Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

It was a MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD World!
I 

recently read an enlightening article 
by Jim Sullivan. Its title and theme are 
“Everything I Learned about Jewish 
Humor I Learned from MAD magazine.”
Sullivan grew up in Maine as a “Catholic 
kid from a white-bread town.” In short, an 
area that had little racial or 
religious diversity. He only 
recalled one student, his 
dentist and the local sport-
ing goods store owner as 
members of the local Jewish 
community
So how did Sullivan 
learn about Jewish humor? 
Sullivan extolls the education 
he received from that fount of satirical 
nonsense, MAD magazine. Written and 
illustrated by its self-stated “usual gang 
of idiots,” most of its contributors were 
Jewish. 
To say the least, MAD was an irreverent 
publication. As much as MAD made fun 
of current movies, politicians and mod-
ern life, the “usual gang of idiots” also 
made fun of themselves in every issue. 
Along with everyone and everything they 
panned every month, they, too, could be 
bumbling “shnooks.”
MAD’s origins were decidedly Jewish. 
It was created and first edited by Harvey 
Kurtzman in 1952; William Gaines 
was the publisher. Longtime editor Al 
Feldstein took the reins in 1956, two years 
after the debut of MAD’s iconic mascot, 
Alfred E. Neuman.
Sullivan’s article inspired me to check 
the William Davidson Digital Archive of 
Jewish Detroit History. Was the JN mad 
enough to write about MAD? It was. MAD 
is mentioned on 29 pages. 
I divined one essential truth from the 
stories in the JN — I am not the only one 
around here who read MAD magazine! 
In this respect, JN Associate Editor David 
Sachs admitted that as a young lad more 
than 60 years ago, he had to hide his 
copies of the innocuous humor magazine 

from his father, who mistook it for some-
thing subversive. In separate JN profiles, 
two local Jewish personalities, Bill Carroll 
and Larry Lawson, fessed up to reading 
MAD. What courage! (June 17, 1988, Sept. 
22, 1989 JN). 
On occasion, MAD came to town. MAD 
writer Ari Kaplan was a featured speaker 
for Young Adults at Temple Israel (Oct. 
19, 2006) and longtime MAD contributor 
Dave Berg spoke at Temple Beth El (Dec. 
31, 1971).
MAD was also a topic for serious dis-
cussion (if such a thing can be said about 
MAD). Mary-Lou Weisman discussed her 
work, Al Jaffee’s Mad Life, at the JCC Book 
Fair (Oct. 20, 2011). MAD readers know 
that Jaffee always had the last page in an 
issue of MAD that one had to fold in order 
to see the hidden message. At a Seminar 
for Adult Jewish Enrichment, Rabbi Aaron 
Bergman gave a lecture on “Jews and 
Popular Culture: Art, Music and Comic 
Books” from “Batman and Superman to 
MAD Magazine” (Jan. 2, 2004). 
All of the reports above, however, pale 
in comparison to the 2009 story of the 
local king of MAD: Allen Warner. The 
Oct. 22 issue of the JN featured an article: 
“Mad about MAD.” To that date, Warner 
had collected every issue of MAD, over 
500 of them. A great hobby, no doubt. 
MAD readers can only image what the 
“usual gang of idiots” would have to say 
about Warner’s particular passion! 
I, for one, was sad to see this icon of 
American and Jewish humor close its 
doors as a monthly magazine in 2018, 
although there have been occasional spe-
cial publications. 
To honor MAD, I’ll end with the 
immortal wisdom of Alfred E. Neuman 
that has served me so well:
“What, me worry?” 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 
archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.
org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

70 | AUGUST 11 • 2022 

