Happy Birthday Charles Addams

With the Wednesday series having done so well on Netflix, she has become a very popular character. Of course, if it hadn’t been for Charles Addams, there wouldn’t be a Wednesday, and January 7th, is her creator’s 111th Birthday.

For a good part of the 20th Century, Charles Addams twisted look at life was very much a part of popular culture. Alfred Hitchcock was quite a fan, and went out of his way to meeting him in person. Hitchcock even gave him a shoutout in his film “North by Northwest”, while the house in Psycho was based on the houses he drew in a lot of cartoons. His series of Cartoons in the New Yorker were so popular, that the characters we now know as Gomez and Morticia, were referenced by Hannah Barbera, and in Rocky and Bullwinkle. He also did poster art for the 1957 film “How to Murder you Rich Uncle”, and the 1963 Hammer/William Castle remake of “The Old Dark House”. In 1962, dolls were even released by Aboriginal, where Morticia and Wednesday, finally got names. the 1964 series “The Addams Family” cemented Charles Addams as a part of popular culture to this day.

So, why am I have such interest in not just the “Addams Family”, but the works of Charles Addams? As I grew up, I was a fan of the 1964 TV series, and when my mother rented a 16 MM print of “The Old Dark House”, I was fascinated to see the opening credits created by Charles Adams. I think being a misfit had a lot to do with being in the military in the early 1980s, that in an army recreation facility, there was a copy of one of his collections of cartoons among the books, and I finally discovered the wonderfully twisted New Yorker cartoons, and it has cemented my love of his work ever since. I have a love of spooky old houses, antique cars, and twisted humor. When you really feel that you are an oddball, it’s only going to make you love it when you feel you’ve discovered a kindred spirit.