The 60th Anniversary of The Munsters

It was sixty years ago today, on September 24 1964, that The Munsters debuted on CBS. While it only ran two seasons, The Munsters would see more success than many longer running sitcoms. A hit as a syndicated rerun, since it ended its original run there have been two feature films, multiple TV movies, and several revivals and reboots. Even today, it remains well-known.

The Munsters centred on the family of that name, most of who resembled the classic Universal monsters. The father, Herman (Fred Gwynne) resembled Frankenstein's monster, but was actually good-natured, if none too bright. The mother, Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), was a vampire, as was her father, Grandpa (Al Lewis). Lily was the head of the family, sensible and the peacemaker in the family, although she does have a temper. Grandpa was cranky and sarcastic, although he doted on his daughter. Lily and Herman's son was Eddie (Butch Patrick), who was a werewolf. Despite his appearance, he was a typical boy. Living with the Munsters is Lily's niece Marilyn (initially played by Beverly Owen and then Pat Priest). While the rest of the family look like monsters, Marilyn not only looks normal, but she is also beautiful. The Munsetrs also had a pet dragon named Spot, who lived beneath the stairs of their home. While the Munsters looked like monsters, they thought they were a typical American family.

In many respects it should not be surprising that The Munsters debuted when it did. In 1957 Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, released Shock!, a package of old Universal horror movies, for television syndication. The success of Shock! and its follow-up, Son of Shock!, not only proved successful, but resulted in a "monster craze" that lasted for years. Indeed, it was also during the 1964-1965 season that another sitcom about a macabre family, The Addams Family (based on Charles Addams's cartoons), debuted. Both shows were part of a cycle towards fantastic comedies that had emerged in the wake of the previous season's hit My Favorite Martian. Also debuting that season were  Bewitched and My Living Doll.

Of course, the idea of a family of monsters was not particularly new when The Addams Family and The Munsters debuted. Charles Addams introduced the macabre family that would become known as the Addams Family in 1938. From 1943 to 1945 legendary animator Bob Clampett developed an idea for a series of theatrical cartoons centred on family of monsters, which he submitted to Universal. Ultimately, nothing came of his idea. It was in mid-1963 that Allan Burns and Chris Hayward developed an idea along similar lines. Messrs. Burns and Hayward had worked for Jay Ward Productions, and were periodically laid off between the company's shows. Growing tired of this, the two decided to collaborate on a show. Chris Hayward had come up with two ideas for shows, one about a family of criminals and the other about a family of monsters. They decided to go forward to the idea of a family of monsters and wrote a pilot script called The Munsters. Both Allan Burns and Chris Hayward have admitted that Charles Addams' "Addams Family" cartoons in The New Yorker were a possible source of inspiration.

Allan Burns and Charles Hayward pitched their idea to Les Colodny at the Ashley-Steiner Agency. While the agency liked the idea, they had little faith in Allan Burns and Charles Hayward's ability to write it. They then brought in Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly, now best known as the creators of Leave It to Beaver. Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly were both tied to Universal. Ultimately, a new pilot script would be written by Norm Liebmann and Ed Haas, who were both under contract to Universal. The two of them had earlier written episodes of Father of the Bride and The Dick Van Dyke Show. At Universal Allan Burns and Chris Hayward's idea was also changed. In the book The Munsters: A Trip Down Mockingbird Lane by Stephen Cox, Allan Burns said, "What we had written  was closed to the Addams Family or what became The Addams Family. We were basing this show on these kinds of characters and we thought it might make an interesting series. Strange, macabre, offbeat characters. Not what The Munsters became." Neither Allan Burns nor Chris Hayward ever knew who came up with the idea or patterning the Munster family after the Universal Monsters, although presumably it had a lot to do with the fact that Universal owned the rights to those characters.

As hard as it might be believed today, Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were not the first choices for the roles of Herman and Grandpa. Bert Lahr, then as now most famous as the Cowardly Lion in the classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), was initially considered for the role of Grandpa. John Caradine, who had played Dracula in House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945), was the first to be considered for Herman. As to Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis, they were both veterans of the now classic sitcom, Car 54, Where Are You?, Fred Gwynne having played series lead Francis Muldoon and Al Lewis as supporting character Leo Schnauser. Beverly Owen was cast as Marilyn. Miss Owen was a natural brunette, so she wore a blonde wig to play Marilyn. Other than these three roles, the cast would change from the presentation to the regular series.

Indeed, not only was the presentation different from Allan Burns and Chris Hayward's initial concept, but it was also different from the series, and in more way than its cast. In the original, 15-minute presentation titled "My Fair Munster" by Norm Leibmann and Ed Hass. As Herman's wife, Joan Marshall played Phoebe. Ultimately, the role of Herman's wife was recast with Yvonne De Carlo and her name changed to Lily. It was thought that Joan Marshall looked too much like Morticia Adams from Charles Addams's cartoons. Not only did Nate Derman play Eddie in the pilot, but Eddie's characterization was entirely different. Quite simply, it was much more monstrous, complete with clawing and growling. "My Fair Munster" was also shot in colour, whereas the regular series would be shot in black-and-white.

The presentation "My Fair Munster" would successfully sell The Munsters to CBS, although the network did demand changes, including the recasting of the roles of Eddie and Herman's wife. The role of Eddie was offered to Billy Mumy, who had already guest starred on several shows (including the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life." As it turned out, young Mr. Mumy's parents didn't want him to have to go though the extensive makeup the role would require, and so he turned it down. Butch Patrick, who had already guest starred on several shows and appeared in a few movies, was ultimately cast as Eddie. The role of Lily Munster would go to screen legend Yvonne De Carlo, who was look for a steady role on television to help pay for the medical expenses of her husband, stuntman Bob Morgan, who had been seriously injured while making How the West Was Won (1963). Then as now, Yvonne De Carlo's best known movie role may have been as Moses's wife Sephora in The Ten Commandments (1956). Interestingly enough, Al Lewis, who played Grandpa, was a year younger than Yvonne De Carlo.

In order to sell The Munsters to advertisers, a second version of the pilot was shot. This version of "My Fair Munster" included the changes CBS had wanted, and featured Yvonne Craig as Lily and Butch Patrick as Lily. Like the first pilot, it was never aired, although much of the second pilot was used for the second episode of the series (which was also named "My Fair Munster).

Among the stars of The Munsters was the family car, the Munster Koach. The producers had contacted car designer and builder George Barris to create the Koach. In turn, George Barris paid $200 to car desinger Tom Daniel to design the car. The Munster Koach was made from three Ford Model T bodies. The Munster Koach would not be the only custom car featured on The Munsters. Grandpa's hot rod DRAG-U-LA was featured in the 36th episode of the show, "Hot Rod Herman." In the episode Herman lost the Munster Koach in a drag race, so Grandpa built his own hot rod to win it back. Like the Munster Koach, it was designed by Tom Danel of George Barris Kustom Industries. The body of DRAG-U-LA used an actual coffin, which took pains to get. Richard "Korky" Korkes, the project manager for George Barris, bought the coffin from a North Hollywood funeral home. Since it was illegal in California at the time to sell a coffin without a death certificate, Mr. Korkes made a deal with the funeral home to pay for the coffin in cash and they would leave the coffin outside the back door of the funeral home so they could pick it up after dark.

While many broad comedies of the Sixties were raked over the coals by the critics, several critics liked The Munsters. In his review of the show from Friday, September 25, 1964, Rick Du Brow of UPI wrote, "One shouldn't expect too much form situation comedies. They are natural traps of deadly commercialism and light-weight humour. But I like the idea of a monster series. And though the Munsters are perhaps wiser than the Addamses in playing heir abnormality with more absolute normality, both shows are worth a look." In his review in The New York Times, also from September 25 1964, Jack Gould wrote of The Munsters, "The filmed series is inspired offbeat nonsense that will disarm everyone who thought an era of horror might be descending on TV; The Munsters is designed for fun and offers classic spooks in a new dimension. As to audiences, they apparently loved The Munsters. It beat both Daniel Boone on NBC and The Flintstones on ABC in the ratings.

The cast of The Munsters would change even in its first few months. When Beverly Owen had been cast as Marilyn Munster, she was in a relationship with Jon Stone (a future writer and director on Sesame Street), who lived in New York City. Unfortunately, Miss Owen had to leave New York City to film the series in Los Angles. This created a strain on Beverly Owen's relationship with Jon Stone). She would even break down crying on the set at times. Sympathetic to Beverly Owens's plight, both Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis asked that Universal let her go.

According to the book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street by Michael Davis, in actuality Beverly Owen and Jon Stone had gone to agent Marvin Josephson with their problem. He reasoned that if she cost them money, they would get rid of her. A plan was then concocted whereby Beverly Owen would miss Jon Stone so much that she would throw up in her dressing room and breaking down crying on the set. It was then after 13 episodes that Beverly Owen left the show to marry Jon Stone. She was replaced by Pat Priest, who had worked on local television and appeared in uncredited roles in the movies Looking for Love (1964) and Quick Before It Melts (1964).

The popularity of The Munsters resulted in a good deal of Munsters merchandise. King-Seeley Thermos Co. put out a Munsters lunch box. Gold Key Comics published 16 issues of a Munsters comic book from 1965 to 1968. In 1964 Leaf issued a set of 72 trading cards. AMT issued model kits of both the Munster Koach and DRAG-U-LA. Aurora issued a model kit of the Munsters' living room. There were also a Colorforms Cartoon Kit, a Herman Munster hand puppet manufactured by Mattel, a Herman Munster talking doll also manufactured by Mattel, a Munsters drag race game, Munsters Halloween costumes made by Ben Cooper, a Munsters card game, and much more.

It was due to the popularity of The Munsters that the Munsters appeared in the TV special Marineland Carnival: The Munsters Visit Marineland. Marineland Carnival: The Munsters Visit Marineland aired only once, on April 18 1965. It was long feared lost, until a copy of the special surfaced and was donated to the Paley Centre in New York City in 1997.  This was not the first time CBS stars had appeared in a special shot at Marineland. An earlier special, simply titled Marineland Carnival aired, on CBS on March 29 1964. It guest starred the cast of The Beverly Hillbillies and the Smothers Brothers. Marineland was also featured in the Beverly Hillbillies episodes "Back to Marineland," which aired on November 4 1964.

Ultimately, for the 1964-1965 season The Munsters ranked at no. 18 for the year in the Nielsen ratings, tied with another new show, Gilligan's Island. Unfortunately, The Munsters would see less success in its second season. For the 1965-1966 ABC moved Shindig! into The Flinstones' old Thursday night time slot opposite The Munsters on CBS and Daniel Boone on NBC. The end result was that The Munsters still did well, while Daniel Boone rapidly rose in the Nielsen ratings. As to Shindig!, both its Thursday and Saturday night editions were at the bottom of the ratings. Ultimately, ABC cancelled Shindig! and in its old Thursday night time slot scheduled the second half of a new show called Batman.

Batman would turn out to be an outright phenomenon, quite possibly the biggest American television fad in the history of the medium. To make matters worse, while there were adults who watched Daniel Boone on NBC, The Munsters largely had an audience of children, the same audience that would be drawn to Batman. After the January 12 1965 debut of Batman, Daniel Boone continued to do well, but The Munsters plummeted in the ratings. In the end, the Thursday night edition of Batman finished the season at no. 5 in the Nielsen ratings for the year, while Daniel Boone came in at 26. As to The Munsters, it came in at a lowly no. 70 for the 1965-1966 season. CBS then cancelled the series.

While The Munsters had been cancelled, the Munster family was hardly gone. What become the feature film Munster, Go Home! (1966) was conceived before the show was cancelled as a means that producers Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly could recoup the costs in producing the TV show The Munsters. It was originally planned to be a made-for-TV movie, but ultimately the decision was made for it to be a theatrical release. While Munster. Go Home (1966) would be a feature film shot in Technicolor, its budget remained modest. It cost $500,000. While Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, and Butch Patrick reprised their roles from the TV show, Pat Priest would not play Marilyn in Munster, Go Home!. She was replaced by Debbie Watson, who was under contract to Universal. Producers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher felt that Pat Preist, who was 29, was too old to play Marilyn in the film, while Universal was trying to promote Debbie Watson's career. Pat Priest was heartbroken at not getting to do the film, Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis both took up for Pat Priest, but to no avail. Reportedly, many fans were angered by Pat Priest being replaced at the time and ever since. Following Munster, Go Home!, Debbie Watson appeared in the movie The Cool Ones (1967) and guest starred on The Virginian and Love, American Style.

The screenplay for Munster, Go Home! was written by George Tibbles, who had written two episodes of the TV series, as well as Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher. Gene Reynolds, who had directed two episodes of The Munsters, was originally set to direct Munster, Go Home!. It was after only a few days that Gene Reynolds was replaced by Earl Bellamy, who had directed seven episodes of the show.

Munster, Go Home! premiered in New York City on June 15 1966 and was released in the United States on August 6 1966. It played on a double bill with The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, starring Don Knotts, in some markets. It was not a success at the box office in its initial release, although it would be shown frequently on television over the years. It has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Despite having only run two seasons, The Munsters proved to be a hit in syndication, so that Munster, Go Home! would not be the last  audiences would see of The Munsters. The first revival of the show was the animated TV movie The Mini-Munsters, which aired on The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie on October 27 1973. Of the original cast, only Al Lewis returned as the voice of Grandpa. Richard Long (known for the TV Western The Big Valley) voiced Herman, while Cynthia voiced Lily and Bobby Diamond voiced Eddie. Marilyn was absent from The Mini-Munsters, but it introduced two new characters. Igor and Lucretia were the Munsters' young cousins. The Mini-Munsters was a pilot for a Saturday morning cartoon based on The Munsters, but it did not sell.

Most of the original cast would return for the television reunion movie The Munsters' Revenge, which aired on February 27 1981 on NBC. Jo McDonnell played the role of Marilyn, while K.C. Martel played Eddie. The Munsters' Revenge would be the last film to feature Fred Gwynne as Herman, Yvonne De Carlo as Lily, and Al Lewis as Grandpa.

While the original cast would never again appear in a TV show or movie, the sitcom was revived in 1988 with the syndicated series The Munsters Today. On The Munsters Today it was in 1966 that one of Grandpa's inventions accidentally puts the entire family into suspended animation. Herman Munster was played by John Schuck (s best known for his role as Sergeant Charles Enright on McMillan & Wife), while  Lee Meriwether played Lily. Howard Morton, who played supporting characters on sitcoms, played Grandpa. Jason Marsden, who has gone onto become a voice actor on several animated projects, played Eddie. Marilyn was played by Hilary Van Dyke. The Munsters Today ran for three years in syndication.

The Munster family was revived yet again in the TV movie Here Come the Munsters, which aired on October 31 1995 on Fox. In Here Come the Munsters, Herman was played by Edward Hermann, now perhaps best known as Richard Gilmore on The Gilmore Girls. Veronica Hamel, Hill Street Blues fame, played Lily. Screen and stage legend Robert Morse played Grandpa. Christine Taylor played Marilyn, having played another sitcom character, Marcia Brady, in the movie Brady Bunch (1995), the same year. Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick and Pat Priest had cameos as customers in restaurants.

Here Come the Munsters would be followed by another TV movie which also aired on Fox, although it would have a different cast. The Munsters Scary Little Christmas aired on Fox on December 16 1996. It starred Sam McMurray as Herman, Ann Magnuson as Lily, Sandy Baron as Grandpa, and Elaine Hendrix as Marilyn.

While the Munster family would be absent from the small screen in the Naughts, in the Teens an attempt was made at a reimagining of The Munsters. Mockingbird Lane was developed by Bryan Fuller, the creator of the cult TV series Pushing Daisies. It was in November 2011 that NBC confirmed that a pilot had been ordered and in January 2012 that it was announced the prospective new show's title would be Mockingbird Lane. Jerry O'Connell, known for the movie Stand by Me (1986) and the TV series Crossing Jordan. Portia de Rossi, who had appeared in the shows Ally McBeal and Nip/Tuck, was cast as Lily. British comedian Eddie Izzard played Grandpa. Marilyn was played by Charity Wakefield, who had been a regular on the British show Casualty 19000s. Mason Cook played Eddie.

Mockingbird Lane differed from prior versions of The Munsters in that the Munster family looked more human and even their clothing was not as outre as in previous versions. Its tone was also much darker than previous versions, with Grandpa actively seeks to feed on humans and manipulate them as well. Sadly, NBC passed on the pilot in September 2012, although they decided to air it as a Halloween special in October. NBC executives felt that the show's premise did not work. The pilot for Mockingbird Lane aired on October 26 2012 where it received respectable ratings for a show aired on a Friday night. It also received reviews that were mixed to positive. This gave fans some hope that NBC might yet pick up Mockingbird Lane. Unfortunately, in December 2012 Bryan Fuller announced on Twitter that NBC was not moving forward with Mockingbird Lane.

The latest revival of The Munsters came nearly ten years after Mockingbird Lane. The Munsters (2022) was a prequel to the TV series, centred on Herman Munster's courtship of Lily. The cast included Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily, Jeff Daniels as Herman, Daniel Roebuck as The Count (later to become Grandpa). As the movie was a prequel to the show, neither Eddie nor Marilyn appeared in the film. The Munsters was released on Netflix and on DVD on September 27 2022. It received mixed to average reviews.

The Munsters continues to be popular to this day. The first season of the show was released to DVD in 2004, while the second season was released in 2005. Since then there have been three releases of  the complete series. It is currently available to watch on the streaming services Peacock and the Roku Channel, and individual episodes can be rented from Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Prime Video. Merchandise for The Munsters is still being made, from T-shirts to action figures to model kits. While The Munsters may have only lasted two seasons, it has proven to be a lasting success.