The upcoming release of Wednesday -- Tim Burton's eight-episode take on The Addams Family -- has prompted discussion of how perfect the pairing is. The ghoulish whimsy of Charles Addams's original cartoon has translated into a pop culture universe all its own. Burton's own aesthetics match up with it perfectly, and indeed, his Batman movies helped set the stage for The Addams Family movies in the 1990s. But the connection between the two -- The Caped Crusader and Addams's creepy, kooky family -- goes back even further.
Burton became a household name following a string of colossal hits that included the original Batman in 1989 and its sequel Batman Returns in 1992. His brooding and surreal take on The Caped Crusader constituted a sharp break from previous comic book adaptions like Christopher Reeve's Superman movies, which aspired to a more real-world aesthetic. Burton's Gotham didn't belong to the real world at all: a surreal dreamscape of Gothic noir that fit both him and the character like a glove. The two live-action Addams Family movies drew heavily from his aesthetic. Screenwriters Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson also penned Edward Scissorhands, while Burton himself turned down directing the first movie in order to helm Batman Returns.
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The connections didn't begin with Burton, but stretch all the way back to the 1960s, when both properties were very prominent at approximately the same time. The Addams Family TV series, which ran on ABC from 1964-1966, was the first incarnation of the character outside of Charles Addams's ghoulish New Yorker cartoons, and set the pace for future adaptations. The end of that series dovetailed with the debut of the celebrated Batman series in January 1966. For various reasons, ABC brought some of the Addamses along for the ride.
That resulted in three "Addams crossovers" during the Batman series as the show took advantage of its predecessor's prominence. The most notable is probably Marsha Queen of Diamonds, a villain created specifically for the show. She first appeared in Season 2, Episode 23, "Marsha, Queen of Diamonds" in a scheme to marry Batman and gain the "Bat-Diamond" that powers the Batcave's computers. She was played by Carolyn Jones, who had just finished her run as Morticia on The Addams Family, and the character proved successful enough to justify a second appearance in the show's two-episode cliffhanger format.
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Far stranger was an appearance by John Astin, who played Gomez to Jones's Morticia. Batman star Frank Gorshin held out on playing his signature villain, The Riddler, in the second season, citing weariness of the part and what he considered an unfair salary for the value he brought to the series. Astin stepped in to play the part in Season 2, Episode 45, "Batman's Anniversary." No reason was given for the obvious change in cast member, and Astin's quietly creepy performance -- pure gangbusters on The Addams Family -- was ill-suited for Gorshin's manic take. Gorshin returned to the role for the third season, leaving Astin's turn a pop culture curiosity.
Both of those cases were simply matters of casting, however, and while both Jones and Astin brought the same energy they had on The Addams Family, they were still playing Batman characters. Not so Ted Cassidy, who appeared on Batman Season 2, Episode 27, "The Penguin's Nest" as Lurch. He was one of the show's famous "window cameos" in which a celebrity or pop culture figure would open the window and chat with Batman and Robin as they climbed the wall of the building. The sounds of The Addams Family theme play in the scene as the Caped Crusaders scale the wall, only for Lurch to pop out of the window and confess that they gave him a fright. Batman reassures him that all is well and admonishes him to go back to his harpsichord.
It's notable because the two properties had comparatively little in common at that point. West's Batman was cheerful and bright, a far cry from the gallows humor of Addams and his creations. That changed as the hero returned to his noir roots, but the creepy, kooky connection never did. In that light, Burton's Wednesday is less a case of a long-overdue creative pairing so much as an affirmation of a very old connection.
Wednesday will release its eight-episode inaugural season on Netflix this fall.