Evolution of THE ADDAMS FAMILY (& WEDNESDAY) - 83 Years Explained | CARTOON EVOLUTION

the adams family are the creepy kooky mysterious and spooky creations of cartoonist charles adams who developed the characters in a series of new yorker cartoons between the late 1930s and early 1960s first adapted to the screen in 1964 the adams's have lived a long and fruitful life in various adaptations remakes and reboots despite various periods of obscurity the adams family remains one of the most beloved franchises ever in 2021 the adams family celebrate 83 years and to help them i will trace their evolution from 1938 to now to do so we will look at their entire history touching on design and personality changes and the various iterations over more than seven decades of cartoons series and movies in this edition of cartoon evolution [Music] charles adams was in his own words one of those strange people who actually had a happy childhood and though friends would call him a neighborhood rascal he was much like your average young boy except of course for his bizarre curiosity with the macabre adams grew up in westfield new jersey a township which saw enormous suburbanization throughout the 1800s by the time he was born the dozens of victorian era mansions that loomed over westfield had become dilapidated and abandoned their haunting nature mesmerized adams who spent much of his time exploring the empty abodes as well as nearby cemeteries over time adams love for the morbid only group in adulthood he was a known collector of ancient weaponry armor and torture devices yet still he was more aptly defined as eccentric than sinister he in fact found delight and humor in such things and when he discovered a love for art at a young age he used it as a vestibule for his curious fixations after studying art in new york adams freelanced for various publications at one point even retouching photos of corpses for true detective magazine in 1932 he sold his first illustration to highbrow cultural and literary magazine the new yorker and by 1937 his cartoons or as the magazine pretentiously called them illustrated laughing squares had become a regular fixture of its pages while adams's earliest work for the new yorker was esoteric and full of intelligent laughs it didn't take long for his darker sensibilities to creep in infusing his cartoons with a soon-to-be trademark style of sickly twisted humor in fact thanks to this many consider adams one of the earliest and most notable innovators of black comedy in american culture in 1939 adams introduced one of his longest running and most popular characters a tall spindly woman with pale skin long black hair and a disheveled hobbled dress somewhat reminiscent of dracula's wives this nameless woman appeared in regular cartoons soon established to be a witch and the matriarch of a bizarre and gruesome family who inhabited a dank and run-down victorian era mansion though she had been depicted with a husband-like figure in her original appearance a tall hulking bearded man it wasn't until four years later in 1942 that he would appear in his most recognizable form as a short squat man with a pug-like face designed initially as a scathing caricature of then governor of new york thomas e dewey the following year adams expanded his family with two despicable children an ugly pudgy son and a woeful daughter often seen playing with torture devices and plotting to murder each other the woman's mother an old witchy hag referred to as granny frump appeared in the very first strip while later comics introduced other extended family such as the woman's deranged bald pig-eyed uncle and an almost seven-foot clumsy gloomy yet loyal frankenstein-like butler a mysterious entity known as the thing was also introduced in the middle 50s but was never fully revealed in the comics said to be too horrifying to be seen by human eyes though this family were ghoulish abnormal and horrific it was their normality as a family just trying to get through life as conventionally as possible that made their escapades wickedly funny and strangely relatable to readers adam's expertly mixed mundane everyday life with the bazaar and morose on a deeper level commentating that normal is an illusion the anonymous author of the yap vlog perfectly said that adam set his comics in a world where ugly is beautiful and creepy is ordinary adam's strips were so recognizable that they soon found themselves a target of parody one of the earliest and most notable were the characters of mr and mrs j evil scientists a mansion dwelling exotic pet-owning macabre duo who were introduced by mike maltese and dan gordon in 1959 through a series of hanna-barbera cartoons and comic books hannah barbera would later evolve the characters into the gruesomes on the flintstones while adams produced more than 1300 cartoons for the new yorker between 1932 and his death in 1988 his wicked family only appeared in 150 of them in fact while these characters were regulars for a short period none of them were given names or fleshed out personalities throughout their cartoon run with exception of the mother and daughter who'd been given the names morticia and wednesday for a pair of dolls released in 1962. adams never even gave his series an official name with the public often referring to them as the charles adams characters or adams's family of ghouls however this would all soon change when television producer david levy came across a copy of adam's book homebodies in the early 1960s upon seeing adams's family on the cover he instantaneously saw a hit series and contacted adams to discuss ideas agreeing to the proposal the two began working on a treatment with adams's first task being to develop his undeveloped characters drawing sketches and writing bios for them which producers would have to follow contractually the woman who he described as a ruined beauty and the driving force behind the family was again morticia a humorously feminized version of mortician and well-known actress carolyn jones was cast to betray her her husband a crafty schemer but also a jolly man in his own way was named gomez by his actor john aston after the network fought back against adams's original name rappelli assumedly believing a character named after the word repellent wouldn't be attractive to audiences the daughter a solemn child played by the young lisa loring was given the name wednesday after a 19th century nursery rhyme which included the phrase wednesday's child is full of woe while the son an enigmatic monster of a boy and a dedicated troublemaker played by ken weatherwax was named pugsley after the network again fought against adams's preferred name pubert finding it inappropriate for television furthermore morticia's incorrigible uncle portrayed by comedian jackie coogan was named uncle fester after the word meaning to rot the shambling yet faithful towering mute of a battler played by ted cassidy became lurch after his lurching movements and granny frump played by vaudeville actress blossom rock was renamed grand mama after the network became worried she'd be confused with granny from popular sitcom the beverly hillbillies the family's enigmatic pet monster the thing now just thing was made a sentient disembodied hand inside a box despite adams's initial wish for it to be a disembodied head that could roll around the family's gothic mansion another family member cousin it a dwarf covered in hair was also introduced becoming the only character not created by atoms altogether they were christened with the family name adams and naturally became the adam's family debuting in 1964 the series was created as a family sitcom much like father knows best my three sons or the dick van dyke show but in the words of levy with different people in the transition from strip to screen the characters were made to be wacky and zany rather than wicked and frightening in adams's words they were now only half as evil that said the characters seemingly vile on the outside were made incredibly kind and loving on the inside they were a family that cared deeply for one another and treated others with respect though they loved to relish in misery they were incredibly happy for it meanwhile morticia and gomez's steamy romance was often considered the first sexually charged marriage in tv history while the cartoons had utilized a sophisticated dark humor the series was more lowbrow and gag-centric in line with series like my favorite martian i dream of genie and bewitched as a result this iteration also saw the characters humanized with levy remarking they're not monsters or ghouls they're simply a rather peculiar family in the neighborhood much of the series comedy even came from the culture clash between the atoms and other locals with the atoms depicted as normal and the regular folks as the outsiders overall in a socially and racially charged era the adams family dared to champion equality and encourage people to not judge by appearances according to stephen cox author of the adams family chronicles these adult themes gave the series an unusual intellectual charge despite all of these changes cox notes that the adams family still captured the flavour of adams's cartoons saying the route creators talk was just the right approach regardless adams reportedly wasn't very fond of the show when the changes made biographer linda h davis claimed he didn't even really watch it adams was allegedly even more resentful as the new yorker refused to run adam's family cartoons after the show's premiere supposedly adams remained better towards the series and the new yorker until the end the adams family ran on abc for two seasons between september 1964 and april 1966 and at that time was only a moderate success with the similarly themed the monsters outperforming it in the ratings though many consider the monsters a rip-off of the atoms given that they both debuted and coincidentally enough were both cancelled within weeks of each other it's likely the series were in production so closely that each network probably didn't even know the other existed prior to their premieres one story however suggests that abc green lit the addams family specifically because they did in fact know cbs was creating the monsters other than middling ratings it's also suggested that television's rapid switch to mostly color production in 1965 was the final nail in the adams's coffin today the adams family lives on as a cult classic with perhaps its snappy theme song by vic mizzy its most defining factor the next time the adams has appeared on tv screens was in a 1972 episode of hannah barbera's new scooby-doo movies a series which saw scoob and the gang solving crimes alongside real-life celebrities and fictional characters in the episode the gang's van breaks down near the adams mansion and they are drawn into a web of intrigue when wednesday is kidnapped for this iteration of the characters their first official foray into animation the family were drawn to resemble the character models of adams's original comics yet their portrayals and personalities matched up with the television series john aston caroline jones jackie coogan and ted cassidy returned to voice their respective characters while 11 year old jodie foster voiced pugsley actress cindy henderson voiced wednesday and legendary vocal performer janet waldo voiced grand mama the episode incorporated various other elements from the live-action series including things depiction as a disembodied hand gomez and morticia's passionate romance and appearances by cousin it and morticia's carnivorous plant cleopatra due to enormous demand following the episode hannah barbera debuted the addams family animated series in september of 1973 while the characters appeared in the same designs the series took the characters into new territory following their hilarious misadventures as they embarked on a cross-country road trip in their creepy camper rv designed after their mansion it was the first piece of adam's media to properly take the family out of the home and the first to depict uncle fester as gomez's brother a piece of law which has remained ever since coogan and cassidy continued with their roles while foster henderson and waldo returned from scooby-doo however aston and jones were replaced by lenny weinribb and waldo the series was only mildly popular lasting a single season of 16 episodes one of hannah barbera's shortest in 1975 however gold key comics published a three-issue series which adapted various episodes outside of various advertisements this was the first time they'd appeared in print since the new yorker they were also the first adams comics to be printed in color and the first without the authorship of adams himself with the re-emergence of adam's popularity 1973 also saw abc producer pilot for a potential live-action variety show the addams family fun house the series was set to feature musical numbers dance party sequences and comedic skits similar to the popular laughing with the concept not ordered for series the pilot instead aired as a tv special airing only once all that remains today is this single publicity image as is clear the entire cast was changed with jack riley as gomez liz torres as morticia stubby k as fester pat mccormack as luch and noel von son as wednesday notably pugsley was played by butch patrick who'd portrayed eddie munster in the monsters four years later most of the original cast reunited for tally movie halloween with the new adam's family a direct follow-up to the original series which saw gomez's brother come to stay while the family prepare for halloween festivities the only core cast member that didn't return was the van ill blossom rock with jane rose instead taking the role of grandmama the special is the only of the original adams family installments to be filmed in color and was far more over the top and well 70s in style missing the mark of what made the original series so understated and special to begin with originally intended as a pilot for a series revival the network passed on any further installments sadly the franchise remained dormant for almost 20 years and fell into relative obscurity due to this and with adams's passing in 1988 making rights issues complicated various projects failed to eventuate after a long battle however paramount managed to get a large budget theatrical feature film off the ground in 1991 directed by first time director barry sonnenfeld the adams family was a modern reinvention of the original series borrowing all the by now iconic elements that had become so inherent to the franchise though also aimed to be far more faithful to the new yorker cartoons the result was a sickly twisted tongue-in-cheek black comedy which featured a broad stroke of macabre humor clever satire and a roster of screwy yet entirely sinister characters though a family film filmmakers could get away with far more gruesome themes and visuals as well as more adult undertones than the 60s series taking the lead roles were angelica houston raul julia christina ricci jimmy workman kyle strucken judith molina and christopher lloyd the most notable element that the film introduced to the addams family law was wednesday's entirely morose personality and inability to smile additionally thanks to advancements in special effects thing was now able to leave his box as an entirely dismembered sentient hand the movie was surprisingly one of the year's biggest making almost 200 million dollars at the global box office on a 30 million dollar budget naturally a second adam's family values quickly followed in 1993. the entire cast returned for the sequel except molina who was replaced by carol kane a third adam's child named pubert was also introduced a name finally suitable enough for the screen commonly considered the better of the two values managed to be even darker yet also more hilarious and entertaining offering one of the greatest examples of black comedy satire ever put to film unfortunately it fell far short of the first at the box office and all hopes for a third were quickly dashed regardless the film introduced new audiences to the atoms and reignited a love with older viewers they live on as arguably the most beloved versions ever the success of the first movie also inspired abc to commission a brand new animated series from hannah barbera who produced 21 episodes across two seasons between 1992 and 1993. this revival was brighter less macabre and more kid-friendly than the original animation and while the characters were returned to their home they now face crazy hijinks and outlandish villains in their jovial town of happy dale heights while reminiscent of the original series and adams's comics brand's new character models were created giving them a livelier modern spin john aston again reprised gomez while a roster of voice artists and comedians took on the others most notably rip taylor as uncle fister carol channing as grand mama now renamed granny frump and jim cummings as lurch despite the show's lighter nature wednesday's moro's personality was carried over from the films in 1998 another live-action film adams family reunion was released direct to video by warner brothers which they co-produced with new rights holders saban entertainment unconnected to the sonnenfeld movies reunion was created as a 90 minute pilot for a proposed series however saban instead repurposed it as a direct video feature when producers rightly realized it wasn't very good struggling returned to his role while the rest of the cast were replaced by the likes of tim curry daryl hannah jerry messing nicole fucher alice ghostly and patrick thomas one would be forgiven if they thought that reunion was actually a sequel to the sonnenfeld films because despite being heavily geared towards younger children with almost no dark or adult humor it's quite clear that this was an attempted imitation in fact producers initially approached houston and lloyd to reprise their roles though both declined out of respect for raah julia who had passed away in 1994. additionally it was never made explicitly clear in marketing that it wasn't a sequel and strucken's recasting likely didn't help confusion naturally reunion was met with poor reception and has essentially been buried with time having never been released on any home media format since the original vhs though the planned reunion series was scrapped in 1998 saban and the canadian chavic entertainment produced a separate new adams family sitcom aptly titled the new adams family a contemporary remake of the original it featured similar character portrayals and repurposed numerous storylines with edgier jokes and a modern edge it also borrowed elements from the live-action movies including the morose depictions of the children and the entirely disembodied thing aside from fujia returning from reunion an entirely new cast was introduced including glenn taranto ally harvey brodie smith john desantis michael roberts and betty phillips additionally jon aston appeared in a recurring role as gomez's father grandpapa adams the series was well received but only lasted a single season of 65 episodes one more than the original in 2007 the first ever stage production based on the property began development at the request of the adams foundation it was solely based on the original comics with no influence from the prior adaptations however one major deviation saw wednesday and pugsley aged up to 18 and 11 years old respectively the musical comedy with lyrics by big fishers andrew lipper and book by jersey boys marshall brickman and rick alice opened on broadway in march 2010. initially the show starred nathan lane and bb knew it though roger reese and brooke shields eventually took over the roles despite early poor critical reception it was well received by audiences and nominated for two tony awards it ran for 757 performances including previews until late 2011 before traveling for two u.s tours an asian tour and a uk tour until 2017. in 2019 the adams's returned to animation with mgm and bronn creatives the adams family animated film again this version borrowed elements from both the original series and the 90s films while taking the lighter family-friendly tone of the hanna-barbera series this iteration featured the most star-studded lineup ever including charlize tharon oscar isaac chloe grace moretz finn wolfhard nick kroll snoop dogg bette midler and the film's co-director conrad vernon as lurge the film made over 200 million dollars worldwide on a 24 million dollar budget and naturally spawned a sequel the atoms family 2 released in 2021. this follow-up took inspiration from the original animated series and saw the family out on a wacky road trip journey of self-discovery in their mansion inspired camper most of the cast remained the same for this outing except for jovan walton replacing wolfheart met with a mostly negative reception particularly for its unusually saccharine style and released during the worldwide pandemic the film only took in 75 million dollars globally while it's probably unlikely a third animated feature will be produced another exciting adam's production is currently in the works an eight-part live-action series from stylish macabre filmmaker tim burton titled wednesday burton has previously been attached to adam's productions he was approached to direct the first live-action movie but passed in favor of batman returns and in 2010 was developing an ultimately cancelled stop-motion animated film for illumination entertainment wednesday will star jenna ortega in the title role louis guzman as gomez and catherine zeta jones as morticia described as a sleuthing supernaturally infused mystery the series will focus on wednesday's attempts to master her emerging psychic ability thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships of the strange and diverse student body at the time of this video's release the series is in production and set for release on netflix sometime between 2022 and 2023 unlike most of the franchises covered in this series it's interesting to see the addams family which has spent much of its life an obscure hidden gem flourishing in the modern age refusing to die a slow and painful death perhaps the way the adams family would have preferred it and at that it's over to you i want to know what's your favorite iteration of the adams family fire way down in the comments below and let me know your thoughts hey everyone if you haven't yet smash that big old subscribe button up on your screen to keep up to date with all my content and hit that like button down below also don't forget to check me out on social media and please consider supporting me over on patreon for as little as a dollar a month for exclusive videos early access content and to get your name up on the screen thanks again for watching

Channel: Dave Lee Down Under

Views: 154,872

Keywords: movies, movie history, Cartoon, Cartoons, Classic Cartoon, Classic Cartoons, Cartoon History, Film History, Movie History, australian movie critic, australian film reviewer, australia film reviewer, australia movie reviewer, australian movie reviewer, australian film critic, australia film crutuc, cartoon evolution, dave lee down under

Id: 8nOxxWmq4iU

Length: 26min 17sec (1577 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 31 2021