The Addams Family Show Got The Comic Banned From The Magazine That Made It Famous

Charles “Chas” Adams began working as a cartoonist at The New Yorker in 1932, regularly producing single-panel cartoon strips, usually with a macabre edge. In 1938, he drew a strip featuring a startling family of ghouls living in a haunted mansion, clearly rejecting the cleanliness, light, and liveliness of average American homes. The unnamed haunted house family soon began appearing regularly in The New Yorker, eventually numbering seven members. The fearsome clan, nicknamed the Addams Family, appeared in 58 Addams strips in the 1950s. They were very popular, and by the early 1960s, they had become inspirational commodities. The matriarch of the family, Morticia, and her daughter Wednesday first got names for a little-known doll line released in 1962.

The Addams Family was adapted into a television sitcom in 1964 (called “The Addams Family”), cementing their place in the pop culture firmament. For the series, each family member has finally been given a name. Morticia is played by Carolyn Jones and Wednesday Young is played by Lisa Loring. The family is rounded out by patriarch Gomez (John Astin), son Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax), Gomez’s brother Fester (Jackie Coogan), mother Morticia Grandmama (Blossom Rock), and family butler Lurch (Ted Cassidy). The family also had a severed hand in a box called “Thing” (credited as “himself”, but usually played by Cassidy or assistant director Jack Voegelin) and their cousin Eight (Felix Sela, Roger Arroyo) living in their chimney. The show was instantly popular.

However, according to various online sources (including a Swan Gallery artist profile and a 2019 article in Smithsonian Magazine), the skit caused quite a stir in the New Yorker offices. Editor William Shawn apparently hated the “Addams Family” sitcom so much (mainly because of its “low” humor) that he banned Chas Adams from drawing any more family cartoons. The ban remained in place from 1964 until Shawn’s departure in 1987.

The New Yorker has long been associated with a certain kind of cosmopolitan class, publishing only the highest quality journalism and the best possible writing for curious and cultured readers. Chas Adams’ strips were dark, winking asides in such an environment, a discreet handshake for adults. The sitcom, compared to the strips, was less ridiculous and certainly less outrageous. It was also funnier and more reliant on jokes and slapstick. In the strips, Gomez’s character was a squat ogre. However, in the TV series, Astin turns him into a charming, wild-eyed character… but only for Morticia. In fact, there’s a palpable element to the sexual chemistry between Gomez and Morticia that was never included in the comics.

Sean did not want The New Yorker to be associated with a major television comedy series. The New Yorker was a “high art” publication, while Sean clearly saw the ABC sitcom as “low art.” The series may have been high quality and popular, but for Sean, it was in a different league. As previously mentioned, the ban remained in place throughout Sean’s tenure as editor of The New Yorker. Chas Addams finally made the Addams Family strips again in 1988 after Sean retired. Sadly, Adams died later that year.

However, during Prohibition, Adams was clever, having members of the Addams Family work on the backgrounds for other New Yorker comics he produced. The Swann Gallery website boasts that the 1979 Addams strip (which sold at auction in 2017 for $16,250) features Uncle Fester and Grandma as passengers on a subway train. Sharp-eyed fans may also spot Gomez and Morticia peeking through the crowd here and there.

The sitcom was canceled in 1966, but by then, “The Addams Family” was a media franchise in its own right. Since then, there have been two animated shows, a sitcom reboot, two live-action movies, two animated movies, and anything considered “Wednesday” on Netflix.