Charles Samuel Addams

Charles Addams began to work for The New Yorker in 1933 during the Depression. His cartoons were so influential as to spawn the 1968 television series, The Addams Family, based upon the characters he had created. This cartoon exhibits many of the qualities characteristic of Addam’s particular brand of humor. Playing upon the American ideals of practicality and common sense, Addams toys with the idea that the Museum of Natural History, a cultural institution that holds the scientific evidence for human origins, might serve just as easily as a repository for a resourceful dog’s dinner. His naturalistic style and low viewpoint help to align the viewer with the dog, making us identify with his gleeful victory rather than that of the bewildered guard.