Trivia
Though Uncle Fester is a regular on the TV series, Charles Addams' prototype for Fester in the New Yorker cartoons was almost exclusively solitary, never shown indoors with the other family (except once as a painted portrait), and only once outdoors with the children (going fishing with dynamite).
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With the start of the TV series, The New Yorker magazine stopped running any Addams-Family-themed cartoons from Charles Addams until just prior to his death in 1988, although a few familiar characters were allowed solitary appearances (the prototypes for Pugsley, Cousin Itt, and Fester).
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Cousin Itt is the only character whose name was carried over from the original New Yorker cartoons, where he was just "It".
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Wednesday's pet, Homer, was a black widow spider. Her headless doll was named Marie Antoinette.
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This show and its rival series, The Munsters, both debuted within a week of one another in September 1964. At the end of that year's TV season, The Munsters ranked #18 in the Nielsens, with a rating of 24.7, while this show came in at #23, with a 23.9 rating. At the time, Nielsens indicated what percentage of American TV households tuned in to any given program. By the end of the following year, both series were canceled.
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It took Carolyn Jones two hours every day to put on Morticia's make-up. Topping it all off, she wore a wig made of human hair.
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Cousin Itt's voice was done by producer Nat Perrin, who recited gibberish into a tape recorder and played it back at a higher speed.
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Charles Addams never named his characters, but he had to come up with names for the characters on the TV show (it was one of the few contributions he made to the series). Within a week he decided on all of them - except for Mr. Addams, who almost wound up being called Repelli (for "repellent") instead of Gomez.
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Thing, the disembodied hand/arm limb, was usually played by Ted Cassidy. When Lurch had to be on camera at the same time as Thing, however, associate producer Jack Voglin lent his hand. A third actor also played Thing on occasion, but his identity is not known.
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Thing was usually a right hand. Ted Cassidy (Lurch) occasionally used his left hand just to see if anybody would notice. Thing also had an arm, which was seen when it reached outside for something while in its box.
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The Addamses' version of a cuckoo clock was a wolverine that popped out and growled the hours of the day.
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Wednesday Addams' name is a reference to the nursery rhyme that says, "Wednesday's child is full of woe."
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Gomez and Morticia Addams were the first married couple on American TV implied to have a sex life.
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John Astin was given the choice of two names for his character, and selected Gomez over Repelli. The son's name was originally to be Pubert, but was changed to Pugsley because Pubert sounded too sexual.
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Carolyn Jones and John Astin decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually asexual parents then common in television shows.
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The train-crash sequence, in which the model trains collide and explode, was shot once, and that footage was used every time Gomez wrecked model trains.
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Jackie Coogan was originally rejected as Uncle Fester. He went home, shaved his head, and did his own Fester makeup and costume. This won him the part.
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Morticia's pet names for Gomez generally meaning "Darling"/"My Darling" are "Bubeleh" (Yiddish), "Mon Cherie" (French), Querido (Spanish). Gomez's pet names for Morticia also of the same affectionate meaning are "Cara Mia" (Italian), "Querida"/"Querida Mia" (Spanish), "Cara Bella" (Spanish literally for "beautiful face"; Italian for "beautiful darling").
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Almost all episodes open in the Addamses' living room with the family playing and having fun. Activities included Gomez doing yoga headstands, flamenco dancing, sword fighting, bull whip practice, shooting thrown apples with crossbows and other bizarre games.
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Whenever Gomez needs to know the time, he looks at both his wristwatch and his pocket watch. Each is hours different from the other but they always average to the correct time.
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The Addamses often refer to the many cousins of their extended family. Cousins named are Blah, Bleak, Bleep, Blink, Blob, Cackle, Caliban, Clot, Creep, Crimp, Cringe, Curdle, Droop, Farouk, Fungus, Goop, Gripe, Grisly, Grope, Imar, Manuel, Melancholia, Nanook, Plato, Slimey, Slosh, Slump, Trivia, Turncoat, and Vague.
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Carolyn Jones not only played Morticia, she also played Morticia's older blonde- and daisy-haired sister, Ophelia.
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Gomez originally was engaged to Morticia's sister, Ophelia, in a arranged marriage. A few days before the wedding, however, he met and fell in love with Morticia and wound up marrying her instead.
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Even though Gomez would kiss Morticia up and down her arm when she spoke French or called him "bubeleh", we never saw him kiss her on the lips.
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At the beginning of the series, Pugsley is eight years old and Wednesday is six years old.
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The name of the city where the Addamses lived was never mentioned on the show, although it was somewhere in New York City in the cartoons.
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The interior decor of the Addamses's home was inspired by the producers' first sight of the eclectic furnishings of Charles Addams' own New York City apartment, which is why it does not at all resemble the run-down bare-walls interiors seen in both the original cartoons or the movies.
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According to John Astin, during his first meeting with Filmways executives concerning his possible participation in the show (with executive producer David Levy in attendance), he was originally offered the role of the Butler (Lurch), being told that the show would be centered around this character. Astin left this initial meeting with many reservations, wondering if he would have to wear stilts/lifts to portray this character, etc., and finally convinced himself that this part was just not going to work for him. The very next day, he received a call directly from Levy (who, according to Astin, had said little during the previous days' meeting), inviting him to lunch at a popular Hollywood restaurant. Over lunch, after expressing his doubts about playing the butler to Levy, Levy then offered him the role of Gomez; Astin accepted, and the focus of the show was changed.
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Filmways didn't want to pay singers to record the theme song, so composer Vic Mizzy triple overdubbed his own voice to simulate a trio.
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In 2007, M&M's spoofed 'The Adams Family' in a TV commercial introducing M&M's Dark Chocolate. The commercial re-created the opening of the sitcom, licensing the original tune, with the new M&M's dressed as The Addams Family cast. According to the firm IAG Research, this was the TV viewing public's favorite commercial during the month of April.
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Originally, the character of Lurch was to be mute. However, in The Addams Family: The Addams Family Goes to School, Ted Cassidy, ad-libbed the famous line, "You rang?" The line got a wave a laughter from the studio audience and Cassidy got more dialog.
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According to the DVD commentary, Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley) was allergic to the 100% wool costumes that the costume designers provided, so his mother bought all of his costumes for him.
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The Addams Family home consisted mostly of recycled sets from the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
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Cousin Itt's voice was supplied by producer Nat Perrin, who recited gibberish into a tape recorder and then played it back at a higher speed.
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The interior of the Addams house was inspired by the real-life Manhattan apartment of Charles Addams, which contained suits of armor, an antique crossbow collection, and other oddities.
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The Broadway musical version of "The Addams Family" opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 8, 2010 and starred Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth.
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When Gomez and Morticia first met, he had bronchitis. But whenever he was around Morticia, it would seemingly go away.
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According to Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family: Fester's Punctured Romance, the polar bear rug that growls whenever someone walks on it is named "Bruno".
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According to Vic Mizzy, when he auditioned the proposed theme for the producer, he simply added the snaps which became an important part of the score.
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When Lurch is at the harpsichord, he was playing a dead keyboard. The music was actually played by composer Vic Mizzy and added to the soundtrack.
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In México Gomez was called "Homero", Uncle Fester "Tío Lucas", Pugsley "Pericles" and Wednesday "Merlina".
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Ophelia Frump's look was based on Jean Simmons' performance as Ophelia in Hamlet. The flowers in her hair had roots that went all the way down into her feet as Gomez pulled one and it caused Ophelia's leg to lift.
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As Gomez would often place his lit cigars into his pocket, the prop department had lined the pockets of John Astin's jackets with asbestos.
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