¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Charles Addams!

AKA Charles Samuel "Chas" Addams.

Born January 7, 1912. Died September 29, 1988.

He was a famous cartoonist for The New Yorker whose darkly humorous cartoons eventually inspired the creation of the TV series The Addams Family, the most famous of said cartoons being this:

He is also famous for designing the opening credits of director William Castle's 1963 film The Old Dark House but he also deserves to be remembered for his other work as well. I have always found something intriguing about his less famous cartoons where he is constantly pointing out the possibility of something odd or creepy that is just around the corner, something inevitably fated to be ignored by most people who pass it by -- but only if said people are very lucky. If nothing else, his cartoons give the average reader a chance to play "What's Wrong with This Picture?" -- with the odds being that whatever is wrong with said picture is very wrong indeed.

For example:

Then again, Mr. Addams was not above more conventional jokes.

Like this:

Anyway, I would like to think that his cartoons are still inspiring creative people today because they definitely have inspired me more than a few times -- in a nice way, of course.