The Munsters (1964) - General Discussion

[Blergh]

Could anyone have envisioned a show with  Car 54 alums and a Canadian-born Hollywood longtime beauty queen  in green makeup playing a 'typical US American family' who were raising a young preteen son and helping out their 'unfortunate' relative who was sure HER looks was all that scared off any dates coming to meet her adorable family?

 No, they weren't loaded like the Addamses and nor did Herman and Lily have anywhere close to the chemistry of their ooky colleagues but IMO this show had its own appeal.

So here's the spot where we can discuss Spot and the other Munsters!

[Tom Holmberg]

Eternal debate: Munsters vs. The Addams Family, Discuss:

[SusanM]

@Tom Holmberg So true!  Both those shows were on in re-runs when I was in my teens and it was a running joke even then that you had to pick sides, you weren't allowed to like both!  I was a Munsters gal because I just loved Herman (but I secretly watched The Addams Family once in awhile too).

[Tom Holmberg]

On 5/3/2022 at 12:00 PM, SusanM said:

@Tom Holmberg So true!  Both those shows were on in re-runs when I was in my teens and it was a running joke even then that you had to pick sides, you weren't allowed to like both!  I was a Munsters gal because I just loved Herman (but I secretly watched The Addams Family once in awhile too).

I remember when they premiered.  They both premiered the same year.  I always preferred "The Addams Family", but "The Munsters" had those great hot rods (I build a model of grandpa's Dragula). Also recall later, on the show "Square Pegs", they referred to the Munsters/Addams family debate. I think the nerds preferred "The Munsters."

Edited May 6, 2022 by Tom Holmberg

[Blergh]

While the Addamses were based on the cartoon sketches of the satirist Charles Addams (who had not named his protagonists), the Munsters were based on classic movie monsters. Of course, the Munsters had the twist that they embraced into the family fold their 'unfortunate' niece Marilyn who looked different from them but looked beautiful to outsiders- and despite her dating, going to college and otherwise interacting with these other folks who more closely resembled herself than her own family, she refused to consider said family as anything but loving. Yes, she resembled the classic movie monsters' usual victim but ALSO The Twilight Zone's ' Eye of the Beholder' protagonist with a much happier outcome! 

Oh, and she was played by the brunette performer Beverley Owen (in a blonde wig) for the first 13 episodes but Miss Owen was so unhappy being separated from her then-fiance Jon Stone that Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis told the producers that if they didn't let her out of her contract and let her marry him, THEY'D walk. The producers caved, she married Mr. Stone (who would become an integral part of the development of Sesame Street)  andthey'd have two daughters before they split ten years later!  She was replaced by the natural blonde Pat Priest who inherited not only the part but her entire Marilyn wardrobe. Incredibly, despite this rather close association, Miss Priest has said that she and Miss Owen (who passed away in 2019) never met each other! 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Blergh

[Spartan Girl]

I loved that big lovable lug Herman so much. “Oh, darn, darn, darn, darn…” Still cracks me up.

22 hours ago, Blergh said:

Of course, the Munsters had the twist that they embraced into the family fold their 'unfortunate' niece Marilyn who looked different from them but looked beautiful to outsiders- and despite her dating, going to college and otherwise interacting with these other folks who more closely resembled herself than her own family, she refused to consider said family as anything but loving.

Yes. Marilyn was awesome in how much she loved her family and didn’t take any crap from anyone who saw them as freaks.

[Blergh]

Of course, one thing that helped The Munsters a great deal was that Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis had worked together beforehand AND were great friends so that no matter all the bickering that Herman and Grandpa did, there always was a strong underlying affection and a good chemistry (even through all those layers of makeup)!  IIRC, too, Mr. Gwynne did say that some of Herman's quirks (such as getting high strung and saying "Now,now,now,NOW!') actually came from his mother Dorothy (who was still living during the show's production)!  Oh, and Mr. Gwynne sweated off many pounds and gallons due to having to be in all that foam rubber padding as Herman and, not surprisingly, was relieved when the show was cancelled. However, both he and Mr. Lewis admitted that they (and the rest of the cast) DID have fun while they were making the show in spite of all the hassles! 

[Spartan Girl]

Grandpa and Herman were one of the rare examples of TV in-laws that actually got along famously.

[Wiendish Fitch]

17 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I loved that big lovable lug Herman so much. “Oh, darn, darn, darn, darn…” Still cracks me up.

Yes. Marilyn was awesome in how much she loved her family and didn’t take any crap from anyone who saw them as freaks.

Yeah, they could have made Marilyn the "Meg Griffin" of the family, but they didn't. Yet the show was still funny!

See, too many modern comedy writers (Seth McFarlane especially)? Humor doesn't always have to be relentlessly sadistic and characters don't always have to be raging assholes!

Moving along, I've always loved The Munsters, even more so than The Addams Family. Al Lewis was just a joy as Grandpa, and Yvonne deCarlo? Too fabulous for words! Helluva singer, too! Did you know she introduced the song "I'm Still Here" from Follies?

 

[Spartan Girl]

46 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Yeah, they could have made Marilyn the "Meg Griffin" of the family, but they didn't. Yet the show was still funny!

See, too many modern comedy writers (Seth McFarlane especially)? Humor doesn't always have to be relentlessly sadistic and characters don't always have to be raging assholes!

Moving along, I've always loved The Munsters, even more so than The Addams Family. Al Lewis was just a joy as Grandpa, and Yvonne deCarlo? Too fabulous for words! Helluva singer, too! Did you know she introduced the song "I'm Still Here" from Follies?

 

Lily Munster was one of the better TV wives. Sure we had a few jokes about Herman being henpecked, but it never got to the point where Lily ever turned into the rancid dishrag that Marge Simpson has become. Herman and Lily weren’t Gomez and Morticia, but they were on the whole pretty solid. And as childish as Herman could be, he was allowed to have some very great moments, such as the one in this clip:

 

[rmontro]

I always preferred the Munsters to The Addams Family, no contest.  For one thing, I maintain to this day that they had the best theme song of any TV show ever (there are a couple of versions, one of them is clearly better and rocks more IMO).  I also love the old Universal monsters that they are based on.  And they had the coolest cars outside of Batman.  There was something so comfortable and homey about the Munsters, I liked the goofy comedy better than the quirkiness of The Addams Family.  Fred Gwynne is so iconic as Herman.  Loved the way the dust flew up in the house everywhere.

[Blergh]

One odd sidenote is that Al Lewis 'Grandpa' was born Abraham Meister -yet evidently his original surname was NOT the inspiration for the family  surname which was supposed to have been a combo of the words 'fun' and 'monster'. In any case, since Munster was Lily's marital surname and Lily was Grandpa's daughter, Munster was NOT Grandpa's actual surname but, as per the show, his 'real' name was  ..Count Sam Dracula while, as per Lily, Herman was 'no count'! 

Oddly enough, for the last few decades of his life, Mr. Lewis actually ADDED thirteen years to his age claiming to have been born in 1910 instead of 1923 (the latter date confirmed by his surviving sons) . Evidently, he wanted folks to consider his age to have been believable that he could have been cast as Yvonne De Carlo's father instead of being born a year after her but he maintained this even when officially filing for to be a candidate for Governor of New York decades after the show's end! Oh, and he sought to run as 'Grandpa Al Lewis' but this got denied by the Board of Elections. 

Edited May 7, 2022 by Blergh

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

Oddly enough, for the last few decades of his life, Mr. Lewis actually ADDED thirteen years to his age claiming to have been born in 1910 instead of 1923 (the latter date confirmed by his surviving sons) . Evidently, he wanted folks to consider his age to have been believable that he could have been cast as Yvonne De Carlo's father instead of being born a year after her

Wow, there aren't many actors willing to add thirteen years to their age just to help maintain the illusion of their sitcom.

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, rmontro said:

Wow, there aren't many actors willing to add thirteen years to their age just to help maintain the illusion of their sitcom.

I guess since Grandpa was supposed to be a 378+ year old vampire, Mr. Lewis wanted folks to think he was closer to that character's age! 

[Blergh]

I mentioned it in another thread but the performer called Butch Patrick ( born Patrick  Allen Lilley) wasn't the first choice to play the youngest Munster who seemed to be a werewolf boy despite the Frankstein/vampire parentage! In the original unaired test pilot they had a performer ironically called Happy Berman  having done this. However, whether it was solely due to the script, his delivery or a combination of both his Eddie wound up being incredibly nasty and bratty with ZERO redeeming features (or humor) so it's no wonder that they decided to recast/rewrite the role. It seems that the then in-demand child performer Billy Mumy was in the running but, as much as he loved monster movies and spoofs, he and his parents decided it wouldn't be worth enduring the many hours of makeup being applied/removed  and touched up before, after and during the shooting days so he passed on the role. However, he DID appear as Eddie's one-shot obnoxious acquaintance called Googie who meanly pulled pranks on the adults in the family . Regardless, Mr. Patrick has since said that all the adults were a boon to him with Mr. Gwynne teaching as many acting and comedic techniques as he could while impressing him with his athleticism despite being the challenges of padding and makeup, Miss De Carlo being more of a mother to him than his own (!), and Mr. Lewis warning him about what to watch out for re the shadowside of showbiz (and, of course, having a crush on both Marilyns). He also has said that despite the hassles of the makeup and costumes, he enjoyed his experiences working there AND considered  the Universal Studio sets to be his personal Disneyland where he'd play whenever not needed for a shot (and he still adores the Munsters' cars and still gets to tour with them)!

[Tom Holmberg]

On 5/7/2022 at 12:55 AM, rmontro said:

 And they had the coolest cars outside of Batman.

I'd prefer the Dragula to the Batmobile any day.

[rmontro]

51 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I'd prefer the Dragula to the Batmobile any day.

They're both pretty cool.  And the Munsters Koach is no slouch either. 

[Egg McMuffin]

The Grit channel seems to play the movie “McLintock!” pretty frequently. Yvonne DeCarlo is in it and I’m always struck by what a pretty woman she was.

[Blergh]

23 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

The Grit channel seems to play the movie “McLintock!” pretty frequently. Yvonne DeCarlo is in it and I’m always struck by what a pretty woman she was.

Absolutely!Miss DeCarlo (1922-2007) had been born Margaret Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, BC to a New Zealand-born father William Middleton and a Parisian born mother Marie DeCarlo Middleton(who, in turn,was the daughter of a Sicilian father and Scottish mother). Alas, Mr. Middleton abandoned his family when his Peggy was  still a toddler (and she never knew what became of him). 

Anyway, Miss DeCarlo  had had a long successful movie career and whose suitors included Howard Hughes, Burt Lancaster Robert Stack ,  the last Shah of Iran's brother (and, in her own words, 'a few truck drivers') ! However, when she married in 1955, it was to a stuntman named Robert Morgan who tragically had lost a leg performing a stunt in the movie How the West Was Won (1962). Thus, to help care for him and provide for their two young sons, Miss DeCarlo needed a steady income and fast so she took on the role of Lily. Of course, it helped that she loved watching monster movies with her young sons- and, despite her desperate MO, would embrace the role with gusto and the resulting fame for newer generations via Lily. Still, when she first saw herself in her . ..startling makeup, she said to herself, 'It's come to this?'

BTW, she had starred in The Ten Commandments (1956) playing Moses's intense wife Sephora and, in the same movie, John Carradine (yes, David's father) had played her character's brother-in-law Aaron. Later he'd play Herman's boss  the funeral parlor director Mr. Gateman who Lily interacted with in pleading for Herman's old job back. I have to wonder if these two had a good laugh over how different their latter roles were! 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Blergh

[Tom Holmberg]

18 hours ago, rmontro said:

They're both pretty cool.  And the Munsters Koach is no slouch either. 

One of the actual Dragulas is located at the Volo Auto Museum in the Chicago suburbs.

[Tom Holmberg]

5 hours ago, Blergh said:

However, when she married in 1955, it was to a stuntman named Robert Morgan who tragically had lost a leg performing a stunt in the Western TV show How the West Was Won. Thus, to help care for him and provide for their two young sons, Miss DeCarlo needed a steady income and fast so she took on the role of Lily.

Not the TV show, but the earlier movie.

[Blergh]

Tom Holmberg,

 

You're right. I'm editing/ correcting it. However, the man still lost his leg while doing his job during a production. 

 

BTW, I wonder if Miss DeCarlo ever got together with Jackie Coogan who had a similar but even stronger reaction to his own altered looks  (which I'll tell in The Addams Family Subforum).

 

[JAYJAY1979]

The Munsters were a typical 60s family that loved and supported one another.  All that made them  different was that they were Munsters.  Proving never judge a book by its cover.

And the Marilyn element also helped make the show unique.  On the outside, she fit into mainstream America but had a loving warmth due to being 'homely'.  

the show didn't develop her character, but her presence was intergal to the show.

[Blergh]

17 hours ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

The Munsters were a typical 60s family that loved and supported one another.  All that made them  different was that they were Munsters.  Proving never judge a book by its cover.

And the Marilyn element also helped make the show unique.  On the outside, she fit into mainstream America but had a loving warmth due to being 'homely'.  

the show didn't develop her character, but her presence was intergal to the show.

When asked what her fave episodes were, Pat Priest  has half-jokingly responded, "Any episode that gave Marilyn more than two lines!"

Oh, and she says that she now tells children fans who question if she could be the young woman in the glossy publicity photos  from the series' heyday when meeting her as she appears now  (since she was born in 1936- though IMO looks like an appealing, friendly older woman):

"Would you believe that I'm Marilyn's grandmother and I'm selling her pictures?"

[Spartan Girl]

I always kind of wondered if, deep down, Marilyn knew that her looks weren’t the problem, but just went along with her family’s belief because she knew it would hurt them if they realized everyone thought they were freaks. She was very protective of them after all, and got pissed whenever her would-be beaus assumed they were monsters.

There were times when the Munsters met friends who (once they got over the initial shock) saw that they were actually nice people and accepted them, quirks and all.

[Blergh]

On 5/16/2022 at 12:57 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I always kind of wondered if, deep down, Marilyn knew that her looks weren’t the problem, but just went along with her family’s belief because she knew it would hurt them if they realized everyone thought they were freaks. She was very protective of them after all, and got pissed whenever her would-be beaus assumed they were monsters.

There were times when the Munsters met friends who (once they got over the initial shock) saw that they were actually nice people and accepted them, quirks and all.

Well.considering that Marilyn not only wore proto-Yuppie clothes and conventional coiffures instead of the ghoulish equivalents despite her Aunt Lily's example AND  somehow had gotten into college (though what her major was never got addressed), I think she likely on some level had long since made a conscious decision to appear freakish to her family but conventional to outsiders knowing that said family would love her despite not 'getting' her evidently wanting to highlight rather than disguise her 'unfortunate' appearance. 

It would have been interesting had the show had had flashbacks to her childhood and how she related to her 'new' country and neighborhood when the Munsters first moved in. Maybe even an episode recalling when Lily bore Eddie and whether they went to the hospital like other 'average, Americans' or had a homebirth- and how a preteen or teen Marilyn reacted to her cousin's birth. 

[Spartan Girl]

Oh darn, darn, darny, darn…

[SusanM]

Just looked up info on the new movie and didn't see Marilyn or Eddie named in the cast.  Hopefully that's not because they aren't going to be there.  I did notice that Pat Priest and Butch Patrick were listed - cameos of some kind presumably.  Still and all not sure I'll bother.  Most of the the time these movies based on an a old show don't work for me.  The first Brady Bunch movie being the shining exception.

[Blergh]

I think it's interesting how, despite Lily being a generation older and believing that her niece was 'unfortunate', I can't recall Lily or Marilyn EVER having any disagreements. Of course, it seemed Lily had no female friends in Mockingbird Heights and no other female relatives any closer than Transylvania so it's somewhat logical that the co-ed  Marilyn would have been her confident and sounding board straight woman but might have been interesting had they had at least one disagreement (and it might have been interesting to have had flashbacks with Marilyn as a teen. .or even a child and whether she may have been less agreeable).  Now, how Lily would have reacted had Marilyn gotten her college degree during the course of the show  and pondered whether to move away to make her way in the world might have also been an interesting episode arc.  Of course, the males in the family weren't anywhere close to being harmonious (and that includes Eddie)  but that was a good part of the comedy!

[rmontro]

On 6/8/2022 at 10:51 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Oh darn, darn, darny, darn…

"Written by Rob Zombie" doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.  I guess they couldn't afford the captions to have each actor's name in the intro?

And where's Eddie and Marilyn?

[BetterButter]

[Spartan Girl]

3 minutes ago, BetterButter said:

Jesus Christ, I knew it would be terrible but this looks HORRENDOUS.

[Blergh]

IMO, the latest remake sure looks like a case of breaking something that was already fixed! Did the movie's runners somehow not get the original's premise was that this family THOUGHT they were average citizens and didn't get why their neighbors had such strong reactions to them? BOO!!!

Edited July 15, 2022 by Blergh
double trouble

[rmontro]

On 6/8/2022 at 12:22 PM, SusanM said:

Just looked up info on the new movie and didn't see Marilyn or Eddie named in the cast.  Hopefully that's not because they aren't going to be there.  I did notice that Pat Priest and Butch Patrick were listed - cameos of some kind presumably. 

Hey, maybe Pat Priest and Butch Patrick are playing Marilyn and Eddie!  :)  

You are unfortunately right about movie remakes of old TV shows, they have usually been terrible (like The Beverly Hillbillies) .  As you note, the first Brady Bunch movie was  awesome.  Charlie's Angels and 21 Jump Street were two others that cross my mind as not being bad, but they weren't from the '60s.

[Egg McMuffin]

“The Fugitive” is a notable exception, too. I’d argue that it’s the best movie adaptation of an old TV show. Though “The Untouchables” was also very good.

[Blergh]

6 hours ago, rmontro said:

Hey, maybe Pat Priest and Butch Patrick are playing Marilyn and Eddie!  :)  

Well, as I mentioned earlier, Miss Priest has said in recent years that she tells children she meets at the conventions who ponder the publicity shots of Marilyn from the mid 1960s then look at her, that asks them if they'd believe she's Marilyn's grandmother selling her photos! Perhaps Miss Priest and Mr. Patrick are playing the respective other grandparents of the otherwise missing characters. 

BTW, if there's no generation after Herman and Lily, than how could this movie's Grandpa possibly be a grandpa?

Edited July 17, 2022 by Blergh

[rmontro]

26 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Well, as I mentioned earlier, Miss Priest has said in recent years that she tells children she meets at the conventions who ponder the publicity shots of Marilyn from the mid 1960s then look at her, that asks them if they'd believe she's Marilyn's grandmother selling her photos! Perhaps Miss Priest and Mr. Patrick are playing the respective other grandparents of the otherwise missing characters. 

BTW, if there's no generation after Herman and Lily, than how could this movie's Grandpa possibly be a grandpa?

Well, he could have other children.

But maybe Marilyn and Eddie age, and Herman, Grandpa, and Lily do not.  Grandpa and Lily being vampires, and Herman being the immortal Frankenstein Monster.  I was joking before, but maybe Pat Priest and Butch Patrick really are playing Marilyn and Eddie.  

That's kind of a sad story about Pat Priest.  She was such a beautiful young woman.

[BetterButter]

[Blergh]

9 hours ago, BetterButter said:

Thanks for letting us know this exists. Speaking strictly for myself, I'm passing on this.

[rmontro]

I saw a video the other day that said that Butch Patrick plays "Tin Can Man" in the movie, which was a robot that Eddie built in an early episode of the original series.  So no, Butch isn't playing an older Eddie.  But the inclusion of the robot does suggest that there is an Eddie in the cast somewhere, otherwise who builds the robot?

Now, if we could only get that Lidsville sequel or reboot.

[Blergh]

5 hours ago, rmontro said:

I saw a video the other day that said that Butch Patrick plays "Tin Can Man" in the movie, which was a robot that Eddie built in an early episode of the original series.  So no, Butch isn't playing an older Eddie.  But the inclusion of the robot does suggest that there is an Eddie in the cast somewhere, otherwise who builds the robot?

Now, if we could only get that Lidsville sequel or reboot.

IMO, Lidsville was about the cringe-cringe-cringiest of the Krofft shows. I mean, it starred Charles Nelson Reilly as a magician who constantly zapped at the teen Eddie Munster[performer] and these  cringing hat characters from a flying top hat while keeping Eddie Munster a prisoner in that dimension- as its regular plot.

One episode REALLY was creepy in which Mr. Reilly's character gets lonely and somehow hooks up with. .. Witchiepoo from PufnStuff so to drive her away they had Eddie Munster . . .dress up in drag and do a [70's kid show] Mae West imitation while pretending to flirt with Mr. Reilly's character. Yeah, at best the audience could HOPE that Mr. Reilly's character had truly thought that this new . . flirt was an actual adult female and not the teen Eddie Munster he'd imprisoned. Thankfully Witchiepoo left and  Mr. Reilly seemed to totally forget about the flirt by the next episode.

The only positive thing about that episode was that evidently Mr. Reilly and Miss Hayes had been friends for ages and, regardless of the plot, it was good to see their camaraderie come through.

[rmontro]

48 minutes ago, Blergh said:

One episode REALLY was creepy in which Mr. Reilly's character gets lonely and somehow hooks up with. .. Witchiepoo from PufnStuff so to drive her away they had Eddie Munster . . .dress up in drag and do a [70's kid show] Mae West imitation while pretending to flirt with Mr. Reilly's character. Yeah, at best the audience could HOPE that Mr. Reilly's character had truly thought that this new . . flirt was an actual adult female and not the teen Eddie Munster he'd imprisoned.

Wow, that sounds really 2022.  Maybe it was ahead of its time lol.  The other funny thing about that story is that Witchiepoo was played by the same actress (Billie Hayes) who played "Eddie Munster's" genie friend on Lidsville.  Charles Nelson Reilly said that playing HooDoo actually heavily influenced the way he played himself after that, kind of an exaggerated version of himself, like on Hollywood Squares.  

Anyway, I liked the hats.  Everyone seem to have their own favorites of the Sid & Marty Krofft shows, Lidsville was mine.  I know someone who liked Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, which I just never got at all.  

[Blergh]

5 hours ago, rmontro said:

Wow, that sounds really 2022.  Maybe it was ahead of its time lol.  The other funny thing about that story is that Witchiepoo was played by the same actress (Billie Hayes) who played "Eddie Munster's" genie friend on Lidsville.  Charles Nelson Reilly said that playing HooDoo actually heavily influenced the way he played himself after that, kind of an exaggerated version of himself, like on Hollywood Squares.  

Anyway, I liked the hats.  Everyone seem to have their own favorites of the Sid & Marty Krofft shows, Lidsville was mine.  I know someone who liked Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, which I just never got at all.  

Well, to each one's own especially re the Krofft shows. I guess my fave was Pufnstuff which had some of the best work of the teen Jack Wild and Billie Hayes despite them playing adversaries to each other (of course they actually became friends and she wound up writing the forward to his posthumous bio).

I thought the Lidsville costarring role was a bit of a step down for  Miss Hayes in which she played a male djini (inasmuch it was the name of one of my closest departed loved ones, I can't use the other spelling for that Mideastern mythological being) named Weenie who wanted to help Eddie Munster but was too inept and bullied by HooDoo!

As for Sigmund and the Sea Monsters? I felt sorry for the bullied short sea monster who'd run away from his mean parents and brothers to the human world- only to wind up being a permanent prisoner in the teen boys' clubhouse and constantly nagged at whenever he tried to sneak out for any reason. 

Still, I actually liked the boys' clueless housekeeper/guardians Zelda and Gertrude (played by the always marvellous  character performers Mary Wickes and Fran Ryan) even though I thought it a bogus plot point that the boys' parents seemed to have gone to Europe for at least two years to leave have left them behind at their beachfront house.

Also, when one contrasted the wardrobes that the boys (Johnny Whittaker and Scott Kolden playing the brothers Johnny and Scott) had and the sea monster costumes, they were about as opposite extremes in terms of comfort and functionality with the boys  often barefoot   in swim suits and t-shirts (since the brothers were supposed to be teen surfer singers [?!]) while the poor sea monster performers were all entirely encased in these almost immobile plastic costumes that resembled sea weed covered oven mitts that likely had them constantly on the verge of suffocating while running around the studio and beachfront locations!

BTW, the whole set caught on fire  before the finish of the 2nd season which among other things resulted in the sea djini Sheldon played by Rip Taylor having to evacuate the building still wearing his costume of green wig, flippers, etc. which he had to walk all the way home in since no one was willing to give him a ride in that getup! I hope he had his house keys on him. 

While I can't think of a single performer of the latter show who appeared on The Munsters, I guess I'll  attempt to tie it in by stressing how these shows had most of the casts in rather impractical and uncomfortable costumes but the performers ALL did the best they could under the circumstances!