Grandmama (The Addams Family)

Grandmama is a fictional character in the Addams Family television and film series. First appearing in the works of cartoonist Charles Addams, she is a supporting character in the series film, television, and stage adaptations.

Grandmama
The Addams Family character
Auber Tally portraying Grandmama Addams.
First appearanceThe New Yorker (1938)
Created byCharles Addams
Portrayed byBlossom Rock (first television series)
Jane Rose (Halloween with the New Addams Family)
Judith Malina (1991 film)
Carol Kane (Addams Family Values)
Alice Ghostley (Addams Family Reunion)
Betty Phillips (The New Addams Family)
Jackie Hoffman (musical)
Voiced byJanet Waldo (1973 animated series)
Carol Channing (1992 animated series)
Bette Midler (2019 film)
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
GenderFemale
OccupationWitch

Character background

Grandmama Addams is an aged witch who concocts potions and spells, and dabbles in fortune telling and knife throwing. She is the grandmother of the Addams children, Pugsley and Wednesday, although her relationship to the other family members is less consistent. Grandmama first appeared along with the then-unnamed Addams family in Charles Addams' original cartoons published in The New Yorker, in which she was regularly illustrated with shoulder-length frizzy hair and a fringed shawl.[1] Addams described Grandmama in a 1963 character synopsis as "a disrespectful old hag" and "foolishly good-natured ... a weak character [who] is easily led."[1]

Grandmama and Granny Frump

In Charles Addams' original The New Yorker cartoon strips, the character was referred to as Grandma Frump,[2] therefore making her Morticia's mother.

For the original television series — as well as The New Addams Family, in which she is named Eudora Addams — her relationship to the family is retconned and she becomes Gomez’s mother with Granny Frump's relation to Morticia remaining intact.

However, both the feature films and animated television series conform to Charles Addams' original concept of Grandmama as Wednesday's and Pugsley's maternal grandmother. In the first film, Morticia and Fester discuss how "Mother and Father Addams" were killed by an angry mob, removing any possibility that Grandmama could be Gomez and Fester's mother. In the third film, in which she is named Esmeralda, she is again implied to come from Morticia's family. The character is simply referred to as Granny in the two animated series. In the 1992 series, Grandmama is of Morticia's family, when she introduces herself with the line "the name's Granny Frump".[3]

In the Broadway musical The Addams Family, Morticia refers to Grandmama as Gomez and Uncle Fester's mother, to which Gomez reacts with surprise and says that he thought she was Morticia's mother. Morticia later says that Grandmama "may not even be part of this family".

In the animated film, she is Gomez and Fester's mother while Granny Frump is long dead.

Appearances

Television and film
  • Due to illness, Rock was the one regular cast member from the show who did not return for the 1977 reunion film Halloween with the New Addams Family, and she was replaced as Grandmama by Jane Rose.[7] Granny Frump was also present helping with the Addams Family's Halloween party where she was portrayed by Elvia Allman.
  • The character was played by Betty Phillips in the 1998-99 television series The New Addams Family. Like the original series, Grandmama is good friends with Granny Frump (portrayed by Meredith Bain Woodward).
  • Bette Midler voiced the character in the 2019 computer-animated film. She is shown to be Gomez's and Fester's mother. When she arrives at the Addams Family house before the Saber Mazurka following her robbery in Spain, she treats Pugsley to the candy that is on her feet. At one point, Grandmama called Lurch by the name of "Fabio". Grandmama is also revealed to have a dwarfish sister named Sloom (voiced by Jenifer Lewis) who oversees Pugsley's Saber Mazurka and had an argument with her which Grandmama claimed that she won.
    • Granny Frump is also in the film voiced by Catherine O'Hara. She and her husband Grandpa Frump (voiced by Martin Short) are long dead and Morticia holds a séance in the family cemetery to speak to them. When Morticia brings up Wednesday's friendship with Parker Needler, Granny and Grandpa Frump offer their advice to her and also bring up the time when Morticia ran away to join the girl scouts and learned that they roasted marshmallows and not girl scouts. At one point, Grandpa Frump forgot when he died to which Granny Frump stated that he died 20 years ago.

In other media
  • In the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game Fester's Quest, the instruction booklet says Grandmama's psychic powers foretold the alien invasion that would come and abduct all the people in the city, so she invokes a curse on the family mansion. As a result, when extraterrestrial scouts scan the Addams residence for life forms they find none, thanks to Grandmama's curse.
  • Grandmama was played by Jackie Hoffman in the 2010 Broadway musical, in which her relation to the family in the storyline is ambiguous. In Act Two, Morticia tells Gomez that "[his] mother came to our home and now she's here forever" to which he replies "wait, I thought she was your mother", referencing Grandmama's ever changing relation to the family in the franchise. Morticia later says that Grandmama "may not even be part of this family".

Relationships

Family tree
Addams family tree
Grandmama[lower-roman 1][n 1]
Debbie Jellinsky[n 2]Uncle Fester[lower-roman 1]Cousin Itt[lower-roman 1]Margaret Alford[n 2]Tully Alford
Mal Beineke[n 3]Alice Beineke[n 3]Gomez AddamsMorticia Addams
(née Frump)[lower-roman 1][lower-roman 2]
Lucas Beineke[lower-roman 3]Wednesday Addams[lower-roman 1][lower-roman 4][lower-roman 5]Pugsley Addams[lower-roman 1]Pubert Addams[lower-roman 6][n 2]
Notes:
  1. "Altogether Ooky: The Addams Family Tree". Family Tree Magazine. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  2. "Morticia Addams: A Witch Icon Worthy Of All The Praise". SyFy Wire. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  3. "Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Addams Family on Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  4. "Here's how Wednesday Addams got her name". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  5. "The Many Shades of Wednesday Addams". The New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  6. "11 things you never knew about Addams Family Values". Digital Spy. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  1. In the Broadway musical The Addams Family, Morticia refers to Grandmama as Gomez and Uncle Fester's mother,
    to which Gomez reacts with surprise and says that he had thought she was Morticia's mother. Morticia later says that
    Grandmama "may not even be part of this family", referencing Grandmama's ever-changing relation to the family.
  2. Established in the 1993 film Addams Family Values.
  3. Established in the Broadway musical The Addams Family.

References
  1. Addams, Charles; Miserocchi, Kevin (2010). The Addams Family: An Evilution. Pomegranate. ISBN 978-0764953880.
  2. Miserocchi, Kevin, (2010) The Addams Family: An Evilution, p.2 (online sample pages)
  3. Episode 1x02, "Dead and Breakfast", (1992) The Addams Family
  4. Pinkton, Edgar (February 13, 1965). "That Abnormal Addams Family Has Real Heart Year Round". The Troy Record. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  5. Image gallery from Time magazine; reposted on tumblr.com
  6. Humphrey, Hal (January 17, 1965). "Toothpaste to Witchery". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  7. Cox, Stephen (1998). The Addams Chronicles: An Altogether Ooky Look at the Addams Family. Cumberland House Publishing (2nd Edition). ISBN 1888952911.
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