# RIP Frank Jacobs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553 "2021-04-07T15:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/1 "2021-04-07T15:10:35Z")
Frank Jacobs, longtime writer for Mad magazine, has passed away at 92. He was the one who wrote most of the song and poem parodies. > **[Remembering Frank Jacobs, the ‘poet lauridiot’ of Mad magazine who inspired...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/04/07/frank-jacobs-mad-magazine/)** > > A Mad master of verse for six decades, Jacobs created beloved parodies such as “East Side Story” and “Flawrence of Arabia” — and helped spark a landmark copyright-law case. > **[Longtime Mad Writer Frank Jacobs Passes Away At 92](https://www.cbr.com/mad-writer-frank-jacobs-obituary/)** > > Frank Jacobs, one of the most prolific writers in the history of Mad Magazine, passed away at the age of 92 ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/2 "2021-04-07T15:18:43Z")
Drat! He taught me how to do parody songs. (Not personally, but by reading his stuff.) ---
**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:** [April 7, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/3 "2021-04-07T15:45:12Z")
Another MadMan down. Sorry to see – I loved his stuff – but they’re all getting on. Al Jaffee is a century old now. I just read his amazing semi-autobiography (which he illustrated). ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/4 "2021-04-07T17:36:10Z")
To the tune of “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” ## 🎶 > When your life is - full of trouble. > And you hate your wife! > Just flip on the switch of a second-hand 'droid. > And you’ll have a friend… For Life!!! From “The Force and I”, The Mad Star Wars musical. (Mad, September 1978) RIP funny man. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/5 "2021-04-07T17:46:12Z")
Note that Jacobs was an important figure in copyright law. He was sued by ASCAP for his song parodies, but MAD won the case, the judge saying that you can’t copyright a rhyme pattern. It allows anyone to write parody lyrics without paying royalties (as long as they’re not being sung). He was one of the sterling members of the Usual Gang of Idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/6 "2021-04-07T17:59:06Z")
His version of the remake of “Lost Horizon”(the musical remake) was stupendous. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/7 "2021-04-07T18:10:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > His version of the remake of “Lost Horizon”(the musical remake) was stupendous. > [@](#): > > The world is a rhombus > Without a circumference > And nobody knows what this simile means > But Bacharach and David are making a fortune… Quoted from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/8 "2021-04-07T18:11:22Z")
Almost funnier than the original version. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-frank-jacobs/939553/9 "2021-04-07T18:33:55Z")
He also did some charming non-parody work in a more Ogden-Nash-ian vein: > Bats when flying undismayed are; > Bats are careful; bats use radar; > Bats at nighttime at their best are; > Bats by Batman unimpressed are!