Misplaced Pages

#568431

35-533: Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Family , and were subsequently popularized through various adaptations. Addams was born in Westfield, New Jersey . He was the son of Grace M. (née Spear; 1879–1943) and Charles Huey Addams (1873–1932),

70-523: A football across the stage—hence his show name, the Three-Legged Football Player . Lentini's normal legs were slightly different in length: one was 99 centimeters and the other 97 centimeters. The third leg was only 91 centimeters and ended in a clubfoot . As an adult, his primary legs remained of different lengths while his extra leg was several centimeters shorter. He complained that, even with three legs, he still did not have

105-635: A piano company executive who had studied to be an architect . Known as "something of a rascal around the neighborhood," as childhood friends recalled, Addams was distantly related to U.S. presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams , despite the different spellings of their last names, and was a first cousin twice removed to noted social reformer Jane Addams . Addams would enjoy the Presbyterian Cemetery on Mountain Avenue in Westfield as

140-445: A wake was held rather than a funeral; he had wished to be remembered as a "good cartoonist". In accordance with Addams's wishes, he was cremated, and his ashes were interred in the pet cemetery of "The Swamp" estate. The Tee & Charles Addams foundation was established in 1999 "to interpret and share the artistic achievement of Charles Addams’s life through exhibitions and programs developed from all works by Charles Addams including

175-488: A boyhood photograph of Francesco Lentini , who had three legs. Addams drew more than 1,300 cartoons over the course of his life. Beyond The New Yorker pages, his cartoons appeared in Collier's and TV Guide , as well as books, calendars, and other merchandise. The 1957 album Ghost Ballads , featuring folk songs with supernatural themes by singer-guitarist Dean Gitter , was packaged with cover art by Addams depicting

210-409: A child, where – according to author and Addams expert Ron MacCloskey – he would wonder what it was like to be dead. In the cartoons, his ghoulish creations lived on Cemetery Ridge with a dreadful view. A house on Elm Street and another on Dudley Avenue – into which police once caught him breaking and entering – are said to be the inspiration for the Addams Family mansion in his cartoons. College Hall ,

245-413: A connecting narrative and an explanation of his work with Addams, and Addams's 1946 Mademoiselle illustration used for the book's cover jacket. Although Addams's own characters were well-established by the time of their initial encounter, in a 2001 interview, Bradbury stated: "[Addams] went his way and created the Addams Family, and I went my own way and created my family in this book." Janet Maslin , in

280-552: A freelancer throughout that time. During World War II , Addams served at the Signal Corps Photographic Center in New York, where he made animated training films for the U.S. Army. Addams created a 1952 mural for the library at Penn State depicting prominent Addams Family members. Television producer David Levy approached Addams with an offer to create The Addams Family television series , with

315-457: A gentle manner, he bore no resemblance to a fiend". Figuratively a " ladykiller ", Addams accompanied women such as Greta Garbo , Joan Fontaine , and Jacqueline Kennedy on social occasions. For about a year after the death of Nelson Rockefeller , Addams dated Megan Marshack , the aide who was with the former US vice president when he died. Addams married his third and final wife Marilyn Matthews Miller, best known as "Tee" (1926–2002), in

350-422: A haunted house. The Mystery Writers of America honored Addams with a Special Edgar Award in 1961 for his body of work. The films The Old Dark House (1963) and Murder by Death (1976) feature title sequences illustrated by Addams. In 1946, Addams met science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury after having drawn an illustration for Mademoiselle magazine's publication of Bradbury's short story "Homecoming",

385-439: A lawyer on the sly, who later humorously wrote: "I told him the last time I had word of such a move was in a picture called Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyck , which I called to his attention." In the movie, Stanwyck's character plotted her husband's murder. The couple divorced in 1956. Addams was "sociable and debonair". A biographer described him as being "a well-dressed, courtly man with silvery back-combed hair and

SECTION 10

#1732794341569

420-462: A little help from the humorist. Addams gave his characters names as well as qualities for actors to use in portrayals; the series ran on ABC from 1964 to 1966. Addams regularly had cartoons in The New Yorker , and he also created the syndicated single-panel comic Out of This World between 1955 and 1957. Collections of his work include Drawn and Quartered (1942) and Monster Rally (1950),

455-496: A pair. In 1907 he married Theresa Murray, three years younger than him, and they had four children: Giuseppina (Josephine), Natale (Ned), Francesco (Frank) Junior, and Giacomo (James). When Frank and Theresa separated around 1935, he began a new life with Helen Shupe, with whom he lived until his death. Lentini died of lung failure in Jackson, Tennessee , on September 21, 1966, at the age of 77. Jonathan Redavid portrayed him in

490-469: A pet cemetery. The Addamses moved to Sagaponack, New York in 1985, where they named their estate "The Swamp". Addams died on September 29, 1988, at the age of 76, at St. Clare's Hospital and Health Center in New York City, having suffered a heart attack after parking his automobile. An ambulance took him from his apartment to the hospital, where he died in the emergency room. As he had requested,

525-435: A review of an Addams biography for The New York Times , wrote: "Addams's persona sounds cooked up for the benefit of feature writers ... was at least partly a character contrived for the public eye," noting that one outré publicity photo showed the humorist wearing a suit of armor at home, "but the shelves behind him hold books about painting and antiques, as well as a novel by John Updike ." Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock

560-817: Is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators / artists in that they produce both the literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice. Cartoonists may work in a variety of formats, including booklets , comic strips , comic books , editorial cartoons , graphic novels , manuals , gag cartoons , storyboards , posters , shirts , books , advertisements , greeting cards , magazines , newspapers , webcomics , and video game packaging . A cartoonist's discipline encompasses both authorial and drafting disciplines (see interdisciplinary arts ). The terms "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or "comic book artist" refer to

595-654: The Republican elephant . Comic strips received widespread distribution to mainstream newspapers by syndicates . Calum MacKenzie, in his preface to the exhibition catalog, The Scottish Cartoonists (Glasgow Print Studio Gallery, 1979) defined the selection criteria: Many strips were the work of two people although only one signature was displayed. Shortly after Frank Willard began Moon Mullins in 1923, he hired Ferd Johnson as his assistant. For decades, Johnson received no credit. Willard and Johnson traveled about Florida , Maine, Los Angeles , and Mexico, drawing

630-500: The 18th century, poked fun at contemporary politics and customs; illustrations in such style are often referred to as "Hogarthian". Following the work of Hogarth, editorial/political cartoons began to develop in England in the latter part of the 18th century under the direction of its great exponents, James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson , both from London. Gillray explored the use of the medium for lampooning and caricature , calling

665-686: The Foundation’s own collections and from its copyrights of the Addams oeuvre." Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the foundation offered tours of the couples' property and displayed artefacts from Addams' life. The Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall in Philadelphia was named in his tribute by the University of Pennsylvania in 2001. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, January 7, 2012, Charles Addams

700-492: The base of his spine and consisted of a pelvic bone , a rudimentary set of male genitalia , and a full-sized leg extending from the right side of his hip, with a small foot protruding from its knee. He was exhibited in numerous cities, including London, in 1897. When he was eight, Magnano, who ran a travelling puppet show , brought him to Middletown and Lentini's family moved to the United States . Lentini then entered

735-587: The blood for appearance alongside magazine stories. Addams complained: "A lot of those corpses were more interesting the way they were." The New Yorker Obituary of October 17, 1988 says his first drawing for The New Yorker , ran February, 1932. However, his first drawing actually appeared in the February 4, 1933 issue. Here he drew the first in the series that came to be called The Addams Family in August 6, 1938 and ran regularly until his death. Addams remained

SECTION 20

#1732794341569

770-481: The book Hiroshima ). Addams married second wife Barbara Barb (Estelle B. Barb) in 1954. A practicing lawyer, she "combined Morticia-like looks with diabolical legal scheming," by which she wound up controlling the Addams Family television and film franchises and persuaded her husband to give away other legal rights. At one point, she got her husband to take out a US$ 100,000 insurance policy. Addams consulted

805-464: The care of his aunt, the wife of his uncle Corrado Falco. At four months old he was sent to be examined by a specialist in Naples . By age five he was playing with other children and was able to straighten his third leg, but could not use it to walk. He became known for having three legs, four feet, and two sets of genitals. Lentini was born with a parasitic twin . The twin was attached to his body at

840-613: The corners of West Kendrick and Maple Avenues in Hamilton , is another home, and myth, that may have inspired the Addams Family house. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1930 and 1931. He then studied at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City in 1931 and 1932. Charles Addams joined the layout department of True Detective magazine in 1933, where he retouched photos of corpses to remove

875-696: The first in a series of tales chronicling a family of Illinois vampires named the Elliotts. The pair became friends and planned to collaborate on a book of the Elliott Family's complete history with Bradbury writing and Addams providing the illustrations, but it never materialized. Bradbury's stories about the "Elliott Family" were finally anthologized in From the Dust Returned in October 2001, with

910-775: The king ( George III ), prime ministers and generals to account, and has been referred to as the father of the political cartoon. While never a professional cartoonist, Benjamin Franklin is credited with the first cartoon published in The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754: Join, or Die , depicting the American colonies as segments of a snake. In the 19th century, professional cartoonists such as Thomas Nast , whose work appeared in Harper's Weekly , introduced other familiar American political symbols, such as

945-473: The latter with a foreword by John O'Hara . One cartoon shows two men standing in a patent attorney's office; one points a bizarre gun out the window toward the street, saying: "Death ray, fiddlesticks! Why, it doesn't even slow them up!". Dear Dead Days (1959) is a scrapbook-like compendium of vintage images (and occasional pieces of text) that appealed to the author's sense of the grotesque, including Victorian woodcuts, vintage medicine-show advertisements, and

980-630: The oldest building on the current campus of the University of Pennsylvania , where Addams studied, was also an inspiration for the mansion. One friend said of him: "His sense of humor was a little different from everybody else's." He was also artistically inclined, "drawing with a happy vengeance", according to a biographer. His father encouraged him to draw, and Addams did cartoons for the Westfield High School yearbook, Weathervane . He attended Colgate University in 1929 and 1930. At

1015-475: The picture-making portion of the discipline of cartooning (see illustrator ). While every "cartoonist" might be considered a "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or a "comic book artist", not every "comics illustrator", "comics artist", or a "comic book artist" is a "cartoonist". Ambiguity might arise when illustrators and writers share each other's duties in authoring a work. The English satirist and editorial cartoonist William Hogarth , who emerged in

1050-485: The sideshow business as The Great Lentini , joining the Ringling Brothers Circus . He gained US citizenship at the age of 30. His career spanned over 40 years and he worked with every major circus and sideshow, including Barnum and Bailey and Buffalo Bill 's Wild West Show. Lentini was so respected among his peers that he was often called "The King". In his youth, Lentini used his third leg to kick

1085-478: The strip while living in hotels, apartments and farmhouses. At its peak of popularity during the 1940s and 1950s, the strip ran in 350 newspapers. According to Johnson, he had been doing the strip solo for at least a decade before Willard's death in 1958: "They put my name on it then. I had been doing it about 10 years before that because Willard had heart attacks and strokes and all that stuff. The minute my name went on that thing and his name went off, 25 papers dropped

Charles Addams - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-430: The strip. That shows you that, although I had been doing it ten years, the name means a lot." Societies and organizations Societies and organizations Francesco Lentini Lentini was born at 8 Gintoli Street, Rosolini , Sicily , on May 18, 1889. Delivered by midwife Maria Alberino, he was the fifth of 12 children (seven sisters and five brothers) in his family. Disgraced initially, his parents gave him into

1155-578: Was But Who Wakes the Bugler? (Houghton & Mifflin, 1940) by Peter DeVries. The other was Afternoon In the Attic (Dodd, Mead, 1950) by John Kobler. He also provided the cover art for such books as The Compleat Practical Joker (Doubleday, 1953) by H. Allen Smith and Here at The New Yorker (Random House, 1975) by Brendan Gill. Contemporary American cartoonists with similar macabre style include: Notes Bibliography Cartoonist A cartoonist

1190-613: Was a friend of Addams, and owned two pieces of original Addams art. Hitchcock references Addams in his 1959 film North by Northwest . During the auction scene, Cary Grant discovers two of his adversaries with someone who he also thinks is against him and says: "The three of you together. Now that's a picture only Charles Addams could draw." Addams met first wife Barbara Jean Day in late 1943, who purportedly resembled his cartoon character Morticia Addams. The marriage ended eight years later after Addams declined to have children (she later married New Yorker colleague John Hersey , author of

1225-523: Was honored with a Google Doodle . Addams was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2020. On April 30, 2021, the original art for his macabre holiday illustration "Addams and Evil", a 1947 interior book cartoon from The Addams Family Christmas , sold for $ 87,500, the author's world auction record, over seven times initial estimates. Books of Addams's drawings or illustrated by him: Addams also illustrated two books by other authors. First

#568431