NPR delves into Charles Addams today, interviewing author Linda H. Davis on her new bio of the delightfully dark cartoonist. Addams’ people obviously had an image of being sinister and macabre, but mostly they’re just misunderstood. Take the witchie on his Halloween 1986 New Yorker cover, considerate enough to share a sample of bubbling brew with her black kitty. I’m looking forward to reading Ms. Davis’ book. This review from the New York Observer was written by Addams’ fellow New Yorker cartoonist Edward Sorel (via Emdashes).

Also on NPR — Neal Gabler appeared on yesterday’s edition of Fresh Air with Terry Gross to talk about his new biography of Walt Disney. Now, normally I think Terry Gross is a lousy interviewer; her bizarre obsessions with spirituality have seriously crippled her shows in the last couple of years. But she did well on this one, and amazingly the woman doesn’t bring up religion once during the conversation. I liked how Gabler mentioned the suprisingly un-Disneylike messages in 1960’s Pollyanna starring Haley Mills. I saw that one recently and it really is a caustic film, taking on religion and small town hypocracy. Another bio to look out for.