We leave the front door looking for joy and jollity; we reach the cinema to be greeted by strangely-dressed persons shrieking 'Trick or treat?' Addams Family Values is no treat and could well be investigated under charges of trickery.
(Just what we in Britain need: a comedy about infanticidal pre-teeners.) I confess I hated the first Addams film even though millions, to judge by box-office receipts, did not.
But Hollywood executives said Orion is attempting to sell part or all of the rights to five films that are in production or finished: "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure II," "Robocop 3," "The Addams Family," "The Favor," and "There Goes My Baby."
Jim Dwyer, vice president of marketing for Kraft General Foods' Tombstone Pizza, at first says he is thrilled with the exposure the company is getting in "The Addams Family."
Mr. Goldwyn's promotion comes as Paramount is experiencing some box-office firepower with "The Addams Family," which opened Friday.
Although he profited immensely from his work, Addams said he did not reap large direct benefits from the television show.
This was a mistake made by the big, old, fat law firm I let represent me," Addams once said.
The one Orion sure-fire hit, "The Addams Family," was sold to rival Paramount Pictures, a unit of Paramount Communications Corp., and to date has grossed over $59 million.
They are both on TV over Christmas: save your Addams admission money. Or alternatively give it to the Actors In Crisis fund.
Addams has produced 10 cartoon collections that have together sold more than 460,000 copies.
Jackie Coogan, who as a child appeared in Charlie Chaplin's 1921 film "The Kid" and as an adult played Uncle Fester in television's "The Addams Family," died in 1984.
Orion in the last year has sold off some of its completed movies to other studios, notably "The Addams Family," which Paramount Pictures Corp. will release shortly.
At Friday's party, some of Addams' cartoons were on display, including one of Morticia, the sexy vampire, asking to borrow a cup of cyanide from a neighbor.
That was the year Mary Harriman, sister of the late New York Gov. Averell Harriman, and her friend Nathalie Henderson founded the Junior League to aid the slum tenement movement begun by Jane Addams.
He put a picture of King Kong and a ghoulish cartoon by Charles Addams on the covers of his firm's promotional brochures.
In 1931, Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, the first American woman so honored.
Christie's International in New York offers a brocade "Thing" box from "The Addams Family" television show at a coming entertainment memorabilia sale.
John O'Hara, a friend of Addams, said his drawings belied his personality.