Eighty-One years ago, in 1938 a single cartoon titled "Vacuum Cleaner" appeared on page 9 of the August 6,
New Yorker. The artist, Charles Addams was paid $85 for his work. Before the TV series, before the movies, before The War, in a more innocent time, Addams opened the door on his dark fantasies.
A vacuum cleaner salesman is shilling his wares to a sultry, pale-skinned lady in a black dress. Next to her stands a bearded, hulking servant resembling the creepy mute Boris Karloff had played in the thriller
The Old Dark House. Above, from behind some broken railings, is an indecipherable creature overseeing the action. The joke came from the fact that the clueless pitchman is standing in what appears to be a haunted house, its gloominess punctuated by cobwebs and a bat. Addams would later describe the lady in the illustration, whom he dubbed the “witch-woman,” as “my idea of a pretty girl” and leave it at that. Indeed, his first wife, Barbara (
@Barbaria1), possessed such a look.
I have always loved his work
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Including his play on Greek Mythology
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