Greg,
This is a good one. Where to start?
I had to "educate" myself with Wikipedia to find out who Doodles Weaver even was. And now I see the connection with Spike Jones. What a prize you might have...
I don't know enough about authenticating handwriting to know who to send you to. Maybe there's a Spike Jones club out there that knows if this was customary for artists/writers to keep copies of their work. It seems to me you need an early comedy writer expert / Spike Jones expert. Maybe you've already tried that.
Are there relatives of Doodles Weaver that could be contacted somehow?
Collect-ability? I've always said there's a collector for everything. You just have to find them.
By posting all this, we may get some more ideas from my site viewers to help with your question.
Doug
My husband remembers seeing a Mad magazine depicting Warren Hull, quiz show host for a show called "Strike It Rich" in the mid 50's, as "Worrying Hulk" and his quiz show "Strike It Richly". The article showed onions being put near a fan so the fumes would make the audience cry. The real show had destitute people needing money for health or other sad reasons and actually came under some criticisms in the show's last years for exploiting those people. I am trying to find which Mad it is in as a surprise for my husband.
Joanne
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Click for larger view
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Joanne,
That actually came from the third issue of Mad's sister comic called "Panic" from July 1954. Panic ran for 12 issues and eventually went the way of other classic E.C. titles like Weird Science, Frontline Combat and Tales from the Crypt. |
Hello,
I was wondering if you remember Superfan. It was done in the late 60's or
early 70's and was done by one of the guys from Mad. In the story this
nerdy guy had a secret formula that he would squeeze like toothpaste
from a tube onto a hotdog. It would give him football abilities.
It
had an acronym, something like:
Passing of Tarkenton
Scrambliing of Groza
C
W
L
B
Where each letter represented the ability of a famous player.
I don't know if it was actually in Mad. I remember seeing it in a
comic book paperback form.
Ever see it?
Darren
Darren,
I had never heard of this book but did a little internet sleuthing and found a book collector who knows all about it named Steven Thompson. His website and the following quote can be found at this link.
SUPERFAN, published in 1972 collected the first twenty-one chapters of a 3 page per  month strip done by MAD's Nick Meglin and Jack Davis for PRO QUARTERBACK MAGAZINE. Printed in the sideways format of the then-popular MAD paperbacks, this was undoubtedly EC Comics great Davis's longest sustained story! Let me make one thing clear--I hate football. Okay, perhaps "hate" is too strong a word. I just don't get it. Never did. That said, I absolutely love this book! Lots of MAD style celebrity hazing courtesy of future MAD editor Meglin but with a likable nebbishy hero and a traditional sports movie type plot! Skinny, super intelligent Y. A Schmickle says the magic word PSCWPLB...somehow...and inherits the football skills of many great players of past and (then)present. Along the way, he meets hippies and movie stars and sports announcers and...well, you get the idea. With an intro by the late Howard Cosell, SUPERFAN is lots of fun even if you miss, like I did, at least half of the pure football humor!
Thanks to Steven for the information and cover image (click image to zoom bigger).
Doug
Doug
I had the recent good fortune of spending a few hours with Col.  Joe Kittinger who still holds the world's
record for the highest parachute jump (102,800 ft.) in August 1960.
In my conversation with him I asked  if he had ever seen the parody in Mad magazine depicting his famous
leap of faith. The enclosed picture (which I believe appeared on the cover of Life magazine) shows Col. Joe just as he exited
the gondola and was taken by a remote camera upon his exit.
The MAD parody shows a  poor photographer huddled in the gondola without a pressure suit with icicles hanging
from his nose!
This is truly a shot in the dark since it has been almost 50 years since I've seen this.
My memory could be all wrong
and I am not absolutely positive about my recollection. I think it appeared somewhere inside the MAD magazine
around late 1960 or 1961.
Col. Joe is in his 80's now and still possesses a fantastic sense of humor.
I would love to find a copy of
this and present it to him. I would be eternally in your debt if we could pull this off. Joe Kittinger is one of the most down to earth (no pun intended), humble people you will ever meet.
He has had a truly remarkable life.
Thank you for your help and interest.
Joe D.
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Joe,
I'd say your memory is pretty good, with the exception of the nose-cicle. From the March 1961 issue #61 comes the article Mad Salutes an Unsung Hero: Lice Photographer Macomber Bombey. The premise was that Macomber was the one responsible for getting photos of all these amazing achievements of the time, including Captain Wayne Fudd's (Joe Kittinger) record-breaking jump.
Here's the section of that article pertaining to Kittinger (click the article for larger view).
Special thanks goes to David Robinson for finding this!
Doug |
I was hoping you might point me in the right direction... I am searching for a Don Martin cartoon I remember seeing years ago in Mad Magazine: 3 army recruits are given a test where they are to place pegs into a pegboard to determine their rank.
The punchline is that the recruit who smashes the square peg into a round hole is promoted to general.
If you know where a copy of this cartoon is available (Don Martin paperback?) or the issue it origianlly came from (so I can search for it) I would be most appreciative. I ultimately want to make a copy of this cartoon and post it in my classroom.
Thank you,
Jim
I am looking for some help in finding a Mad Magazine issue. A colleague of mine insists that he remembers a Mad Magazine cartoon that depicted some archaeologists digging holes all around a valley. At the end they conclude there is nothing there, but the cartoon shows that their holes were just shy of getting to a lost underground city. That's the gist anyway, does that sound familiar at all? I'd like to locate it for him, it's kind of a running gag.
Thanks,
Ed
I was wondering if you have an issue from '69 or '70 that had another "then came bronson" parody called "Then came Broodson". I see that there was one included in the issue that had the easy rider parody. I distinctly remember "Broodson" from back then, but not 100% sure if it was in Mad or not. I mean, I was a kid, I wouldn't have made something up using a form of the word "brood". I mean, where else could it have come from? Not that pale imitator "Cracked" magazine, I hope. I don't think I ever spent any money on those, or what years they may have been published.
Any help on this you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bob
Doug, please help:
I am looking for the reader, hand-drawn postcard in a 2004 or 2005 MAD where there is a kid in class and he is saying "What? - MAD Magazine? I thought this was my artimetic textbook!!!"
I actually had this on my cube wall at work back then and a stupid boss of mine tore it down during my last week there.
Al
Al,
Sorry not to get back to you sooner. I'm trying to get up the energy to page through 24 issues after I remove them from their sealed plastic preservation bags (I'm a nerd you know). I haven't tapped the energy yet, so will keep you in mind until then.
Doug
One Month Later...
Doug.
Any luck yet?
Sorry - I hate to nag.
I'll be starting another MAD subscription soon, but would just LOVE to have that one image from the past issue that I mentioned.
Al
Al,
I decided to break down and start searching and found it in #443, July 2004! It was a painful process, revisiting recent past issues of Mad, but, hopefully, this will help you get through your unemployment.
Doug
And for some unknown reason in 2016 I made a list of all the envelopes people have sent in over Mad's history.
Hi,
I recently purchased a collection of Mad Magazines and I am thinking about selling them,
but have no clue to their value. Could you tell me the best way to go about selling them or determining their value?
Should I sell them on Craig list or Ebay?
I have over two boxes of over 80 books from the 1950's on.
I also have three of the collectors series limited print magazines #11, #12 and #13.
Let me know what you think these might be worth.
Thanks
Hello and thanks for writing,
I've had this kind of question asked a lot over the years. I have the whole collection and I don't know its precise value. In an effort to help people get some kind of an idea, I keep an updated price list on my site taken from the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. On that page is the guide for most of the publications Mad has put out over the years, but there are exceptions like paperback books and "big" books.
At the bottom of the guide there are also some guidelines to help you determine the value of your issues based on condition. This is something only you can make the judgment call on. And it is such a painstaking process, I have never gone through it myself in over 25 years of collecting. At this point I have no desire to sell my collection.
So equipped with that information, if you want to formally go through the process of grading each issue and assigning a value, it's free for the taking.
I also, many years ago before the popularity of Craig's List and Ebay, put buyers / sellers lists on my site for the purpose of connecting people of Mad-exclusive interests. So I was prone to suggest trying my lists out.
They didn't get the activity that they used to (probably because of the popularity of Craig's List and Ebay), so I stopped the service in 2015.
I have never sold Mad items on either service. In my opinion, Craig's List is closer to what I offered because you'll be dealing with a potential buyer one on one on your own terms with some give and take, and there's no charge. With Ebay, it's more structured and you'll be able to set some parameters, but ultimately the bidders will determine what you get, and you'll be giving some of the money to Ebay. So it depends on your style.
Hope this helps a little.
Doug
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Mr. Gilford,
I am trying to find an issue of Mad that featured a cartoon of Alfred E. Neuman standing in a subway station with a caption that read something like "He married above his station".
I have no other information about the particulars of the issue, except that it was most likely published 30 to 40 years ago.
I would appreciate any help you can offer in determining what issue this cartoon appeared.
Thanks,
Jimmy
A friend of mine sent a letter to MAD a few years ago and it got published. It was published between 1999 and 2003. The topic came up recently and it turns out he never even knew it was in the magazine! Unfortunately, I have lost the issue it was in, and forgot the issue number. I remember the main idea of the letter but nothing is word-for-word. It went something like this: (My friend's name is Shravas Rao and he is from Reynoldsburg, Ohio) "I am writing to MAD because I want to get the Dummy-of-the-Year award from MAD...." It was quite short and I believe that the MAD writers responded in the same issue saying that a teacher who had written to them had won the award, but that he was a runner-up. If you could help us out with this, I would really appreciate it. Please email me if you find anything. Thanks! (Letter from October 2004)
Doug,
Saw this letter in the Odd section of your website.
For whatever reason, I did the legwork for the sender of this above letter
and found the issue with a printed letter from Shravas Rao.
The issue is #427 from March 2003.
My question to you is, who needs to get a life more???
Keep up the good (?) work!
Steve
Steve,
I think we are definitely tied for most pathetic use of time,
and it only took four years! (Answered November 2008)
Doug
 Howdy,
I am searching for an issue that had something about the Watts Riots.
Do you know which issue?
If you can help thanks.
I think it said "Burn Baby Burn" which is my father's slogan,
and I would like to find a copy and give it to him.
Thanks,
Martin
www.magnificentmontague.com
Martin,
The only reference to Watts and Burn Baby Burn that I can find in Mad comes from a reprint Special #4 from Fall 1971 that contained a series of posters, one of which has Smokey The Bear with a molotov cocktail. I thought maybe National Lampoon might have done something about it but they started publishing in 1970. They did have an issue from 1972 that looked back on the 1960s which contains the article "Watts, Kalifornia (Huh?)"
More on that issue is at this link:
http://www.marksverylarge.com/issues/7210.html
Hope this helps.
Doug
|
 Hi there,
My name is Teo Dell'Amico and I am the assistant to Joel Surnow, executive producer of the TV show 24. I found your Mad Magazine Covers website through Google while doing research for my boss, and I thought I'd see if I could ask you a really huge favor… He was asking me to find out who did the artwork for Mad's 24 spoof, and it looks like that spoof was called "24 Viewers" and was featured in Issue #429 from May 2003. I haven't been able to find out the name of the author and/or illustrator anywhere online, I was hoping that if you had a moment you could just tell me who wrote/illustrated the story since it looks like you probably have a hard copy… I know it's a lot to ask and if you're busy then that's totally understandable, just thought it couldn't hurt to ask. Thanks for your time.
 Teo,
You are correct in identifying the issue and the spoof. The artist was Bob Julian. It was written by Dick DeBartolo. Any way you can let me know why that's important to you guys? Love the show by the way. Give my regards to Mr. Surnow.
Doug
Thanks so much Doug, I appreciate your reply. Joel started collecting Mad artwork recently (he's interested in the original early stuff from Jaffee, Drucker, Edwing, Aragones, etc) and in the process met some art dealers who mentioned the 24 spoof to him. I'm not sure what his intentions are exactly but I think he's going to try and reach out to the artist and go from there, but that's all I know… Thanks again for your help!
Teo Dell'Amico
Assistant to Joel Surnow
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 Dear Mr Gilford:
I wonder if (through employing your immense resevoir of esoteric MAD
knowledge)
you can (could) help me?
I am an artist/educator...(actually a professor @ Virginia Commonwealth
University School of the Arts)... and I purchased the DVD of all of the MAD
magazines... but have been waging a nearly futile
search for one (particular) article that changed my life.... back in my New
York State 1950's & 60's
childhood.... It was (specifically) an article where within young children
were (supposedly) asked to draw what they wanted for Christmas that
year..... and then the MAD "artists" rendered the wanted gifts exactly as
they were drawn.... three-dimensionally....
Might you know... when.... and where that article was published in MAD?...
I've been wanting for thirty years to be able to show my students what has
been (forever) burned into
my minds retina... (all of these years).... (and I'm beginning to doubt my
own memory now)...
I would (more than) greatly appreciate any assistance that you might be
able to give me in my pursuit
of this (elusive) recollection.
 Thanks so very much,
Sincerely,
Jack
Jack,
That's one of my all time favorites. Look at your DVD again. If you can find Mad #76 January 1963, you'll be on your way to "If Kids Designed Their Own Christmas Toys."
Have fun showing the students.
Doug
Doug!
I went right to my DVD and
found it immediately...... When I printed out a copy of it from
the DVD the quality was a bit funky... so I went on to EBAY and
bought two copies cheaply... Those "original" issues have arrived,
and I've taken new digital images from them, that look great!!
I (kinda, sorta) remembered the article being longer.... and I may
even have added color in my memory of the images.... but what
in the end can you say about the mind (and memory) of an eight
year-old boy in the country of upstate NY... (Especially when you
take into account the forty-four (44!) years that elapsed since then).
Thank you so very much for sharing your expertise!
I'll be doing a presentation next month where I'll actually (finally)
be able to show.... what I saw on that cold January...
that (strangely) effected me so much.... and was indelibly burned
into my minds eye... Some little "joke" of an idea that embodied
(somehow)... the "magic" of an individual's vision... and the pure
subjectivity
of all experiences.
Thanks so much!
Jack
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Hello there,
I know this is a very long shot, but I'm looking for a single MAD page.
It is a graphic parody on dance instructions. The artist made fun of
dance instructions done by showing footprints.
The joke was that they use everyday activities (such as trying on new
shoes in the shoestore) and picture it using the footprints that would
result (if you step to and fro in the shoestore) and calling it a dance,
e.g. the Shoestore Shuffle. Or the footprints that would appear if two
persons try to pass each other in a narrow alley. Or... But you get the
idea. It did appear in a Mad Magazine and I would love to get my hands on it.
 The best I can narrow it down is that it was after 1977 and before 1994.
As I said, a very long shot...
Thanks anyhow for the attention
Erik
Kessel-Lo, Belgium
Erik,
It came from issue #315, December 1992,
from the article "Dance Steps We All Know." I've attached a panel.
Doug
Dear Doug,
This is what the internet was invented for! Thank you very, very much. I just hope I can help somebody else with a question just as efficiently as you did for me. Thank you again.
Yours is truly a labour of love.
The reason I asked for this is that long ago I used that page as an inspiration for an act on a birthday party (my mum's 60th actually, some 15 years ago. See recent pick of me and me mum)
The act is that I would tell people that dancing is easy, they just have to stylize everyday movements. So I perform a certain dance step and then repeat the movement explaining what it is about. Got a laugh out of it. I did the act once more at a wedding party, but that was all 15 years ago, and I really didn't remember a lot of it.
My mum asked me to incorporate the act in my poetry recital programme which I am to perform on a gig she organizes.
So you really helped me out.
Thanks and kudos,
Erik
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 |
HELLO DOUG,
Congratulations on your site. I've been a MAD fan since
the 80s. I'm an architect who loves to draw in my spare time. I hope this
punishment will be sacrifice enough to be rich and handsome in my next
life. But for now I'm not satisfied!
I decided to make my dream come true:
appear on a MAD cover and share my wildest thoughts with idiots like me
around the world.
See you Doug!
Alan
Alan,
This is a really excellent cover and a great idea. Maybe Mad can start a new trend and depict total unknowns on future covers. I don't think it will detract from current sales. You look far more interesting than Dane Cook.
Doug |
Doug,
Great website. You were able to provide me with info that I couldn't find at my local library!
I am looking for information regarding an article in Mad, and I believe it was "The Ten Commandments Revisited" from Mad #112, July 1967. I have not seen the article since I was a kid, but I believe that it has the caption "Thou shalt not kill" next to a photograph of a black man hanging from a tree. Does this sound familiar? I am doing research for a novel (about a kid growing up in the turbulent sixties) and would like to include a reference to this article, but I don't trust my own memory and my library doesn't archive old issues of Mad. (Shame on them.)
Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dan
Dan,
You were close. Mad's March 1967 issue #109 contained a two page article called "The Preamble Revisited."
The unfortunate image is included in that article.
Doug
--Reader Note:
I've struggled with whether to display the image on this page and have concluded that it's a little too strong for younger visitors. In the back of my little mind I believe the image of a black man hanging dead from a tree has value for everyone (including children) to see. It focuses attention on an ugly chapter in recent American history that we should never forget and will hopefully never see happen again. --Doug
Hi Doug,
Several years ago I wrote to you because I wanted to propose a new question for the Quiz Dept. of your site. The proposal I put forward on those days went something like this:
Spot a non trivial connection between Heineken (ecch!) and MAD Magazine
You then asked for the answer and I immediately dispatched it your way in the form of a scan. Thing was, this image was such a dull one that you requested that I sent you a neater copy of it. We lost track of each other ever since. Today, we must rejoice, though; the long-awaited evidence of this Heineken-MAD affair has finally made its way out of oblivion and lightness. Attached you'll find a higher quality scan of that elusive Don Martin strip… So please, take my riddle into account.
José
José,
That's a very rare ad from the 70's done by Martin (I'd still like a better, larger scan someday if you can swing it). Evidently, Heineken had a rather popular campaign going in the 70's with "Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach." So I wonder if Martin came up with the hair gag and the word "partings" or if it was a Heineken invention. Thanks for the scan.
Doug
Do you know if anybody has taken the time (and effort) to make a listing of the MAD issues that appeared in the sitcom "Murphy Brown" in the early 1990's? I remember the set had a bunch of framed MAD covers on her office wall.
John
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Who's the artist?
I hope you can shed some light on this mystery. I found a cardboard cylinder while cleaning out my grand parents' house. In it contained an impressive drawing... I don't know how my grandfather acquired this and he is dead now...
-- more
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I am doing research on this item and thought you might have some insight.
When I was younger and had my subscription to Mad, I ended up with this issue, #275 with the missing caption in the "your pet knows" section.
Now, I am trying to find out if it really worth anything (I don't believe the $80,000 suggested) But being a rare item it should be worth something. I have found out that only 253 were produced.
Any help would be appreciated.
Leo
Leo,
The majority of collectors will not add value to a run of issues with a printing error and certainly not $80,000. That being said, my standard answer to questions like these is that there is a collector out there for almost anything, and someone out there would pay more for this (but not $80,000).
Doug
Doug,
I'm looking for an ad in the July 1963 issue #80 which was a parody for Maytag Washing machines. I think it showed a bunch of moonshine hillbillies and said "my Mayjag is a working still". Back in the early 1960's Maytag used to run print ads showing a large dopey family with the mom saying that with after all these kids my Maytag is still working.
I was a big Mad Magazine fan during my elementary school years. I never saved them because I ended up giving them to my friends to read. We would put them in front of our 5th grade geography book and act like we were studying geography when we were reading Mad. We thought we were pretty smart back then. When we were caught the teacher would confiscate the magazine. I'll bet those elementary school teachers have some nearly priceless Mad magazine collections if they held on to them.
That is one ad I wished I had saved (yeah for 40 years) because for some reason the play on words is just plain poetry. I've never forgotten it. If you can by chance scan it in to your site I think the fans can see what geniuses these people were at Mad in the early 1960's.
Thanks,
Phillip
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Click for larger view
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Doug
In reference to Philip's request to identify the "a-workin still" ad parody:
In the UK this was the inside back cover of MAD #29, but since Maytag is not a UK brand it was switched to parody the Hoover company's 'Hoovermatic' - a best selling washing machine of the day. The line "After 33 years, our Boozermatic is a-workin' still" still causes belly laughs among afficionados.
Alan
Hi. I wonder if you could help me?
I am looking for a a sketch by Dave Berg or Al Jaffee from the Apollo era.
In the sketch you see a rocket on the way to the moon
with a balloon that says: "With all the modern technology who needs God?"
And you see a huge finger balancing the rocket on its way to the moon.
In what Mad book or magazine was it in?
David
Doug,
I enjoyed your site, and I have a question.
I used to work for a
company
called Franklin Life. For a time it was owned by American Brands,
which was
a tobacco company. I had heard that someone wrote a letter to Mad,
pointing
out the irony of a tobacco company owning a life insurance company.
I'd like to get a copy of the MAD with this letter, but I don't know
what
issue it is. It would have to be in the 1980's or late 1970's. Can
you
point me in the right direction?
John
Hello,
Great site!
I live in NYC and if you can believe it, finding MAD in the stores is becoming almost impossible here!
I totally missed the Hulk issues and I cannot get them anywhere; do you know of a resource that will enable me to get these issues?
I don't want to subscribe, as I'm afraid the Post Office will destroy the mags...
Tim
Hi Doug,
I'm looking for a certain picture on a vintage Mad
magazine back cover. It's a picture of Jesus
crucified on a syringe over a pile of heroin. I need this picture
for a treatment program study.
Jack
It's on the back cover of September 1971, issue #145.
Is it really Jesus?
hey, i'm stumped... when the mag first came out i seem to remember that
the guy chosen as the cover boy was an artist's rendering of a photo of
one of the kids of a seriously intermarried family of people known as
[and forgive the misspellings] 'the jukes and the callicacks'... and
that
his odd look came from the effects of cousins marrying cousins... can
you
help me find out more info... ie: more about the families and
such... have
tried google, but to no avail...
as eddie izzard says: "cousins marrying cousins -- bottom of the gene
pool"...
thanks, adale o'brien...
Hey,
I recently bought "Spy vs Spy: The Complete Casebook",
and noticed a huge mistake. On page 181, it reprints
the Spy installment from Mad #183 (June 1976), then on
the next page prints the exact same one, only claiming
it to be from Mad #184 (July 1976). The comic in
question has the black spy going up to a "Kill the
White Spy" arcade game and ends up getting knocked
upside the head.
Blake
I'm an avid MAD reader for some time now and I'll tell you what, that
little IND in between the "M" and the "A" in the word MAD is driving me
bonkers -- WHAT IS IT?
W.A. Gordon
That stands for "I Never Drink"
Actually, cover site viewer, Davey, says "The IND after M stands for Independent News Distribution. It is a company that owned part of Mad." It remains to be seen what part they owned. I'm guessing it was the part sent to the victim's family for ransom.
Doug
Hey Doug,
I'm from Australia, G'day. Great site! Reading the above, I just wanted to add, that the IND is something I've always wondered about, and I always thought that it stood for MindAD. In Australia, Minda is a term for intellectually handicapped, and after a while, the IND actually was dropped from the covers, possibly due to discrimination scares or something.
Sorry I can't be more precise!
Don
In the seventies, Alfred E. Neuman had a one line quote on the subject of abortion.
I want to make sure I remember it correctly? Can you help?
bfastabend
bfastabend,
That's going to be a little difficult. I need to do a database of Alfred one-liners. Short of going through issue by issue it doesn't pop into my mind at the moment, but I will post your question in the "Odd" section of my site where another friendly Mad fan might be able to help give us the answer.
Doug
Mr. Gilford,
I was wondering if you might be able to help me determine the value of an ink
reproduction of #103 printed on painter's canvas. The print size is 24"x36". The original
cover that we made the print from is in mint condition and contains the signatures of the
artists and staff from MAD in June of '66. It is owned be the son of the artist (Norman Mingo). Any help
that you might be able to provide would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.
Chris
chseals@bellsouth.net
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Hi Doug:
Saw you advertised in my copy of 'Maloney's'. I'm trying to locate
a copy of a 'Mad' magazine from the late 50's.
I was a young soldier being shipped out to Germany early 1959 (Jan. or Feb.) &
I had a copy of 'Mad' (I believe it was Mad) & one of the great stories was
a full page picture of 'Smoky' the Bear literally on fire & rushing at you in
a foam-flecked frenzy & full of rage. There was a huge forest fire to his
rear.
We had over 3000 young soldiers on our vessel & this magazine made the rounds
and so many of us would literally double up in convulsed laughter when seeing
'Smoky' having totally "lost it." He was not your friend at this moment.
Can you verify if this episode was actually in 'Mad' during that time?
If at
all possible, can I somehow find a copy, or at least, a copy of the picture?
This "magic of the moment" kept a lot of us human & "kids at heart."
Joe
jlscom2000@aol.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hi,
On your Odd Questions page, jlscom2000@aol.com describes a Smokey the
Bear
parody from 1959.
I'm also looking for that issue. The art that jlscom2000@aol.com
describes
is on the back cover (?I'm pretty sure?). And there is a tagline:
"Remember: Only Forest Fires Can Prevent Bears".
David
P.S. Thanks for the great site!
Doug:
Hello, I am writing to you because I liked
the amount of information you have on your site. So,
I am hoping that you may be able to give me some
advice. I have recently inherited an almost complete
collection of Mad Magazines dating from 1960 to 1996.
The collection also includes some specialty books and
annuals along with other related items.
My question is: if someone was to want to sell a
collection like this, where would they go to do it?
How could I go about finding out how much the
collection is worth?? I went to several Mad related
sites and found little if no information on the
subject. I remembered seeing details about you and
your site and decided to write. I almost placed an ad
on your site, but I still do not feel like I have
enough information to do that yet. I know that there
are a lot of desired issues, but would prefer to sell
as a whole.
Any information or direction you may be able to
offer would be more than just a great help to me.
Thank you for your time and trouble.
Sincerely,
Dawn
Dawn,
Thanks for writing. I've asked myself a lot of these same questions over
the years. I have a complete collection and would never think of
breaking it up for sale issue by issue. I suppose if I had a partial
collection I could let individual issues go more easily. I've always
hoped that my complete collection would be more marketable to a
potential collector. That's something you're going to have to decide.
The advantage of selling it as a whole is that you won't have to drag
out the process which could be very time consuming. You can get a
pretty good idea of the value by going to the price guide on my site
which gives information on how to grade and price by condition. A
professional appraiser will charge big bucks for a process you can go
through yourself.
Once you've gone through the process you'll have to decide how you want
to market the issues for sale. You can start with an ad on my site to
see what kind of feedback you get. You can phrase your ad: that you
have this group of issues for sale in such and such condition valued by
the Overstreet guide (which I use as a reference) and then ask for a
best offer. Since you'll know what the ideal value will be according to
the price guide you'll be able to see what you're willing to let them go
for. If that doesn't produce any results you could try Ebay with a
minimum dollar figure you're going for. Depending on where you live,
bigger cities have comic and collectible book stores that may be
interested in your collection, but you will get a fraction of their
value because those stores have to make a profit to stay alive.
So, to sum up, get an idea of what your issues are worth through my site
and try my site first to see what feedback is like, then try other
channels.
Good Luck,
Doug
Doug-
Hi, I really enjoy your MAD site. I have a somewhat odd request but thought you of all people may be able to help after seeing the
extent of your page.
I had several mid 70s issues from when I was a kid, was never much of a collector, but am interested in building a collection.
Here is the problem: In a recent move 1 box of various memorabilia was LOST.
I am going through what I have and using your site as reference.
I am looking for something in particular, here goes...
In the MID- LATE 70s there was a POEM in an issue about BOWLING.
It was a few page spread of different poems about fads etc.
The poem was about being a slob and bowling for exerecise.
I distinctly have a few lines memorized and had it memorized as a kid. It really made an impression on me.
The few lines I remember were:
"Come bowl with me dear, you really should.
The exercise will do you good."
and SOMETHING like this:
"We'll kill 12 cans of beer, 2 quarts of peach ice cream."
You get the idea.
Is there any way on Earth you could ID the issue this would be in and also a source for buying them?
I know this is a bizzare request, but hey, I think you understand!!
I hope you can help in any way.
I haven't said that poem in several years and tried to remember it recently, when I couldn't, I discovered the issue it was in was
LOST.
Any help is very much appreciated.
Jeff
Lazzaro9@aol.com
Dear Doug:
I hope you can help with this problem.
As a recent purchaser of the Totally Mad CD-ROM, I find that it is no longer possible to
register the software, either electronically or by mail--which means it's also impossible to unlock the free fonts that came with it. I found no mention of the fonts anywhere on your site. Do you have any idea how to gain access to those 36 designer fonts?
Sincerely,
Robert
Robert,
Unfortunately, I never took advantage of downloading the fonts. I'm not sure where to get them now.
Doug
Doug:
Actually, you didn't have to download the fonts. They're already on your computer... Inside the 'Msreg' folder (which is inside the 'Totally Mad' folder, which is inside the 'Broderbund' folder) are (I think) the font set. But they're 'locked.' When you registered the CD-ROM, you were supposed to have been mailed a code that 'unlocked' the fonts. So they're on your computer, but are unusable without the code. I realize they're just a bunch of furshlugginer fonts, but the fact that they're so near and yet so far slightly frustrates me. If you could bring up this "font problem" somewhere on your terrific site, that would be great!
Robert
Robert,
Have you tried contacting Broderbund directly at:
http://www.broderbund.com/welcome.asp ?
Obviously you'll see no link to Totally Mad but there are email links to somebody connected to the company. An
email with enough groveling might get their attention. Let me know.
Doug
Doug:
Well, I tried the Broderbund route to no avail. I sent two separate e-mails and got two responses (that appear to have been
automatically sent) that tell me to go through the registration process. I told them both times the channels to registration were no longer open, but they're not listening. I don't think a human is even looking at the e-mails. I know you made an offer to ask fans
about the fonts over your site, but if this proves to be too much of a problem for you, I'll completely understand.
MAD-ly yours,
Robert
A couple weeks later...
Doug :
Hi. It's me again. The MAD font mystery is over. Someone named MB on alt.humor.mad-magazine posted the answer to
getting the set. Here's his post :
Look for the file MSREGUSR.INI in C:\Windows (if you don't find a file with
that name, create it).
Double-click on the file to edit it. Add the following 3 lines to it:
[Totally MAD]
RegistrationCode=Modem
Registered=1
If there is already a [Totally Mad] entry in the file, replace it with the
above lines.
Save the changes. Your copy of Totally Mad is now registered.
To get the free fonts:
Click on the Start button, select Programs, Broderbund, Totally MAD, Free
Fonts!
All the best,
Robert
Hi:
I used to have the Mad Parody published in the 1972(?) National Lampoon's "Back to School Issue".
I gave it to the Salvation Army in White Plains New York in 1982. The Parody shows Alfred E. on the cover with
a frown saying "what me funny?". The Mad Fold-in showed all the classic art from Mad's early days (Wall Wood,
Bill Elder...etc.) and folds in to say how every issue is so predictable like the last.
Unfortunately the reason I remembered this parody was sparked by the passing of Dave Berg. They had a Berg
parody called "The lighter side of death" which depicted Roger Kaputnick insisting that they sing the telegram of
his mother's death notice.
I tried to e-mail National Lampoon dot com to see if the scanner bitch would publish it, but I guess they only like
to publish the most obscene comedy routines and skip things like the MAD Parody. Maybe in the spirit of
NatLamp poor taste they would do it for the Dave Berg parody... who knows?
Have you ever come accross this issue. I think the internet world would like to see it along side the missing
"Totally Mad" articles, but there might be a copyright problem with this. (Kinda like when I suggested that
Gemstone Publishers have a CD Rom of the Horror comics... they laughed at this too)
If you know which issue of NatLampoon to get this, please let me know.
By the way...
I truely enjoy your web site. It is very informative and entertaining.
I can be reached at artman561@msn.com if you would like to respond.
Thanks...
Art
Thanks to Chris for this bit of information:
"The issue of National Lampoon that had the Mad magazine spoof was in October 1971."
Kip notes:
"The question from 'Art' about 'The Lighter Side of Death' mistakenly
states that the piece was in National Lampoon's MAD Parody. It actually
comes from MAD itself, and was drawn by Berg as part of "Some MAD
Articles You Never Got To see" (#120, Jul 68), by Frank Jacobs, with
art
by just about all the regulars. It also has the 'Not so fast there,
Kaputnik!' joke."
I recently acquired two 12"x16" pencil drawing that I thing were drawn by
Norman Mingo. One of the drawings is the image on the cover of Mad #160.
The other drawing is of a beautiful woman wearing a V-cut dress with a
necklace around her neck. The necklace is the face of Alfred. Do you know
if this drawing was used in
a Mad magazine, and if so which one?
Both drawings are signed "N M"
Do you know if this is the way Norman Mingo
would of signed sketches such as these? Your help would be appreciated!!
Georg
Thanks to Steve Carpenter for the following input on this matter:
"Everything I've ever seen by Mingo was
signed "Norman Mingo". But who knows if he just initialed his sketches.
As far as the cover with the woman in the v-necked dress w/ the AEN necklace... that's from the MAD paperback 'A MAD Treasure Chest' by
Warner copyright 1978."
And thanks to Richie Landivar for some additional input:
"Mingo did not sign or
initial all the art he did. He did not sign a lot of his paperback
covers. In
fact there is an unsigned original paperback cover done by Mingo
hanging in
the Mad offices. I also have Mingo roughs that are unsigned. So
although he signed all his magazine cover art, he did not neccesarily
sign
everything he did.
Just my two cents."
I am looking for another MAD collector who might be interested in
trading digital files made of early MAD Magazine. I am using Adobe
Illustrator on the MAC at 600 dpi bitmapped for the B& White pages 400
dpi for RGB the color covers. I am also using Illustrator to restore the
Magazine to as pristine as possible. I have just finished #36 and #33,
and intend on doing numbers 32,34,35. Since it is time consuming process
I am looking another individual who would interested in trading digital
copies at the same resolution for issues either earlier or after the
above numbers. I do wish to concentrate on the issues for the fifties
and early sixties as I feel they were the best to preserve for the
future. Also the
issues used up about 139 megs of disc space, so having other interested
individuals would be helpful.I can only parallel I can think of are the
book people in Fahrenheit 451 who committed books to memory.
I can be e-mailed at landisdesign@earthlink.net.
Sincerely,
Steve
Yo' Doug. I just looked at your website and it was interesting. I wanted
to know if you can add your Super Specials to the list.
Here you go: MAD SPECIAL COVERS!
In overstreet price guide
it lists mad #2 saying it has a dick tracy cameo and i can't find
it. Maybe i'm blind, who knows?
Can you help me find it?
Thanx
Bill
Thanks to Mad-fan Steve Carpenter for FINALLY answering this question!
"It's on page 2, panel 5. A very small line drawing by Jack Davis. No dialogue, no body, no color. It's part of the background in the baseball stands scene."
Hello,
I have acquired a couple of posters and postcards with the famous "What,
me worry?" picture on them. The unusual thing is that these are
definitely from 1939-1940 and are related to the 3rd term election of
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Could you give me any info on these items?
Thank you,
Jim
Melissa emailed in a good answer:
"Alfred E. Neuman descends from caricatures of the Irish called Paddy and Bridget. Mad just put a new name onto an existing character. The cards are anti-Roosevelt, btw. I guess the joke is only a dope would be pro-FDR.
Where did I learn this fact? Cracked. Oh teh ironie. :)
Here is a link to the article (AEN is #4).
Source: http://www.cracked.com/article_19119_7-memes-that-went-viral-before-internet-existed.html#ixzz3Fx6rV6Ux
Cracked links to a few other sites in the piece. Here is one of them:
http://artoftheprank.com/2008/01/22/alfred-we-hardly-knew-thee/"
I have a question and am very confused on the MAD books that I have. I was
going through an old box of stuff and came across a bunch of books from MAD
that my brother owned many years ago. They are not the magazines but
soft-back books that are a 4 X 7 size. These are not listed on your
website and I am not sure what category they fall in. I am interested in getting
rid of them but am not sure how to classify them. Can you please help me in this
delimma? Thanks!
Jennifer
Jennifer,
I'm afraid you're on your own on this one. They're very hard to classify
since
no price guide exists that I know of. You could always write up an ad and
put
it on my site and see if anybody's interested.
Doug
Hi,
I am a student from Germany. I did my practical semester in the USA from
September 1997 to March 1998. I got my fist Mad Magazine three months
ago. It is the best magazine I ever read. I was really surprised how
good it is.
Therefore I decided to buy all the further issues of Mad but I couldn't
find it here in Germany in the English language and the German Mad
Magazines aren't that good.
Do you know a supplier, book store or whatever who may offer the Mad
Magazine to foreign countries?
It would be great if you can help me.
Thank you very much.
Take care,
Martin
Martin,
Thanks for writing. I don't know
of a source for overseas distribution of Mad magazine, but I would be happy to
post your question in my site to generate some possible answers for you.
Doug Gilford
Greetings from Mexico,
I always wanted to write you but I never had your address.
I have been reading your magazine since 1977.
Sorry for my English, all that I know I learned from your magazine.
P.S. I can`t make jokes in a foreign language, sorry.
Francisco
Dear Francisco,
Thank you for writing. You may have confused my site (The Mad Cover
Site) for a site Mad Magazine would have put out itself. I am a fan of the magazine just like you
and have put together a site not connected with the magazine
whatsoever. I am going to post your letter so that if anyone from Mad
reads it, they'll know the damage they've done is not restricted to the
USA.
Doug
I'm a german MAD-reader and I like your page with all of the covers.
Cool
idea.
I hope to contact with this way some german-MAD-Fans.
The german
MAD died with No. 300 :-(((.
Now I have a subscription of the american MAD.
Bye, Torsten (latussek@usa.net)
This is to all you collectors out there....
I'm looking for a copy of an issue of MAD magazine from the late 60's. I
have no idea of the issue, but there was a full page ad (spoof?) of
Braniff Airlines titled "If you got it, Flaunt it". It depicted a little
old granny type lady driving off with a jet plane in tow. Can anyone out
there identify the issue or perhaps tell me where I can get one?
Thanks!
-Rudy
I don't know if Mad did that...
Doug
Hey Doug this is Chris and I have a question. I just ordered a few mads
from the 90's issues (303-313) and in between issues the cover price
goes up to 2.25 and then the next issue goes back down to 1.75. This
happens a couple of times throughout 309-313. Do you know why? or have
you noticed this too? This is the first time I have seen anything like
this in mad history.
Chris
Mad works in mysterious ways...
Doug
Can you help me? I'm trying to find out what issue of MAD had the centerfold that was a takeoff of the Beatles (it was a poster) and one of the characters was picking his nose.
A friend told me he thought it was an issue from 1968. Thanks
Gary
I think that might have been a Don Martin poster out of one of the specials from the 70s.
Doug
Hello-for an algebra assignement i have to answer many misc. questions
which
can be answered with a number and in the end put a number into a large
equation. my question for you is...do you happen to know the value, in
dollars, of the largest bill in the Mad Magazine game? thank you very
much.
~Amanda
Thanks to Eric Amstutz for the answer: "$1,329,063.00"
Send me a subscription of Mad
Sumo494598
One year, two year, or lifetime?
Doug
Hi there --
A friend has asked me to track down an issue of MAD (from the 1960's,
maybe?) that contains a "hockey primer." She wants to buy it for
someone as a birthday present, but has no idea where to start finding
out which issue. (Me neither, and I probably even own the thing!) Can
you help?
Anxiously awaiting....
Howard
Howard,
It's issue #125.
All the best...
Doug
I just came across some Mad paperbacks and wanted to get some idea of
their "value" or sites you might recommend where I might look. The
books are as follows: The Mad Brothers (1955), Mad Strikes Back (1955)
and The Bedside Mad (1959).
By the way, I would like to add my modest praise of your excellent site
to your growing list. What a great way to keep up on the latest news
in the Mad world. Thanks and regards,
J. Cone
Paperbacks are tricky to price because I don't know of a definitive guide like Overstreet for paperbacks.
Doug
Dear somebody,
Is the issue #355 with the name "Maad" worth anything? Is it an error?
Hoot
It's not an error and it's not worth anything. Give it about 20 years.
Sincerely,
Somebody
Does folding a fold-in make a mad in bad condition?
Explain.
-SavagePig
Every collector has a different opinion about this. You get some who
follow the Overstreet guide literally and say that it does degrade the
quality. You get others who understand that it's hard to find a Mad
that hasn't had the backcover folded and they're willing to overlook
it. So it depends on the attitude of the buyer.
|
Sorry to bother you with this, but you appear to be the prime source on MAD-related information on the internet
(you like to hear that, don't you? ;-). I'm working on a little website about an article that was published in the German Mad #176, which must have been sold during the Christmas season of 1983. The article was written by Tom Koch and drawn by Jack Davis and was about a fictional board game. And that's were my problems start. In German it was entitled "Das dreikantige Schnurzelspiel". Since "Schnurzelspiel" makes no sense in German, I guess that the original name of the game does not make any sense either. So I don't know where to look for it on your splendid website, but I'd really like to know the English title of the article as well as when it was published. The problem with German (1967-1995-era) is that the editor, Herbert Feuerstein, tended to use the American MAD-issues as a pool of material rather than to simply translate them into the German Language, so the article I'm looking for might actually date much earlier than 1983.
Many thanks in advance and keep up the good work!
Back when I was in seventh grade, I guess I must have been 13 or 14, I sent a big envelope stuffed with cartoons to Mad Magazine 
A friend of mine and I wrote them and I drew them, since at the time my style was a blatant rip-off of Sergio Aragones. In fact our pitch was that Mad Magazine was more than welcome to utilize our brilliant, lethally funny cartoons in any way they would 
like, but that they were specifically tooled to be used by Mr. Aragones himself. Visions of fame and fortune danced in our hollow little heads. We were headed for the big time, no doubt about it.
Apparently they needed the large envelope to contain all of the cash and accolades the MAD editorial department had showered upon us. On opening the package, however, I found all of my original cartoons and a personal letter on MAD stationery from Nick Meglin, complete with Alfred E. Neuman watermark. I wish I still had it but it's long gone...but I can paraphrase:
