Charles "Chas" Addams began working as a cartoonist for the New Yorker in 1932, regularly turning out single-panel cartoon strips, typically with a macabre edge. In 1938, he drew a strip with a striking family of ghouls living in a haunted mansion, clearly rejecting the cleanliness, light, and verve of average American homes. The unnamed haunted house family soon began making regular appearances in the New Yorker, eventually rounding out to seven members. The creepy clan, nicknamed the Addams Family, appeared in 58 of Addams' strips in the 1950s. They were very popular and, by the early 1960s, were even inspiring merchandise. The matriarch of the family, Morticia, and her daughter Wednesday were first given names for a little-known doll line released in 1962.

Addams' family was adapted in

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