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is dedicated to the enjoyment of audio and visual stimuli. Please visit our archives where we have uncovered the true importance of nearly everything. Should you want to reach us, e-mail alex dot carnevale at gmail dot com, but don't tell the spam robots. Consider contacting us if you wish to use This Recording in your classroom or club setting. We have given several talks at local Rotarys that we feel went really well.

Pretty used to being with Gwyneth

Regrets that her mother did not smoke

Frank in all directions

Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais

Simply cannot go back to them

Roll your eyes at Samuel Beckett

John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion

Metaphors with eyes

Life of Mary MacLane

Circle what it is you want

Not really talking about women, just Diane

Felicity's disguise

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Tuesday
Aug052008

In Which Mad Men Created The Mad World Of Mad Magazine

Subterranean Homesick Jews

by Molly Lambert

To see these gorgeous parody ads from the late fifties/early sixties back covers and inside front pages of Mad Magazine in their full spendor, and be able to read the hilarious fine print, visit this excellent flickr set.

Hey Gang! Let's Play 43 Man Squamish!

New terminology is introduced with no explanation; much of the humor derives from the reader's half-successful attempts at gleaning a meaning from context. Exactly what everyone on the team is supposed to do, exactly what penalties apply and exactly when or why the yellow danger flag is to be flown remains far from clear, even after repeated readings.

From Wiki's entry on Mad Magazine:

Though there are antecedents to Mad’s style of humor in print, radio and film, the overall package was a unique one that stood out in a staid era. Throughout the 1950s, Mad featured groundbreaking parodies combining a sentimental fondness for the familiar staples of American culture, such as Archie and Superman, with a keen joy in exposing the fakery behind the image.

This Cadillac one reminds me of Joan Holloway

Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding on the radio, Ernie Kovacs on television, Stan Freberg on records, Harvey Kurtzman in the early issues of Mad: all of those pioneering humorists and many others realized that the real world mattered less to people than the sea of sounds and images that the ever more powerful mass media were pumping into American lives. - Dave Kehr

Tony Hiss and Jeff Lewis wrote about the then-25-year-old publication's initial impact:

It was magical, objective proof to kids that they weren't alone, that in New York City on Lafayette Street, if nowhere else, there were people who knew that there was something wrong, phony and funny about a world of bomb shelters, brinkmanship and toothpaste smiles.

Mad's consciousness of itself, as trash, as comic book, as enemy of parents and teachers, even as money-making enterprise, thrilled kids. In 1955, such consciousness was possibly nowhere else to be found.

Mad is often credited with filling a vital gap in political satire in the 1950s to 1970s, when Cold War paranoia and a general culture of censorship prevailed in the United States, especially in literature for teens. The rise of factors such as cable television and the Internet have diminished the influence and impact of Mad, although it remains a widely distributed magazine.

In a way, Mad's power has been undone by its own success; what was subversive in the 1950s and 1960s is now commonplace. However, its impact on three generations of humorists is incalculable, as can be seen in the frequent references to Mad on The Simpsons.

There's more time for fun when this one line of copy takes 10 seconds to write for the Polaroid Land Camera ad campaign!

Mad was long noted for its absence of advertising, enabling it to skewer the excesses of a materialist culture without fear of advertiser reprisal. For decades, it was by far the most successful American magazine to publish ad-free, beginning with issue #33 (April 1957).

Pulitzer Prize-winning art comics maven Art Spiegelman said, "The message Mad had in general is, 'The media is lying to you, and we are part of the media.' It was basically 'Think for yourselves, kids.'"

.

Patti Smith said, "After Mad, drugs were nothing."

William Gaines offered his own view: when asked to cite Mad's philosophy, his boisterous answer was, "We must never stop reminding the reader what little value they get for their money!"

Spy Vs. Spy was invented (in 1961) by a Cuban National

HELP! Magazine

Trump Magazine

Humbug Magazine

We will refrain from commenting on MAD TV.

The great Daniel Pinkwater wrote an essay, collected in Fish Whistle about his first experience with Mad Magazine.

Arnie Kogen wrote for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. His son Jay Kogen wrote some of the best early Simpsons episodes, including the original Treehouse of Horror with partner Wallace Wolodarsky, who was the inspiration for Otto The Bus Driver.

The original Simpsons lunchlady; Doris Grau, was a gravel-voiced character actress in the spirit of Selma Diamond.

The Usual Gang Of Idiots:

Bill Gaines

Tom Koch

Will Elder

Al Feldstein

Don Martin

Will Eisner

Wally Wood

Basil Wolverton

George Woodbridge

Al Jaffee

Harvey Kurtzman

Bernard Krigstein pioneered the artistic use of comic book panels as a temporal dimension.

Russ Heath

Jerry DeFuchio

Mort Drucker

Jack Davis

Jack Rickard

Bob Clarke is Cutty Sark

Norman Mingo is Alfred E. Neuman

Joe Orlando is Sea Monkeys

Songs In A Jugular Vein:

Crazy - Lil' Wayne: (mp3)

Crazy Rhythms (live) - The Feelies: (mp3)

Crazy You - Prince: (mp3)

Crazy 'Bout You - Christine (McVie) Perfect: (mp3)

Crazy Blues - Angel'In Heavy Syrup: (mp3)

Baby Drives Me Crazy - Thin Lizzy: (mp3)

Beat Crazy - Joe Jackson: (mp3)

Molly Lambert is the managing editor of This Recording

PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING

Will Hubbard Is TR's Pin-Up Boy For Poetry

Will's Fancy Foreign Netflix Queue

The Cat's Just Fine He Never Left

Missed Connections And Faceblindness

THIS RECORDING IS POTRZEBIE

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Reader Comments (5)

vintage advertising is so hot right now.

August 6, 2008 | Unregistered Commentermike

My Latin teacher in high school, George Woodbridge, was the son of another George Woodbridge, the one who illustrated the 43-Man Squamish article. NEAT-O!

August 9, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterNick

[...] You have got to be kidding me. [...]

[...] Mad Men At Mad Magazine [...]

I love all the old parodies still! I am looking for one that copies Admiral TV for 1959, originally read "Nobody touches her new Admiral!" (it's wireless remote controlled). It became something like "Nobody puts their cotton pickers on her new Admiral" etc. The woman holding the control was Alfred E. Newman in drag, the picture on the set was Donald Duck, playing a saxophone.

November 30, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAlan H.

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