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LURCH THE BUTLER
(The Addams Family)
(
Cemetery -13
001 Cemetery Lane
Greenbriar, USA
Lurch is a towering zombie butler. He works for Gomez Addams, an eccentric
cigar-smoking millionaire. Lurch performs such domestic duties as dusting
strange family heirlooms and answering the call of a droning two-note fog
horn that announces the arrival of guests at the front door. |
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When the Addams want to
summon Lurch they pull the butler's hangman-shaped bell pull dangling from
the ceiling that sends out a resounding "Gong!" Lurch then enters the room
and in a deep voice says "You Rang?" as well as other short groaning
phrases like "Follow Me", "Mail's In", and "Yes, Mrs. Addams." In between his
domestic duties, Lurch likes to play the harpsichord.
Lurch entertaining the Addams
Lurch was featured on
episodes: No. 13 "Lurch Learns to Dance" when Lurch takes dance lessons so
he can attend the upcoming Butlers Ball; No. 17 "Mother Lurch Visits the
Addams Family" when Lurch convinces his employers to act as his servants
to impress his visiting mother; No. 25 "Lurch and His Harpsichord" when
Lurch is upset when the Addams donate their harpsichord to a museum; No.
33 "Lurch, the Teenage Idol" when Lurch records a song and is surrounded
by screaming teenage fans; No. 61 "Lurch's Little Helper" when Lurch feels
he is being replaced by the new robot butler; and No. 63 "Lurch's Grand
Romance" when Lurch falls in love with a family friend. In the
remake series we also learn that Lurch is colorblind, that Morticia dug
him up in a cemetery and that once Lurch tried to smile and his face broke.
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Three Incarnations of Lurch the Butler |
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| Ted Cassidy |
Cartoon Lurch |
John DeSantis |
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"The Addams Family"
Lyrics by Vic Mizzy
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They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family. |
Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family. |
(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite) |
So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family. |
TRIVIA
NOTE: The deep bass tone of Lurch's voice could also
be heard saying "Neat, Sweet, and Petite" between stanzas of 'The Addams
Family' theme song. On the October 30, 1965 Halloween episode of
Shindig, an ABC teen rock music program, Lurch performed a dance
called “The Lurch.” After assisting Boris Karloff with his rendition of
the "Monster Mash," Lurch debuted a new dance craze called "The Lurch."
The dance steps were nothing more than a lot of shuffling and arm dangling
a la the Frankenstein Monster. "The Lurch" was released as a single 45
record (Capitol 5503) with the vocals performed by Ted Cassidy [who played
the role of Lurch] and a background female chorus with music by Gary
Paxton. The Lurch character also appeared in the Hanna Barbera animated
cartoon The Addams Family
aired
Saturday mornings on NBC from September 1973 to August 1975,
"Halloween with the New Addams Family" 1977
special, a second
animated Addams Family ran on Saturday mornings on ABC from September 1992
to January 1995, the motion picture remake The Addams Family: The Movie (1991) and
The Addams Family Values (1993), and the sitcom remake
THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY/FOX/1998-99 (with John DeSantis as Lurch). The Lurch
character is based on the Addams Family cartoon characters created
by Charles Addams for the New Yorker magazine.
Happy Halloween
TED CASSIDY: Born Theodore Crawford Cassidy on
July 31, 1932 in Pittsburg, PA and raised in Phillippi, WV. the 6' 9" tall
Ted Cassidy began his days in the spotlight by playing college basketball
at Stetson University in the 1960s and as a staff announcer for WFAA radio
in Dallas where he interviewed William and Gayle Newman, witnesses to the
Kennedy assassination. Cassidy's acting career included such memorable
roles as Harvey Logan in the film "Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and as Injun Joe in "The New Adventures of
Huck Finn", Ruk, the bald android in the Star Trek episode "What Are Little
Girls Made Of?", and the narrator (uncredited) of "The Incredible
Hulk" series.
Ted Cassidy died 16 January
1979 in Los Angeles from complications following open-heart surgery. His
cremated remains were buried in the backyard of his Woodland Hills home.
THE
ADDAMS FAMILY/ABC/1964-66
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Ted Cassidy |
as |
Lurch |
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Carolyn Jones |
as |
Morticia Frump Addams |
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John Astin |
as |
Gomez Addams |
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Jackie Coogan |
as |
Uncle Fester Frump |
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Marie Blake
(as Blossom Rock) |
as |
Grandmama Addams |
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Ken Weatherwax |
as |
Pugsley Addams |
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Lisa Loring |
as |
Wednesday Friday Addams |
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Felix Silla |
as |
Cousin Itt |
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Tony Magro |
as |
Voice of Cousin Itt
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Ted Cassidy |
as |
Thing |
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THE NEW
ADDAMS FAMILY/SYN/1998-99 |
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John DeSantis |
as |
Lurch |
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Steven Fox |
as |
Thing |
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Nicole Fugere |
as |
Wednesday |
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Ellie Harvie |
as |
Morticia |
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Betty Phillips |
as |
Grandmama |
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Michael Roberds |
as |
Fester |
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Brody Smith |
as |
Pugsly |
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Glenn Taranto |
as |
Gomez |
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