One of the gags on the TV version of The Addams Family was a sign on the front gate that proclaimed “Beware of the Thing.” This sign was taken directly from one of the Charles Addams cartoons that the show was based on. As the series evolved, it got further and further from Addams’ ideas. There just weren’t enough of them to populate 64 half hour episodes. But the Beware of the Thing sign was always there.

I decided I wanted this sign for my house and was surprised to learn that no one made a good replica. So, I did what any good Addams fan would do - I designed my own. I took a screen grab of a good straight-on view of the sign and used a vector graphics program to painstakingly draw each letter. The original sign had been hand painted, so no fonts known to man could emulate the quirk of the lettering. Back in the 60s when the show was produced, studio lots had sign painters on staff to provide props and set decorations on demand. Even when I worked on the Disney lot, there was a sign painter on staff in the paint shop.

Once I designed my sign, I had it printed on aluminum so it would be safe out in the elements. Now, I just need to drill a couple of holes and attach it à la Addams and my work here will be done.