, an area full of ornate Victorian mansions and archaic graveyards.
Although they all share macabre interests, the Addamses cannot be considered evil people. They are a close-knit extended family. Morticia is an exemplary mother, and she and Gomez remain passionate towards one another. She calls him "Bubbele", to which he responds by kissing her arms—behaviour Morticia can also provoke by speaking a few words in French. The parents are very supportive of their children, cheering even their smallest accomplishments. The family is unfailingly friendly and hospitable to visitors, in some cases willing to donate large sums of money to causes, despite the visitors' horror at the Addams' peculiar lifestyle.
Addams Family characters
- Names
Originally none of the members of the Addams family had names, but when the TV show was in development, Charles Addams was asked to provide names for each of the characters. For the father he suggested Gomez or Repelli, for the mother Morticia, for the uncle Fester, for the butler Lurch, for the daughter Wednesday (for being "full of woe"), and for the son Pubert (which he later changed to Pugsley).
- Family members and servants
The Addams family consists of Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, and Cousin Itt. The family is tended to by their butler, Lurch, and Thing, a disembodied hand (sometimes in a box) who is a childhood friend of Gomez.
- Gomez
Gomez Alonzo Addams is the Addams patriarch. He is the husband of Morticia and the father of Wednesday and Pugsley. In the original cartoons, he appears as tubby, snub-nosed and with a receding chin.
In the TV series, Gomez is portrayed as a charming, handsome, and successful man, although he has a child-like, eccentric enthusiasm for everything he does. For instance, his personal portrait depicts him as standing gleefully on his head. Though a peaceful man, he is known to be well-versed in many types of combat. He and Morticia fence with foils sometimes.
Gomez has an endless love for Morticia. He studied to be a lawyer, but rarely practises, while taking great pride in losing his cases. Gomez is extremely wealthy from inheritance and extensive investments, but he seems to have little regard for money. Gomez is of Castilian origin and loves to smoke cigars and play destructively with his model trains. Of the names Addams suggested for the family members, "Gomez" was the only one that was not "ghoulish" (in the manner of Morticia or Fester). When asked why he suggested the name Gomez for the character, Addams replied that he "thought he [the character] had a bit of Spanish blood in him."
- Morticia
Morticia Addams is the matriarch of the Addams Family. She is a woman with pale skin and a Gothic appearance, clad in a skin-tight black gown with octopus-like tendrils at the bottom. Morticia has an older sister named Ophelia. Morticia is portrayed as elegant, artistic, and musically inclined (opera singing, tango dancing, and playing numerous instruments). She also knits strange items of clothing for various members of the family. She has a crystal ball which Thing hides for her and she sometimes performs magic, though seldom (like lighting candles by pointing at them with her fingertips), however, this is only done when she is alone or with Gomez.
- Pugsley and Wednesday
Gomez and Morticia have two children, Pugsley and Wednesday. Wednesday, whose middle name is Friday, was originally—as her name suggests—a quiet, somewhat pathetic child, full of woe. In the TV show she is a sweet-natured, innocent, happy child, largely concerned with her pet spiders. A favorite toy is her Marie Antoinette doll, which she had guillotined. The movies gave Wednesday a much more serious and mature personality with a morbid fascination with trying to physically harm or possibly murder her brother (she was seen strapping him into an electric chair, for example, and preparing to pull the switch); she is apparently often successful, but Pugsley never dies.
For his part, Pugsley is largely either oblivious of the harm his sister tries to inflict on him, or an enthusiastic supporter of it. In the TV series, he is a devoted older brother and an inventive and mechanical genius. In the films, he loses his intelligence and independence, and becomes Wednesday's sidekick and younger brother, cheerfully helping her in her evil deeds.
The children appear to be home-schooled, receiving all the education they require from Grandmama and Uncle Fester. An attempt was made to enroll them in the local elementary school, but it did not work out.
- Uncle Fester and Grandmama
Other members of the family who live with Gomez and Morticia include Uncle Fester and Grandmama. Fester is a bald, barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and a devilish grin. He seems to carry an electrical charge and can illuminate a light bulb by sticking it in his mouth. In the original television series, Fester was Morticia's uncle, and therefore technically not an Addams, although at times he claims the family name as his own. In all other animated and filmed content, Fester became Gomez's older brother.
Grandmama is Gomez's mother in the 1960s live-action TV series and also The New Addams Family, where she is given the name "Eudora Addams". However, she's only referenced as Morticia's mother in the movie series, having the name Esmeralda Frump. Grandmama is a witch who deals in potions, spells and hexes of all kinds. She even dabbles in fortune-telling. Her trademarks are her shawl and frizzy hair.
- Thing, Lurch, and Cousin Itt
Another member of the family is seen in the form of a disembodied hand named "Thing". Thing has been Gomez's friend since childhood. He (it is implied that he is male) often performs common, everyday tasks such as retrieving the mail, writing a letter or just giving a friendly pat on the shoulder, appearing out of ubiquitous boxes or other convenient containers throughout the house. He communicates with Addamses with a Morse-like alphabet, sign language, writing, and knocking on wood.
In addition to Thing, the Addams family also have a tall, ghoulish manservant named Lurch. Lurch serves as a shambling, gravelly-voiced butler, vaguely resembling Frankenstein's Monster though he is a considerable "jack of all trades". Surprisingly, he is often seen playing the harpsichord and organ with a great degree of skill and somewhat uncharacteristic enthusiasm. In the sitcom, he was capable of speech; he would answer with a monotone, brusque and bass-voiced, "You rang?".
Cousin Itt (spelled as "Cousin It" in the movies and the pinball game), who often visits the family, is short-statured and has long hair which covers his entire body from scalp to floor. Cousin Itt drives a 3-wheeled car. Although in the series he is shown wearing opera gloves, it is unclear what, if anything, is beneath the hair. He is known to speak in a high-pitched nonsensical gibberish that only the family seems to understand. In Latin America, Cousin It is called "Tío Cosa" (Uncle Thing) and he is Morticia's brother; Thing is called "Dedos" (Fingers).
- Pets
In the sitcom, references are made to an innumerable collection of bizarre and unconventional creatures such as hawks, bats and alligators. Kitty Cat is the family lion, and can be seen in several episodes roaming around the house. The entire family regards Kitty Cat as they would an average housecat. Pugsley has an octopus called Aristotle, and Wednesday a large collection of spiders with only one she mentions in particular by name, Homer. Coincidentally, in Latin America Gomez is called "Homero" (Homer). The family also has a pair of piranha named Tristan and Isolde who live in a fish tank. Cleopatra is an African Strangler, a man-eating plant (similar to Audrey 2), belonging to Morticia. The plant eats meatballs made of Yak and other tasty meats specially prepared and more often than not, spoon-fed to her.