Remembering MAD Magazine as it Plans its Final Issue

There is no joy in MADville today. The editors of MAD Magazine have announced that they will cease publication of new material after its next issue. The magazine will no longer be available on newsstands and will only be sold to subscribers.

As Hannah Brown wrote in The Jerusalem Post last week,

Aficionados of Jewish humor will particularly miss the publication, which had an outsider’s irreverent point of view that reflected a particularly Jewish kind of humor, which was not surprising in light of the fact that its founder, William M. Gaines ( the family name was originally Ginzberg), and many of its contributors were Jewish. It has influenced generations of Jewish comic artists, comedians and writers, notably Art Spiegelman, the author of the graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus, who called it his “Talmud.”

Harvey Kurtzman, considered by many to be one of the great geniuses of the comics, started the publication with Gaines, and wrote many of the magazine’s original stories, until he and Gaines had a falling out in 1956.

Will Elder, one of Mad’s first and most iconic comic artists, was born in the Bronx as Wolf Eisenberg, and was called “Meshugganah Villy” by his family.

MAD was known for its irreverent humor and for taking aim at politicians, celebrities and prominent communal figures, including rabbis. 

In February 1955 its cover was identical to the cover of composition books, allowing a generation of high school students to read the issue in class while their clueless teachers thought they were busy with their classroom assignments. 

In this video clip, CBS News summarized the effect that MAD magazine has had on American culture.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.