BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...

Subject: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 10:15 AM

What, me worry???

I'm watching a segment on CBS this morning and didn't realize that Mad was 60 years old... But it is???

I still have a box full of old Mad magazines somewhere and even though I am no longer a regular reader I own 2 vintage Alfred E. Newman collectible pieces... One is a statue that is about 14 inches tall and the other is an unopened Alfred E. Newman doll from the early 60s...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 11:16 AM

Yeah, 'tis. Happy Birthday, Alfie. We once named a mountain lion after you.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 01:26 PM

And many happy returns of the day!

It seems like only yesterday that I first saw your beamish boyish face gracing the cover of Mad magazine.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 02:07 PM

I was a steady reader from 1959 through, oh, maybe 1963 or 1964. Tom used to have some very early issues, but sold them years ago. I have a number of the Mad paperback books, mostly acquired at yardsales over the years.

Too bad Alfred E. Newman never got together with Mother Trask...

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 04:41 PM

Sklit!

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: GUEST,Ebor_Fiddler
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 06:26 PM

Happy birthday big A! (What, me worry?)

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: bobad
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 06:34 PM

Interesting stuff on Wikipedia on the genesis and cultural impact of Alfred E.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 06:43 PM

And I bet he's STILL not worried! What a cultural icon!

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 09:02 PM

Alfred was part of my childhood.... I never realized I should save copies for resale in 50 years....I have a few, but nothing special....*sigh*

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 09:09 PM

I'm not sure where mine are... I think I gave them to my son and I have about 10 boxes marked "Ben" which were packed way back in Wes Ginny and never opened... I bet they are in there... He was a Mad kid...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 09:56 PM

I'm not sure how CBS is counting these 60 years, if the first appearance in Mad magazine was in 1954.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...NOT QUITE
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 09:57 PM

While it is true that Mad (Comics) Magazine turns 60 this year, AEN did not show up until a couple of years later, and didn't become the face (oy what a punnim!) of the magazine for a couple of years more. He is therefore more like 56 or 57. Except that he is, perhaps, a young adult when he first appears, so maybe he's more like 79 or 80. OK, maybe 60 works, and I don't give a darn. (He's our shotstop.).

I remember that in the early sixties there was a kid actor (mostly TV westerns) who looked like the model for AEN. Of course, he wasn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 09:57 PM

Guaranteed Effective All-Occasion Non-Slanderous Political Smear Speech

By Bill Garvin

MAD MAGAZINE #139, December 1970



My fellow citizens, it is an honor and a pleasure to be here today. My opponent has openly admitted he feels an affinity toward your city, but I happen to like this area. It might be a salubrious place to him, but to me it is one of the nation's most delightful garden spots.

When I embarked upon this political campaign I hoped that it could be conducted on a high level and that my opponent would be willing to stick to the issues. Unfortunately, he has decided to be tractable instead -- to indulge in unequivocal language, to eschew the use of outright lies in his speeches, and even to make repeated veracious statements about me.

At first, I tried to ignore these scrupulous, unvarnished fidelities. Now I do so no longer. If my opponent wants a fight, he's going to get one!


It might be instructive to start with his background. My friends, have you ever accidentally dislodged a rock on the ground and seen what was underneath ? Well, exploring my opponent's background is dissimilar. All the slime and filth and corruption you could possibly imagine, even in your wildest dreams, are glaringly nonexistent in this man's life. And even during his childhood!

Let us take a very quick look at that childhood: It is a known fact that, on a number of occasions, he emulated older boys at a certain playground. It is also known that his parents not only permitted him to masticate excessively in their presence, but even urged him to do so. Most explicable of all, this man who poses as a paragon of virtue exacerbated his own sister while they were both teenagers!

I ask you, my fellow Americans: is this the kind of person we want in public office to set an example for our youth ? Of course, it's not surprising that he should have such a typically pristine background -- no, not when you consider the other members of his family:

* His female relatives put on a constant pose of purity and innocence, and claim they are inscrutable, yet every one of them has taken part in hortatory activities * The men in the family are likewise completely amenable to moral suasion * My opponent's second cousin is a Mormon * His uncle was a flagrant heterosexual * His sister, who has always been obsessed by sects, once worked as a proselyte outside a church * His father was secretly chagrined at least a dozen times by matters of a pecuniary nature * His youngest brother wrote an essay extolling the virtues of being a homo sapien * His great-aunt expired from a degenerative disease * His nephew subscribes to a phonographic magazine * His wife was a thespian before their marriage and even performed the act in front of paying customers * And his own mother had to resign from a women's organization in her later years because she was an admitted sexagenarian

Now what shall we say of the man himself?

I can tell you in solemn truth that he is the very antithesis of political radicalism, economic irresponsibility, and personal depravity. His own record proves that he has frequently discountenanced treasonable, un-American philosophies and has perpetrated many overt acts as well.

* He perambulated his infant son on the street
* He practiced nepotism with his uncle and first cousin
* He attempted to interest a 13-year-old girl in philately
* He participated in a seance at a private residence where, among other odd goings-on, there was incense
* He has declared himself in favor of more homogeneity on college campuses
* He has advocated social intercourse in mixed company -- and has taken part in such gatherings himself
* He has been deliberately averse to crime in our streets
* He has urged our Protestant and Jewish citizens to develop more catholic tastes
* Last summer he committed a piscatorial act on a boat that was flying the American flag
* Finally, at a time when we must be on our guard against all foreign "isms", he has coolly announced his belief in altruism -- and his fervent hope that some day this entire nation will be altruistic!

I beg you, my friends, to oppose this man whose life and work and ideas are so openly and avowedly compatible with our American way of life. A vote for him would be a vote for the perpetuation of everything we hold dear.

The facts are clear; the record speaks for itself.

Do your duty.


(Sincerely, Gargoyle)

cut my teeth on this stuff ... made me what I am today.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 09:58 PM

Shortstop, not shotstop.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Oct 12 - 10:42 PM

"Buy this magazine, or we shoot this dog"

One of the classic covers of all time.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 Oct 12 - 05:52 AM

Basil Wolverton, who drew many of the cartoons etc for the magazine led what might be described as a double life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Wolverton

He was also heavily involved with the Herbert/Garner Ted Armstrong crowd.... "The World Tomorrow", you'll remember that on Luxembourg and The pirate stations during the sixties, I'm sure.

I'm not sure if those in the latter camp would necessarily approve of his activities with "Mad" etc or vice versa.

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Johnny J
Date: 29 Oct 12 - 05:54 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Wolverton

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 29 Oct 12 - 08:37 AM

I didn't keep all my old copies (I used to have numbe 1 & a lot of the early ones).
They wouldn't be worth much to collectors though. All my copies had two sharp creases down the length of the back covers :)

Subject: RE: BS: Alfred E. Newman Turns 60...
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 29 Oct 12 - 08:51 AM

We all used to read it at school, it gave us a great new word [ to us ]
' furshlugginer ' for a while all the teachers and anyone you didn't like was a furshlugginer.

Dave H