The Addams Family of which were originally published in "The New Yorker" between their debut in 1938 and Charles Addams' death in 1988. They have since been adapted to other media. In 1964, a live-action television series, starring John Astin and Carolyn Jones, premiered on ABC and subsequently inspired a 1977 television film and cameos from the cast in other shows. An unrelated animated series aired in 1973. The franchise was revived in the 1990s with a feature film series consisting of "The Addams Family" (1991) and "Addams Family Values" (1993). Both received nominations for Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Hugo Awards. For
Thing (The Addams Family) he opens the curtain. He is played by a member of the ensemble. In the tour version, Pugsley carries it on a pillow at Wednesday's and Lucas's wedding, while it holds the ring. When the television series was dubbed into German in Europe, Thing was referred to as "Gizmo", as in "Guten Tag, Gizmo". The character Cousin Itt was simply called "Ess" (based on the German word for "it" being "es"). Thing's many useful roles included fetching the mail, handing cigars to Gomez Addams and then lighting them, changing the channel on the Addams TV set, holding Morticia Addams's wool