tv - Who built "Lurch", the Addams family's butler?

As I caught an episode of The Addams Family on Retro TV last night, it finally dawned on me that Lurch may have been a Frankenstein Monster. Is there any evidence beyond Lurch's outward appearance that cartoonist Charles Addams, the creator of the Addams Family comic strip, intended us to believe Lurch had been created by Dr. Frankenstein? Who was supposed to have built Lurch, the Addams family's faithful butler?

Answer

There isn't a lot of info on Lurch's backstory, but here's what seems known:

He has a mother, or at least someone who he referred to as mother; 'Mother Lurch', who appeared in the episode 'Mother Lurch Visits the Addams Family'(S1E17); she addresses him as Sonny, but it's not definitive that this means he is her biological offspring.
(Cute episode; it's where Gomez and Morticia pretend to be servants to help Lurch impress his mother. They end up fired.)

He has a father. Nothing mentioned about him that I recall, except for Lurch commenting (with a smile, even) that "He put me together."

In 'Addams Family Reunion' it is indicated that he is part Addams; his heart is Addams. Although not expounded upon, this was most likely literal.

In 'The New Addams Family' (which seems to play slightly free with Canon), Morticia is asked where she dug him up, and comments that she can't remember which cemetery, and later, that he has two left feet.

I get the impression that Charles Addams didn't really intend to provide a full backstory to Lurch; every demented family just needs a strange, over-powered, loyal family retainer.

Anyway, yes -- it looks like he's meant to be a Frankenstein's Monster type creation, although built, at least partially, with some Addams in him.

Comments

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