RIP Al Felstein, corruptor of youth

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themanintheseersuckersuit
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RIP Al Felstein, corruptor of youth

#1 Post by themanintheseersuckersuit » Wed Apr 30, 2014 2:24 pm

Al Feldstein, whose 28 years at the helm of Mad magazine transformed the satirical publication into a pop culture institution, has died. He was 88.
In 1956, publisher William M. Gaines put Feldstein in charge of the magazine, which gleefully parodied politicians and mocked traditional morality.
Feldstein and Gaines assembled a pool of artists and writers who turned out such enduring features as "Spy vs. Spy," ''The Lighter Side of..." and "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions."
Building on a character used by Mad founding editor Harvey Kurtzman, Feldstein turned the freckle-faced Alfred E. Neuman into an underground hero — a dimwitted everyman with a gap-toothed smile and the recurring stock phrase, "What, Me Worry?"
yes, I was a fan
Suitguy is not bitter.

feels he represents the many educated and rational onlookers who believe that the hysterical denouncement of lay scepticism is both unwarranted and counter-productive

The problem, then, is that such calls do not address an opposition audience so much as they signal virtue. They talk past those who need convincing. They ignore actual facts and counterargument. And they are irreparably smug.

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jarnon
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Re: RIP Al Felstein, corruptor of youth

#2 Post by jarnon » Wed Apr 30, 2014 3:14 pm

I was a fan, too. I still remember Mad's parody of Wheel of Fortune. So it doesn't surprise me that Mad parodied Millionaire too (years after I stopped reading the magazine).
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