#Lisa Loring

[georgeromeros]

The Addams Family - Season 2 Episode 29 (1966) Lurch's Grand Romance

[atomic-chronoscaph]

John Astin and Lisa Loring - The Addams Family (1964)

[jandjsalmon]

RIP to the OG Wednesday Addams. (Twitter)

[citizenscreen]

"Lurch Learns to Dance" in this 1964 episode of “The Addams Family.”

Pictured: Ted Cassidy as Lurch, Lisa Loring as Wednesday, John Astin as Gomez

[lntheconservatory]

Happy Halloween!!! 🎃🦇

[lorelaiblair]

my sweet girl

[morticiasmemoirs]

Rest in peace, Lisa Loring 🖤

You gave life to one of the most iconic characters.

[cosmonautroger]

Lisa Loring, Wednesday Addams

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[ninaandjames]

Lisa Loring 1958-2023. Cremated. Loring portrayed Wednesday Addams on the original Addams Family television show 1964-1966.

[wenclairfamily]

Literary Essay: The Evolution of Wednesday Addams

Many would like to believe that the famous Wednesday Friday Addams (yes, Friday is her official middle name) simply leaped onto the TV screen fully formed one day as the dark goth icon that she is... but the path to get there is a little longer than one would believe.

Wednesday Addams was created by New Yorker artist: Charles Addams. It's hard to say with absolute certainty where exactly Charles Addams got his inspiration for Wednesday. It certainly didn't come from anyone in his family, as the famous Addams Family creator had no siblings. However many individuals that have done extensive research on Charles Addams' life (including myself) would like to believe that the Addams Family characters were inspired the dark imaginings he had while walking by creepy houses in his home neighborhood of Westfield, New Jersey; along with the local cemetery he spent a great deal of time at alone as well. Preserved local police records also report that young Charles Addams had a few minor rough encounters with the law growing up, so his own anti-establishment nature obviously influenced his characters as well.

A June 1940 drawing of Charles Addams would feature an early proto-Wednesday image of a young girl full of woe trying to having a seemingly normal childhood in a dark gloomy world. Four years later though: the Wednesday Addams we all know would first appear in the New Yorker as the daughter of Morticia, and the sister/partner in crime of Pugsley.

In her earliest appearances: Wednesday was typically never seen doing anything outside her home alone. If she wasn't receiving wonderful affection from her father, she was often out having play time with her brother Pugsley (albeit, their version of play time involved torturing and harming others in their community). Like Charles Addams himself at a young age, Pugsley clearly had a very mischievous side in his early appearances (with Pugsley himself predating Wednesday's first proper appearance). Although upon looking at their early appearances together, one must wonder... did Charles Addams initially create Wednesday just to be a play mate for Pugsley? Or rather... could it be that Wednesday Addams represented the sister/ friend/ partner in crime Charles Addams always wished he had as a boy growing up? It's something we may never truly know for sure.

Originally none of the Addams Family characters were well defined individuals. They were just creepy and cooky recurring characters that Charles Addams drew for the New Yorker. However when it came time to turn his characters into a TV show, Charles Addams wrote up a definitive bible for the Addams Family. It was here that Wednesday's name was finally confirmed, and also that she was more of a solemn quiet girl. She was also described as being imaginative and poetic... although it would take us a few decades to truly see that side of her. However Charles Addams did claim that Wednesday had six toes on one foot; something that hasn't been shown on screen in any modern Addams Family media... yet...

When the 1964 Addams Family TV series premiered, Wednesday Addams was played in live action for the first time by actress Lisa Loring. In this early incarnation, Wednesday was portrayed as a very happy and polite girl who just so happened to ejoy dark macabre activities (such as chopping her dolls heads off, playing with spiders, and seemingly being familiar with seances). Despite the series reportedly not having the bite that Charles Addams had intended (mostly due to how much dark material 1960's TV censors would allow), Wednesday Addams immediately became a recognized pop culture figure.

Despite a decline in Addams Family media in the following two decades after the original TV series ended, everything changed with the 1991 Addams Family film. This time: Wednesday would be portrayed by Christina Ricci, who would give us a unique once in a generation performance. Whether it was to differentiate Wednesday from her typically upbeat family, or it was to give us an unusual goth girl going through the moodiness brought on by puberty: Christina Ricci's Wednesday gave us the iconic goth girl who was cold, deadly, direct, and the definitive outsider who could accomplish any dark task she set her mind to; all the while always refusing to conform to societal norms. It was a performance that not just moody grunge/goth teens of the 1990's could gravitate to... it was a performance that anyone of any generation who has ever felt like an outsider could relate to.

What made Christina Ricci's performance more fascinating though wasn't that she was just a one note gloomy girl. It was the moments where she would show small amounts of emotion (or the very few moments where she displayed great emotion) that informed of us what really made her mind tick. It's a type of balance very few actors of any age can master. After portraying Wednesday in just two films, other actresses would portray Wednesday in future live action projects and additional movies. Meanwhile, more teenage girls than we could ever count would eventually play Wednesday Addams on stage, when an Addams Family musical (that had previously been a Broadway play in the 2000's) would become the most performed musical in American high schools across the USA in the 2010's. Despite many passionate and well meaning portrayals though; there had yet to be one actress that could top the definitive performance Christina Ricci has given us... until 2022 came...

Enter Jenna Ortega. It's hard to give unique praise for this epic once in existence performance at this point. Whether it was the writing, or legendary director Tim Burton's direction, or it was just all thanks to this actress; Jenna Ortega's portrayal of Wednesday Addams in the super hit: Wednesday TV series, has now become the ultimate definitive portrayal of Wednesday Addams. Jenna Ortega literally did everything that Christina Ricci did right in her portrayal years ago, and somehow pushed that perfection even farther. The deadpan expressions, and the subtle ways Jenna Ortega displays Wednesday's limited and almost conflicting emotions is a fascinating portrayal for the ages. Wednesday Addams is supposed to be an emotionless girl who fails to connect with others... and yet there is so much you see in Jenna Ortega's portrayal of Wednesday every second she is on screen.

If anything, all of the best parts of what made Wednesday Addams who she is over the decades have been finally distilled into her character in the current streaming series. Her solemn and poetic side Charles Addams first wrote of in the Addams Family character bible is finally fully realized in this show. Wednesday's dark hobbies from the 1960's series are still very much part of her character and back story. Meanwhile the extremely dark gothic style Christina Ricci introduced to the character in the 90's is also built upon and expanded in the new show.

Even Wednesday's relationship with new fan favorite character: Enid Sinclair may have ties to Wednesday Addams' early beginnings. As was said near the beginning of this essay: Wednesday Addams may have been inspired by the imaginary sister or friend that a lonely Charles Addams wished he had while growing up; someone that would always be there by his side as he got up to all kinds of crazy schemes. Fast forward to all these years later: similar to how Charles Addams gave his inner Pugsley the companion he always wished he had, the new Wednesday TV series has provided viewers Enid: the kind of loving companion that so many of us would secretly admit that our inner Wednesday would give anything to have. So in many ways, the new ideas and passion surrounding Wednesday Addams now are not so different than the ideas and passion that brought her into existence in the first place.

[georgeromeros]

The Addams Family - Season 1 Episode 33 (1965) Lurch, the Teenage Idol

[jay-wasstuff]

The Three Wednesdays

[20th-century-man]

Lisa Loring February 16, 1958 – January 28, 2023

Miss Loring in a 1964 publicity photo for The Addams Family (ABC 1964-66)

[citizenscreen]

Allyn Joslyn plays truant officer, Mr. Hilliard, in the pilot episode of “The Addams Family” (1964).

[storyofmorewhoa]

The Addams Family (1964-1966)