The Munsters
The Munsters is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monster[Notes 1] Herman Munster, Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife Lily,[2] Al Lewis as Grandpa the aged vampire Count Dracula,[Notes 2] Beverley Owen (later replaced by Pat Priest) as their niece Marilyn, and Butch Patrick as their werewolf-like son Eddie. The family pet, named "Spot", was a fire-breathing dragon.
For the 2022 film, see The Munsters (2022 film). For the Succession episode, see The Munsters (Succession).The Munsters
Norm Liebmann
Ed Haas
Jack Marshall
Bob Mosher (unaired lyrics)
"The Munsters' Theme"
“The Munsters’ Theme”
Jack Marshall
United States
English
2
70 (list of episodes)
23-26 minutes
Kayro-Vue Productions
Universal Television
September 24, 1964 –
May 12, 1966
Produced by the creators of Leave It to Beaver, the series was a satire of American suburban life, the wholesome television family fare of the era and traditional monster movies.[3][4] It achieved higher Nielsen ratings than did the similarly macabre-themed The Addams Family, which aired concurrently on ABC.
In 1965, The Munsters was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series[5] but lost to The Rogues. In the 21st century, it received several TV Land Award nominations, including one for Most Uninsurable Driver (Herman Munster).[6]
The series originally aired on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. on CBS from September 24, 1964 to May 12, 1966. Seventy episodes were produced. The show was canceled after ratings had dropped to a series low in the face of competition from ABC's Batman.[7] Patrick said, "I think 'Batman' was to blame. 'Batman' just came along and took our ratings away."[8] However, The Munsters found a large audience in syndication. A spinoff series ensued, as well as several films, including one with a theatrical release and several more recent attempts to reboot it.[9]
Premise[edit]
The Munsters are a Transylvanian-American family living at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in the fictional city of Mockingbird Heights.[Notes 3] The series' running gag is that the odd-looking family with strange tastes considers itself to be an average American family.[10] Herman is the family's sole wage-earner, although Lily and Grandpa make short-lived attempts to earn money from time to time. While Herman is the head of the household, Lily also makes many decisions. According to episode 44 ("Happy 100th Anniversary"), they were married in 1865.
Other than Marilyn, the characters' costumes and appearances were based on the classic monsters of Universal Studios films of the 1930s and 1940s, including the iconic version of Frankenstein's monster[11] developed by Jack Pierce for the 1931 Universal film Frankenstein. As Universal jointly produced The Munsters, the show was able to employ the copyrighted designs. Makeup for the series was credited to Bud Westmore, who pioneered many other makeup effects and designs for the studio's monsters after Pierce.
The show satirized the typical family sitcom formula of the era: the well-meaning father, the nurturing mother, the eccentric live-in relative, the naïve teenager and the precocious child. The show also references several real sitcoms. In episode 45, "Operation Herman", Lily tells Herman to have a father-son talk with Eddie because "a thing like this is up to the father. Anyone who's watched Father Knows Best for nine years ought to know that," to which Herman replies, "All right. But Donna Reed always handles things on her show." In episode 47, "John Doe Munster", Grandpa describes My Three Sons as being about a "crazy, mixed-up family that's always having weird adventures."[Notes 4]
Al Lewis explained, "We can do a lot of satirical pointed things on society that you couldn't do on an ordinary show." Lewis also said, "Philosophically, the format is that in spite of the way people look to you physically, underneath there is a heart of gold.[12]
The Munsters reflected changes in social attitudes during the civil-rights era, and in 2020 a speech that Herman makes to Eddie in the 1965 episode "Eddie's Nickname" went viral: "The lesson I want you to learn is that it doesn't matter what you look like. Whether you are tall or short; or fat or thin; or ugly or handsome—like your father—or you can be black, or yellow or white, it doesn't matter. What matters is the size of your heart and the strength of your character."[13]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
The idea of a family of comical monsters was first suggested to Universal Studios by animator Bob Clampett, who developed the idea from 1943 to 1945 as a series of cartoons.[14] The project did not make progress until mid-1963[15] when a similar idea was submitted by The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends writers Allan Burns and Chris Hayward. The proposal was later handed to writers Norm Liebman and Ed Haas, who wrote a pilot script, Love Thy Monster.
According to Burns, "We sort of stole the idea from Charles Addams and his New Yorker cartoons.... Because Universal owned the Frankenstein character and the Dracula character for movie rights, they decided to take their characters instead of the characters we had written."[16]
While some executives believed that the series should be animated, others who argued for live action prevailed. In 1964, a live-action pilot titled "My Fair Munster" was filmed in color by MCA Television for CBS.[11] Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were the first to be cast early in February 1964. They had recently completed the series Car 54, Where Are You? and had good chemistry together. Beverly Owen was signed to play Marilyn, Joan Marshall was cast as Herman's wife Phoebe and "Happy" Nate Derman was cast as Eddie. A second pilot was ordered in April 1964 with Yvonne De Carlo replacing Marshall, and the character renamed Lily. For a third pilot, Derman was replaced by Butch Patrick. CBS liked both De Carlo and Patrick, but ordered a fourth pilot in which Eddie was less spoiled.
The show was produced by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, who were already known for creating the Leave It to Beaver television series. Prior to that, they had written many episodes of Amos 'n' Andy, a popular network radio program, during its half-hour comedy era.
Filming[edit]
Over the course of Season 1, the makeup for Herman, Lily and Grandpa was adjusted. Lily's hair originally had a large white streak, which was reduced in later episodes. Her necklace featured a bat instead of a star, and her eyebrows were angled more. Grandpa's makeup was exaggerated, including heavier eyebrows, and Herman's face was widened for a dopier and less human appearance. Gwynne also added a stutter whenever Herman was angry or wanted to make a point, and he frequently left his mouth open, adding to the effect of a goofy, less frightening figure.
Syndication[edit]
The series entered syndication on local stations after its original run. In the 1990s, it aired on Nick at Nite and on TV Land from 1990 to 1998. In October 2011, the series was picked up by Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang and ran through the entire month of October that year for Halloween along with The Addams Family.
On October 5, 2015, Cozi TV began airing the series on weeknights and in a two-hour block on Sunday evenings.[24]
TV appearances in character[edit]
Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis appeared in full makeup and costumes riding in the Munster Koach in the 1964 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[26] Gwynne made solo appearances in character on The Red Skelton Show in April 1965, in the special Murray The K – It's What's Happening, Baby in June 1965[27] and on and The Danny Kaye Show in April 1966.
Merchandise[edit]
Gold Key Comics produced a Munsters comic book that ran for 16 issues from 1965 to 1968 and featured photo covers from the TV series. When the series first appeared, the Comics Code Authority still forbade the appearance of vampires in comic books. However, because Gold Key was not a member of the Comics Magazine Association of America, it was not obligated to conform to the Comics Code, and Lily and Grandpa appeared in the comics without controversy.
Other merchandise included a set of rubber squeaky toys, Colorforms, and an Aurora model kit of the living room and family. AMT produced model kits of the Munster Koach and DRAG-U-LA. The Aurora model of the living room featured Herman in his electric chair, Eddie squatting in front of the fire, Lily knitting and Grandpa hanging in a bat-like manner from the rafters. Marilyn was not included. ERTL later produced a very detailed 1:18 scale diecast of the Munster Koach. Mattel issued two Herman Munster dolls: one was a talking doll and the other was a hand puppet (both with rings that could be pulled to make them talk utilizing Gwynne's actual voice) that were issued from 1964 until around 1968.
A video game based on The Munsters was published by Again, Again (a division of Alternative Software) in 1989. It was available for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, MSX, and MS-DOS, but it was criticized by the gaming press because of its short length and lackluster gameplay.[46]
In 1990, Atari Corporation released Midnight Mutants for the Atari 7800, featuring Al Lewis' likeness in his Grampa Munster character on the box and label. However, as Atari had reached an agreement with Universal, they could not call him Grampa Munster, so he was simply called Grampa.
In 1966, a three-reel View-Master set featuring The Munsters episode "The Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World" was released, accompanied by a booklet containing drawings and additional text. The set is notable because the photographs provide rare color views of the characters and sets, including house interiors, Grandpa's dungeon laboratory and the characters' heavy greenish-white facial makeup.
