# Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717 "2011-03-23T14:00:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/1 "2011-03-23T14:00:51Z")
I remember hearing at some point that he was not an original creation from the Mad people, but didn’t realize the image went back decades earlier, [if the wiki is accurate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman) Or maybe it’s a case of convergent evolution. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/2 "2011-03-23T14:03:35Z")
That’s what I’d always heard / read, as well…that the image had been used in advertising long before Mad adopted it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/3 "2011-03-23T14:24:03Z")
Mad certainly admits it. A couple of books on the history of Mad include many examples of that characteristic face showing how far back it goes. Originally the character wasn’t called “Alfred E. Neuman” – that started when they became a glossy-covered magazine. It seems likely that at first they thought of him as the “Melvin Cowznofski” character they referred to many times (even arguably on the cover of the very first issue). ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/4 "2011-03-23T15:05:25Z")
It goes back not just decades, but over a century. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/5 "2011-03-23T15:42:29Z")
Mad was sued by someone claiming that her father had copyrighted the image. They won the suit by showing the image was common even before her father used it. Fun fact: the name “Alfred E. Neuman” came from film composer Alfred Newman, who was Randy Newman’s uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/6 "2011-03-23T15:58:32Z")
And to bring things full circle, I was doing a little cleanup on a 1942 short titled “Winning Your Wings,” which I noticed was scored by Alfred Newman, and prompted me to look up the more familiar AEN article. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/7 "2011-03-23T19:06:15Z")
From a Mad parody of an artsy-fartsy, symbolism-laden movie: “I love symbols! They make things seem so intellectual.” “That’s right! Look what Alfred E. Neuman has done for Mad!” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/8 "2011-03-24T03:52:28Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/9 "2011-03-26T15:21:31Z")
Anyone else think Scott McCreary from American Idol is the spitting image? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/10 "2011-03-26T17:05:35Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Anyone else think Scott McCreary from American Idol is the spitting image? I opened this thread to say just that. Dead on. Poor guy. You’ve got to have a great voice to overcome a face that was a joke for decades before you were even born. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/11 "2011-03-26T21:39:45Z")
I used to own a book called _The Mad World of William Gaines_, which had an entire chapter devoted to Alfred E. Neuman and the lawsuits over the image. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/12 "2011-03-26T22:25:54Z")
I think that question is touched on in [William Gaines’s “To Tell the Truth” appearance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSoxQNJjkFs), but if I misremember, it is still worth watching for MAD fans. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/13 "2011-03-26T23:56:54Z")
I think Hagrid’s half brother, Grawp in one of the Harry Potter films is a dead ringer for Alfred E Neuman, too–or at least close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-magazines-alfred-e-neuman/575717/14 "2011-03-27T11:56:50Z")
One early Mad had a letter comparing Alfred E.'s ears with that of the then-young Prince Charles. A month later, Mad received a letter, on written on Buckingham Palace note paper, denying it, & signed with the Prince’s initials.