Mad Memory Lane

I was a huge Mad Magazine fan as a 9- & 10-yr-old. I thought it was genius. My mother hated it, which made me love it all the more.

CNN has an article on Al Jaffee, long long time cartoonist and writer for Mad. He did the Fold-Ins, 'Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions', and inventions.

And then there are his sketches of "Mad inventions," including an airbag suit and an improved beverage can. Some of them, like a smokeless ashtray or a multiroll toilet paper dispenser, have come to pass -- much to Jaffee's amusement.

My favorite Jaffee Mad Invention that came to pass was the toothpaste flip cap. I distinctly recall his cartoon of the groggy person brushing in the morning dropping the common screw cap, which fell behind the radiator, or some other hard to reach place. I am that morning klutz. When the flip cap toothpaste rolled out, I bought. And smiled.

At 91 years of age, Jaffee is still turning them out. He has a delightful current jab at Newt Gingrich. I especially like the poke at Gingrich's Freddie Mac hypocrisy.

Old Friends

(Broadview Heights, OH)- I love the advance of technology. Every now and then, I get to thinking about an old friend, and I do a search on Google or Myspace, and it's amazing how I pretty easily find that person.

So, back in January, I got thinking about my old buddy, Chuck. We grew up on the same street. We wrote and drew our own peculiar take on Mad Magazine, which certainly scared our parents. We formed our first band together when we were 13-14. I pinch-hit on bass for some of the metal bands he was drumming in. Metal guitarists always wanted to play lead. I could have made a career playing bass for metal bands. Alas- every now and again, I showed decent judgment in my youth.

Anyhow, I hit Myspace and found a band he had been playing in recently. I left a message. Before long, we got to trading emails. Finally, after some 15 years or so, Chuck and I got together to catch up.

A reunion and a barrel of laughs!

What a hoot! I was armed with pictures and the old hand-drawn comics. We laughed so much it hurt.