This month’s blog “theme is “Kinda Creepy.” These are not shows that will give you nightmares or have you sleeping with the nightlight on. But they did have a touch of ghoul or terror. First up is one of our All-American families, The Munsters.
The creators of Leave It to Beaver, developed this series to be a satire of suburban life. The opening credit shows Lily handing her family their lunches as they run out the door just like Donna Reed did in The Donna Reed Show in the fifties. The Munsters are a perfectly normal family except for a few eccentric and trivial things like Herman (Fred Gwynne) being a Frankenstein, Lily (Yvonne De Carlo) being a vampire, Grandpa (Al Lewis) who can turn into a bat, and werewolf son Eddie (Butch Patrick). In real life, Lewis was a year younger than De Carlo who played his daughter and Gwynne was four years younger than De Carlo.
Living with the family is Lily’s niece Marilyn (Beverly Owen/Pat Priest), who seems a little abnormal to the family but looks like any high school girl of the time, except a little bit prettier. Owen was engaged when she got the part and did not think the show would be picked up. When it became popular, the cast convinced the network to release her from her contract, and Priest, who looked very similar, took over. Gwynne and Lewis had previously been part of the cast of Car 54, Where Are You? and were good friends. (To learn more about their friendship and their individual careers, see my blog from July 10, 2017.)
This series aired on CBS, and ABC featured The Addams Family whom we’ll meet next week. Both shows debuted in 1965 and were off the air after two seasons.
There were a few recurring characters including Paul Lynde as Dr. Edward Dudley (Dom DeLuise also played Dr. Dudley in one episode), Herman’s boss Mr. Gateman (John Carradine), and Clyde (Chet Stratton), a colleague of Herman’s.
The family lives at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Herman works for Gateman, Goodbury and Graves, a funeral parlor, as a grave digger. In an interview with Daily Variety, Al Lewis, explained that with the unusual family, “they could do a lot of satirical pointed things on society that you couldn’t do on an ordinary show.”
The show actually had four pilots which I don’t think I have ever seen before. The first one was filmed in 1964 with Gwynne, Lewis, and Owen. Joan Marshall was Phoebe, Herman’s wife and Nate Derman was Eddie. For the second pilot, De Carlo replaced Marshall and changed her name to Lily. In the third edition, Patrick was brought on board to replace Derman. The cast stayed intact for the fourth pilot, but Eddie’s character was changed a bit. He was a bit of a brat and they toned it down.
The family had a pet dragon named Spot that lived under the stairs. When the staircase opened up, you could see the fire he was breathing and sometimes you would see his tail only.
Makeup for the show was credited to Bud Westmore who had worked for Universal during their monster movie phase. However, the actual work was done by several people. Perc Westmore worked with Grandpa. Abe Haberman applied Lily’s new face, while Michael Westmore worked with Patrick and Priest. Bill Mumy was the original choice for Eddie, but his parents said “No” when they learned about how much makeup would be used for each episode.
Patrick was asked about the cast and how they got along in an interview with Fox News. He said it was a good relationship. If he had to pick another actor whom he bonded with more than another it would probably be Lewis. He discussed the amazing comedic timing that Gwynne and Lewis shared. He said that the person he enjoyed working with the most was his makeup man, Westmore. He said he was the first person he saw every morning. He also mentioned Westmore was a very handsome guy who owned a Jaguar and was a bachelor, so he looked up to him as a role model also.
Karl Silvera did Herman’s makeup. Gwynne had the toughest time of all the characters. He had to spend two hours in the makeup chair first thing in the morning. He wore forty pounds of foam rubber padding and drank copious amounts of lemonade. Despite that, he lost a lot of weight doing the show. In one month, he lost ten pounds. They also put a piece of foam latex on his head to flatten the top. His shoes were asphalt paver’s boots with four-inch soles. The producers rented a compressed air tank and would poke the nozzle inside his collar to blow cool air on him.
The show aired on Thursday nights at 7:30. Many shows began filming in color in the mid-sixties, but the studio did not want to pay the extra $10,000 per episode, so it was shot in black and white. For its debut year, it was number 18, tied with Gilligan’s Island, but it took a drastic drop for season two and landed at number 61. The show competed with The Flintstones and Daniel Boone in year one In year two, Batman debuted in color and The Munsters’ viewers switched networks in droves. The show was canceled with 70 episodes for syndication. From the comments that I read, I’m not sure Lewis and Gwynne would have continued another season anyway. They wanted a different type of humor and, of course, Gwynne had to endure so much with his costume.
If you were looking at the merchandising that accompanied the show, you would never guess it was only on for two seasons. Between 1965-68, 16 Gold Key Comics were produced. The show rolled out Colorforms, car model kits, both a Herman Munster doll and a puppet, and View Masters. You could also purchase several different action figure sets, a board game, and a lunch box, among other items.
Although the show, not surprisingly, never received an Emmy nomination, it was up for Best Television Series for a Golden Globe in 1965 which did surprise me.
The theme song was an instrumental, simply titled “The Munsters’ Theme.” It was composed by Jack Marshall. It was nominated for a Grammy in 1965. There are lyrics for the song, written by Bob Mosher, but they were never used on the air.
For a show that was only on the air for two seasons, it has had a lot of staying power. I think that it was so different and the fact that The Addams Family was also on two seasons and very similar just provided it with that perfect fan base. I do remember watching the show and buying The Munsters coloring books and paper dolls, but I don’t remember it being a “must see” for me. Of course, I was only five when it was canceled, so I primarily saw it in reruns. Sadly, I would also choose Batman over The Munsters, so I understand why the viewers drifted. However, it is never a waste of time to watch Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis in action. If you never watched the show or want to binge watch it, seventy episodes is an easy one to get through.
thewritelife61 