Props to The Hallmark Channel for their Addams Family marathon today. Where would this show be without the late, great Carolyn Jones? Her Morticia is the ideal mother: affectionate, protective, interested and supportive, all without being smothering; the ideal wife: unconditionally adoring, passionate, indulgent and nurturing, all without being "enabling" or passive; and the ideal woman: confident in her beauty, unshakably secure in her worldview, with a will of titanium under her impeccably gracious manners. (I can't imagine Morticia ever saying "Um...") If anyone had been paying attention, Morticia could have been a useful counterpoint to the bleak, self-fulfilling vision in Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. Morticia's devotion to family is utter, but not abject, as you find that her "self" (to use that fine Sixties' term) is fully expressed and enhanced (no, I won't say "actualized") in the sanctuary of the roost that she rules. It's an idyllic fantasy: the days spent hand-feeding Cleopatra, the man-eating plant-pet, knitting a multi-armed sweater for Cousin Eimar (an homage to Ray Bradbury's "Uncle Einar"? I've always liked to think so.), and playing the koto while crooning like Yoko Ono. (Okay, maybe that's where the idyll ends.)
Ever notice that Morticia is a gardener? Some scenes of the Addams front porch show an entry door flanked by a pair of containerized evergreens (possibly arborvitae) and accessorized with hanging baskets, leading to a lushly planted front garden (including a bayberry shrub along the walk, if I'm not mistaken). Other scenes reveal that Morticia had a heckuva hothouse, a veritable jungle of tropical plants and vines, including a trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) entwined with, then strangled by, a fellow hothouse crawler. Finally, let's not forget Morticia's favorite household chore, as she expertly deadheads a dozen hybrid teas with secateurs to create a stem-only long-stemmed bouquet for the Addams household. (It's the image I carried in my play-acting mind as I went about my daily deadheading of the Cosmos bipinnatus 'Purity' this past summer.)
I missed a big chunk of the marathon today, but was lucky enough to catch my favorite episode. It may be the only one in which you'll see Morticia seriously lose her cool, as her beloved son Pugsley becomes a Boy Scout, acquires a baseball mitt, tennis racquet and roller skates, and brings home a new pet--a cuddly and curly-haired p-u-p-p-y. (Best Morticia line: "Eagle Scout? Is that the one where the eagle carries off the scout?")
All hail Carolyn Jones, although I'll never be able to shake the cognitive dissonance from having learned that she was once married to Aaron Spelling.
Update (April 24, 2004): Welcome to all the folks (uh, there have been quite a lot of you) visiting from Ask.FunTrivia.com for the answer to the question: "What type of flower did Morticia of the classic TV show 'The Addams Family' cut the buds off when she was arranging 'flowers'?" The answer is "a rose". I see in the comments at FunTrivia.com that someone has suggested "calla lily" as an answer. I respectfully beg to differ. See the show's premiere, "The Addams Family Goes to School", in which Morticia gracefully lops off the heads of what very clearly are long-stemmed hybrid teas, while Gomez looks on adoringly and remarks, "Lovely, Morticia...you have quite the way with roses."
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