Forgotten and Obscure Sources
Mad did not restrict its attentions to the popular culture of the day. A baseball story in the second issue is a twist on Stephen Vincent Benét's "The Devil and Daniel Webster." In the fifth issue, the Renfrew of the Royal Mounted source was already more than a decade out of date for the readers of 1953 and is exponentially more obscure today. Some subtle distinctions may not be readily apparent in reading the material. For instance, "Dragged Net" in the third issue is a parody of the Dragnet radio show, but "Dragged Net" in issue #11 satirized the Dragnet television series.
Such sources are illuminated in the following sequential listing of all Mad issues. It also includes the debuts of notable contributors. As with all parodies, a knowledge of the subjects being satirized is necessary for a full understanding of the humor. The early Mad poetry lampoons are an exception to this rule, since they used the original text of notable poems but added exaggerated, extreme cartoon illustrations.
Read more about this topic: List Of Mad Issues
Famous quotes containing the words forgotten, obscure and/or sources:
“If we’ve told lies, you’ve told half-lies. And a man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth, but a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it.”
—Robert Bolt (1924–1995)
“the soul,
Remembering how she felt, but what she felt
Remembering not, retains an obscure sense
Of possible sublimity,”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“I count him a great man who inhabits a higher sphere of thought, into which other men rise with labor and difficulty; he has but to open his eyes to see things in a true light, and in large relations; whilst they must make painful corrections, and keep a vigilant eye on many sources of error.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)