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Issue: Mad #54
Disclose Detail
Title:
Variant: unnamed
Rating:
Publisher: FlagEC
Brand: none
Indicia Publisher: E.C. Publications Inc.
On Sale Date: 02/11/1960
Volume: 1
Pages: 52
ISBN: none
UPC/EAN: none
Price: $0.25 USD
Indicia Frequency:
Content Items: 26 (18 stories, 1 cover)
Editor(s):  
Disclose Notes: On-sale date from 1960 Periodicals, Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
  Does this data need corrections? Become an editor.
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Publication Type: Comic Book
Color: color (#1-23, 400-550); color cover with black & white interior (#24-399)
Dimensions: standard Golden Age US (#1-23); magazine size (#24 onward)
Paper Stock: glossy cover
Binding: saddle-stitched
Publishing Format: Was Ongoing Series
Format Notes:  
Disclose Reprinted In1
reprinted as a Content Item in another Issue.
Disclose Reprinted From0
There is currently no data for this Issue being reprinted from anywhere.
Disclose Images1
Cover, Front
Original Artwork
Digital Edition
Adult Image
Title Page
Indicia on this Page
 
 
Assets0
 
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This Magazine Is Revolting...Against Conformity!

Illustration  on  Cover, Front
Credits
?
?
Subject Matter
humorous
Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred paints graffiti.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
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How We Retired at the Age Of 11 With $800 a Month

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Parody of ad for Phoenix Mutual Insurance.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Inside front cover.
Writer credit from "Totally MAD" CD collection.
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Departments

Foreword, Introduction, Preface, Afterword  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
various (see Notes)
various (see Notes)
typeset
Subject Matter
Vital Features
table of contents
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Art is excerpts for various stories in this issue.
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It's Better To Give Than To Receive

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
Son of MAD
House ad for 7th MAD paperback book.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.33
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You Get Nine Issues For The Price of Eight

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
MAD Magazine
House ad for subscriptions.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.17
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Random Samplings of Reader Mail

Letters Page  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
Ivan Ludington Jr. (photo); ? (photo)
Ivan Ludington Jr. (photo); ? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
Fred Astaire [as Alfred E. Neuman]; Barrie Chase
Letters of comment, many about issue #52, and comments on a recent Fred Astaire TV show where he appeared in an Alfred E. Neuman mask.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
One image is an excerpt from previous issue.

The letters were written by Douglass Dunn, Richard Nagle, J. G. Cummins, Ivan Ludington, Jr., Gary Auten, Marie Woods, Lon Pinkowitz, Ken Boldt, A. J. May, Curtis Croulet, Dave McClelland, and Mrs. Tom Woods.
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A Lovable April Fool

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
Alfred E. Neuman
House ad for pinups suitable for framing.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.17
Disclose
If You're Looking For Laughs...

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
MAD hardcover books
House ad for MAD For Keeps and MAD Forever.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0.33
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Ad Testimonials From Politicians

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Dollar Diplomacy Dept.
John F. Kennedy; Richard Nixon; Harold Stassen; Adlai Stevenson; Harry Truman; Jim Hagerty
Ads we might see if politicians made paid endorsements of consumer products.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
4
Products used are Vitalis hair tonic, Blatz beer, Wheaties cereal, Bausch & Lomb contact lenses, Gillette razors, and Acme School of Ventriloquism.
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Magician

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Subject Matter
humorous
A magician disappears when all the animals he was hiding on his person leave.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
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How I Turned $6.85 Into A Zillion

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
? (photo)
? (photo)
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
One for the Bucks Dept.
William Nickelnurser
Parody of ad for real estate "get rich" books.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
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Around The World With U.S. Television

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Variations On A Screen Dept.
Uncle Sam (cameo); Tim; Marjorie; Batty; Buz; Catty; Rilley; Timothy; Maude; Beatrice; Herbert; Kate; Sir Cedric Koukie; Brigitte; Henri; Paladinawa; Mishuginov; Timolikov; Dorschka; Ivan; Vladimir
A typical "Father Knows Best" type of TV show plot and how it might be redone using stereotypes of people in Britain, France, Japan, and Russia.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
6
Some characters not named.
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The Interpreter

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Nyets To You Dept.
Nikita Khrushchev; Dwight Eisenhower; Jimmy Cagney; Mort Sahl; Jack E. Leonard; Gary Cooper
How international diplomatic conversations might turn out if celebrities, in character, were used as interpreters.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
3
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Educational Billboards

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Roads Scholar Dept.
Slyly including educational content in highway billboards.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
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America Is Getting Soft

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Dave develops the thesis that as the US becomes fatter and lazier, and ends up driving everywhere instead of walking, we'll become pushovers for the lean hungry barbarians, just as ancient Rome did. Only our invaders will be from the east (oriental).
Reprinting
FlagDave Berg's Mad Trash #[nn] published January 1981
as America Is Getting Soft [Story on Interior Page(s)]
 
Miscellaneous
4
Uses small in-house personal scooters to ride, foreshadowing the Segway.
Disclose
Garbage

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
A Heap 'O Livin' Dept.
A collection of peoples' garbage arranged so that the right-hand page shows the results of the lifestyle lived on the left-hand page.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
Disclose
Distinctive Picket Lines

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Workers Of The World, Rewrite! Dept.
Alfred E. Neuman
Specialized picket signs for various professions.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
3
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My Fair Ad-Man

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Officer Einsfoot; Henry Higgenbottom; Charles Pickerwick; Irving Mallion
The musical "My Fair Lady" is retold with two ad-men trying to give a makeover to a beatnik.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
7
Characters are drawn as: Officer Einsfoot [Dean Martin]; Henry Higgenbottom [Cary Grant]; Charles Pickerwick [?]; Irving Mallion [Frank Sinatra]
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Mail By Missile

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Spatial Delivery Dept.
The disasters that could follow using missiles for mail delivery.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
Disclose
The Hero

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
A man tries to be a hero before understanding the situation...ending in tragedy.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Disclose
Doctors' Progress

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Thar's Gold In Them Thar Ills Dept.
Comparisons between seeing your local doctor in the second half of the 1800s and today.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
2
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Movie Land

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Stars And Tripe Forever Dept.
Sal Mineo; Elsa (Baklor ?); Arnold Stang; Louella Parsnips; Biff Bopp; Kim Storch; Edd "Kookie" Byrnes; Winston Churchill; Lance Boyle; Phoebe Bebe; Gary Crosby; Fabian; Tony Curtis; Rock Cowznofski; Cary Grant; The Three Stooges
Parody of typical Hollywood star gossip magazines.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
5
Rock Cowznofski is drawn to resemble Alfred E. Neuman as Clark Gable.
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Uncle Herman And The Coke Machine

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Uncle Herman has a nose that could work as a bottle opener...and it does.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
Disclose
Here's Your Chance To Get A Head

Promotional Material (from Publisher)  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
?
?
typeset
Subject Matter
Alfred E. Neuman bust
Konrad Strainer
House ad for china bust of Alfred E. Neuman.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
In addition to a photo of the bust, a retouched excerpt of art of Konrad Strainer from "Medical" is used.
Inside back cover.
Disclose
MAD "Y'OX"

Text Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
?
?
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Marginal Marvin Dept.
Marginal Marvin
Captions with arrangements of "X"s and "O"s as the art.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
0
Appears in the margins of 25 pages.
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The Man In Command

Story  on  Interior Page(s)
Credits
?
typeset
Subject Matter
humorous
Aspire Boot-Lick Polish
Commander Fenwick Sternwallow
Parody of Esquire Boot Polish "Ship's Officer" ad.
Reprinting
 
Miscellaneous
1
back cover

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