I find it fascinating how the human mind works. For the past two weeks I have been doing some research on cartoons from the early 1970s for this Retro Saturday Morning feature and I have rediscovered a ton of shows that I personally watched as a child. The fascinating part, to me, is just how fast the human mind can recall memories and feelings from decades past when prompted by a visual image or sound.
Such was the case with last weeks Emergency +4 as it is with this weeks cartoon The Addams Family. I had honestly forgot that they existed until I looked up the Saturday Morning programing list from 1974. Immediately after just seeing one small image from the program I remembered watching these cartoons when I lived in Vernon, Texas. I remember the TV, my chair, and the den in which I did all my cartoon watching.
Such wonderful memories.
Now let's get down to business.
The TV networks packed their Saturday Morning programing with animated versions of popular live-action television shows in 1974. There was a cartoon version of I dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, The Partridge Family, Star Trek and the afore mentioned Emergency and Addams Family.
It seems like some network execs were even timid back in the day to air something that already didn't have a built in audience. That being said there was a ton of original and imaginative shows in the early 70s like Land of the Lost, Hong Kong Phooey and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
I will be taking a look at all those in upcoming weeks.
History:
The Addams Family is an American animated sitcom adaptation of the Charles Addams cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1973. Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy, who played Uncle Fester and Lurch respectively from the 1960s television series, returned in voice-over roles. The cast also included an 11-year-old Jodie Foster, who performed the voice of Pugsley Addams. The show's theme music was completely different and had no lyrics and no finger snapping, although it retained a bit of the four-note score from the live-action show.
The Addams Family consists of husband and wife Gomez and Morticia Addams, their children Wednesday and Pugsley, as well as Grandmama, Uncle Fester, Thing, Cousin Itt, and their butler Lurch. The Addamses are a close-knit extended family with decidedly macabre interests and supernatural abilities. No explanation for their powers is explicitly given in the series.
This series depicts the Addamses on a cross-country road trip, exploring the United States in their Victorian-style Creepy Camper that resembles their mansion. Along the way, they stop off at various locations and venues. They inadvertently cause mayhem wherever they go due to their unusual interests and mannerisms, their willingness to trust those who probably shouldn't be trusted, and their getting swept up in criminal schemes or problems without their knowledge.
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