“The Addams Family”

Here’s another television classic—“The Addams Family.” The show revolved around, as the theme song described them, the “creepy and kooky” Addams family.

The show ran from 1964 to 1966 and starred John Astin as Gomez Addams, who enjoyed crashing model trains and went wild whenever his wife, Morticia (played by Carolyn Jones) spoke French.

The show also starred Jackie Coogan as Morticia’s Uncle Fester. Uncle Fester had the knack for lighting light bulbs simply by putting them in his mouth. (Kids, don’t try that at home …)

Ted Cassidy played the incredibly tall butler, Lurch, who would respond whenever the Addams’ rang a bell attached to a noose-like rope, with a low, “You rang?”

Ken Weatherwax and Lisa Loring starred as, respectively, Pugsley and Wednesday, Morticia and Gomez’s two children. And there was also Grandmama Addams, played by Blossom Rock (whose birth name was Edith MacDonald. Edith was the sister of Jeanete MacDonald, who movie buffs will remember starring in a string of movies with Nelson Eddy.)

I think my two favorite characters were Cousin Itt, played by Felix Silia, a relative covered completely in hair who wore sunglasses and a hat and spoke unintelligible gibberish. (Kind of like me at 6 a.m.). And then there was Thing, a hand who would appear out of a box to deliver mail or any other needed items. (I’ve looked all around for one of those, but I can’t seem to find one.)

Here’s “The Addams Family” intro from YouTube.com. Bet you can’t go the whole day without snapping to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL_9zdu4iVw

Check out an interview with some of the cast from the series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF5mdgU9M60

For more details on “The Addams Family,” go to imdb.com:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0057729/