美国国家公共电台 NPR--How the cartoonist behind The Addams Family defused fear, with dead-on humor

How the cartoonist behind The Addams Family defused fear, with dead-on humor

Transcript¹

On November 3, the Society of Illustrators will induct the cartoonist Charles "Chas" Addams into its Hall of Fame. Although he drew thousands of cartoons throughout his career, Addams is best known for ghoulish and charming characters who first graced the pages of The New Yorker in the late 1930s.

After they appeared on a TV sitcom² that ran from 1964 to 1966, The Addams Family, as they came to be known, enjoyed an afterlife in syndication, as well as books, animated³ series, live-action films, a Broadway musical, a pinball machine, video games and ads hawking⁴ everything from M&Ms to home insurance. Next month, the ever-morose tween Wednesday Addams will have her own Netflix show, directed by Tim Burton.

The origins of this pop culture dynasty can be traced to the small town of Westfield, N.J., about 20 miles west of Manhattan. Addams was born there in 1912 and as a child he played in graveyards⁵, imagining those who lay beneath, and resurrecting them in his sketchbook. "If that's morbid⁷, then he started out as a morbid person, but it was more a fascination⁸ with death," explains Kevin Miserocchi, Director of the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation.

Having contributed cartoons to the student newspaper and literary magazine at Westfield High, Addams followed with brief stints⁹ at Colgate and the University of Pennsylvania. A transfer to the Grand Central School of Art brought him to New York City, where he landed a gig cleaning up crime scene photos for True Detective magazine in the early 1930s. "They wanted him to 'jazz up' the stories," says Miserocchi, "but then he would have to back off because it was too much."

In 1932 Addams sold his first spot sketch⁶ to The New Yorker. His big break came in 1940, with a captionless cartoon depicting¹⁰ a skier¹¹ whose tracks pass on both sides of a tree, which earned him a spot as a marquee contributor.

"Downhill Skier," The New Yorker, January 13, 1940

Tee & Charles Addams Foundation

Cartoonist Roz Chast first discovered Addams' work as an eight-year-old visiting the browsing¹² library at Cornell University while her parents attended summer lectures with other adults. At a time when most of The New Yorker's cartoons poked¹³ fun at boardrooms and cocktail¹⁴ parties, Chast says Addams's work stood out. "I loved almost anything that the kids were in," she recalls. In one of her favorites, a delivery man appears to be returning kids from summer camp to their parents – in animal restraining carriers.

In another, one of Addams' most well-known, it's Christmastime, 1946. Members of the yet-to-be-named Addams family are on the roof of a creepy-looking mansion¹⁵, poised¹⁶ to douse¹⁷ carolers on the street with the contents of a steaming cauldron.

"Boiling Oil," The New Yorker, December 21, 1946

Tee & Charles Addams Foundation

"You know, instead of it being sort of like, look at these hostile psychotics, what's wrong with them, it's like when you just kind of can't bear the carolers sort of thing and you just want to dump boiling oil on them," says Chast with a chuckle¹⁸.

Over time, those loosely connected characters experienced an "evilution" into a family: Morticia, her husband Gomez, their offspring Wednesday and Pugsley, Uncle Fester, Granny Frump, the butler Lurch¹⁹, and a mysterious disembodied hand called Thing. They became internationally famous denizens²⁰ of the dark side in the mid-1960s thanks to The Addams Family TV sitcom, starring John Astin as Gomez and Carolyn Jones as Morticia.

That's around the time that cartoonist Alison Bechdel encountered Addams' work — including an illustrated²¹ book of nursery rhymes. Bechdel says even an innocent verse like "girls and boys come out to play, the moon does shine as bright as day" could take a grim turn as members of the Addams Family rushed into the cemetery²² with shovels²³. On a personal level, she says she could relate.

"I really felt like I was a part of the Addams Family," Bechdel explains. "My parents looked like Morticia and Gomez, we ran a funeral home, we lived in this big old rambling²⁴ Victorian house like the Addams's did. I even looked quite a bit like Wednesday, especially in my first-grade photo where I'm actually wearing a black velvet²⁵ dress with a white collar."

As for Charles Addams, he loved to have fun with his public image, decorating his Manhattan penthouse with medieval weaponry and a Civil War-era embalming²⁶ table. But he was also known as a gracious and congenial man who loved vintage cars and animals. Addams married and divorced two raven-haired beauties resembling Morticia before wedding his third and final wife Marilyn "Tee" Matthews in a pet cemetery at her Water Mill, Long Island home in 1980. Naturally, the bride and groom²⁷ both wore black. When the couple died, he in 1988, and she in 2002, their ashes were interred²⁸ in the pet cemetery on their shared Sagaponack estate, which they affectionately called "The Swamp."

Miserocchi points out that as a cartoonist Addams' goal was never to create fear, but to defuse it, infusing the horror with a playfulness that appealed even to those who prefer daylight to the witching hour. "The suggestion of blood, the suggestion of gore²⁹, the suggestion of torture is always there but his cartoons never showed it." Subtly, but powerfully subversive³⁰, The Addams Family left readers wondering if maybe these weirdos weren't so weird³¹ after all ... and we were weirder³².

Addams' work is now shown in prestigious³³ galleries and museums. But perhaps nowhere is his enduring spirit more evident than in his hometown of Westfield, which holds a month-long celebration each October called "AddamsFest."

"Have you ever noticed how some people resemble their pets?" by Nadia Rego.

Photo courtesy of AddamsFest

There's a masquerade ball, cemetery crawls and a gallery exhibition pairing Addams' cartoons with works by aspiring³⁴ young artists who took a multi-day class to learn his print-age techniques.

"We [then] looked at a list of prompts, not knowing that they were his. And so we drew what we interpreted from that, and then we got the opportunity to look at how he drew it," says Nadia Rego, a 15-year-old participant. Even though Addams and Rego may be separated by nearly a century, the humor is still dead on.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

3 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

4 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

5 graveyards   

墓地( graveyard的名词复数 )； 垃圾场； 废物堆积处； 收容所

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards. 他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• "And northward there lie, in five graveyards, Calm forever under dewy green grass," 五陵北原上，万古青蒙蒙。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

6 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

7 morbid   

adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的

参考例句：

• Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。

8 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

9 stints   

n.定额工作( stint的名词复数 )；定量；限额；慷慨地做某事

参考例句：

• He stints himself in [of] sleep. 他节制睡眠。 来自辞典例句
• She never stints herself of money to buy books for her children. 她从不吝惜掏钱让子女们买书。 来自互联网

10 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

11 skier   

n.滑雪运动员

参考例句：

• She is a skier who is unafraid of danger.她是一名敢于冒险的滑雪者。
• The skier skimmed across the snow.滑雪者飞快地滑过雪地。

12 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

15 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

16 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

17 douse   

v.把…浸入水中，用水泼；n.泼洒

参考例句：

• Men came with buckets of water and began to douse the flames.人们提来一桶桶水灭火。
• He doused the flames with a fire extinguisher.他用灭火器把火焰扑灭。

18 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

19 lurch   

n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行

参考例句：

• It has been suggested that the ground movements were a form of lurch movements.地震的地面运动曾被认为是一种突然倾斜的运动形式。
• He walked with a lurch.他步履蹒跚。

20 denizens   

n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• polar bears, denizens of the frozen north 北极熊，在冰天雪地的北方生活的动物
• At length these denizens of the swamps disappeared in their turn. 到了后来，连这些沼泽国的居民们也不见了。 来自辞典例句

21 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

22 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

23 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

24 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

25 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

26 embalming   

v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的现在分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气

参考例句：

• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming. 尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were experts at preserving the bodies of the dead by embalming them with special lotions. 他们具有采用特种药物洗剂防止尸体腐烂的专门知识。 来自辞典例句

27 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

28 interred   

v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marie Curie's remains were exhumed and interred in the Pantheon. 玛丽·居里的遗体被移出葬在先贤祠中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The body was interred at the cemetery. 遗体埋葬在公墓里。 来自《简明英汉词典》

29 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

30 subversive   

adj.颠覆性的，破坏性的；n.破坏份子，危险份子

参考例句：

• She was seen as a potentially subversive within the party.她被看成党内潜在的颠覆分子。
• The police is investigating subversive group in the student organization.警方正调查学生组织中的搞颠覆阴谋的集团。

31 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

32 weirder   

怪诞的( weird的比较级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的

参考例句：

• Actually, things got a little weirder when the tow truck driver showed up. 事实上，在拖吊车司机出现后，事情的发展更加怪异。

33 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

34 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句