Charles Addams: Wednesday and Her Pet

For Charles Addams, souvenir drawings of Addams Family characters served as a kind of social currency. Many were given to friends and fans. Some are done on blank pages of his cartoon collections. Some are not—or at least are not any longer. 

A sketch of Wednesday with a very large pet—is that a cat?—is an example of a drawing that may never have been on a book page. A light wash was added to the drawing resulting in some mild bleeding of the ink. Offered for sale by Schulson Autographs, Ltd., of Millburn, New Jersey, it was priced at $1,925 in October. 

Charles Addams
AbeBooks Price as of October 17, 2024

And then it was sold:

Charles Addams
Sold!

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Original-Cartoon-Drawing-Signed-Wednesday-cat/32014875056/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore

Now we see the same drawing back on the market, newly framed and with a certificate of authenticity. This time, the price is $5,495. The seller on eBay is Meier and Sons Rare Books of New Canaan.

Charles Addams
eBay listing accessed July 6, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/267247216005?_skw=Addams+Wednesday&itmmeta=01JZGTK9DWDT4Z7VH92BVVXA7A&hash=item3e392ce585:g:WUAAAOSwfc1oILK7&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1efT4Gg7sigrGKYrbifUTRKmRncUGJKwCDFLnoDKpHhfx9sLpC6BbS2NRuOnVRtwaJtnw%2FS0M54C9l90CGcFjyhY7en2j79Fi8lcHdXVXX1koXGig%2FyG%2FMRdZRUXQZ0IOtAG2NKzKvvwkvpR949Kl7JD5u%2FrL6Bp4JgCFCNRi0boSyVuMxSbLqXxb4OiG0S93Fg1MyVpgT7TZdLJrqY1a06JmoF9ncOIGdAuMS6C1uhze4tC4L6l359VWpwhQ3%2B4ws%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7KYzZr8ZQ

Charles Addams
eBay item description

05024

The First Addams Family Dolls

Wednesday's child is full of woe

—"Monday's Child"

I've written it here many times over the years when discussing Charles Addams: Although the Addams Family characters we are so familiar with today had their published origin in The New Yorker in 1938, these family members themselves weren't given proper names until the appearance of the television show in 1964. These are no doubt wise and well-considered words of mine—if only they were correct!

Wednesday, the morbidly-inclined Addams Family girl, actually received her name three years before the TV series. She is named for the day of the week in the nursery rhyme on which a child is born "full of woe."

The New York Times announced the appearance of a Wednesday doll on August 11, 1961. In a short article titled "Cartoon Child Called Wednesday is Recreated as Woeful Rag Doll," readers learned that the Addams doll would be available in early September at Brentano's and Doubleday, leading area bookstores.

The New York Times, August 11, 1961, p. 14

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/08/11/98541156.html?pageNumber=14

A few of these dolls are still around. They originally retailed for $7.98 and were created by Aboriginals, Ltd. Some color photos of the 1961 Wednesday doll, 22" high, taken from eBay are now archived on Worthpoint:

The Times article also hints at a doll under development featuring Wednesday's brother, the as yet unnamed Addams Family boy. Today we all call him Pugsley but Addams, we know, wanted to name him Pubert. In the Times, he is just "Addams' little blond boy who keeps reptiles as pets."

The 20" doll was to be issued in 1962, again by Aboriginals, Ltd., marketed under the name Irving—in retrospect maybe not the best choice. An example of the Irving doll was sold at Hake's in 2022 for $1,667.93 including the buyer's premium:

And what of their mother—Morticia, you say? Also issued in 1962, the 48" doll was given her familiar modern name and sold for $19.95. A fine example, again offered at auction by Hake's, sold in 2016 for $3,921.50:

Note:  Season 2 of "Wednesday" premieres tomorrow on Netflix.

05023

The Art of the Redraw: The Addams Family Children Back From Camp

We now come to the third and final redrawn New Yorker cartoon by Charles Addams that came to light three years ago when offered for sale at an auction house in Penzance. Like the two we have already seen, this one features characters we today recognize as the Addams Family. The original drawing was published in The New Yorker of August 30, 1947.

"It's the children, darling—back from camp."
Charles Addams
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 20

A cartoon by Charles Addams and a spot drawing of a street corner by "h"

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1947-08-30/flipbook/020/

As luck would have it, I have already posted the original published art here:

"It's the children, darling, back from camp."
Charles Addams
Original art
Published as "It's the children, darling—back from camp."
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 20

And now let's have a look at that redraw:

"It's the children, darling, back from camp."
Charles Addams
Redraw after
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 20

The redraw suffers a bit from foxing outside the image. The board is 76 x 56 cm with a lot of white area around the drawing, whereas the New Yorker original from Christie's is only 40.6 x 30.5 cm. The redrawn caption is in capital letters while the original is in cursive. Could these differences be because the original is intended solely for reproduction while the redraw is intended for display? Interestingly, both captions are written with two commas, but The New Yorker substitutes a dash for the second comma, giving the punchline more punch.

Here is Gomez in the original and then in the redraw:

Original

Redraw

Addams has moved the torn curtain to the left to better frame Gomez against a dark backdrop. His nose is drawn differently. The banisters are less tapered in the redraw. In fact, many of the details seem less carefully rendered and shaded.

Thing lurks above:

Original

Redraw

Again, some of the exquisite subtleties seem lost in the redraw.

Lurch stands at the ready:

Original

Redraw

The redraw doesn't have the same attention to detail. Compare the feather duster, the steps, the floorboards, Lurch.

Finally, there is the quadrant with Morticia, the driver, Wednesday, and Pugsley, the visual payoff for the cartoon:

Original

Redraw

Once again, the redraw is splendid, but there is more care given to the original.

The David Lay auction continues:

"It's the children, darling, back from camp."
Charles Addams
Redraw after
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 20

Verso of Whatman drawing board

Signature of Chas Addams

"It's the children, darling, back from camp."
Charles Addams
Redraw after
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 20

Handwritten caption  in capital letters

"It's the children, darling, back from camp."
Charles Addams
Redraw after
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 20

Verso label

Verso

Detail of Lurch, Morticia, driver, Wednesday, and Pugsley

Detail of Gomez

Charles Addams
Lay's Auctioneers Fine Art Sale of January 29, 2021

https://www.davidlay.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-582---charles-addams-1912-1988-addams-family-cartoon/?lot=29050&so=4&st=addams&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=24&pn=1&g=1

The three Addams redraws in the virtual Fine Art Sale
Lot 583:  Redraw of January 24, 1948                     Lot 582:  Redraw of August 30, 1947                    Lot 581:  Redraw of November 25, 1939

And there you have it. If the three redraws were commissioned together, as seems probable, their dates would have to be after January 24, 1948. We are told they were obtained in London the late 1940s.

Note:  I wish once again to thank the reader who informed me of this sale. I apologize for taking three years to report on it.

Are there any more Charles Addams redraws out there? Your blogger wants to know.

These newsworthy Addams finds were covered in the Daily Mail here.

* * *

The artist who signed the New Yorker spot drawing opposite the Addams cartoon with an "h" is unknown to me. Can anyone help me out?

"h"
Spot drawing of a street corner
The New Yorker, August 30, 1947, page 21

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