![]() ![]() The next consideration was likely the horizontality of the space, so he devised a gag that is essentially horizontal. But, this being the Addams Family, he opted for a grim, overcast day for their outing. The mural was meant for a beach resort, so he set the scene at the beach. One can imagine Addams being presented with the venue for his commission, and sizing up the task. With a proclivity to the grim, grisly and gruesome, Charles Addams (1912-1988) walked through life illuminating its incongruous funny bones and sore spots. It’s that unseen catch at the end of the line that is panicking the bathers, who can’t get out of the water fast enough. Charles Addams, Penguin Convention, cover illustration for The New Yorker, September 12, 1977. ![]() Morticia and Wednesday look on with approval, framing the focal point of the action: Fester grips a net and a spiked club, ready to help Gomez, who is holding a fishing rod and reeling in something. A picnic basket is filled with yummy dead bats. Lurch, with his cocktail shaker, is concocting a drink from the poison held by Grandmama. Pugsley is burying something (or someone) in the sand. The members of the clan, engaged in the bizarre activity of being the Addams Family, are oblivious of the panic of the humans surrounding them. In a perfect world, Charles Addams would rise from the dead, appalled at the goings on in The Addams Family 2, leaving his estate the comforting task of reburying him. Nestled in the dunes are a regular beach house and a spooky old mansion. On this beach, there are normal people and not-normal people. The gag follows a basic Addams Family formula: the collision of the drab with the macabre. ![]()
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