1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Before we get started with this episode, we 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: have one last live show to announce for We will 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: be in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the National World War 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: Two Museum on Tuesday, November six. Okay, we know that 5 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: selection day, but we don't want coming to our show 6 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: to keep you from the polls. We are both going 7 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: to vote early before we leave for New Orleans, and 8 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: Louisiana offers early voting as well, so we encourage you 9 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: to do so. You can find out more about this 10 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: show and get a link to buy tickets at missed 11 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: in History dot com slash tour. Welcome to Stuff you 12 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: Missed in History class from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello, 13 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I'm 14 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: Tracy view Wilson. And this is of course a part 15 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: two of a two parter about Charles Adams. Uh. In 16 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: part one of this episode, we talked about the early 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: life of the charming and talented Charles Adams, who went 18 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: by Charlie with his friends. He started submitting cartoons to 19 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: The New Yorker when he was still a teenager in 20 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: art school, and by his early twenties he was a 21 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: regular contributor with a very devoted following thanks to his odd, 22 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: irreverent humor. He sometimes said he didn't think of himself 23 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: as a MacB cartoonist, just a funny cartoonist, and his 24 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 1: wit was irresistible to friends and romantic partners as well 25 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,759 Speaker 1: as people who enjoyed his art. He had been married 26 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: and divorced twice by the end of nineteen fifty six, 27 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,279 Speaker 1: and though his last book had not been a huge seller, 28 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: he was still considered very, very successful. And today we 29 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: are picking up right after he became a single man 30 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: once again, and that was a status that he maintained 31 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: for a very long time. So in the late fifties 32 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: and early sixties, Charles Adams enjoyed his freedom as a 33 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: successful man who was not tethered to a family. He 34 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: dated a whole assortment of high profile women, and that 35 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: included Greta Garbo and Joan Fontaine. Sometimes he'd go on 36 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: dates with more than one woman on a given day, 37 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: and none of them overtook his life in the way 38 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: that Barbara Barba had. He was also never deceitful about 39 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: any of this. He was very open with the women 40 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: that he was dating that he was also dating other women, 41 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: and he would talk about them to one another freely. 42 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 1: He seemed, through all of this openness, to largely avoid 43 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: issues of jealousy among the various women he was dating. Yeah, 44 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: a lot of them were in the same social circles, 45 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: which seems very strange to me. It's kind of like 46 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: the emotionally healthier version of what we talked about in 47 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: the Lady Anne Blunt episode with her husband, Wilfred Blunt, 48 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: who had relationships with a bunch of other women, but 49 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: it was all very secret and cloaked in weirdness. Charlie 50 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,679 Speaker 1: was very open. Yeah, you know, everybody understood what the 51 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: situation was. There was no deception or gross manipulation going on. Yeah, 52 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: Lady Ann Blunt's husband was also just doing all that 53 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: without taking her into account in any of it, and 54 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,959 Speaker 1: regardless of how she felt about it. Yeah, he was 55 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: hiding it from her, and then when she found out 56 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: about it was kind of like, so, what are you 57 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: gonna do about it? Whereas Charlie at was very upfront 58 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: with everyone and and really by all accounts, very open 59 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: and willing to talk with any of the women in 60 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: his life about how they felt about things. His relationship 61 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: with Joan Fontaine did for a little while threatened this easy, 62 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: breezy situation. Though the pair became fairly serious and marriage 63 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: was even discussed, but Charlie ultimately felt that Joan was 64 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: too high maintenance and often rude to his friends, and 65 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: so he did not want a permanent relationship. Things could 66 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: be kind of stormy between the two of them. He 67 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: once told a friend after she had behaved particularly badly 68 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: in a restaurant that he had quote popped her in 69 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: the jaw after the two exited the scene abruptly. But 70 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: the friend that he told that too, was never very 71 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: sure if it was a joke, and as far as 72 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: the Fontaine side of it, she never said anything that 73 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: would corroborate it. So we don't know if that actually 74 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: happened or not, but I wanted to mention it in 75 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: case that anybody had questions. Eventually, that pair called it quits. 76 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: Charlie felt he could never give the actress enough attention 77 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: to keep her happy, and nine sixty three, a TV 78 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: producer named David Levy happened to spot one of Adam's 79 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: books featuring the spooky family of characters in a bookshop window, 80 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: and he decided he wanted to option this book for 81 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: a TV series. All the Creepy Victorian cartoons had been 82 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: wildly popular in the New York or during the forties 83 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,359 Speaker 1: and fifties, they weren't really appearing regularly in the magazine 84 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: by the early sixties. Yeah, the Adams family, although they 85 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: were not really called that in any official capacity, was 86 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: a little bit passe at that point. Um. But there 87 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: had already been many pitches to Adams to try to 88 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: adapt his work into other formats, but few of them 89 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,280 Speaker 1: gave Charlie the sense that the people doing the pitching 90 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: really had the right sense of his humor and style. 91 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: There was one that he did agree to, which was 92 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: a ballet adaptation, but it never came to fruition. That 93 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,799 Speaker 1: seems a great pity, because that is something I personally 94 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: would just yearn to see me too. I'm very excited 95 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: about that, even having ever been an idea. I'm picturing 96 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: just like Uncle Fester dancing, and I really like it. 97 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: Levy assured Adams that the unique family dynamic of the 98 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: cartoons would stay in place and be respected as it 99 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: was transitioned into television, and over time Adams came to 100 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: trust him on all this. They eventually struck a lucrative 101 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: deal that offered Adams generous financial compensation and enough power 102 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: to make decisions about the casting and staffing changes. As 103 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: the show was developed, Adams started to name this whole 104 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: family of ghouls. We've been using their names sometimes because 105 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: that makes it makes sense, but it was really now 106 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: that Mortisa Gomez, Pugsley, Wednesday, Lurch, and Granny Frump finally 107 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: gotten the names we know them by today. Yeah, Granny 108 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: Frump had actually been named in the comics, but she 109 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: was the only one. And Adams wrote these fantastic descriptions 110 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: of the characters and drew sketches of each of them 111 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: to guide the production. They were kind of like made 112 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 1: the show Bible. And of more Tisia Uh, he wrote 113 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: that she is the head of the family and low 114 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: voiced and with a driving force that kind of keeps 115 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: everything going. He called her quote a ruined beauty, and 116 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: Wednesday was described as a solemn child and pretty lost 117 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: with six toes on one ft. Pugsley was originally going 118 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: to be named Pubert, but the network thought that sounded 119 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 1: like it might be something dirty. I agree with the network. 120 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: Adams described him as an energetic monster of a boy. 121 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: Granny Frump had already been named in the cartoons. As 122 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: Holly said earlier, she was called Grandmama in the series. Quote. 123 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: She has a light beard and a large mole. Per 124 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: Charlie's notes, she also wears a shawl on all occasions. 125 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: Fester was quote incorrigible, and except for the good nature 126 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: of the family and the ignorance of the police, would 127 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: ordinarily be under lock and key. Lurch is written up 128 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: as quote, not a very good butler, but a faithful one. 129 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: And Thing actually started out a bit differently than he 130 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: ended up on the series. He or, we don't really 131 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: have a firm gender identity for Thing. In Adams's notes, 132 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: it's referred to as the thing, and he wrote, quote, 133 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: we don't really know who or what he is, but whatever, 134 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: he is the soul of good nature. At least he 135 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: grins perpetually and may occasionally whimper. Okay, just in case 136 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: you don't know what thing is, It's a hand. So 137 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: all of this grinning and whimpering is very funny. Of Gomez, 138 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: he wrote, quote, husband of Morticia, if they are married 139 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: at all, a crafty schemer, but also a jolly man. 140 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: In his own way. Gomez was also noted as quote 141 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: the only one who smokes, though Pugsley can be allowed 142 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: an occasional cigar as a fun bit of trivia. Actor 143 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: John Aston was given the final choice on the name 144 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: of the patriarch for this family. He was offered Repelli 145 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: or Gomez, and obviously he chose Gomez, Thank goodness. Uh. 146 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: John Aston was originally also not someone that Charlie Adams 147 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: loved for the part because he looks very different than 148 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: the way Charlie Adams drew that character, which was very 149 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: round and a little more squad. But John Aston was 150 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: a huge fan of Charles Adams, so uh, that ended 151 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: up working out. But then Barbara Barbe, his second ex wife, 152 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: got wind of this whole deal, and at that point 153 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: it became apparent that Charles Adams had really not understood 154 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: the nature of the divorce settlement that he had agreed to. 155 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: As you may recall from the first episode, she wanted 156 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: a number of cartoons and some properties, and he felt 157 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: like he was escaping a really bad marriage pretty easily. 158 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: But in fact Barbe had the dramatic rights to the 159 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,839 Speaker 1: characters that he created. Charlie's attorney, Harriet Pillpel, who might 160 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: be the subject of a future episode because she was 161 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 1: really pretty amazing in her own right, uh, stepped in 162 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: and tried to help negotiate this deal. During this period, 163 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: Charlie was also dating Jacqueline Kennedy not long after her 164 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: husband John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. He was also 165 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: seeing other men, and he was seeing other women, but 166 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: Charlie was becoming more and more attached to her. Eventually, 167 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: the two of them separated, and the exact reason isn't clear. 168 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: Charlie told friends that he wasn't rich enough for her, 169 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: but told some of his closer confidence that she said 170 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 1: they would never marry because she asked, quote, at the 171 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: end of the day, what would we talk about cartoons? 172 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: Charlie was apparently very hurt by this comment and by 173 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: other moments when she seemed to dismiss him during discussions 174 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: of diplomacy or politics. Yeah, he was really pretty crazy 175 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: about her, and she, uh, you know, kind of dismissed him. Hurt. 176 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: Of course, as the Adams Family TV show progressed, Barbara 177 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,559 Speaker 1: Barba continued to cause problems. She was displeased at certain 178 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: clauses in the contract, and she caused a number of 179 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: assorted other problems that she would just kind of come 180 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: up with one complaint after another, and Harriet Pillpel tried 181 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: to dispel these as best she could. Finally, on Friday, 182 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: September eighteenth, nineteen sixty four, that Adams family made their 183 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: television debut. Adams had mixed feelings about how the show 184 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: turned out, though John Aston was a lot more handsome 185 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: than the cartoon version of Gomez, but he really loved 186 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: the original cartoons and his charm one Adams over Caroline 187 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: Jones as Mortitia pleased Adams, who had said that Mortitia 188 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: was his idealized woman, and Charlie loved the theme music, 189 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: but he also thought this was sort of watered down 190 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: and less earnestly grim than his cartoons were. But he 191 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,839 Speaker 1: was very, very supportive of the show publicly, and he 192 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 1: was really quite good natured about the adaptation from his 193 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: original tone. So even though there were issues that he had, 194 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: he didn't grouse about it at all publicly. He drew 195 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,199 Speaker 1: the actor's original sketches of their characters as gifts at Christmas, 196 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: and he pretty much just stayed out of the way 197 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: of the production. We'll talk about his life after the 198 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: Adams Family became a show in just a moment, But 199 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: first we will pause for a quick sponsor break. So 200 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: the Adam Stanley took off, Charlie got a little more famous. 201 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: There are stories about people driving by his house and 202 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: out on Long Island where he would be outside grilling 203 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:12,320 Speaker 1: and they would start singing the theme out the window 204 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: and he would just kind of give them a thumbs 205 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: up and keep going. But after the second season, the 206 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: Adams Family was canceled. It did okay, but it never 207 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: got fantastic ratings, and even its competitor that we mentioned 208 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: at the top of the first episode, The Monsters, got 209 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: better ratings than The Adams Family and Morticia and Gomez 210 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: and their stories, but it suffered the very same fate 211 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: at the exact same time. Those two shows actually ran 212 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: entirely in tandem. They both opened in the the fall 213 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: uh nineties sixty four season. They both got canceled in 214 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: sixty six. To make matters worse, the New Yorker had 215 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: stopped taking any of Charlie's Adams Family cartoons. It was 216 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: just too confusing. They felt like it being a TV 217 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: thing didn't then really work right for them to keep 218 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: publishing the Adams Family as a cartoon in their magazine, 219 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 1: but Adams did sneak in references to the Adams Family 220 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 1: in other cartoons. But really, his lucrative TV deal had 221 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: made it impossible for the Ghouls to continue their print 222 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: life as they had been. Instead, his work turned to 223 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: Lilliputian like little people and very surreal explorations of identity 224 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: and expectation. He was transitioning away from topics that had 225 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: been very frequent in comics for a long time, including 226 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: cannibals and Native people's that had been by this point 227 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: recognized as racist. And we're no longer being picked up 228 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: by publishers. Yeah, a lot of artists were coming to 229 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 1: terms with that, Like things that they had been drawing 230 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: for literally decades were suddenly not acceptable anymore. And some 231 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: of them were, you know, irritated by it. They're like, well, 232 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 1: now I have to kind of change my whole thing. 233 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:48,600 Speaker 1: But the times were changing. Uh. In nineteen sixty seven 234 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: he had a chance to design his very own version 235 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,679 Speaker 1: of Mother Goose in this book. Contract was lucrative, although 236 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: once again Barbara Barba got involved. She also insulted Charlie's 237 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: attorneys as incompetent in the process. The art though that 238 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: ended up coming out of this that Charles Adams created 239 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: for the book is spectacular and it is imaginative, and 240 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: I think it is some of his best. My very favorite, 241 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: and it is probably the most popular, is his version 242 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: of Humpty Dumpty because, as you know the Humpty Dumpty story, 243 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: he falls from the wall and cracks, But in the 244 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,559 Speaker 1: Charles Adams version, when the egg cracks open, there is 245 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: a dinosaur that hatches out of it, which takes a 246 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: whole new meaning. Uh and I absolutely love it. Someone 247 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: else entered Charles adams life in nine seventy who would 248 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: become another big part of his identity that he was 249 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: crafting for interviews from that point forward. He adopted a dog, Mutt, 250 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: who he named Alice B. Ker She was allegedly named 251 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: after Alice B. Tokeless. His story went that he had 252 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: gone to the pound several times to visit the dog, 253 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 1: and then he took a friend with him to see her, 254 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: and while the two men were there, the attendant told him, 255 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: I'll tell you one thing about that dog. It doesn't 256 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: like children. Adams immediately answered, I'll take it. He would 257 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: follow up the story by saying that Alice would never 258 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: go for the regular but would keep children in their place. Yeah, 259 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,000 Speaker 1: apparently that story of the visit to the pound with 260 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 1: his friend was that his friend was like, this dog 261 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: is clearly in love with you. Like the dog just 262 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 1: ran up and was like happy and wanted to be 263 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: held by him. And he's like, why she chakes his dog, 264 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: And he's like, I don't know, until the attendant said 265 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: it doesn't like kids. He's like, this is my dog. 266 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: Alice became nearly his constant companion at that point. Her 267 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: bad behavior was tolerated by friends who spoiled her, and 268 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: she absolutely adored Charles Adams. He brought Alice everywhere with him, 269 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: even in his cars when he was racing as part 270 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: of his hobby, and when he traveled and left her 271 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: with friends, he would write Alice postcards and apparently call 272 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: and literally beat that person. That's like, put my dog 273 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: on the phone. He once told the press, it's just 274 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: me and Alice against the world, and soon she started 275 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: show going up in his work. Although not his one 276 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: consistent character, but pretty much any dog he drew going 277 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: forward was Alice. In nineteen seventy one, he was walking 278 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: home from a night out and drinking with friends, and 279 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: two women accosted him on the street. They threw a 280 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: liquid on him that turned out to be acid. He 281 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 1: had to go to the emergency room for treatment, and 282 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: he kept his coat, which had holes in it, for 283 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: the rest of his life as a memento of this 284 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: bizarre brush with death. Yeah, he loved those acid holes 285 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: in that coach um. But even as Alice was becoming 286 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: more important to Charlie, he was also realizing that a 287 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: woman who had been in his life for quite some 288 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: time meant more to him than ever as well. And 289 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: that was T, his friend that had formerly been married 290 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: to his friend Buddy Davey. And T and Charlie had 291 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,360 Speaker 1: stayed friends through all of the years, because you may 292 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: recall from the first episode, he had a brief affair 293 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: with her after his second divorce, and then in nineteen 294 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: seventy two, their correspondence with each other really shifts and 295 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: it becomes apparent that they had fallen in love. They 296 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: were living apart at this point. He was in Paris primarily, 297 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: she was in Europe doing some work, and Charlie was 298 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: living in New York and they were not exclusive at all. 299 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: They knew exactly who each other were, but they wrote 300 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: these very witty and sexy letters to one another constantly, 301 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: and they would tease each other about the other people 302 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: in their lives, and they spoke very openly about just 303 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: loving and adoring one another. Once she returned from Europe, 304 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: Charlie and Alice started spending more and more time at 305 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: Tea's house. In ninety four, Adams had a new will 306 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: drawn up where his property would all go to Barbara 307 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: barb but half of his estate was set aside for Tea. 308 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: Also in the nineteen seventies, with regime changes at The 309 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 1: New Yorker, the idea of keeping gag writers on staff 310 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: to feed cartoonists ideas was eliminated, and for a while 311 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: Adams just kept paying trusted writers out of his own 312 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: pocket so that he could keep that same source of 313 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: ideas going, and sometimes the magazine would instead by sketched 314 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: out roughs for their more season artists to recreate in 315 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: their own style. So basically, up and coming artists could 316 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: sell a rough idea for a cartoon, but then the 317 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 1: final cartoon would be done by one of these established names. 318 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: Because Adams's work had such a distinctive tone, and style, 319 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,359 Speaker 1: though it was sometimes tricky to find ideas that the 320 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: magazine could purchase for him to redo that we're going 321 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: to be the right fit for the now legendary cartoonist. Meanwhile, 322 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: Barbara Barb finally filed a document that she had gotten 323 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: Charles to sign almost two decades earlier, and as a consequence, 324 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 1: she took all the possession of his property in Long Island. 325 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: Charles didn't discover this until later. It became apparent in 326 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 1: this move that she did not have any intention to 327 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: return any any of the property to him, as they 328 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:45,879 Speaker 1: had discussed during the divorce. Yeah, this was like a weird, 329 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: out of left field surprise of like, oh, she suddenly 330 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: filed a lot of piece of paperwork that now put 331 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 1: me in a really bad position. But Charles continued to 332 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: maintain a friendship with Barbara Barb for the rest of 333 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: his life. It buffuddled Vertu tually everyone else in his circle. 334 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: It really irritated t but he continued to leave negotiations 335 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:09,640 Speaker 1: of all Adams family licensing and rights deals to her, 336 00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: including the nineteen seventies three animated series and later movie deals. 337 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: As they were starting to come up, Barbe's company continued 338 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: to issue him check, so he felt like she was 339 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: doing her job in that regard. Sometimes he even accused 340 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: his attorneys in New York of not working hard enough 341 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: to get the best possible deals for him when they 342 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 1: were working with entertainment lawyers, and there may have been 343 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,719 Speaker 1: something to that. His contract with the Adams Family TV series, 344 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,479 Speaker 1: for example, had no provisions for him to get any residuals, 345 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: so even though the show played in reruns for years, 346 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 1: he got no money for any of it. Barb, on 347 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,880 Speaker 1: the other hand, was notorious for asking for huge, even 348 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: ridiculous amounts of money, but she did get much more 349 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: lucrative deals for him than his other lawyers did. Yeah, 350 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 1: she sounds based on the few accounts I read like 351 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: she was just not oorious in legal circles where they 352 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: were like, if she walks in the room, just lean 353 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: back like it's coming um. In ninety six, Charlie was 354 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: driving his car when suddenly he felt nauseated and he 355 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,919 Speaker 1: lost consciousness just as he pulled off the road, and 356 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,479 Speaker 1: he came to in the hospital, diagnosed with a bleeding 357 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 1: ulcer from a lifetime of heavy drinking. T took care 358 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: of everything for him while he was ill. But she 359 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,360 Speaker 1: was frustrated when the hospital dismissed her in the decision 360 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 1: making process as just his girlfriend, and as a consequence, 361 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: as he was recovering, she really pressed Adams to get marrying. 362 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: She knew she was not his only paramore and she 363 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: did not seem to care about that, but she wanted 364 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: to make sure that she could take care of things 365 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: if something happened to Charlie again. Charlie quit drinking after 366 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 1: this episode except for wine, but no no heavy spirits uh, 367 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: And he kind of put Tea off on the marriage issue. 368 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 1: He still did never want to get married again. And 369 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,879 Speaker 1: then late nineteen seventies the opportunity came up for the 370 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: Adams family to be revived on T again, and at 371 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 1: this point he was deferring to Barbara Barb on the 372 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 1: handling of all the Adams family rights, but he was 373 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: having trouble getting ahold of her, so he asked his 374 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: attorney Pill Pill to start discussing things with a studio 375 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: in California. Yeah. That of course led to problems down 376 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: the road, where Barbara Barb was irritated that other people 377 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: had been in those discussions, But this ended up not 378 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: being a full revival it was a reunion show for 379 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 1: Halloween nine, and it did come to fruition, but it 380 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,880 Speaker 1: did not do well, but it did make Adams about 381 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: thirty dollars. And he was also starting to make a 382 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: lot of money through gallery showings, an element of his 383 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,439 Speaker 1: business that his ex wife had no control over, so 384 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: he was getting all of the proceeds instead of on 385 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 1: those gallery sales. We'll get to the last years of 386 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:55,199 Speaker 1: his life after another quick sponsor break. Because of the 387 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: reputation for dark humor that Adams had developed, sometimes there 388 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: were instances where Pa Boll interpreted his work in completely 389 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: unintended ways. One of those happened in nineteen seventy eight, 390 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: when a Thanksgiving cover that Adams drew for The New 391 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:13,159 Speaker 1: Yorker caused a bit of confusion. That image features a 392 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 1: turkey farmer standing on the porch of his farmhouse, and 393 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: the turkeys in the wide barnyard have formed up into 394 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: military style regiments, presumably with intent to rebel against their 395 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 1: holiday fate. But some readers took this as a commentary 396 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: on Nazi Germany because the barnyard representation was to them 397 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,199 Speaker 1: a little too reminiscent of concentration camps. There's also a 398 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: lot of brown which I don't know if there there's 399 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: like a subconscious brown shirt association going on. I don't 400 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: know what the deal is, but a lot of people 401 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: thought that was what it was, and he was like, no, no, 402 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: it's just turkeys. Also, on May thirty one, nineteen eighty, 403 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: Charlie and T got married in the pet cemetery at 404 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: her home. Their dogs, including Alice, were attendants at the ceremony. 405 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: Tea's College aid son was Charlie's best man, and T 406 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: were addressed me out of black velvet. Joseph Heller and 407 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: Cheryl Teagues were among the guests. Although a lot of 408 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:09,919 Speaker 1: the guests did not know they were going to a wedding. 409 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: They thought they were just going to a party to 410 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: celebrate the recent honor of Charlie's which is an honorary PhD. Yeah, 411 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: he had finally realized like, hey, it would actually be 412 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: probably pretty beneficial for Tea to be able to handle 413 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: my legal affairs because my health isn't really getting any better. Uh. 414 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: He had had another ulcer situation and and some other 415 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: problems arise, and also he kind of realized it was 416 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: going to make her probably happy, so he just finally 417 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: was like, oh, let's do it, and they did it 418 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: very quickly. But the couple still lived the exact same 419 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: lives that they had before the wedding. Charlie lived at 420 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: Tea's house on Long Island on the weekends and then 421 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: in his apartment in Manhattan during the week But they 422 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: both seemed really, really happy in this new marriage. They 423 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 1: traveled together, they enjoyed each other's company, and t never 424 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 1: expected Charlie to be anything but discreet about his extramarital activities. 425 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: Even in his later life, his work really continued to 426 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: delight people. He tried to stay away from topical or 427 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: trendy topics, but he did mock health, food and modern 428 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,440 Speaker 1: marriage on occasion. When he was interviewed for a piece 429 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: in the Washington Post in two the article referred to 430 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,399 Speaker 1: him as the house haunt of the New Yorker. In 431 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: the late nineteen eighties, Charlie had another ulcer scare, as 432 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: well as a carotid artery surgery, and his eyesight also 433 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: really started to decline. He had to give up even 434 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: wine recall he had given up heavier spirits before then, 435 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: uh and he started to socialize less. One of the 436 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: things was that he just if he couldn't go to 437 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,720 Speaker 1: a party and have a drink of any kind, he 438 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: just didn't want to be around a bunch of drunk people. 439 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,479 Speaker 1: And t noted that after his carotid artery surgery he 440 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: really came out a much changed man. The normally jolly 441 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: Charlie had started to have grumpier days. He was still fun, 442 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: but he was slowing down, and he stopped keeping the 443 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: notes that he had always copiously written in his date book. 444 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: His dog, Alice died in Juno seven, and she had 445 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: been his companion for seventeen years. He didn't talk about 446 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: it much, but he kept her inscribed food dish after 447 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: that as a treasured item. It's left his time in 448 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 1: Manhattan feeling a little lonely. He wanted Tea to come 449 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: into the city with him during the week sometimes, but 450 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: she insisted on staying at the place that they moved 451 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: to in Sagaponic, New York, which they nicknamed the Swamp. 452 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: And although he spent less and less time at his 453 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,159 Speaker 1: office at the New Yorker, when he was there, he 454 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,439 Speaker 1: was very open and willing when young cartoonists came to 455 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: talk to him or just get advice. On Thursday September 456 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: twenty nine, Charlie had a heart attack while sitting behind 457 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: the wheel of his parked car just outside his New 458 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: York apartment. He was taken to the emergency room immediately 459 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: after he was found, but he was pronounced dead. He 460 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: was seventy six later. In an interview with The New 461 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,280 Speaker 1: York Times, t who shared his sense of humor, said 462 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:53,879 Speaker 1: he's always been a car buff so it was a 463 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,120 Speaker 1: nice way to go. And he was remembered by friends 464 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: as a charming man and a great friend and a 465 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 1: really good listener. And what was really interesting is that 466 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,760 Speaker 1: despite his womanizing we've been talking about throughout these two episodes, 467 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: most of the women in his life described him above 468 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,640 Speaker 1: all as their great, great friend, one of the few 469 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,199 Speaker 1: men in their lives who was willing to listen and 470 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: talk with them in a way that was not a 471 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 1: constant effort at seduction. Everyone from Lauren Bicall to Kurt 472 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: Vonnegut to Burgess Meredith more and Adams, either in person 473 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 1: at the services or in letters to his widow. T 474 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: Charlie's ashes were interred at the Swamp and the Pet Cemetery, 475 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: which t Adams had transplanted when they moved there. He 476 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: kept the location of Charlie's ashes secret for fear of 477 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,920 Speaker 1: fans showing up, and then when she died fourteen years later, 478 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,680 Speaker 1: her ashes were laid to rest next to his le Laurens, 479 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: the New Yorker's cartoon editor in the early nineteen eighties, 480 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,880 Speaker 1: once described how very surprisingly normal Charlie was to a reporter. 481 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,239 Speaker 1: He said, quote, He's an urbane, relaxed, congenial man of 482 00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:00,920 Speaker 1: great civility. He doesn't eat babies. A mirror on canvas 483 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: that Charlie painted in nineteen fifty two forever a Hampton's 484 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 1: Hotel has been quietly on display at the Pennsylvania State 485 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 1: University Library since two thousand. It was donated by an 486 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: alumnus who owned the hotel at one time, but it's 487 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: been sort of tucked away in this out of the 488 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,919 Speaker 1: way area, not particularly noticed. It depicts the family of 489 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: Gomez Mortitia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandma Frump, and the children 490 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,919 Speaker 1: at the beach. Gomez is fishing and seems to have 491 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: caught something. Fester is that they're ready with a net, 492 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: and then panicked looking swimmers are getting out of the water. 493 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: As of a few months ago, the Library was in 494 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: the midst of renovation plans that was happening in July, 495 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 1: and the mural was expected to get a more prominent 496 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: place once the construction was complete. So there was an 497 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: update to that article which ran just last month, which 498 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: was September. It has been decided that that mural is 499 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:59,600 Speaker 1: now relocated to the newly renovated and renamed it's called 500 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: mckinn ends Lounge. It's on the first floor of Paternal 501 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: Library at Penn States University Park campus. So UM, since 502 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: we have just passed the thirtieth anniversary of his death, 503 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,879 Speaker 1: they were putting it there as part of that celebration. 504 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 1: So I don't know the policies of that campus and 505 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 1: if the public can go visit, but if you can 506 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: and you're nearby, highly encourage it. It's a really beautiful piece. 507 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,159 Speaker 1: It's huge. It's fourteen feet long, it's four ft high. 508 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,480 Speaker 1: It is not a small piece of art at all. 509 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 1: Uh and now it is in a location where you 510 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,199 Speaker 1: can actually view it from an appropriate vantage point for 511 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: a piece of art that large. So that is Charles Adams, 512 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: who I clearly adore UM and wish that I could 513 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: travel back in time to hang out with doesn't that 514 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: sound like fun? Do you also have a listener mail? 515 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,480 Speaker 1: I do. Uh. We have gotten a number of postcards 516 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: from our listener, Alice, traveling around the world. I will 517 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:51,720 Speaker 1: read one that she sent us from Vietnam. This was 518 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: back in August. So I'm, like I said, still catching 519 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 1: up with our our postcards. Always I try to keep 520 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,160 Speaker 1: them aside and read them when I can, and sometimes 521 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: it takes a little while. She says. This postcard is 522 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: coming to you from the Saigon Central Post Office, which 523 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 1: was constructed in the late nineteenth century and often erroneously 524 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: credited to Eiffel Poor Alfred Felt, who the actual designer 525 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,160 Speaker 1: every nook and cranny of Ho Chiman City. Saigon has 526 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: so much history and rich culture behind it. Yesterday I 527 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: walked by an unassuming building whose rooftop was featured in 528 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: Huvanny's iconic Fall of Saigon photo. As I am physically 529 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: traveling alone, you two are keeping me company as I 530 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: go on a museum, food and coffee tour slash binge 531 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 1: around the city. Thanks to the wonderful work you do. 532 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: Alice seems like she is having or had I presume 533 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: the tour is over. The most amazing trip imaginable. I 534 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: feel like she should plan trips for other people because, 535 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 1: like I said, we have assorted postcards and she went 536 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: fantastic and amazing places. So, Alice, my hat is off 537 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 1: to you, and thank you for sharing your travels with us. 538 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: I'm glad we kind of got to go with you. Uh. 539 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us, you can 540 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: do so at History podcast at how stuff works dot com. 541 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,080 Speaker 1: We are also across the spectrum of social media as 542 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: Missed in History and Missed in History dot com is 543 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: our website where you gonna check out every episode that's 544 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: ever happened. Uh. There are some notes on the ones 545 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 1: that Tracy and I have worked on together, and occasionally 546 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: we will also post other things like that's where you 547 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: can find out where all of our lives shows are 548 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,440 Speaker 1: coming up. Uh. You can also subscribe to us on 549 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever it is you get 550 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: your podcasts. For more on this and thousands of other topics, 551 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: does it how staff works dot com