----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 11:36 AM
Subject: Addam's Family & Ada?

A few thoughts on Raya Seem's delightfully ridiculous idea:

Actually, if one didn't know better, one might speculate that the Addam's Family was a parody of  Ada. Gomez Addams is zanily "turned on" when ever his wife, Morticia, says a french word or phrase ("Tish! You spoke French!"). There is a slightly pro-Jewish flavor ("Children now, bubbala later" was her usual reply to his erotic entreaties), ghastly but sweet Uncle Fester (Uncle Dan?), not to mention a sister named Ophelia who is always in love, always strewing flowers, and always on the brink of suicide. "Thing" could be a translation of Bout. The hungry floral Cleopatra parodies the flora of Ardis. Grandmama has something of dotty Marina about her (played by the way by Blossom Rock,  who started on the stage and married into Chicago money --  the older sister of Jeannette MacDonald).

The Addam's family seem to live on their own little Anti-Terra where it is fashionable to go "moon bathing" and money is never a problem. I have a soft spot in my memory for that silly TV show, after all, where else on American TV could you find a married couple who could hardly keep their hands off each other? You can bet there was only one bed in their bedroom!

Carolyn