THE FIRST GOTHIC PRINCESSES
LILY MUNSTER
Yvonne De Carlo, was the stage name for Margaret Yvonne Middleton, born in 1922 in Canada.
Her mother enrolled her in a dance academy and at 18, she and her mother moved to Hollywood.
Her career was successful from the beginning and she participated in several mega-productions of the time, becoming an internationally renowned film actress.
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It was the Hollywood War of Studies that led to the creation of the Munster family.
The Addams family was created by the ABC studio. This made Universal Pictures' executives uncomfortable, as many of the characters (especially the Long Butler) resembled characters who until recently had exclusive rights, such as Frankenstein. Universal decided to fight back and with the help of the CBS study it was planned to create a series but equal, at least of similar characteristics to the Addams.
It was for this reason that both the Addams and the Munsters not only premiered the same year, but the same month and less than a week apart! The Addams family (18 September 1964); The Munster family (24 September 1964)
Source: The Addams family (18 September 1964); The Munster family (24 September 1964)
As the show was practically a competition to the other Addams, it was decided to opt for the same formula, hiring a very famous actress for the role of mother. As with Carolyn Sue Jones of the Addams family, all the executives and casting were nervous that Yvonne De Carlo would not adapt well to participate in a small comedy series for television. However, like the rival series, the choice was the right one.
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The character of Lily Munster has her name from the plants of death: Lily (lilies). It is also a vague reference to Lilith, the succubus of Hebrew mythology.
Yvonne De Carlo not only represented a mother who brought calm and control to her family of monsters, in real life and within the film set to the same role. Butch Patrick himself, who played Eddie Munster, told the press that Yvonne De Carlo was the mother figure he never had both on and off stage, since his real mother didn't care much for him.
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As with the Addams family, a whole background or personal story was created for the characters of the Munster family.
The character of Yvonne De Carlo, has a noble title, so her full name (maiden name) would be: Lily Dracula, Countess of Shroudshire.
Born in 1827, daughter of Count Vladimir Dracula (grandfather Munster), and his wife number 166 (simply called "the grandmother"). She and her father lived in Transylvania (a region of Romania), later she met Herman Munster and married him in 1865.
The Munsters moved to the United States on the 40's and adopted Marilyn. In the 1950s she gave birth to her only son Eddie Munster.
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Curiosities:
Despite rumors, Eddie Munster is not adopted as Marilyn, as Lily has a werewolf brother who appeared in a chapter.
Perhaps this was the inspiration for the series of films "Underworld" with Kate Beckinsale. In which the werewolf and vampire race come from a branch called the Corvinos.
Unlike Morticia. Lily Munster, more often performs more mundane activities such as sweeping and dusting the house (she has no servant), so that middle-class families in the United States would feel more represented by the Munsters than by the Addams, and thus have a higher rating.
To counteract the women's emancipation movements of the 1960s ´s the Hollywood producers made Lily have a lot of jobs throughout the series, in which she failed miserably and then became a housewife again.
Morticia Addams had the ability to "smoke", which consisted of exhaling smoke through her lungs without having to inhale any cigarettes. Lily Munster, on the other hand, could float or levitate.
Lily Munster in the first few episodes, she played the harp. Here again we see the Hollywood Studios war, as Morticia did the same.
To give her a more maternal attitude (and therefore make her more loved by the children than Morticia), the study allowed her to reflect in the mirrors, come out in the sunlight and not need to drink blood like her father.
In the original pilot episode it's not Yvonne De Carlo, but Joan Marshall, who plays the Munster family's mother, and this character is not named Lily, but Phoebe (name perhaps inspired by Ophelia, Morticia's sister).
Phoebe's character was rejected for two reasons: Her character was a clear imitation of Morticia Addams; moreover, she was more vinegary in character and fought constantly with her husband and son. The executives saw that this image would not be appealing to the tele-audience. Remember, they wanted to beat the rival studio.
As with the Addams, the series was broadcast in black and white to save costs by hiring Yvonne De Carlo.
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