You do see Thing in the round in the movies made in the 1990s. Although they were considered fairly average at the time, I think these remakes do hold up very well and are faithful to the verve of the original TV show. Some of the actors - esp. Raul Julia as Gomez, and Christine Ricci as Wednesday - nailed it, and some of the gags still make me laugh. Example
Well, yeah, I originally had a sentence about how the general consensus in the following iterations of the franchise is that he’s a hand, but I couldn’t work it in. I’m now wondering about the 1960s TV show specifically. Also the 1970s TV cartoon. (Not the the Sonnenfeld movies, recent CG movies, and Wednesday, we know he’s disembodied in those.).
I enjoyed both motion pictures, but with some reservations. F’rinstance:
- I thought letting Thing out of his box undermined the whole concept of the character.
- I found it a bit unsettling when Fester asked “With a woman, you mean?” in response to “Have you ever had sex?” (I can’t imagine Jackie Coogan’s Fester ever saying such a thing.)
- Canonically, Fester was Morticia’s uncle and not Gomez’s brother.
On the other hand, the actors did a good job interpreting the characters in their own way, especially Angelica Huston and Christina Ricci. Christina’s creepy portrayal of Wednesday had me in stitches. My 30-year-old daughter can imitate her perfectly.
This, especially the one with stitches in Netflix’s Wednesday.
Mouth. There were a couple episodes where he’d power something external, like a radio.
He could do both, I think.
For many years following his acting career he was a prof at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and quite well regarded. Can you imagine having Gomez Addams as a teacher?
Actually, I can. I see him using a cigar to punctuate different points in a lecture he’s delivering in his own inimitable way.
What subject did he teach IRL?
Basically theatre.
BTW: Did you know Peter Jackson seriously considered John Astin for Gandalf, long before Sean Astin was thought about for Samwise.
Makes sense. They had worked together on The Frighteners.
“I threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountain-side where he smote it in his ruin. Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell. But I’m feeling much better now!”
Huh, I never made the connection between their names.
OK, I have a Thing-centric episode of the 1960s show cued up to figure this out. Will report back.
Me either (although he is apparently not his biological father). Nor did I realize that Sean Astin’s mother is Patty Duke.
I don’t remember where I read it, but ‘Thing’ wasn’t actually a disembodied hand (as depicted in the movies). It was a ‘Thing’ that lived within the house presumably in the walls, floors, etc., and the hand we see is just one part of a much larger creature.
My understanding is that it came through a third party: producer David Levy and Filmways secured the TV rights and developed the series for ABC, rather than Addams pitching it himself or a network exec discovering the cartoons. Addams was consulted and helped name the characters, but the television initiative was Levy’s.
I have now seen the episode (“Morticia Meets Royalty”) and while we don’t see Thing’s box moved, we see similar characters (Lady Fingers and Esmeralda) and their boxes ARE carried around. Which strongly implies that (in the show) Thing was always intended to be just a hand (well, hand and forearm). Apparently there’s another episode in which Gomez goes to court and Thing pops out of his briefcase; I may watch that to solve this once and for all.
I can’t resist asking this any longer: When you were a kid, did you sing The Addams Family theme with the lyrics
The Addams Family started
when Uncle Fester farted,
and now they’re all retarded.
The Ad-dams Fam-i-ly.
Accompanied by “Doodly-do-de-doodly-do-de-doodly-do” and lots of gross farting noises instead of finger snaps, of course!
No, never heard it.
I have definitely heard
But I don’t recall the rest
Brian
Yep, heard it.