Linda H. Davis

Despite appearances, Charles Addams, the cartoonist, apparently was a very nice guy - people say when you talked to him about your troubles, he really listened and cared. But he was always interested in oddball stuff. Like collecting crossbows, or building a suit of armor. When he was 12 he wrote to the curator of arms and armor at the Met asking how to go about it. The curator informed him that apprentice knights had to put in 7 years at an armorer's shop before they were allowed to make their first suit. So he made a longbow instead.
He collected odd things like false teeth and cat mummies and after he became famous, people sent him more that he just added to his collections.
I enjoyed this biography a lot, though parts were hard to read. His second marriage was to a woman who had some kind of psychological hold over him. She made him sign over rights to his artwork, rights that she controlled even after they divorced. The New Yorker's lawyers fought her on his behalf but she managed to relieve him of a lot of money and property, seemingly with his cooperation. It was very strange. It was good to find out that he had a very happy third marriage.
Aside from that, it's interesting to see how his talent developed, drawing cartoons in the Army with his best friend Sam Cobean (who also became a New Yorker cartoonist but died tragically young) and how the Addams Family cartoons and then TV show came about. Naturally, the second wife tried to stop that deal if she couldn't get money from it, but luckily for all of us, she didn't succeed. There's also a lot of interesting New Yorker gossip, always a favorite subject of mine. I was surprised to find that it was William Shawn who instituted the policy of cartoonists drawing only their own ideas, instead of the collaborative slush pile policy Harold Ross had liked. I'd thought that Art Spiegelman made that policy change. Many of Addams' cartoons were based on ideas someone else had thrown into the slush file, and in my opinion his execution of them was what made them great.… (altro)

For many readers of New Yorker magazine over the the past century, the cartoons have been the main attraction, with the movie reviews (especially during the Pauline Kael years) a close second. And many of the best cartoonists — James Thurber, William Steig and George Booth, among them — developed devoted followers. But have any of them rivaled the lasting influence of Charles Addams, whose cartoons spawned movies, television series and numerous books?

These books include a lively 2006 biography by Linda H. Davis, “Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life.”

Addams, it turns out, was both very much like you would imagine the man behind those macabre "Addams Family" cartoons to be, and yet at the same time very different.

He loved cemeteries (one of his three weddings was conducted in a pet cemetery). He collected ancient weapons and instruments of torture. When he traveled he sought out old houses that looked like they could be haunted. He favored women who looked like Morticia.

Yet at the same time he was rarely seen without a smile on his face. Everyone loved him, including his wives when he cheated on them. He was gullible, kind, gentle, bashful and considerate.

Despite his looks — he was often confused with Walter Matthau — Addams was incredibly popular with women. His dates included Jackie Kennedy, Joan Fontaine and Greta Garbo. He was faithful to none of them, yet they were all devoted to him, including his ex-wives.

His middle wife was the biggest mistake of his life. She was a manipulative, often violent attorney who got Addams to sign over his real estate, many of his best cartoons and the movie and television rights to his Addams Family characters. She left him to marry into British royalty, yet continued to plague his life. He kept giving her things in a futile attempt to get rid of her.

Davis sprinkles Addams cartoons liberally through the biography. Reading her book is pleasure enough, but the many cartoons are like the topping on ice cream.… (altro)