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 In the fifth issue, the Renfrew of the Royal Mounted source was already more than a decade out of date for the readers of 1953 and is exponentially more obscure today.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:
“And now—unwittingly, you’ve made me dream
Of violets, and my soul’s forgotten gleam.”
—Alice Dunbar Moore Nelson (1875–1935)
“Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“My profession brought me in contact with various minds. Earnest, serious discussion on the condition of woman enlivened my business room; failures of banks, no dividends from railroads, defalcations of all kinds, public and private, widows and orphans and unmarried women beggared by the dishonesty, or the mismanagement of men, were fruitful sources of conversation; confidence in man as a protector was evidently losing ground, and women were beginning to see that they must protect themselves.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)