His first job was doing lay-out design for True Detective Magazine, which included retouching photos of corpses to remove indications of blood and other gory details. Addams dropped out and began to look for work. But he didn't finish this program either. Addams, however, switched schools to study art at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City instead (1931-1932). After graduation in 1929, his father insisted that he studied architecture, so Adddams went to Colgate University in Pennsylvania (1930-1931). In class, he drew sexy cartoons for his fellow classmates. Addams published his first cartoons in the Westfield High School student literary magazine Weathervane. His main graphic influence was James Thurber. Since he was often on the road, little Charles was mostly raised by his mother and his aunt.
His macabre fascinations are particularly remarkable, given that he was lifelong claustrophobic.Īddams' father was a piano salesman. Addams also regularly visited the Presbyterian Cemetery on Mountain Avenue. In 2018 this drawing, nicknamed 'Dudley', was excavated by the city council of New Jersey and preserved as original art. In one particular barn on Dudley Avenue, the 10-year old boy drew a skeleton on the wall in chalk. His neighborhood was filled with creepy-looking 19th-century houses, that pricked his imagination. From a young age, Charles Addams loved to scare himself. In later decades, the street name gained a macabre reputation, since in 1963 President Kennedy was shot in Elm Street, Dallas, and in 1984, film director Wes Craven began a famous horror franchise entitled 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. In hindsight, it is amusing that Addams' address was once Elm Street. The family moved several times before 1920, when they took up permanent residence on Elm Street. Addams also drew another one-panel cartoon series, the short-lived 'Out Of This World' (1955-1957).Ĭovers by Charles Addams for The New Yorker, respectively published on 10 February 1951 and 3 November 1986.Ĭharles Samuel Addams, or "Chill" as his friends called him, was born in 1912 in Westfield, New Jersey, where the Addams' lived on Summit Avenue. They inspired TV series, films and video games. Since then, The Addams Family have become a pop culture mainstay, particularly at Halloween. Originally featured as nameless characters in a pantomime one-panel cartoon series, their popularity skyrocketed after being adapted into a popular 1964-1966 TV sitcom.
His most famous creation is 'The Addams Family' (1938), an eccentric family of ghouls, ogres, witches and other creepy monsters. Between 19, he was a household name in the pages of The New Yorker. 'Movie Scream', The New Yorker, 18 January 1947.Ĭharles Addams was an American cartoonist, known for his sinister, macabre work.
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