Mad Magazine - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Mad Magazine

The Coronavirus crisis is nothing like anything in my memory over 70+ years. So for a change of pace, let’s get some inspiration from Mad Magazine’s main character, Alfred E. Newman and his famous quote, “What — me worry?” At the time, the Mad editors wanted a face that didn't have a care in the world, except mischief. They didn’t want him to necessarily look like an idiot, rather a lovable character with an intelligence behind his eyes and a devil-may-care attitude, someone who can maintain a sense of humor while the world is collapsing around him.

The magazine started in 1952 lampooning among many other topics, the Cold War with Soviet Russia. Mad’s cover would typically show Alfred dressed as someone from the headlines and have an article lampooning the matter, like the flower child and Uncle Sam depictions on these two covers from the 1960’s.

Beyond the cover, my favorite part of Mad Magazine was the Spy vs Spy cartoon, satirizing the Cold War’s CIA and KGB operatives.

Here are some of my favorites. Just like spies, the cartoons never spoke a word, connotated as pantomime comedy to keep a spy-like hush hush! Note the morse code byline above. It spells out the originator's byline, J Y Prohias. Here are a couple favorites.

Mad had other cartoons such as those by Don Martin. His trademark was the visual sound effects as shown on this collage:

Here are a few Don Martin favorites:

Here are some more entertaining Mad covers from the past:

Mad Magazine stopped publishing new content last year, but is re-purposing old issues with new covers - not the same. Needless to say, they are having a field day with the current political scene.

Hope this bit of nonsense gets your mind off the virus. Stay healthy Fish Report readers.

PS: On a side note, following up on last week’s blog about claiming the Dayton Flyers win over North Carolina in the 1967 NCAA basketball tournament was their biggest win in history, a reader sent me this link reminding me of the 2014 Flyer upset of Ohio State during March Madness. A memorable win for sure, but no dice!

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