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Following the deluge of Addams Family tribute movies
and cartoons, now is a good time to reacquaint ourselves with
the original 1960s TV series. This Season 1 DVD does
not disappoint...
Based on characters created by Charles Addams in a series
of cartoon illustrations for the New Yorker, the Addams
Family sitcom ran for 64 half hour episodes on ABC across
two seasons from September 1964 to April 1966.
It
is full of wit, inventiveness and sly, macabre humour, and
brilliantly uses the inverted lens of the Addams' counterculture
family to cast a baleful eye across a range of American institutions
from education to politics, sports to boy scouts, Summer Camp
and beyond.
Because
of our extensive exposure to the Addams Family franchise,
it is difficult to place ourselves in the shoes of the 1964
viewer and feel the shock of being asked to identify with
- instead of fear - this bizarre family, apparently straight
out of a 1930s horror movie. It works because of the skilful
portrayal of the Addams Family as a darker mirror image of
the textbook, all-American extended family group, strictly
abiding by their own moral and ethical codes.
Morticia
(played by established Hollywood actress Carolyn Jones) is
the elegant, vampish family matriarch, and forms the centre
of the action with her husband, the wild-eyed but warm hearted
Gomez (John Astin). They have the average two children in
Pugsley and Wednesday, and their household is completed by
elder relatives Uncle Fester and Grandmamma. Morticia
and Gomez care passionately for each other - the sexual chemistry
is often startlingly raw for early 1960s TV - and care passionately
for their childrens' well-being in the face of constant assaults
by society's 'normalising' institutions.
This
was a period of American history where a new generation was
starting to challenge the legitimacy of the social and political
elite, and this series hits a range of targets with unerring
accuracy.
Political
cynicism, for example, is given a thorough workout in Gomez
the Politician. The
iconic Victorian mansion at 0001 Cemetery Ridge is set next
to a swamp whose slimy denizens are a constant source of pleasure
to the Addams family. When local politicians threaten to drain
the swamp in a bid to win favour with the local electorate,
Gomez uses his apparently limitless wealth to bankroll the
candidates in favour of draining the swamp - in the sure knowledge
that they will renege on the commitment once elected!
School
institutions come under examination - "I love my children,"
says Gomez. "Why would I want them to spend all day in
a school?" Especially a school where 'fairytales' incite
kids to mindless violence against defenceless dragons and
encourage the forcing of old ladies (there are no such things
as witches, of course) into cooking pots.
The
writers have a lot of fun inverting 'normal' domestic activities.
Gomez loves to play train sets with his son - blowing up bridges
and causing multiple pile-ups; Gomez questions the rampant
consumerism of the '60s by his childlike delight in losing
money on the stockmarket; his kids keep spiders and Octopi
as pets and guillotines and medieval racks as toys; Morticia's
gardening skills involve cutting the heads off healthy roses
and raising man-eating plants; Uncle Fester's body carries
enough electricity to light a bulb. And just what is that
in Grandma's American pie?...
The
house is full of brilliantly realised surreal humour, and
each episode reveals a new twist: A lion rug which is clearly
alive; a disembodied servant hand which appears from boxes,
vases and umbrella stands; the stone-faced, groaning family
butler Lurch who, in a delightful Brechtian flourish, plays
each episode's continuity music on the house harpsichord.
Then there is the whole cast of bizarre relatives, including
the hair-covered Cousin Itt and Morticia's mother, played
by Margaret Hamilton, perhaps better known as the Wicked Witch
of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
There
is an excellent selection of extras. First are audio commentaries
from cast members Lisa Loring (Wednesday), Ken Weatherwax
(Puglsey) and Felix Silla (Cousin Itt) on the The Addams
Family Goes to School, Morticia the Matchmaker,
and Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family episodes. Mini
documentaries include a portrait of Charles Addams, of score
composer Vic Mizzy - who developed musical themes for each
character and played Lurch's keyboard parts - and reminiscences
by cast members including John Astin. The Extras are topped
off by a stills gallery of Charles Addams' original character
drawings and photographs of Addams at work and with his family.
Andy
Thomas
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