#196: Cut A Long Story Short

Like anyone who is over the age of 40 I grew up watching both The Addams Family and the Munsters. Loved them both. The Munsters rocked in the vehicle department, but the Addams Family had something special – Morticia Addams. I didn’t know, at the time, but I always preferred watching the Addams Family. For years I thought it might be due to the insane sense of humour, or perhaps the gothic setting, beats me. But then I had the chance to see and meet John Astin, aka Gomez Addams, aka Evil Roy Slade, doing his brilliant one-man Edgar Allan Poe show here and was enthralled.

After the show I waited by the stage door and got the chance to meet him and got some stuff signed, along with a number of other people. Astin was lovely; he made a point of talking to everyone, signing everything that he was asked to and posing for photos. He might have been a television star, but he was a major star in my eyes – hell, it was GOMEZ! The proper Gomez at that.

When he reached me we got to talking about The Munsters versus The Addams Family as a preferred show. I told him that I did prefer the Addams Family, but I never knew why. He then asked which did I prefer, Lili Munster or Morticia Addams? I replied, "Morticia,” and then it hit me, “because while you might have wanted Lily to tuck you into bed, even as a kid, I wanted Morticia to climb into bed with me."

He looked at me and started to laugh and did a perfect Gomez: "Capitol choice, old man!" Then he giggled a bit and said, "You know, I always felt the same about Morticia myself. Glad I wasn't alone".

Some of the best few minutes of my life, and I’m pleased it took Gomez himself to help me find the answer to a pressing question in my life.

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