Thursday, May 24, 2007

I love it when you speak French!

The Addams Family was one of those 1960s TV classics that should get a prize for its impact on young brains. Sure, it was a little twisted perhaps, but a brilliant comedy. The premise and characters may have been weird, but the dialogue was ripe with irony and wit. A lesson in subtle sophistication for little 10-year-olds who eventually figured out what the canned laughter was reacting to.

The family values were good. The relationship between Gomez and Morticia, superbly played by John Astin and Carolyn Jones, was one of a loving couple and devoted parents, albeit tending to all sorts of creepy and far-fetched details in their bizarre family life. But hey-- it was an intact, multi-generational family. Well, intact except for the dismembered Thing. But they were all so kind and thoughtful to that ... hand. Such good manners!

More important, in a subtle way it inspired learning French. Well, mine, anyway. It is my firmly held but completely unsubstantiated belief that the Gomez-Morticia lovebird relationship gave a generation of young girls the impression that if they just spoke French, their knight in shining armor would be immediately transformed into a passionate, adoring Romeo. No matter what crazy activity Gomez was in the midst of, all it took was one little word of French from Morticia -- like savoir faire, or ensemble, and he dropped everything and rushed to passionately kiss her arm from wrist to shoulder. "Tish! I just love it when you speak French!" he crooned.

Ever cool, oh-so-femme fatale, Morticia would reply with a coy smile, "Don't torture yourself, Gomez, darling. That's my job..."

Gomez and Morticia: an unabashedly tender and passionate vie de couple while being loving parents and caring for older family members. Doesn't seem so bad, does it?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Polly-Vous Francais said...

sorry but I have to remove non-related coments.

Unknown said...

Great blog. I was looking for something that described the French reactions between Gomez and Morticia - this was perfect!

Anonymous said...

Excellent description of the romance. I was wondering if you know, Gomez would say something that sounded like, "mi carrida". I'm not sure of the spelling or the language. Do you know?

Polly-Vous Francais said...

If memory serves, Gomez said "Cara mia!" mixing languages, of course. Oh, that Gomez!

Anonymous said...

I Dont mean to offend you but i thought you would probably want to know that there is a HUGE mispelling in the name of your website...whether this is on purpose or not, i should like to know but the correct spelling is "Parler vous francais?" and it is generally used as a question as "Do you speak french?". Just thought you ought to know.

Polly-Vous Francais said...

Dear Anonymous,

Thanks for pointing that out. Who knew?

Bises,

Polly-Vous Francais

Sammie said...

I also was looking on something about Morticia and Gomes' love. I love this. now I find it hard for some reason for a married couple to keep the romance like they do. and I love how they support their kids.
thanks for this.

Anonymous said...

Technically it is "Parlez-vous francais?

Polly-Vous Francais said...

Yes, indeed! "Polly-Vous Francais?" is supposed to be an ingenious play on words for the very clever. Thanks!

neednap said...

My name is Polly. I was doing a Google search for 'Addams Family French' and found this page, which gave me a severe case of the giggle fits. What a fitting way to end the evening! I watched the original series on a black and white TV back when it first aired, and remember all the crazy things that family said or did. Well, most of them anyway...Thank you for the memories -- and for the giggles!

Polly-Vous Francais said...

Dear neednap,
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading Polly-Vous Francais?

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