Munster Masquerade

I was born in '68 and was brought up on re-runs of The Munsters, so I guess that a fair amount of nostalgia influences how I feel about this TV series, but even trying to put prejudice aside, I cannot see how one could fail to enjoy such a gloriously silly programme, with such monstrously lovable characters.

In the opening scene of this first episode, pretty blonde Marilyn (Pat Priest) is seen necking with her boyfriend on the porch of her aunt and uncle's spooky house in Mockingbird Lane. Not realising that Marilyn is the only normal one in a family of monsters, the young man invites his girlfriend and her bizarre guardians to his parents' masquerade party, with disastrous results.

With lumbering Fred Gwynne as well meaning man-made monster Herman, sexy (if you like the goth look, and I do!) Yvonne De Carlo as his dead wife Lily, pasty faced Al Lewis as vampire Grandpa, and pointy eared Butch Patrick as wolf-boy Eddie, the Munsters are pure horror comedy fun from start to finish.

The premise that the Munsters see their niece as 'the ugly one' is pretty damn funny on its own, but add Gwynne's hilarious mugging (of the facial kind), the fact that Herman's face is mistaken for a mask by the other party-goers, and the boyfriend's sudden realisation that his girl is related to monsters, and you've got a quality opening episode from a show deserving of the label 'classic'.

And don't forget that catchy theme tune.

Non-stop hilarity putting the oddball Munsters in brilliantly laid out circumstances to let their comedic talents shine through. A stellar group of supporting one-time cast Mabel Albertson, Frank Wilcox, and Lurene Tuttle. Classic series signature speeded up scared exiting the Munsters home by Beverly Owens boyfriend Tom. Yvonne De Carlo looked like her makeup was toned down (a rarity) for her costume as Little Bo Peep. A truly stellar classic sitcom episode.

Non-stop hilarity putting the oddball Munsters in brilliantly laid out circumstances to let their comedic talents shine through. A stellar group of supporting one-time cast Mabel Albertson, Frank Wilcox, and Lurene Tuttle. Classic series signature speeded up scared exiting the Munsters home by Beverly Owens boyfriend Tom. Yvonne De Carlo looked like her makeup was toned down (a rarity) for her costume as Little Bo Peep. A truly stellar classic sitcom episode.

In this first official episode, we first see Marilyn on the front porch necking with Tom, her boyfriend. That's to set up the main story, which is that Tom is going to get his snobby parents to invite the Munsters to a masquerade party. Neither Tom nor his parents have seen Marilyn's "family:" her adopted Uncle Herman, Aunt Lily, son Eddie and Grandpa Munster.

Herman isn't thrilled with idea. "If there is anything that is disturbs me, Lily, it's the idea of grown people like us dressing up in costumes and looking ridiculous," says the Frankenstein-like father of this ghoulish-looking family.

The night of party comes and Herman wins first prize after he doffs his King Arthur helmet and has "another costume underneath." Of course, that's the real Herman but nobody knows that but the family....and Lily is furious.

This was a solid introductory show for the family, laying the foundation for the kinds of jokes that were going to be used the next two years. Mainly, that centered around them looking at themselves as normal while normal-looking people look ugly to them!

As a sidebar, I enjoyed watching the baby-sitter, Mrs. Morton (Mabel Albertson), almost get freaked out by the things she saw and heard in the house. It was also fun to see things from the '60s such as expressions of the day and people doing "The Twist" at the party.

Probably due to shows like "My Favorite Martian", which debuted in 1963, the year before "The Munsters", the market was ripe for shows that placed fantastical characters in typical sitcoms. Three such shows first aired in 1964. ABC had "The Addams Family" and "Bewitched", and CBS had "The Munsters" (NBC got into the game a year later with "I Dream of Jeannie"). I don't know the history of how two horror sitcom families emerged at exactly the same time, but if you're going to do fantastical characters in a sitcom world, and you don't want to copy "My Favorite Martian" by doing aliens, a horror family is certainly a good idea.

"Munster Masquerade", the first episode aired, was a great way to introduce the basic premise to the audience. The Munsters believe that they're normal and that it's the rest of the world that's off-kilter. The family primarily consists of Herman, a Frankenstein monster; his wife Lily, the Bride of Frankenstein, of course; Grandpa, a vampire; Eddie, a wolfboy; and Marilyn. Marilyn, Herman and Lily's niece, is not a monster. She's a normal, attractive human woman, a fact that causes Herman and Lily much worry. They see her as such an unfortunately frightening, ugly child. This is a great joke that helps continually emphasize the Munsters effectively "upside down/backwards" world.

Others around them do not agree with The Munsters' worldview and tend to treat them like what they are--a family of horror icons living in what's essentially a haunted house. So the problem arises of how to account for The Munsters' appearance when they interact with the "normal" world. The solution here is to have them attend a masquerade party given by Marilyn's boyfriend. Among other things, the masquerade party in this episode allows a nice series of jokes based on Marilyn's boyfriend's father costuming himself as a Frankenstein monster.

Of course, the humor in "The Munsters" is of the cornball variety, complete with an over-exaggerated laugh track. That was the name of the game in 1960s sitcoms, at least, and either you find it charming in its own way or you avoid these shows. I find it charming, especially when it's a horror sitcom.