HORRIFIC FUN FOR HALLOWEEN - THE CLOSED CASKET COLLECTION

1313 Mockingbird Lane is the weird and creepy home of one of American TV's most horrific and beloved families, The Munsters.
The family, consider themselves fairly typical working class Americans of the era. Herman Munster, like so many husbands of 1960s, is the sole wage-earner and head of the family, although his wife Lily (a female vampire) actually makes most of the decisions. Their 10 year old son Eddie is a werewolf, Liliy's father Count Dracula better known as Grandpa is a 378-year-old mad scientist and the family is completed by their "poor unfortunate" niece, Marilyn, young and beautiful, the black sheep of the family, they also have Spot, the family pet (a fire-breathing dinosaur who lived under the stairs).

Despite superficial similarities of eccentric characters at odds with their communities and a generally gothic look, there are key differences between The Munsters and The Addams Family, the main one being The Munsters inability to recognize they are different to their neighbours. The Munsters felt that they and their nieghbours were all normal and didn't seem to recognize that they were unusual,
The costumes and appearances of the family members - other than Marilyn - were based on the classic monsters of Universal Studios films from the 1930s and 1940s. As Universal produced The Munsters, as well, they were able to use these copyrighted designs, including their idiosyncratic version of Frankenstein's monster for Herman.

Fred Gwynne who played Herman was 6ft 5" tall and wore 4 inch heels and over 40 pounds of padding to make him a truly huge and beloved character. Due to the thickness of his costume and the heat of the studio lights, Gwynne continually fought enormous weight loss from perspiration, even after consuming gallons of lemonade and salt tablets and using an air hose inside of his costume.

The Munsters house could be seen as a back drop on many shows including Leave it to Beaver. It was remodeled and featured on Desperate Housewives and is located on Colonial Street in the Universal back lot (which has now been officially dubbed "Wisteria Lane" by the studio).

For perfect Halloween viewing check out  The Munsters Closed Casket Collection