MAD Memories and Useless Wisdom

Mad Magazine was porn for ten-year olds given the way that Mort Drucker drew women, as in these examples:

Free Huey, Dewey, and Louie!

Damn, those magazines and books twisted my mind from about 1964 until 1972 (when I discovered National Lampoon and girls).

I recall one article after Star Wars came out that had the characters in real world jobs. The one I remember best is Darth Vader in advertising. From memory it went something like this:
Darth Vader: “So, Mrs Smith, which do you think tastes best? Product A or Product B?”

Lady: “Actually, I think I prefer-”

*<Vader makes a strangling motion> *

Lady: “Product AAACHGAGHACCCHB, definitely Product B!”

Darth: "Very good, Mrs Smith."

Oh, yes, that takes me back. Pre-Internet porn for early adolescence is right.

I liked stumbling on very early MADs with art by Will Elder.

You ain’t whistling Dixie.

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Potrzebie!

I read Mad a lot when I was younger, and still have some of those old magazines somewhere. I may still have the infamous “finger” cover; I do remember buying that one.

I’ll admit, I do make a point of buying the annual “20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things” issue. It’s a fun look back at the previous year–this year’s “Abysmal House,” in the style of the classic Animal House poster, is a treat!

MORT DRUCKER?! You ain’t seen sexy art until you’ve seen Wally Wood’s! “Flesh Garden!”, for example.

Manduck the Magician

I remember one place in an early MAD paperback where Manduck turned Loathar into a woman! I’d like to learn that trick myself… :smiley:

“The usual gang of idiots!”

I think about 75 percent of my sense of humor comes from that magazine.

A few years back I bought the “Totally MAD!” archive of Mad Magazines on CD-ROM, and was surprised to realize how few of the magazines I actually had. I read the fuck out of them though, over and over.

Billy Spafon: “SHAZOOM!*”

    • Strength, Health, Aptitude, Zeal, Ox, Power of, Ox, Power of another, Money

And he becomes Captain Marbles!

Intelligo!

My mother was a heavy smoker, and my younger brother and I both hated it.
In 1971 MAD printed the “Non-Smoker’s Hate Book,” a series of illustrations with captions that began with “Don’t you hate smokers who…?”

My brother and I would reference this article often over the years whenever Mom displayed any of the hated behaviors.

Don’t you hate smokers who flick their ashes out the car window when you’re sitting in the back seat?
Don’t you hate smokers who leave their cigarettes to burn out in ashtrays, causing the nearest thing to a tear gas attack?

From “The MAD Troubleshooting Guide”:

North American Veeblefetzer?

They have eliminated the decorative fins from this year’s model. Unfortunately they again neglected to tell us what it does.

And how about “Arthur” plants?

Another Star Wars one that I still remember (and found on the webs!) predicts the Star Wars prequel/sequel mess with eerie accuracy :slight_smile:

And I do everything with my pinkies out, the Don Martin way!

Loved MAD so much, I read Cracked too, just because it aspired to be MAD.

I can still remember a lot of the lyrics to “The MAD Star Wars Musical”, 30+ years later.

As Luke flies towards the Death Star (to the tune of “We’re Off To See the Wizard”):