The Addams Family

The Addams Family is a fictional household created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. The Addams Family characters have traditionally included Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing.

The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal 20th century American family: an eccentric wealthy aristocratic clan who delight in the macabre and are seemingly unaware or don't care that other people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as an unrelated group of 150 single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in The New Yorker between their debut in 1938, and Addams' death in 1988. They have since been adapted to other media and merchandising, including television series (both live and animated), books, soundtracks, films, video games and a live musical.

Addams' original cartoons were one-panel gags. The characters were undeveloped and unnamed until the television series production.

Gomez and Pugsley are enthusiastic. Morticia is even in disposition, muted, witty, sometimes deadly. Grandma Frump is foolishly good-natured. Wednesday is her mother's daughter. A closely knit family, the real head being Morticia—although each of the others is a definite character—except for Grandma, who is easily led. Many of the troubles they have as a family are due to Grandma’s fumbling, weak character. The house is a wreck, of course, but this is a house-proud family just the same and every trap door is in good repair. Money is no problem.—Charles Addams

The family appears to be a single surviving branch of the Addams clan. Many other "Addams families" exist all over the world. According to the film version, the family credo is, Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc (pseudo-Latin: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us"). Charles Addams was first inspired by his hometown of Westfield, New Jersey, an area full of ornate Victorian mansions and archaic graveyards. In the original comics series they live in a gothic house on Cemetery Ridge. According to the television series, they live in a gloomy mansion adjacent to a cemetery and a swamp. In the The Addams Family musical (first shown in Chicago in 2009), the house is located in Central Park.

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