Writing Series creator David Levy explained the premise of the show to syndicated columnist
Erskine Johnson in August 1964: "We have made [the family] full-bodied people, not monsters... They are not grotesque and hideous manifestations. At the same time we are protecting the images of [Charles] Addams' 'children', as he refers to them. We are living up to the spirit of his cartoons. He is more than just a cartoonist. He's a social commentator and a great wit". Prominently depicting Thing and Cousin Itt was an example of how the show deemphasized the cartoons' dark themes and emphasized the Addams's comedic strangeness. The tone was set by series producer
Nat Perrin, who was a close friend of
Groucho Marx's and writer of several Marx Brothers films. Perrin created story ideas, directed one episode, and rewrote every script. The series often employed the same type of zany satire and screwball humor seen in the Marx Brothers films, in addition to wordplay, physical comedy, and occasionally
slapstick. One
running gag labeled people who were not members of the family as "strange" or complained of their behavior. Another one was members of the family trading objects when they collided; in "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor", Gomez ends up with Morticia's knitting and Morticia has his cigar. Other running jokes were about strange food and drink, e.g. toadstools and hemlock; bats, the dungeon, the cemetery, and other "creepy" things; and Gomez's glee at losing money on the stock market. It lampooned politics ("Gomez, the Politician" and "Gomez, the People's Choice"); modern art ("Art and the Addams Family" and Morticia's painting in several episodes); Shakespeare and other literature ("My Fair Cousin Itt", and other episodes); the legal system ("The Addams Family in Court"); royalty ("Morticia Meets Royalty"); rock n' roll and
Beatlemania ("Lurch, the Teenage Idol"). The Victorian residence at 21
Chester Place in
Historic West Adams, Los Angeles served as the primary basis for the Addams Family Mansion featured in the 1964 television series. Built in 1888, the house was used for exterior shots only in the first episode and in the series’ opening title sequence. The real structure was two stories high; for the series, a 30-by-40-inch photograph of the building was altered by a painter to add a third floor and a gothic tower. Although the
Hall of Languages building at
Syracuse University also served as creative inspiration for the fictional mansion, the physical reference for the televised exterior was the Chester Place residence. Over its lifetime, the house changed ownership several times, eventually becoming part of
Mount St. Mary’s College. It was later demolished to make way for a recreational track.
The Addams Family debuted at the same time as
The Munsters, another black-and-white, macabre-themed family sitcom. To distinguish themselves from the competition, both shows avoided casting guest stars. John Astin argued in interviews that the two shows are fundamentally different, since the Munsters were physically monsters, but completely normal in every other respect, whereas the Addamses were normal looking, but highly eccentric. Despite this, the general public perceived the two shows as virtually interchangeable, and has continued to do so in the decades since they were both cancelled. While Charles Addams enjoyed the royalties from the show, and loved the theme song, he thought that the characters were "half as evil" as the cartoons. Addams rarely watched the show because he was usually away from home on Friday nights.
Opening theme The ABC network originally wanted to save money by using prerecorded library production music for the series, but producer David Levy insisted on hiring longtime Hollywood composer
Vic Mizzy. The show's theme, written and arranged by Mizzy, is dominated by a
harpsichord and a
bass clarinet. Mizzy first improvised the iconic
finger snaps when he presented his composition for approval, they worked so well they became part of the percussive accompaniment. Ted Cassidy punctuated the lyrics with the words "neat", "sweet", and "petite". Mizzy's theme was released by
RCA Victor as a
45-rpm single, although it failed to chart in the U.S. The song was revived for the
1992 animated series, as well as in 2007 for a series of Addams Family television commercials for
M&M's chocolates. When
The Addams Family was first brought to the big screen, the studio was not going to use the theme. Audience tests proved that the appeal was too great to delete it. It was also revisited in the dance scene in
Addams Family Values. The closing theme is similar, but is instrumental and features such instruments as a
triangle, a
woodblock, a
siren whistle, and a
duck call replacing some of the finger snaps. ==Broadcast syndication==