Altogether Ooky

(This was almost my Valentine's Day post)

I've been watching a lot of "The Addams Family" lately. When I was a kid it was one of my favorite shows, but I have less memory of it, than, say, "The Soupy Sales Show" or "Supercar" or "Batman" or others from the era. So, watching it now is like watching it for the first time. The individual episodes have all the story development of a typical "Gilligan's Island" but there's such a geunine "warped-ness" that pervades the series that one can overlook it, and one might even have illusions that it was ahead of its time.

After decades of Cleavers, Nelsons and Andersons, what was it about that year that spawned two "household" sit-coms to feature monstrous families (the other being "The Munsters," Universal's attempt to cash in on their horror titles) that put the "normal" on its ear? Could it have been a reaction to the Kennedy assassination the year before? It was the same year as "Beatle-mania," so perhaps it was part of the nation's bi-polar reaction to Dallas.

I was introduced to Charles Addams' warped sensibilities by my "Dutch" Uncle Rob on my Mom's side. He had a sick, twisted sense of humor. At Thanksgiving dinner, he couldn't resist a mention of the Donner Party in a joking way ("Are we waiting for the Donner Party? It might get cold" "Donner? Party of one?" "Did we invite the Donners this year? They always bring something nice!") and he collected Chas. Addams' books of drawings for the New Yorker (which, due to legal restrictions I can't provide, but you should check out the Official web-site). My favorite featured two men in a high-rise Patent office--one man, hat in hand and the other pointing a very elaborate high-tech rifle out the window--with the caption "Death-ray, my eye! It doesn't even slow them up!" Heh. Heh-heh-heh. Still cracks me up. And The Addams Family was never an established family, it was just a set of recurring ghouls who bedeviled the normal world. For the series they were formalized and given names: "Gomez", "Morticia" "Uncle Fester" (nice one, that one) and esconced in a too-bright set full of exhibits from the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop from Hell. They were a nuclear family (and would have loved that term, in fact), but their relatives--the ones who were still living (well, maybe that didn't necessarily apply)--were all living under one roof--and getting along.

But the one thing that I remember distinctly from my childhood and why I still love "The Addams Family" is that of every TV family of the era, it was abundantly clear that, though they were strange and maybe a bit anti-positive thinking, Gomez and Morticia really loved each other. And much more than loved, they were ga-ga over each other. There was real passion there. Maybe it was Carolyn Jones' cool portrayal and John Astin's bug-eyed, over-the-top extrovert, but the two of them were instantly likable...and far-preferable to the tweed-suited normalcy in the other black and white kitchens. "'Tish! You spoke French!" would send Gomez into an arm-nuzzling frenzy. And when she called him "Bubbele" (which I've since learned is not some Slavic endearment, but is Yiddish for "Little boy") it would send him into vibrating paroxysms and send his eyes wheeling upstairs to the bedroom. I guess "The Addams Family" is the only TV-couple that I thought actually had sex.

Woof. They really were dangerous...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

As I said, this was nearly my valentine post, but I'm glad I saved it because there are enough stories on the wires (even leaving Britney and Anna Nicole--no links, you've seen enough--out of it) to make me think we've slipped into Charles Addams' world. Maybe because it's the deep, dark pit of February--the mercifully short month--with the promise of Spring a'bornin' (the Addams-like sign: the dandelions are in bloom!), but things are wierd out there.

Take, for example, this story on something we all needed desperately--talking urinal-cakes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003574771_urinals16.html

I liked Dave Ross' comment the other day: "Rather than 'big boy,' shouldn't they be saying something like '....are you kidding me?'"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then there was this little aberration with its moments of horror:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003574720_dogear16m.html

The dog's ear fell off!! Oh man! And the groomer skips town, no doubt, running with scissors to another town to establish another clip-joint.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then there was this...The Times didn't go into the entertaining details...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003574773_wdig16.html

But the P-I did...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Spain_Hijacking.html

All of which proves three things a) criminals, even terrorists, are stupid. b) that the war on terror was won with United 93 foiling that hi-jacking attempt and upping the awareness of every single cranky airline passenger in the future c) that most pilots (this one and the guy who threatened to drop the slides on that interminably-tarmaced Jetblue airliner a few days ago) are damned resourceful people. The guy wanted to go to France and he couldn't speak french...plus he didn't notice that instead of France they were landing in the Canary Islands.
As they used to say in the old Dick Tracy Sunday features--"non compos mentis"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This week, I'm taking a week off from the Ranch for a New and Exciting Project that literally fell from the sky a week ago. It's the beginning of something, which is always "a dangerous time" but I was asked, and the potential is great. But it will be dangerous. So depending on the vagaries of the schedule there may be a lack of activity here. There is, however, a review in the works.

In the meantime...a bit of audio fun. Yes. It's the guy doing all of it.