The Munsters
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The Munsters was an American television sitcom, depicting the home life of a family of horror movie monsters. Much of the humor derived from the fact that they did not have the slightest idea that they were in any way different from their neighbors. Comedy also came from their daily interaction with modern-day society, and the usual horrified or frightened reactions of those around them at their ghoulish appearance.
It first aired on the CBS network from 1964 to 1966, and in continual syndication thereafter. The Munsters was filmed in black-and-white. According to the series, they lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights.
The family:
- Lily Dracula Munster (Yvonne De Carlo), a homemaker; she wore goth-style makeup, decades before it became fashionable.
- Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne); bears a distinct resemblance to Frankenstein's monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff. For a man of 150, he behaves rather childishly, often throwing temper tantrums. He has an unspecified job at a local funeral parlor.
- Dracula (Al Lewis), commonly called Grandpa; he is a mad scientist and keeps a laboratory. Various potions and magic spells that he devises there make up a large amount of the plot devices. He appears to be able to naturally transform into a wolf as well as a bat. He is at least 400 years old.
- Edward "Eddie" Wolfgang Munster (Butch Patrick); a typical all-American boy werewolf of elementary school age.
- Marilyn Munster (Beverley Owen/Pat Priest); the daughter of one of Lily's sisters, niece Marilyn is young, blonde, and pretty. The family is vaguely ashamed of their relationship to such an ugly person. She lives with the Munsters and attends Westbury College.
And their pets:
- Spot, an immense fire-breathing dragon. He lives under the stairs; a section of them is hinged and opens up when one of the griffins on the balusters at the bottom is tilted back.
- Igor, a bat (or perhaps a transformed vampire) who lives in Grandpa's lab and assists with his work.
- Kittycat, an average-sized black cat who roars like a lion.
- An unnamed talking raven who lives in the cuckoo clock in the living room (usually voiced by Mel Blanc).
Several television movies were spun off from the series. The series itself was remade in 1988 with a different cast, and the title The Munsters Today. In 1995, another revival attempt with yet another set of actors was made, which resulted in a made-for-TV movie, Here Come the Munsters.
The original series began with Beverley Owen in the role of Marilyn; however, the actress reportedly did not want to do the series, having been compelled to do it under her contract with Universal Studios. After 13 episodes were filmed, she succeeded in arranging to leave the series, and the role was taken over by near-lookalike Pat Priest.
Many spin-off products were produced, including toys and several record albums.
The show is often compared with The Addams Family, which began and ended almost simultaneously with it.
External links
- IMDb page for The Munsters (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057773/)
- Butch Patrick Official Website (http://www.butch-patrick.com)
- Open directory category for The Munsters (http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Programs/Comedy/Sitcoms/Munsters,_The/)
- The Munsters' Land of Fun (http://www.freehomepages.com/munsters1/munsters.html)
- http://www.classictvhits.com/munsters/index.html
- The Munsters TV Show (http://www.crazyabouttv.com/munsters.html) page at Crazy About TV contains trivia, a description, cast information, and an episodes list for the series.