Friday, June 17, 2011

Mad Magazine - A Semi-Secret History


Life Magazine has a great gallery and brief history of the magazine, here.

From the introduction...

MAD magazine has been called revolutionary, subversive, surreal, hilarious, and a total waste of time. (The latter by its own editors). That a single publication could fill all of those roles for millions of readers, and thrive, across six decades says a lot about both the human appetite for satire and the unique vision of MAD's founder, William Gaines. Here, on the occasion of MAD launching its first-ever blog, Theidiotical.com, MAD's editor for the past 25 years, John Ficarra, shares some personal photographs of -- and lively stories about -- Bill Gaines; the magazine's happily chaotic early years; and the writers and illustrators (a.k.a, "the usual gang of idiots") who have kept MAD relevant and irreverent since the days when Harry Truman was president. Above: Two counter-cultural touchstones, Jimi Hendrix and MAD, circa 1968.

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