The Addams Family
Site Search
Search for
Advanced Search

The Addams Family

Trivia

  • "The Addams Family" was created by Charles Samuel Addams, and can be traced back as far as 1937 in The New Yorker magazine.

  • Felix Silla (Cousin Itt) also starred in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

  • The characters did not have names in the New Yorker cartoons; Charles Addams came up with their names when the television series was developed.

  • Fester was Morticia's uncle.

  • Gomez was a lawyer.

  • Wednesday's pet, Homer, was a black widow spider. Her headless doll was named Marie Antoinette.

  • Pugsley's pet Octopus was named Aristotle.

  • The Addams lived in Victorian Mansion at 000 Cemetery Lane.

  • Morticia's man-eating plant was named Cleopatra.

  • Wednesday Addams' name is a reference to the nursery rhyme that says, "Wednesday's child is full of woe".

  • Gomez and Morticia Addams were the first married couple on American TV implied to have a sex life.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Thing was usually a right hand. Ted Cassidy (Lurch) occasionally used his left hand just to see if anybody would notice.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The name of the Addams' pet lion was "Kitty Cat".

  • Morticia's maiden name was Frump.

  • Almost all episodes open in the Addams' living room with the family playing and having fun. Activities included Gomez doing yogi headstands, flamenco dancing, sword fighting, bull whip practice, shooting thrown apples with crossbows and other bizarre games.

  • Whenever Gomez needs to know the time, he looks at both his wristwatch and his pocket watch. Each is hours different from the other they always average to the correct time.

  • Morticia's favorite relaxations include cutting out paper dolls where the middle doll has either two heads or three legs, or both. She also knits strange clothing for the strange cousins in the family.

  • The Addams' 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.

  • Carolyn Jones not only played Morticia, but she also played Morticia's older blonde (and daisy) haired sister Ophelia. Miss Jones also supplied the voice for Cousin Itt.

  • There was a sign in the Addams front yard that read "Beware of the Thing".

  • Gomez almost always read his newspaper while standing on his head.

  • Gomez originally was engaged to Morticia's sister Ophelia in a arranged marriage. However, a few days before the wedding he met and fell in love with Morticia and wound up marrying her instead.

  • The occasional role of Granny Frump was played by Margaret Hamilton.

  • Grandmama Addams and Granny Frump were high school classmates.

  • The Addams Family [1991]: Director Sonnenfeld, Barry had not originally planned to use the theme music from the television series in the movie. He included it in the opening sequence after positive reactions to the early trailer, which included the theme.

  • The Addams Family [1991]: Production began at Orion, which owned the rights to the Filmways TV library and hence the 1960s TV series. However, during production, Orion's financial troubles (that ultimately led to the studio's demise) began. Paramount bought the rights and finished the production.

  • The Addams Family [1991]: Writer Paul Rudnick did rewrites on the film and subsequently wrote the sequel, Addams Family Values (1993).

  • The Addams Family [1991]: The Addams' house was built for 100,000 dollars.

  • Addams Family Values [1993]: Pubert, which is the name of the new baby in the Addams family, was Pugsley's original name in the Charles Addams cartoons.