Addams Family's Cousin Itt : The Baldness Curse?

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Think that Cousin Itt has hair to spare? The Addams Family disagrees : Addams Family Costumes

This is about an episode with Cousin Itt on The Addams Family. There were a lot of troublesome toupees and hopeless haircuts that made them want to curl up and dye. But don't flip your wig! These hairy situations were the stuff of classic tv plots.

This is part of a series of articles. We look at episodes of retro tv shows where hair was somehow a big component in their storylines. I've featured different shows, often a US sitcom from the 1950s-1970s. Sometimes there'll be an overall theme including more than one show.

Information, including spoiler plot outlines come from various sources & will be as accurate as possible.

Please visit the Tuesday Flashback Feature in my blog. These are about retro tv shows that somehow deal with jewelry or gemstones..

Cousin Itt's Problem

The Addams Family - October 22nd, 1965

Hairy Cousin Itt (Felix Silla) comes for a visit. The family gives him an equally hairy dog as a gift. Soon after his arrival they find, to everyone's dismay, that Itt is losing his hair.

Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) uses his new chemistry set to make a hair growing tonic. Hair begins growing everywhere! A doorknob develops a Beatles hairdo.

Gomez (John Astin) is wondering why the portrait of Aunt Anemia is suddenly sporting a beard and mustache. Fester grows a head of blond hair. Cousin Itt grows even more hair on top of his head.

Eventually Uncle Fester's newly grown hair falls out, as does the beard & mustache from the portrait, etc. They realize that the tonic was only temporary. Once you've used it, you're immune and can't use it again.

But the good news is that Itt wasn't losing his hair after all. The hair they found was from the dog who's shedding. Morticia (Carolyn Jones) tells the dog that if worse comes to worse, they'll get him a toupee.

The Addams Family ran for only two seasons, 1964-66. As has been noted for some time, part of the humor comes from what could be called a culture clash with the rest of the world. They're a very refined, friendly and philanthropic family. They greet guests who visit them warmly. Several normal-looking people who showed up at their house were there with less than honorable intentions.

Another point that's brought up regularly is, particularly for that time on television, how close they were as a family was unusual. People noted how romantic the parents, Morticia and Gomez were. This was also unlike other married couples we saw. Maybe one day we'll see Gomez & Morticia's Guide to Keeping Your Marriage Spicy & Alive available on bookstore shelves?

Actor Felix Silla portrayed Cousin Itt. There's been some debate about who did cousin Itt's voice. The voice was provided by sound engineer Tony Magro. He created Itt's unintelligible voice by speaking nonsense words into a tape recorder and then speeding up the rate it was played back.

Felix Silla : Actor who portrayed Cousin Itt

Wikipedia

Felix Anthony Silla (born 11 January 1937) is an Italian film and television actor and stuntman, best known for his role as "Cousin Itt" on television's The Addams Family, and many other classic character roles.

Biography and career overview

Silla was born in a small village outside Rome, Italy. Silla trained as a circus performer, came to the United States in 1955, and toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His multiple talents as a bareback rider, trapeze artist and tumbler brought him to Hollywood, where he became a stuntman, starting with the Gig Young-Shirley Jones vehicle, A Ticklish Affair. His best-known roles are Litvak, the maniacal, miniature Hitler who menaces George Segal in The Black Bird (his favorite role), and Cousin Itt on the long-running TV series, The Addams Family. He was also responsible for the physical performance of the robot Twiki in the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a role for which the voice was supplied by Mel Blanc or Bob Elyea.

In part due to his short stature of 1.19 m (3 ft 11 in), he has doubled, often for children, in such movies as The Towering Inferno, The Hindenburg, and Battlestar Galactica. Between movies, he frequently appears in Las Vegas and Reno night clubs with his own musical combo, "The Original Harmonica Band". Silla and wife Susan - a "little person," like himself - have been married since 1965 and have two children, Bonnie and Michael.

When he arrived in the United States at age 16, he spoke not a word of English and had no formal acting experience, but credits joining the Ringling Bros. circus with teaching him both language and performance skills, working first in the sideshow and then becoming skilled as both a clown and a bareback rider.

His audition for his most famous role, television's "Cousin Itt" of The Addams Family, was as mysterious to him at the time as the popular character would soon be to millions of viewers. Arriving at the studio, he received little more than a quick looking over by the director and producer, who merely said "That's Itt!" and told him to come back Monday morning and report for work. He returned home for the weekend, pleased to have passed the audition but still completely unaware of who (or what) he had been hired to portray on The Addams Family. Not until Monday morning, just hours before he made his debut as "Cousin Itt", did he have any idea as to the nature of the character.

More on Wikipedia

The Addams Family: The Complete Series

From Amazon.com: All 64 episodes are spread across 9 double-sided discs in this set. Episodes are presented in Full Frame with English, French and Spanish audio and English and Spanish subtitles.

Extra features include:
Cousin Itt & Thing select scene commentary on "Thing is Missing," "My Son, the Chimp," "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counsellor," "My Fair Cousin Itt," "Morticia's Dilemma," "Ophelia Finds Romance" and "Lurch's Little Helper."

Theme Song Karaoke

There is also is other commentary and a number of featurettes such as "The Addams Family Portrait" featurette including on-camera interviews with John Astin.

The Addams Family - The Complete Series

Amazon Price: $44.99 (as of 05/25/2012)Buy Now

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Adult, Teen and Child costumes

Wednesday Addams Tuesday Freakies Adult Costume

Get all together ooky with the Addams Family in this sexy Tuesday Freakies Adult Costume. Perhaps this is the long lost sister of Wednesday Addams. This is just one of the Wednesday Addams costumes to choose from.

Costume includes a black button front dress with large white collar and spider garters, black choker and doll purse.

You'll be mysterious and spooky in the dark Gothic style of our Tuesday Freakies Costume. With a creepy and kooky attitude, you can transform into a sexy Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family.

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Mail's In!

Thing Prop : Pointing Hand Ghostly Glow Currently Out of Stock

This hand looks like it's coming out of the grave and pointing at you.

It has a light that fades in and out for a truly ghastly effect. This item stands 10.5 inches tall.

He may not have Thing's personality, though! He needs his signature box.

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Morticia Addams Family Adult Costume : Choose your favorite

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Become the dark and deadly seductress this Halloween as you become the lovely Morticia Addams. This is the Morticia Addams Family Adult Costume features a black dress with spider web mesh sleeves, just like the one Morticia Addams wears in the Addams Family TV show and movies!

Complete the vampiress dark look with the Morticia Wig (sold separately).

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Thing will keep time as we sing...

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
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(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite)

So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
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~ Listen and you can click to buy it on Amazon.

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Includes: "This is an amazing 8x11 custom double-weight art card featuring the signatures of the late sound technician Tony Magro (the one and only voice of Cousin Itt in the original TV series) and midget actor Felix Silla (who performed the character on camera under the massive mound of hair)."
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The Family

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