Thread by @robdelaney

MAD Magazine is closing. Like millions of others, MAD Magazine showed me what humor is for and thus gave me my life’s direction. I used my allowance of $1.50 to buy each issue, which in 1987 cost $1.35 [(cheap!) it said next to the price].

In 1987 my parents took me, age 10 and my 5 year old sister to New York City from Massachusetts for our first visit. We saw Cats, went to the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. We also visited 485 MADison Avenue where MAD was headquartered.

I think we arrived after hours as the door to the offices (which, as it was 1987, we were able to just take the elevator up to, no problem) were locked and nobody answered. A well dressed man in the hall explained they were closed and said to come back earlier the next day.

“Do you work there?” my mom asked. “I do some work for them, yes,” he said. “My name’s Al Jaffee.” I flipped my young lid as Al Jaffee was one of the greatest MAD artists of all time, perhaps most famous for the “Fold-Ins” on the magazine’s inside back cover.

We spoke for a while, he was gracious and kind and wore a beret. He also asked my 5 yr old sister to marry him and she said no. We took a picture and it is framed, still, at my mom’s house.
We returned to the offices the next day & were warmly greeted by editor Nick Meglin.

He showed us around the offices and introduced us to staff and showed us memorabilia and quizzed me about my favorite MAD artists and issues. I asked him why Don Martin left MAD for Cracked & he said it was because MAD keeps the artists’ art & Don didn’t like that.

(NB: I am telling you a 32 yr old memory here so I reserve the right to be wrong about other people’s business deals made in the 1980s. Don’t use this thread in court) But like any reader I lamented Martin’s departure.

Nick showed me to a room which filled w/ stacks of issues from the last few yrs and told me to take one. I found an old issue I’d lost which had MAD mascot Alfred E. Neuman as a genie emerging from a trash can. He also gave me a necktie belonging to Al Jaffee which I still wear!

Then he said “Let me see if The King will see you.” He disappeared & quickly returned saying that Bill Gaines, MAD’s publisher. We were ushered into his office and beheld the man himself. He had long white hair with brown barrettes holding it back.

Gaines (and all the editors and artists) found their way into the magazine’s stories and drawings and Gaines himself was a legend rightly revered for shaping (warping?) so many young imaginations. He and my dad talked a lot about Auguste Bartholdi, as I recall.

That day remains one of the great memories of my life. Thank you Bill, Nick, Al and everyone who ever worked at MAD. Thank you mom and dad for making that day happen by caring about me and what I cared about. And now it’s on us to help the young weirdos out there stay weird.❤️