6/9/2023 0 Comments Happy thanksgiving pilgrims![]() "We got to have the subversive message of the Addams Family movies built into that sequence, when you realize that that Wednesday is leading this rebel faction against all of the nasty white people," Rudnick points out. While the questioning and tearing down of American myths has become rather commonplace today, the irreverence shown to the holiday was almost radical at the beginning of the Clinton presidency. I remember asking if we were allowed to drop a baby off a building and they said, 'Absolutely.' I think the Thanksgiving Day pageant somehow came from that feeling of total permission." "The first Addams Family movie was successful," says Rudnick, "so the studio gave us far more leeway with the sequel. How did such a subversive view of one of the quintessential American holidays make it into a show-within-a-movie intended for all audiences? And that's kind of the secret of life." Paul Rudnick There is something irrational about it, but very confident. Thanksgiving gave permission to use pilgrims and all sorts of lunacy that that made sense. "I don't remember considering Passover or Christmas – or something more appropriate like the Fourth of July. "Almost no one has ever asked, why would kids at a summer camp in July be doing Thanksgiving?," says Rudnick. Nearly 30 years on, Rudnick recalls the creation of the film fondly, including the Thanksgiving melee. They have said, do not trust the pilgrims." The "unpopular" campers cast as the "Native Americans" proceed to attack "the pilgrims," ultimately setting fire to the scenery and roasting the camp's directors over an open fire. Going off-script, outfitted in a stereotypical grade school Native American costume, she puts a stop to the prepared feast, declaring, "The gods of my tribe have spoken. ![]() The benign to the point of vacuous Thanksgiving pageant in Values takes its first satiric turn when Pugsley belts out his big tune while dressed in turkey regalia, leading an avian chorus line.įollowing the unintended double-entendre of that song, titled "Eat Me," Wednesday proceeds to hijack the proceedings entirely. The song is heard in an original pageant at summer camp in the film, where Wednesday and Pugsley Addams – offspring of the macabre yet loving Morticia and Gomez – have been exiled due to the machinations of a gold-digging serial murderer with designs on their beloved Uncle Fester. Rudnick and Shaiman crafted it not for the stage, but rather for a scene in the film comedy Addams Family Values, released in 1993. What are those lyrics wafting along on the breeze, thanks to playwright and screenwriter Paul Rudnick and composer Mark Shaiman?Īdmittedly this ditty isn't a Thanksgiving standard, but it's hard to argue with its authors' theatrical pedigree. So we must face up to the fact that there aren't any well-known show tunes that offer us something to savor for Thanksgiving.īut don't give up hope. Musical-theater buffs insist upon reminding anyone who will listen that " Turkey Lurkey Time," from Promises, Promises, is performed within the show at an office Christmas party.
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