The arrival of a Wandinha-centric series on Netflix has put fans in The Addams Family in warning sign. The character is one of the most beloved by the public, in love with these strange relatives.
But do you know the history of the emergence of this family, symbol of horror and comedy? Do you know the names of all the characters by heart? Have you watched all the movies?
So sit back, grab a bucket of popcorn and get ready! Let’s dive into cinema’s least terrifying family, which is certainly the most eccentric. Check out!
The Origin of the Addams Family
(Source: Dans Media Digest/The New Yorker/Reproduction)Source: Dans Media Digest
The year was 1938, when the American magazine The New Yorker decided to bet on Charles Addams, a freelance cartoonist who presented one of his comics to the magazine.
It was the drawing of a vacuum cleaner salesman, trying to get an unusual couple to buy his device that “didn’t vibrate and didn’t make noise”, saving any housewife time and not having back pain, an item that every home should to have.
Chas, as he was known around the world, had no idea that there was the beginning of something that would be very successful. This first drawing earned him the sum of US$ 85, the equivalent of just over US$ 1700 in corrected values.
It was not Charles’ first work for the magazine, where he had been a sporadic contributor since 1932, but it was what guaranteed him a regular space until 1988, the year of his death.
A typical American family
(Source: The Addams Family Wiki/Reproduction)Source: The Addams Family Wiki
The illustrator has always had a thing for the bizarre side, but the idea of a morbid design sought influences in North American society. With a great sense of humor, Charles Addams made his characters a typical American family of the 20th century in reverse.
They are aristocrats, rich, eccentric, with peculiar tastes, hardly caring about the needs of others and what people think about them.
Between the 1940s and 1950s, at least 58 cartoons of The Addams Family were published. Over the years, the illustrator was molding his scary family, until he sold his rights for an adaptation to be broadcast by the North American TV network ABC.
It is not known why, but after the launch of the television series, William Shawn, then editor of The New Yorkerbanned the publication of new drawings of the terrifying family.
The first adaptation of the cartoons for TV
(Source: Dans Media Digest/Reproduction)Source: Dans Media Digest
Created by David Levy, The Addams Family It ran for two seasons, totaling 64 episodes. Between 1964 and 1966, ABC presented screenwriter Nat Perrin’s vision of each character’s identity.
- See too: 10 scariest horror movie characters
Chas even regretted that his creations reached television more lightly. Perrin abdicated terror and evil forces in favor of a sitcomthat is, a comedy of situations, half in the style I Love Lucy or Fresh prince of Bel Air. Despite the success, the series was cancelled.
How many Addams Family movies, series and cartoons are there?
(Source: Dans Media Digest/Reproduction)Source: Dans Media Digest
In all, the Addams Family franchise has had three films, one short film, two animated films, two television specials, and four TV series. Oh, there was also a musical.
His newest production, Wandinhashould arrive later this year in the Netflix catalog. The new adaptation is led by none other than Tim Burtonmaster of gothic and dark cinema.
The illustrator’s original characters
(Source: Dans Media Digest/Reproduction)Source: Dans Media Digest
The final elaboration of the original characters of The Addams Family was conducted in part by Charles Addams, but Nat Perrin designed the screen. This is how we found out:
- Gomezthe patriarch, thirsty for blowing up toy trains and madly in love with his wife;
- deatha woman with an exotic look and macabre expressions;
- Wandinhathe grumpy daughter;
- Uglythe naughty son Ugly;
- Uncle Chicoa macabre bald, brother of Gomez (in the original series, he was Morticia’s brother);
- granny witchmother of Gomez, who used a cauldron to brew her magic potions capable of solving all problems.
The troupe completed:
- stumblethe huge, few-worded and unexpressive butler who resembled Frankenstein;
- Little handliterally a disembodied hand that roamed the Addams’ house.
The characters that were not created by the illustrator
(Source: The Addams Family Wiki/Reproduction)Source: The Addams Family Wiki
Originally, the drawings of Charles published by The New Yorker they didn’t have nameswhich is why some argue that he is not the real creator of the characters.
Of the popular, or central core of the plot, Primo Itt, a hairy guy whose body we can’t see any part of, is the brainchild of David Levy, creator of the series aired on ABC in the 1960s.
To consolidate the image of the family in the TV series – and give it an aspect of less horror and more focused on sitcoms – characters were created and inserted into the plot:
- Kitty Katthe family’s “pet lion”;
- AristotleUgly’s “pet octopus”;
- Homer“Wanda’s pet spider”;
- tristan and Isoldethe family’s piranha couple;
- Zeldathe vulture that watches over the house;
- and Cleopatrathe carnivorous plant of Morticia.
There is another plethora of relatives, neighbors, co-workers and school that were placed in the Addams universe and were not conceived by its creator, but we decided to name only the most frequent.
We are looking forward to Wandinha. By the way, here in My Series you will find some articles with the information that we have already discovered about the series. Share this text with friends and let other Addams fans know more about the family.
