"Halloween with the Addams Family" is a Halloween episode from the first season of the American 1960s black and white TV comedy series The Addams Family. It first aired in the United States on ABC on October 30, 1964.
The plot concerns two bank robbers who take refuge inside the Addamses' house on Halloween night. They soon come to understand that the Addamses are not just pretending to be strange for Halloween, they genuinely are strange and their home is potentially dangerous. However, the police are nearby and the two robbers also notice that the family have large amounts of money that could be taken easily. The two robbers have to decide which is the better option; staying with the Addamses or taking their chances outside.
"Halloween with the Addams Family" was remade in 1998 as an episode of The New Addams Family
Plot[]
Gomez Addams receives a new carving knife in the mail. After his wife Morticia has sharpened it, he asks Uncle Fester to pose while he carves a sculpture. It is revealed that Gomez is carving a jack-o-lantern modeled on Fester's face.
Morticia and Gomez Addams are excited by the prospect of lots of guests dropping by their house on Halloween night. Their children Pugsley and Wednesday put on costumes, which the rest of the family find almost too frightening to look at, and get ready to go out trick-or-treating.
Meanwhile, two bank robbers are trying to evade the police. Their car runs out of gas outside the Addamses' house and they take refuge in its garden, the gate magically opening and closing for them. As the family are setting out to go trick-or-treating, Wednesday notices the two men, one of them wearing a stocking mask, and assumes that they must be trick-or-treaters too. Delighted to have guests, Gomez invites the two men inside. He, Morticia and Fester stay at home with the two men. Grandamama Addams accompanies the two children as they go in search of candy.
The two robbers introduce themselves as Marty and Claude. Gomez asks them to open the bag which they are carrying so that he can give them a treat. When he sees that the bag is full of money, he assumes that other people in the neighborhood must have given it to the two trick-or-treaters. Instead of giving them apples, as he had planned to do, Gomez opens a drawer in a desk, takes out several bundles of banknotes and adds them to Marty and Claude's bag.
Marty and Claude discover that the butler Lurch is not wearing a mask. They realize that the family's unusual clothes and behavior is not just an act for Halloween but the way that the family behave all the time. Frightened, the two men decide to leave but hear a police siren outside. Remembering that the family have a drawer full of money, and guessing that they probably have a lot of jewelry too, Marty and Claude decide to stay a little longer.
While Gomez and Morticia are in the kitchen, Marty and Claude begin to search the living room. Thing, the mysterious arm in a box, takes Marty's gun while his back his turned. When Morticia and Gomez return, Marty points the banana at them and says, "Stick 'em up!" Morticia takes it to be a charming joke.
Gomez begins to recite a Halloween poem, a parody of the famous Christmas poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas", about Good Sister Witch who flies through the air on Halloween night pulled by eight bats. To create the proper mood for the poem's reading, Uncle Fester turns out the lights, the only lighting being provided by a light bulb in his mouth. The two men are about to flee in fear but hear a police siren again.
Marty and Claude are asked if they would like to join in a game like apple bobbing but with a single live crab in the bowl of water instead of apples. The two robbers are understandably reluctant but when two police officers arrive at the door, they immediately plunge their faces into the bowl of water. After the police officers leave, Claude and Marty emerge from the bowl, with one of the crab's pincers on each of their noses. Asked if they would like to play again, Marty says that he would rather wrestle a lion. Morticia summons the family's pet lion Kitty Kat but it quickly runs in terror from the two men.
Marty decides to use the family's love of games against them. He proposes a game of hide and seek. Gomez finds the idea of the game very strange but agrees to play anyway. While Gomez, Morticia, Fester and Lurch go to hide, Marty and Claude open the door and take all the money. Thing emerges from an umbrella stand next to the front door and locks it. The two men begin to panic when they find that the door is locked but shortly afterwards Grandmama Addams and the children return. Marty and Claude run out of the open door and are picked up by the two police officers.
The episode ends with Gomez reading from the newspaper that Marty and Claude have been "sent up the river", to which Morticia says, "Good. They needed a vacation".
Cast[]
- Gomez Addams - John Astin
- Morticia Addams - Carolyn Jones
- Uncle Fester - Jackie Coogan
- Lurch - Ted Cassidy
- Grnadmama Addams - Blossom Rock
- Wednesday - Lisa Loring
- Pugsley - Ken Waetherwax
- Marty - Skip Homeier
- Claude - Don Rickles
- Police officer - George Barrows
See also[]
- The Addams Family: Halloween - Addams Style
- Halloween with the New Addams Family
- The Addams Family: Puttergeist
External links[]
- The full episode "Halloween with the Addams Family" on the official MGM YouTube channel.
- "Halloween with the Addams Family" on the Internet Movie Database.