MAD Magazine turns 50!
If you grew up in the United States in the three decades after World War II, chances are Mad magazine was at some point (most likely your second year in high school) your main source for anti-establishment laughs.
We used to have a great time ‘performing’ the MAD material on my (reel to reel!) tape recorder! That was sooo fun.
And, yes, I guess my interest peaked somewhere around my sophomore year. I had surgery when I was 15 and a friend of my parents’ brought me flowers and a MAD Magazine while I was still in the hospital. This was just at the point where I still felt wretched but well enough to notice a creeping sense of boredom. MAD helped. The pain was excruciating - trying not to laugh and clutching a pillow to my gut in hopes that I wouldn’t split (literally) laughing.