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Charles Addams

Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters.[1] Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Family, and were subsequently popularized through various adaptations.

For other people with similar names, see Charles Adams.

Charles Addams

Charles Samuel Addams
(1912-01-07)January 7, 1912
Westfield, New Jersey, U.S.

September 29, 1988(1988-09-29) (aged 76)
New York City, U.S.

Cartoonist

Chas Addams (pen name/nickname)

The Addams Family

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(m. 1943; div. 1950)​
Estelle Barbara Barb
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(m. 1954; div. 1956)​
  • Marilyn Matthews Miller

Legacy[edit]

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 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.[24]


The Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall in Philadelphia was named in his tribute by the University of Pennsylvania in 2001.[25]


On the occasion of his 100th birthday, January 7, 2012, Charles Addams was honored with a Google Doodle.[26]


Addams was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2020.[27]


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.[28]

(illustrations) But Who Wakes the Bugler? (1940) by Peter DeVries

Drawn and Quartered (1942), first anthology of drawings/cartoons (Random House); re-released 1962 (Simon & Schuster)

Addams and Evil (1947), second anthology (Simon and Schuster)

(illustrations) Afternoon in the Attic (1950), John Kobler's collection of short stories

Monster Rally (1950) third anthology of drawings (Simon & Schuster)

Homebodies (1954), fourth anthology (Simon & Schuster)

Nightcrawlers (1957), fifth anthology (Simon & Schuster)

Dear Dead Days: A Family Album (1959), compilation book of photos (G.P. Putnam & Sons)

Black Maria (1960), sixth anthology of drawings (Simon & Schuster)

The Groaning Board (1964), seventh anthology (Simon & Schuster)

The Chas Addams Mother Goose (1967), Windmill Books; reissued with additional material 2002

My Crowd (1970), eighth anthology of drawings (Simon & Schuster)

Favorite Haunts (1976), ninth anthology (Simon & Schuster)

Creature Comforts (1981), tenth anthology (Simon & Schuster)

The World of Charles Addams, by Charles Addams (1991), posthumously compiled from works with the copyright owned by his third wife, Marilyn Matthews "Tee" Addams (Knopf)  0-394-58822-3

ISBN

Chas Addams Half-Baked Cookbook: Culinary Cartoons for the Humorously Famished, by Charles Addams (2005), anthology of drawings, some previously unpublished (Simon & Schuster)  0-7432-6775-3

ISBN

Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of Your Loved One, by Charles Addams (2006), anthology of drawings, some previously unpublished (Simon & Schuster)  978-0-7432-6777-9

ISBN

(2010), about the evolution of The Addams Family characters; arranged by H. Kevin Miserocchi (Pomegranate) ISBN 978-0-7649-5388-0

The Addams Family: An Evilution

Addams' Apple: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams (2020), anthology of drawings (Pomegranate)  978-0764999369

ISBN

Books of Addams's drawings or illustrated by him:[29] Addams also illustrated two books by other authors. First was But Who Wakes the Bugler? (Houghton & Mifflin, 1940) by Peter DeVries.[30] The other was Afternoon In the Attic (Dodd, Mead, 1950) by John Kobler.[31] 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.[32]

Robert Crumb

Edward Gorey

Gary Larson

Lorin Morgan-Richards

Marvin Townsend

Gahan Wilson

Contemporary American cartoonists with similar macabre style include:

Davis, Linda H. (2006). . New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-46325-2. Hardcover reissue, Turner, 2021

Chas Addams: A Cartoonist's Life

Obituary, The New York Times, Sept. 30, 1988, p. A1

. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.

Strickler, Dave

The Wall Street Journal book review of The Addams Family: An Evilution, edited by H. Kevin Miserocchi.

"The Charms of the Macabre: Charles Addams's cartoon world is full of loving and caring people. How odd."

Notes


Bibliography

Charles Addams Foundation

at Library of Congress, with 28 library catalog records

Charles Addams