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The film was neither a commercial nor critical success when it was originally released, and was disowned by both the staff of Mad magazine and actor Ron Leibman (who, despite his sizable role, had his name completely removed from the credits and promotional material).
- No One Knows Who Came Up with Alfred E. Neuman.
- The Magazine's Editors Had to Start Issuing Apologies Almost immediately.
- In 1960, Mad Predicted John F. Kennedy's Presidential Election.
- Alfred E. Neuman Briefly Had A Girlfriend.
- Mad Didn't Run Any (Real) Ads For 44 years.
- "Spy vs. Spy" Was Created by A Suspected Spy.
- There Was One Fold-In Mad Wouldn't Run.
- Their Movie Was A Disaster.
- The April 1974 Cover Had People flipping.
- Mad Invented A Sport.
MAD creator Harvey Kurtzman was in the offices of a Ballantine Books editor discussing reprints for the fledgling publication when he noticed a grinning, gap-toothed imbecile staring back at him from a bulletin board. The unnamed figure was ubiquitous in the early 20th century, appearing in everything from dentistry ads to depictions of diseases. A...
MADwas conceived during a particularly sensitive time for the comics industry, with parents and watchdog groups concerned over content. (It didn't switch to a magazine format until issue #24.) Kurtzman usually knew where the line was, but when he was laid up with acute hepatitis in 1952, publisher William Gaines and others had to step in for him. G...
But it was a cheat. In the run-up to the 1960 Presidential election, MAD printed a cover that featured Neuman congratulating Kennedy on his victory with a caption that read, “We were with you all the way, Jack!” But the issue was shipped long before votes had been tabulated. The secret? It was a dual cover. Flip it over and Neuman is celebrating Ri...
A character named Moxie Cowznofski was introduced in the late 1950sas a female companion for Alfred. She made only a handful of cover appearances, possibly due to the fact she looked alarmingly like her significant other.
From the beginning, Gaines felt that printing actual advertisements next to the products they were lampooning would not only dilute their edge but seem more than a little hypocritical. After some back-and-forth, MAD cut ads starting in 1957. The decision was a costly one—most print publications survive on such revenue—but led to the magazine’s keep...
Cuban cartoonist Antonio Prohias was disenchanted with the regime under Fidel Castro when he began working on what would become “Spy vs. Spy.” Because Prohias’s other newspaper illustrations were critical of Castro, the Cuban government suspected him of working for the CIA. He wasn’t, but the perception had him worried harm might come to his co-wor...
Artist Al Jaffee, now 98, has been with MAD almost from the beginning. He created the famous Fold-In—the back cover that reveals a new picture when doubled over—in 1964 after seeing the fold-outs in magazines like National Geographic, Playboy, and Life. Jaffee has rarely missed an issue since—but editors backtrackedon one of Jaffee’s works that ref...
With the exception of Fox’s successful sketch series, 1994’s MAD TV, attempts to translate the MAD brand into other media have been underwhelming: A 1974 animated special didn’t even make it on air. But a 1980 film venture, a military school spoof directed by Robert Downey, Sr. titled Mad Presents Up the Academy, was so awful William Gaines demande...
MAD has never made a habit of good taste, but a depiction of a raised middle finger for one issue in the mid-’70s caused a huge stir. Many stores wouldn’t stock it for fear of offending customers, and the company ended up accepting an irregular number of returns. Gaines took to his typewriter to write a letter of apology. Again. The relaunched #1, ...
MAD writer Tom Koch was amused by the convoluted rules of sports and attempted to one-up them in 43-Man Squamish, a game he invented for the April 1965 issue. Koch and artist George Woodbridge (“MAD’s Athletic Council”) prepared a guide that was utterly incomprehensible—the field was to have five sides, positions included Deep Brooders and Dummies,...
Up the Academy was such a commercial debacle and critical failure that Mad successfully arranged for all references to the magazine (including a cameo by Alfred E. Neuman) to be removed from future TV and video releases of the film, although these references were eventually restored on the DVD version, which was titled Mad Magazine Presents Up ...
The editorial staff at 'Mad Magazine' disowned the movie in print, and gave it a two page treatment, explicitly pointing out that Ron Leibman had the good sense to have his name removed from the credits.
Mad publisher William M. Gaines paid $30,000 to have all references to the magazine removed from television broadcasts and home video releases after it was a Box Office Bomb. However, the original version of the movie was put back into syndication and released on DVD after Gaines' death in 1992.
TIL following the success of the National Lampoon's Animal House, Mad magazine lent its name to the comedy film, Up the Academy but it was such a commercial and critical failure that Mad arranged for all references to the magazine to be removed from future TV and video releases of the film.
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May 1, 2014 · Al Feldstein, the leader and brains behind Mad magazine during its pop culture heyday, died on Tuesday at the age of 88. Though Mad peaked long ago, its impact on the comedians of the Boomer ...
