The Google Doodle inspired me to look online for episodes of one of my favorite old TV shows. Today would have been the 100th birthday of cartoonist Charles Addams.
Reruns of the “The Addams Family” were an afternoon TV staple in my youth. My parents taught me that the same characters were found in copies of The New Yorker that my father brought home every week. I would eagerly flip through each issue looking for a new Addams cartoon. Before long, I discovered books of Addams cartoons at the Crestwood Library. I borrowed titles like “Favorite Haunts” and “The Groaning Board” and eventually bought a few Addams anthologies from the Mystery Guild. Of the cartoons, I generally preferred the ones set in the real world instead of those at the mansion of Gomez, Morticia et al.
As I watched the first two episodes of season one, I skimmed through an episode guide at a comprehensive fan site. From there, I decided to watch a fun Halloween episode with guest star Don Rickles as a crook and a great two-part flashback episode with guest star Margaret Hamilton as Morticia’s mother.
