Wednesday Addams
Encyclopedia
Wednesday Friday Addams is a member of the fictional Addams Family
, created by cartoonist Charles Addams
for The New Yorker
.
, Charles Addams gave her the name "Wednesday", based on the well-known nursery rhyme
line, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". She is the sister of Pugsley Addams
(and, in the movie Addams Family Values
, also the sister of Pubert Addams), and she is the only daughter of Gomez Addams
and Morticia Addams
.
. She is explicitly stated to be six years old in the series' pilot episode. In the 1960s television series, she is significantly more sweet-natured, although her favorite hobby is raising spiders; She is also a ballerina
. Wednesday's favorite toy is her Marie Antoinette doll, which her brother guillotine
d. In one episode, she is shown to have several other headless dolls as well. She also paints pictures (including a picture of trees with human heads) and once writes a poem dedicated to her favorite pet spider, Homer. Wednesday is deceptively strong; she is able to bring her father down with a judo
hold. In the 1991 film, she was revealed to have a deep interest in the Bermuda Triangle
and an admiration for an ancestor (Great Aunt Calpurnia Addams) who was burned as a witch in 1706 .
Wednesday had a close kinship with the family's giant butler Lurch. In the TV series, it was revealed that her middle name is "Friday". In the Spanish language
version, her name is Merlina Addams (Latin America) or Miércoles Addams (Spain). In the Brazilian version (Portuguese), her name is Wandinha and in Italy her name is Mercoledì (Wednesday in italian).
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. As named by Charles Addams, the Addams Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, and Thing....
, created by cartoonist Charles Addams
Charles Addams
Charles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Wednesday
In Charles Addams's cartoons, Wednesday and other members of the family had no names. When the characters were adapted to the 1964 television seriesThe Addams Family (TV series)
The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966...
, Charles Addams gave her the name "Wednesday", based on the well-known nursery rhyme
Monday's Child
‘Monday's Child’ is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future based on the day they were born and help young children remember the days of the week. As with all nursery rhymes, there are many versions...
line, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". She is the sister of Pugsley Addams
Pugsley Addams
Pugsley Addams is a member of the fictional Addams family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams.Pugsley is the oldest child of Morticia and Gomez Addams. He is a pre-teen boy who is almost always seen wearing a striped T-shirt and shorts...
(and, in the movie Addams Family Values
Addams Family Values
Addams Family Values is a 1993 sequel to the 1991 comedy The Addams Family. The film was written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and many cast members from the original returned for the sequel, including Raúl Juliá, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Christina Ricci...
, also the sister of Pubert Addams), and she is the only daughter of Gomez Addams
Gomez Addams
Gomez Addams is the fictional patriarch of The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s....
and Morticia Addams
Morticia Addams
Morticia A. Addams is the fictional matriarch of "The Addams Family", created by cartoonist Charles Addams and based on his first wife Barbara .Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday Addams and Pugsley Addams...
.
Appearance and personality
Wednesday is originally a pale, dark-haired, grim-looking little girl with a fascination with death and the macabreMacabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
. She is explicitly stated to be six years old in the series' pilot episode. In the 1960s television series, she is significantly more sweet-natured, although her favorite hobby is raising spiders; She is also a ballerina
Ballerina
A ballerina is a title used to describe a principal female professional ballet dancer in a large company; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino...
. Wednesday's favorite toy is her Marie Antoinette doll, which her brother guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
d. In one episode, she is shown to have several other headless dolls as well. She also paints pictures (including a picture of trees with human heads) and once writes a poem dedicated to her favorite pet spider, Homer. Wednesday is deceptively strong; she is able to bring her father down with a judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
hold. In the 1991 film, she was revealed to have a deep interest in the Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and surface vessels allegedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances....
and an admiration for an ancestor (Great Aunt Calpurnia Addams) who was burned as a witch in 1706 .
Wednesday had a close kinship with the family's giant butler Lurch. In the TV series, it was revealed that her middle name is "Friday". In the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
version, her name is Merlina Addams (Latin America) or Miércoles Addams (Spain). In the Brazilian version (Portuguese), her name is Wandinha and in Italy her name is Mercoledì (Wednesday in italian).
Legacy
- Bridget MarquardtBridget MarquardtBridget Marquardt is an American television personality, model, and actress. She is best known for her role on the reality television series The Girls Next Door, which depicts her life as one of Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner's girlfriends...
, from The Girls Next DoorThe Girls Next DoorThe Girls Next Door, also known as The Girls of the Playboy Mansion, is an American reality television series broadcast on the E! cable television network...
, has named her dog Wednesday after the character. - Musician Wednesday 13Wednesday 13Joseph Poole, better known as Wednesday 13 , is a rock musician from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is most famous for his role as the frontman of the Murderdolls...
derived his moniker from the character.
Portrayals
Over the years, Wednesday has been portrayed by a variety of actresses, on television, the movies, and stage:- Lisa LoringLisa LoringLisa Loring is an American actress. She is best known for playing Wednesday Addams on The Addams Family television show. She was also a featured actress on the ABC sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton.Her parents both served in the United States Navy, but divorced shortly after her birth...
(Live-action TV 1964–1966, 1977) - Cindy Henderson (Animated TV 1972–1974)
- Christina RicciChristina RicciChristina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
(Live-action movies 1991, 1993) - Debi DerryberryDebi DerryberryDebi Derryberry is an American voice actress, singer, composer and kids' entertainer who won an American Anime Award.-History:...
(Animated TV 1992–1994) - Nicole FugereNicole FugereNicole Marie Fugere is an American actress and model.-Early life:Fugere started modeling at 9 months old, following in her sisters' footsteps. She discovered an interest in acting at age seven, and started taking classes at the Northwest Children's Theater in Portland. Fugere graduated from...
(Live-action movie 1998, Live-action TV 1998–1999) - Krysta RodriguezKrysta RodriguezKrysta Rodriguez is an American actress and singer. She grew up in Orange County, California and attended the Orange County High School of the Arts.- Career :...
(Broadway musical 2010) - Rachel Potter (Broadway musical 2011)
- Cortney Wolfson (2011 First National Broadway Tour)
- Wednesday is played by Lisa LoringLisa LoringLisa Loring is an American actress. She is best known for playing Wednesday Addams on The Addams Family television show. She was also a featured actress on the ABC sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton.Her parents both served in the United States Navy, but divorced shortly after her birth...
in the original TV series. In the first animated series from Hanna-Barbera, her voice was done by Cindy Henderson. In the second animated series from Hanna-BarberaHanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
, she is voiced by Debi DerryberryDebi DerryberryDebi Derryberry is an American voice actress, singer, composer and kids' entertainer who won an American Anime Award.-History:...
.
- The Addams FamilyThe Addams Family (film)The Addams Family is a 1991 American black comedy film based on the characters from the cartoon of the same name created by cartoonist Charles Addams....
(1991) and its sequel Addams Family ValuesAddams Family ValuesAddams Family Values is a 1993 sequel to the 1991 comedy The Addams Family. The film was written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and many cast members from the original returned for the sequel, including Raúl Juliá, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Christina Ricci...
(1993), portray Wednesday more malevolent than her television self. Wednesday's personality is severe, with a deadpan wit and a morbid interest in trying to inflict harm upon her brothers, first PugsleyPugsley AddamsPugsley Addams is a member of the fictional Addams family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams.Pugsley is the oldest child of Morticia and Gomez Addams. He is a pre-teen boy who is almost always seen wearing a striped T-shirt and shorts...
and later Pubert. In both films, she is played by Christina RicciChristina RicciChristina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
. In the movie Addams Family Values, Wednesday is sent to a summer campSummer campSummer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
for "privileged young adults" called Camp Chippewa, where Joel Glicker (played by David KrumholtzDavid KrumholtzDavid Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...
), takes a liking to Wednesday. Joel is a neurotic, allergy-ridden Jewish boy with an overbearing mother. In one scene in the film, she smiles, which ends up scaring the campers, as well as her blonde arch-nemesis. At the end of the film, it is suggested that Wednesday, though she obviously likes Joel, purposely tries to scare him to death after he brings up the subject of marriage.
- In the 1977 TV movie, Lisa LoringLisa LoringLisa Loring is an American actress. She is best known for playing Wednesday Addams on The Addams Family television show. She was also a featured actress on the ABC sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton.Her parents both served in the United States Navy, but divorced shortly after her birth...
plays a grown-up Wednesday, who mostly entertains their party guests with her flute, and could hear and understand coded help messages by bound-up members of the family, and dispatch help to free them. In the time interval between the original TV series and this movie, her parents had had two more children who look just like the original Pugsley and Wednesday.
- Wednesday is portrayed by Nicole FugereNicole FugereNicole Marie Fugere is an American actress and model.-Early life:Fugere started modeling at 9 months old, following in her sisters' footsteps. She discovered an interest in acting at age seven, and started taking classes at the Northwest Children's Theater in Portland. Fugere graduated from...
in the straight-to-video movie, Addams Family ReunionAddams Family ReunionAddams Family Reunion is a film released straight-to-video in 1998. It was also distributed to television by Fox Family. It is unrelated to the two Paramount films from 1991 and 1993. So far, the film is only available on VHS and has not had a DVD release. It was shot in Los Angeles, California...
and Fox Family ChannelTelevision networks preceding ABC FamilyThe cable television network ABC Family has gone through several different owners during its history. Stipulations in sales terms for the network require that the network maintain the word "Family" in its name.-CBN Cable :...
's television series The New Addams FamilyThe New Addams FamilyThe New Addams Family is an American/Canadian sitcom that aired from October 1998 to August 1999 and aired on YTV in Canada and Fox Family in the United States. It was produced by Shavick Entertainment and Saban Entertainment as a new version of the 1960s series The Addams Family.-Synopsis:The new...
, which were both produced in 1998.
- In April 2010, The Addams Family: A New MusicalThe Addams Family (musical)The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The show is based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel gag cartoons, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for...
, debuted on Broadway. Krysta RodriguezKrysta RodriguezKrysta Rodriguez is an American actress and singer. She grew up in Orange County, California and attended the Orange County High School of the Arts.- Career :...
played Wednesday. The character is now 18 years old, has "become a woman", and to that effect no longer sports her signature pigtails. The musical is based on the characters as created by Charles AddamsCharles AddamsCharles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
. In March, 2011, Krysta Rodriguez was replaced with Rachel Potter as Wednesday in the Broadway cast. Starting in September, 2011, the production begins its First National Tour. Cortney Wolfson has been cast in the Wednesday Addams role. In the Broadway production,she was the understudy for Wednesday and performed as the Dead Bride/Ancestor.