Uncle Fester's Law?

Jackie Coogan was born in 1914 to a family of actors who had been in Vaudeville for years. Jackie was discovered by Charlie Chaplin, and was immediately put in a film with Chaplin. The film worked out for both of them, so Chaplin and Coogan starred in the 1921 film The Kid which was big for Coogan and Chaplin, making Coogan a cemented child star. He starred in several other films throughout the 1920's. However, at age 13, in 1927, his career began to decline, as does many other child actors.

Things really changed in 1935 for Coogan. That year Coogan's father died. His mother married Arthur Bernstein, who was his business manager. Coogan wanted his money that he'd made from the 1920's, but his mother and Bernstein refused to give it to him. Coogan filed suit for around $4 million, which was approximately how much he'd earned. California law at the time stated that he had no rights to the money since he was a child, and he was awarded only $126,000 in 1939. The public was outraged, and the California legislature went on to enact the Child Actors Bill which was signed into law. This law is also known as the Coogan Act or the Coogan Bill.

In case you are not familiar with this law, it states very clearly that the child actor's employer has to set aside a trust fund in the child's name with a portion of the child's earnings. The law has since been changed to state that all of the child's earnings is the child's, and use of the funds by a parent is considered stealing. Any time a child actor goes to court because of their parents and the money they'd earned, the issue of the Coogan Act comes up.

And at this point, you're probably thinking, "Hmm, that's nice. But what does this have to do with Uncle Fester?

Well, as with all child actors, they grow up. Jackie Coogan went on to have roles after he grew up, but his most famous role was one that he landed in 1964. Child star Jackie Coogan, who was discovered by Charlie Chaplin, who starred in several films, who sued his parents over money, and who had a law protecting child actors from their parents.... was none other than Uncle Fester in the 1964-66 series The Addams Family.

Bet you didn't know that!