Family & Suburban Sitcoms

Q: Which supernatural 1960s comedy series features an iconic finger-snapping theme song composed by Vic Mizzy?

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A: The Addams Family

The Quick Details: The live-action show was based on Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons. It ran for two seasons on ABC and became an enduring cult classic.

 

The Addams Family is a classic 1960s gothic black comedy sitcom that follows the lives of an eccentric, wealthy clan navigating culture clashes with conventional society as they delight in the macabre.
    • Years Active: 1964–1966 (2 seasons, 64 episodes)
  • Creator: Developed by David Levy and Donald Saltzman (based on the cartoons of Charles Addams)

  • Main Cast: Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams), John Astin (Gomez Addams), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), Ted Cassidy (Lurch / Thing), Blossom Rock (Grandmama), Lisa Loring (Wednesday Addams), and Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley Addams).

  • Major Production Secret: The Pink “Gothic” Mansion
    Because the show was shot entirely in black-and-white, the production designers faced a unique challenge in creating the perfect gloomy, grayscale atmosphere on mid-century television sets. To achieve the ideal contrast on film, the interior of the creepy Addams family home was actually painted in bright shades of pink, coral, and red. While it looked delightfully morbid and dark to viewers at home, the actual set was a vibrant, candy-colored environment. Actors had to deliver their deadpan, macabre lines while surrounded by bright pink walls—a stark contrast to the gothic graveyard aesthetic broadcast to the world.

Q: What hidden mechanical device was built inside Morticia Addams’ iconic wicker chair to keep the actress comfortable?

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A: A hidden spinal brace. The chair’s backing was so violently rigid that it caused Carolyn Jones severe back pain, forcing the props crew to install a molded canvas medical corset into the wicker frame.

 

The Addams Family is a delightfully macabre 1960s sitcom that turned the traditional American family dynamic completely upside down with its gothic charm and satirical wit. Based on Charles Addams’ famous New Yorker cartoons, the show followed a wealthy, eccentric aristocratic clan who blissfully delighted in all things spooky, macabre, and bizarre, completely unaware that the rest of the world found them terrifying.

 

    • Years Active: 1964–1966 (2 seasons, 64 episodes)
    • Creator: David Levy (developed for television)
    • Main Cast: John Astin (Gomez Addams), Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), Ted Cassidy (Lurch), Marie Blake/Blossom Rock (Grandmama), Lisa Loring (Wednesday Addams), Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley Addams), and Ted Cassidy/Jack Voglin (Thing).

Major Production Blooper: Thing’s Disappearing Right-Handed Body

 

The character of Thing—the disembodied hand that lived in various boxes around the house—presented a bizarre logistical challenge for the production crew. Most of the time, Thing was played by the towering 6’9″ actor Ted Cassidy, who also played Lurch the butler.

 

Because Cassidy was right-handed, Thing was almost always filmed using his right hand. However, on occasions when Lurch and Thing had to appear in the same shot together, a crew member (usually associate producer Jack Voglin) had to substitute his own hand inside the box.

 

The major, recurring visual blooper occurred because Voglin was left-handed. Sharp-eyed viewers watching closely can spot several episodes where Thing instantly switches from a right hand to a left hand between cuts. Furthermore, because Cassidy had to physically squeeze his massive frame beneath tables, behind false walls, and into tight cabinet spaces to stick his hand up through the props, directors occasionally failed to notice his black suit sleeve, his elbow, or the top of his shoulder peeking through the “secret” trapdoors on broadcast television.

What unusual item did The Dick Van Dyke Show use to simulate a crowded room’s applause?

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A: An electric mixer. Sound editors spun it near a microphone to layer the clapping sounds.

 

The Dick Van Dyke Show is an exceptional, Emmy-winning 1960s American sitcom that brilliantly balanced domestic life with the chaotic world of show business. Centred around the professional and personal misadventures of a television comedy writer, the series is widely celebrated for its sharp writing, sophisticated workplace humour, and masterclass physical comedy.

    • Years Active: 1961–1966 (5 seasons, 158 episodes)
    • Creator: Carl Reiner
    • Main Cast: Dick Van Dyke (Rob Petrie), Mary Tyler Moore (Laura Petrie), Rose Marie (Sally Rogers), Morey Amsterdam (Buddy Sorrell), Larry Mathews (Ritchie Petrie), and Richard Deacon (Mel Cooley).

Major Production Blooper: Mary Tyler Moore’s Accidental Pro-Level Billiards Trick Shot

 

Because the series was filmed live in front of a studio audience, most standard bloopers (like forgotten or flubbed lines) resulted in immediate retakes. However, the Season 2 episode “Hustling the Hustler” yielded one of the greatest, most unusual unscripted accidental bloopers in television history—one so perfect that the crew kept it in.

 

In the episode, Laura Petrie is supposed to reveal to her husband that she has a secret, hidden talent for playing pool. Because Mary Tyler Moore had no actual billiards skills, a professional pool player was standing by just off-camera to execute the difficult trick shots for close-up edit inserts. The table balls were roughly rigged so that Moore only needed to tap the cue ball in the general direction of the pocket.

 

When the cameras started rolling, Moore took her very first shot and unexpectedly hit the ball with perfect, accidental force. The ball careened across the table and perfectly cleared every single target ball straight into the pockets in one go. The live studio audience erupted, and the actors on stage were visibly shocked. Realising that dumb luck had just captured a flawless, unrepeatable trick shot on the first try, the director kept the camera rolling and left the completely unscripted “blooper” in the final broadcast cut.

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