Grandmama (The Addams Family)

Last updated
Grandmama
The Addams Family character
Blossom as Grandmama.jpg
Blossom Rock as Grandmama
First appearance The New Yorker (1938)
Created by Charles Addams
Portrayed by Blossom Rock (1964)
Jane Rose (1977)
Judith Malina (1991)
Carol Kane (1993)
Alice Ghostley (1998)
Betty Phillips (1998)
Jackie Hoffman (2010)
Voiced by Janet Waldo (1973)
Carol Channing (1992)
Bette Midler (2019, 2021)
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
GenderFemale
Occupation Witch
Family
  • Morticia (daughter-in-law)
  • Wednesday (granddaughter)
  • Pugsley (grandson)
  • Pubert (younger grandson, Addams Family Values )
  • Wednesday Jr. (younger granddaughter, Halloween with the New Addams Family)
  • Pugsley Jr. (youngest grandson, Halloween with the New Addams Family)
  • Itt (cousin)
  • Granny Frump (sister-in-law)
  • Ophelia Frump (daughter-in-law)
  • Debbie Addams (née Jellinsky) (daughter-in-law, Addams Family Values; deceased)
SpouseFather Addams (husband, The Addams Family (1991 film) ; deceased)
Children

Grandmama is a fictional character in the Addams Family television and film series. First appearing in the works of cartoonist Charles Addams, she is a supporting character in the film, television, and stage adaptations.

Contents

Character background

"This disrespectful old hag is the mother of Gomez (husband of Morticia). She willingly helps with the dishes, cheats at solitaire and is thoroughly dishonest. She, too, is a favorite with the children and will make them cookies in the shape of bats, skulls and bones. Good humored about all and can be garrulous. The complexion is dark, the hair is white and frizzy and uncombed. She has a light beard and a large mole. She wears a shawl on all occasions, thick socks and fleece slippers under a bombazine skirt."


— Charles Addams [1]

Grandmama Addams is an aged witch who concocts potions and spells, and dabbles in fortune telling and knife throwing. She is the grandmother of the Addams children, Pugsley and Wednesday, although her relationship to the other family members is less consistent. Grandmama first appeared along with the then-unnamed Addams family in Charles Addams' original cartoons published in The New Yorker , in which she was regularly illustrated with shoulder-length frizzy hair and a fringed shawl.

Grandmama and Granny Frump

When asked to name his characters for the then upcoming 1964 TV adaptation, Charles Addams, creator of the original The New Yorker cartoon strips, first named the household's grandmother as Granny Frump and described her as Gomez's mother, thus making her Morticia's mother-in-law and Wednesday and Pugsley's paternal grandmother. But when the show was being made, the characters were instead given the surname of Addams after their creator, yet Grandmama remains Gomez's mother and "Frump" became Morticia's maiden name instead. A different Granny Frump appears in three episodes of the show, Grandmama's best friend Hester Frump and the mother of sisters Morticia Addams and Ophelia Frump (and is, probably, Fester's sister too). These versions of the characters were also used in the TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family .

However, due to Charles Addams originally naming the character Granny Frump, both the feature films and animated television series had retconned her as being Morticia's mother and Wednesday and Pugsley's maternal grandmother instead. In the first film, Morticia and Fester discuss how "Mother and Father Addams" were killed by an angry mob. In the third film, Grandmama is named Esmeralda and is again Morticia's mother. The character is simply referred to as Granny Frump in the two animated series. In the 1992 series, Grandmama is of Morticia's side of the family, when she introduces herself with the line "the name's Granny Frump". [2]

In the 1998-99 television series The New Addams Family , Grandmama is again Gomez's mother and, for the first time, Fester's mother. A separate Granny Frump also appears, once again as Morticia and Ophelia's mother. Here, Grandmama's full name is Eudora Addams, while Morticia's mother was renamed Griselda Frump.

In the Broadway musical The Addams Family , Morticia refers to Grandmama as Gomez and Uncle Fester's mother, to which Gomez reacts with surprise and says that he thought she was Morticia's mother. Morticia later says that Grandmama "may not even be part of this family".

In the animated film and its sequel, she is again Gomez and Fester's mother while Granny Frump is long dead.

Auber Tully, as Grandmama The Addams Family (29524533874) croppedjpg.jpg
Auber Tully, as Grandmama

Appearances

Television and film

In other media

Relationships

Family tree

Addams family tree
Grandmama [lower-roman 1] [n 1]
Debbie Jellinsky [n 2] Uncle Fester [lower-roman 1] Cousin Itt [lower-roman 1] Margaret Alford [n 2] Tully Alford
Mal Beineke [n 3] Alice Beineke [n 3] Gomez Addams Morticia Addams
(née Frump)
[lower-roman 1] [lower-roman 2]
Rupert Styx [n 4]
Lucas Beineke [lower-roman 3] Wednesday Addams [lower-roman 1] [lower-roman 4] [lower-roman 5] Pugsley Addams [lower-roman 1] Pubert Addams [lower-roman 6] [n 2]
Wednesday Addams Jr. [n 5] Pugsley Addams Jr. [n 5]
Notes:
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Altogether Ooky: The Addams Family Tree". Family Tree Magazine. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  2. "Morticia Addams: A Witch Icon Worthy Of All The Praise". SyFy Wire . Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  3. "Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Addams Family on Broadway". Playbill . Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  4. "Here's how Wednesday Addams got her name". The A.V. Club . Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  5. "The Many Shades of Wednesday Addams". The New York Times . Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  6. "11 things you never knew about Addams Family Values". Digital Spy . Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  1. In the Broadway musical The Addams Family, Morticia refers to Grandmama as Gomez and Uncle Fester's mother,
    to which Gomez reacts with surprise and says that he had thought she was Morticia's mother. Morticia later says that
    Grandmama "may not even be part of this family", referencing Grandmama's ever-changing relation to the family.
  2. 1 2 3 Established in the 1993 film Addams Family Values .
  3. 1 2 Established in the Broadway musical The Addams Family.
  4. Established in the 1964 episode "Halloween with the Addams Family".
  5. 1 2 Established in the 1977 film Halloween with the New Addams Family .

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References

  1. Miserocchi, H. Kevin (March 31, 2010). "The Addams Family: An Evilution". Pomegranate.
  2. Episode 1x02, "Dead and Breakfast", (1992) The Addams Family
  3. Pinkton, Edgar (February 13, 1965). "That Abnormal Addams Family Has Real Heart Year Round". The Troy Record . Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  4. Image gallery from Time magazine; reposted on tumblr.com
  5. Humphrey, Hal (January 17, 1965). "Toothpaste to Witchery". The Baltimore Sun . Archived from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  6. Cox, Stephen (1998). The Addams Chronicles: An Altogether Ooky Look at the Addams Family. Cumberland House Publishing (2nd Edition). ISBN   1888952911.
  7. "Judith Malina, Edgy Theatrical Rebel for the Ages, Dies at 88". The Forward. 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  8. "UNDRESS REHEARSAL". 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2023-06-13.