I loved the fold-ins as a kid. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/10/...ytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Al Jaffee, a cartoonist who folded in when the trend in magazine publishing was to fold out, thereby creating one of Mad magazine’s most recognizable and enduring features, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 102. His death, at a hospital, was caused by multi-system organ failure, his granddaughter Fani Thomson said. It was in 1964 that Mr. Jaffee created the Mad Fold-In, an illustration-with-text feature on the inside of the magazine’s back cover that seemed at first glance to deliver a straightforward message. When the page was folded in thirds, however, both illustration and text were transformed into something entirely different and unexpected, often with a liberal-leaning or authority-defying message. For instance, the fold-in from the November 2001 issue asked, “What mind-altering experience is leaving more and more people out of touch with reality?” The unfolded illustration showed a crowd of people popping and snorting various substances. But when folded, the image transformed into the Fox News anchor desk. The first fold-in, in the April 1964 issue (No. 86), mocked Elizabeth Taylor’s marital record. (Unfolded, she is with Richard Burton; folded, she has traded him in for another guy.) No one, especially Mr. Jaffee, expected that fold-in to be followed by hundreds more. “It was supposed to be really a one-shot,” he said in a 1993 interview with The Kansas City Star. “But because of the overwhelming demand of three or four of my relatives, it went on to a second time, and on and on.” That “on and on” turned into a career that included other memorable contributions to Mad, like a “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” feature, and that in 2007 won him cartooning’s top honor, the Reuben Award, putting him in the company of Charles M. Schulz, Mort Walker, Gary Larson, Matt Groening and other luminaries of the trade. With the fold-in, Mad was turning an industry trend on its head. “Playboy, of course, was doing its centerfold,” Mr. Jaffee told The Star. “Life, in almost every issue, was doing a three- or four-page gatefold showing how dinosaurs traversed the land, that kind of thing. Even Sports Illustrated had fold-outs.” Mad went in the other direction, literally, although Mr. Jaffee said in a 2008 interview with The New York Times that he initially didn’t expect the magazine’s editor, Al Feldstein, and publisher, William M. Gaines, to go for the notion. “I have this idea,” he recalled telling them. “I think it’s a funny idea, but I know you’re not going to buy it. But I’m going to show it to you anyway. And you’re not going to buy it because it mutilates the magazine.” The men did buy it, and then asked for more, and the inside back cover quickly became Mr. Jaffee’s turf. Although other regular Mad features changed artists over the years, no one but Mr. Jaffee drew a fold-in for 55 years. In mid-2019, the magazine announced that it would stop printing issues full of new material, except for year-end specials. In the special issue that appeared at the end of 2019, the cartoonist Johnny Sampson, with Mr. Jaffee’s blessing, became the only other artist to draw a fold-in. Almost as long-lived as the fold-in was “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” a running compendium of the kind of retorts that people are never quite quick enough or brave enough to toss off in the heat of the moment. “Is it okay to smoke?” asks a man sitting directly under a no-smoking sign in an office. “Yes,” answers the receptionist, “the signs don’t apply to illiterates.”
Dang, I didn't think I'd see anyone start a thread for this on this forum. Jaffee was awesome and he was working for MAD since the 50's until a couple of years ago when he retired. He wasn't there from the beginning at MAD, but close enough to rub elbows with some of the greats of comic books' Golden Age since he started in the 40's with Timely and Atlas (both of which eventually became Marvel Comics), like Bill Gaines (EC Comics god) and Al Feldstein (one of my 5 favorite artists of the Golden Age) mentioned in the article, etc. I always loved his creation, the Fold-In, in every MAD Magazine I could get my hands on. It would be what I would run to first in the magazine because I was such a basic kid. There were other comics similar to MAD back in the 40's and 50's like Panic, Humbug, Get Lost, Nuts!, Riot, etc. but MAD lived on. This guy was truly a legend in the industry where comic books crossed into political satire and vice versa. A lot of those early Golden Age Mads go for a few thousand in high grade and even the middle grades are a few hundred dollars. Not much by the standard of many comic books back in those days, but wow the impact they've had on other writers, artists, comedians, etc. over the years is immeasurable by dollars. RIP legend.
First, a history of the "what, me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman character : https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/03/03/a-boy-with-no-birthday-turns-sixty/ Picture of MAD artist Al Jaffee and Will Elder in high school back in the 1930's that's making the rounds (again) now that Jaffee has passed. You could tell these 2 goofs would draw for MAD :
Mad Magazine was an absolute STAPLE of my youth. I totally remember the fold ins! I used to love the little records that were included in the magazine. My favorite was this one with the burps and farts. RIP Al. The world could really use more weirdos like you.
