Zoneboy
09-16-2014, 11:12 PM
‘Addams Family’ Hopefuls: Photos From Auditions for a Classic TV Show
Addams Family auditions (http://life.time.com/culture/addams-family-rare-photos-from-auditions-for-classic-tv-show/#1)
Some familial surnames are so much a part of the American landscape that it’s difficult to discuss the country’s history, its highs and lows or its complex and often contradictory legacy without mentioning them. The Roosevelt family. The Kennedy family. The Addams family.
Consider the relevance and the cultural reach of the latter. Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch and the rest have been around, in various incarnations, for eight decades. Created in the 1930s by the legendary cartoonist, Charles Addams (see below), the endearingly macabre family and assorted friends, neighbors and things have appeared in magazines (most notably The New Yorker), books, movies, on Broadway and, of course in a short-lived but fondly remembered 1960s TV series. A later, not-terrible animated series ran for a few seasons as a Saturday morning cartoon in the mid-Seventies.
Here, on the 50th anniversary of the broadcast premiere of the original TV series—it debuted on ABC on Sept. 18, 1964—LIFE.com takes a look back at the auditions for the show; some of the actors and actresses who ended up in the cast; and a number of others (largely unidentified in LIFE’s archives) who gave it their best shot, but evidently weren’t quite what producers had in mind.
Addams Family auditions (http://life.time.com/culture/addams-family-rare-photos-from-auditions-for-classic-tv-show/#1)
Some familial surnames are so much a part of the American landscape that it’s difficult to discuss the country’s history, its highs and lows or its complex and often contradictory legacy without mentioning them. The Roosevelt family. The Kennedy family. The Addams family.
Consider the relevance and the cultural reach of the latter. Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch and the rest have been around, in various incarnations, for eight decades. Created in the 1930s by the legendary cartoonist, Charles Addams (see below), the endearingly macabre family and assorted friends, neighbors and things have appeared in magazines (most notably The New Yorker), books, movies, on Broadway and, of course in a short-lived but fondly remembered 1960s TV series. A later, not-terrible animated series ran for a few seasons as a Saturday morning cartoon in the mid-Seventies.
Here, on the 50th anniversary of the broadcast premiere of the original TV series—it debuted on ABC on Sept. 18, 1964—LIFE.com takes a look back at the auditions for the show; some of the actors and actresses who ended up in the cast; and a number of others (largely unidentified in LIFE’s archives) who gave it their best shot, but evidently weren’t quite what producers had in mind.