It has its own stormy weather and fire-breathing housepet
named Spot, but the mansion at 1313 Mockingbird Heights is otherwise like any
other American sitcom home. This is the address of the Munsters, the family that
for two seasons, 1964-66, found a permanent place in pop culture--if not
"monster" success. Developed by Leave It to Beaver team Joe Connelly and
Bob Mosher, the series was a standard sitcom (complete with the same awful
canned laughter), except that the Ward Cleaver character was a reanimated
corpse. Dad Herman (Fred Gwynne) was a Frankenstein's monster, mom Lily (Yvonne
DeCarlo) and Grandpa (Al Lewis) were vampires, and son Eddie (Butch Patrick) a
little wolf-boy. Munster niece Marilyn was inexplicably normal, which prompted
much worry from the other members of the family. |