ALFRED E. NEUMAN
Name: Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot of Mad. The face had drifted through
American pictography for decades before being claimed by Mad editor Harvey
Kurtzman after he spotted it on the bulletin board in the office of Ballantine
Books editor Bernard Shir-Cliff, later a contributor to various magazines
created by Kurtzman.
Since his debut in Mad, Neuman's likeness, distinguished by jug ears, a missing
front tooth, and one eye disquietingly lower than the other, has graced the
cover of all but a handful of the magazine's 450+ issues. His face does not
translate well to profile, and thus he has almost always been shown in full
frontal view or in silhouette.
The first use of this face by Kurtzman came November 1954 on the back cover of
Ballantine's The Mad Reader, a paperback collection of reprints from the first
two years of Mad. The character's first appearance in the comic book was on the
cover of Mad 21 (March 1955), a tiny image as part of a mock ad. A rubber mask
bearing his likeness with "idiot" written underneath was offered for $1.29.
Kurtzman began to introduce other running gags at this time, notably the word
Potrzebie.
First cover appearance of Alfred E. Neuman on Mad 21
Neuman's third appearance was in the border of the first magazine version of Mad
24 (July 1955) with his now-familiar signature phrase "What, me worry?" written
underneath. Initially, the phrase was rendered "What? Me worry?". This border
would be used through Mad 30 (December 1956) and thereafter appeared on the
table of contents page of the reprint series More Trash from Mad from 1958 to
1960 and The Worst from Mad from 1958 to 1961. Neuman also appeared, by name
only, in an early Don Martin feature, "Alfred E. Neuman Answers Your Questions."
In it, Neuman answered a letter from a suicidal reader by giving "expert advice"
on the best technique for tying a hangman's knot.
The character was also briefly known as Mel Haney. In Mad 25, the face and name
were shown together as Alfred E. Neuman, but in that same issue, the face
appears with the name Mel Haney.
In late 1956, Neuman's identity became fixed, when he appeared on the cover of
Mad 30 as a write-in candidate for the Presidency. His features, which had first
been rendered in black-and-white by Bill Elder, were fine-tuned and recreated in
color by Norman Mingo. It was this image which became the character's defining
portrait. Beginning with issue 30, and continuing to the present day, Neuman has
appeared on the cover of every issue of Mad and its spinoffs, in one form or
another, with a small handful of exceptions. One such departure was Mad 233 (September
1982) which replaced Neuman's image with that of Pac-Man.
Mingo painted seven more Neuman covers through 1957 and later became the
magazine's signature cover artist throughout the 1960s and 1970s, although Kelly
Freas rendered Neuman for Mad from 1958 to 1962. A female version of Alfred,
named Moxie Cowznofski and occasionally described in editorial text as Alfred's
"girlfriend," appeared briefly during the late 1950s. Alfred and Moxie were
sometimes depicted side-by-side, defeating any speculation that Moxie was
possibly Alfred in female guise. Her name was inspired by Moxie, a soft drink
manufactured in Portland, Maine which was sold nationwide in the 1950s and whose
logo appeared in many early issues of Mad.
Mad routinely combines Neuman with another character for its cover images.
Neuman has appeared in a slew of guises, including Santa Claus, Darth Vader,
George Washington, King Kong, Baby New Year, Lawrence of Arabia, Batman, Robin,
Spider-Man, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Rosemary's Baby, George S. Patton, the
Fiddler on the Roof, Alex from A Clockwork Orange, Barbra Streisand, Mr. T,
Indiana Jones, Radar O'Reilly, Bruce Springsteen, Mr. Spock, Bart Simpson, Pee
Wee Herman, Michael Jackson, a California Raisin, Don King, Robin Hood, Abraham
Lincoln, Guns N' Roses' Slash, the Man in the Moon, an Oscar statuette, an "Operation"
board game, Jabba the Hutt, Wolverine, Gollum, Spongebob Squarepants, Agent
Smith from The Matrix, Kurt Cobain, Shrek, Dr. Octopus, Dennis Rodman, The
Incredibles' Jack-Jack, a zombie, a caveman, a fetus, a boa constrictor, a rat,
George W. Bush, Justin Timberlake, Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Barry Bonds,
Suri Cruise, Wilson the Volleyball, the Mona Lisa, and Uncle Sam ("Who Needs You?")
among many other familiar faces. Since his initial unsuccessful run in 1956, he
has periodically been re-offered as a candidate for President with the slogan, "You
could do worse... and always have!"
Early image of the "Me Worry?" kid, possibly from the 1920s.
Considering Neuman's ubiquity as a cover boy, it is perhaps ironic that the
single highest-selling issue of Mad depicted only his feet. The cover image,
spoofing the 1973 film The Poseidon Adventure, showed Neuman floating upside-down
inside a life preserver.
Along with his face, Mad also includes a short humorous quotation credited to
Neuman with every issue's table of contents. Some of these quotations were
collected in the book, Mad: The Half-Wit and Wisdom of Alfred E. Neuman (Warner
Treasures, 1997), illustrated by Sergio Aragonés.
Neuman is now used exclusively as a mascot and iconic symbol of the magazine,
but before this status was codified, he was referenced in several early articles.
In one, he gave "advice" to supposed letterwriters; in one of his replies, a
suicidal reader was instructed on the best way to tie a knot. Other articles
featured the school newspaper of "Neuman High School," and a bulletin from "Alfred
E. Neuman University." An article entitled "Alfred E. Neuman's Family Tree"
depicted historical versions of Neuman from various eras. Since then, Neuman has
appeared only occasionally inside the magazine's articles. A recurring article
titled "Poor Alfred's Almanac" showed his face atop the page, but otherwise the
character had no role in the text. In an issue in 1968, Alfred's face was
assembled, feature by feature, from parts of photographs of well-known politicos,
including then-President Lyndon B. Johnson (left ear), Richard Nixon (nose),
Oregon Governor Mark Hatfield (eyes), and Ronald Reagan (hair). The gap in his
teeth (using the grin of Dwight D. Eisenhower) came from "The 'Credibility Gap'
Created by Practically All Politicians."
Neuman's famous catch phrase is the intellectually uncurious "What, me worry?"
This was changed for one issue to "Yes, me worry!" after the Three Mile Island
nuclear meltdown in 1979. On the cover of current printings of the paperback The
Ides of MAD, as rendered by long-time cover artist Norman Mingo, Alfred is
portrayed as a Roman bust with his catch phrase engraved on the base, translated,
of course, into Latin-- Quid, Me Vexari?
Over the decades, Neuman has often appeared in political cartoons as a shorthand
for unquestioning stupidity. In recent years, Alfred E. Neuman's features have
frequently been merged with those of George W. Bush by editorial cartoonists
such as Mike Luckovich and Tom Tomorrow. The image has also appeared on magazine
covers, notably The Nation) and in numerous Photoshop images and GIF files
in which Neuman's face morphs into Bush's. A large Bush/Neuman poster was part
of the Washington protests that accompanied Bush's 2001 inauguration. The
alleged resemblance between the two has been noted more than once by Hillary
Clinton. On July 10, 2005, speaking at the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival, she
said, "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington,"
referring to Bush's purported "What, me worry?" attitude. Neuman's features
have also been compared to others in the public eye, including Prince Charles,
Ted Koppel, Oliver North and David Letterman.
Alfred E. Neuman's surname is very frequently misspelled as "Newman."
Name: Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot of Mad. The face had drifted through
American pictography for decades before being claimed by Mad editor Harvey
Kurtzman after he spotted it on the bulletin board in the office of Ballantine
Books editor Bernard Shir-Cliff, later a contributor to various magazines
created by Kurtzman.
Since his debut in Mad, Neuman's likeness, distinguished by jug ears, a missing
front tooth, and one eye disquietingly lower than the other, has graced the
cover of all but a handful of the magazine's 450+ issues. His face does not
translate well to profile, and thus he has almost always been shown in full
frontal view or in silhouette.
The first use of this face by Kurtzman came November 1954 on the back cover of
Ballantine's The Mad Reader, a paperback collection of reprints from the first
two years of Mad. The character's first appearance in the comic book was on the
cover of Mad 21 (March 1955), a tiny image as part of a mock ad. A rubber mask
bearing his likeness with "idiot" written underneath was offered for $1.29.
Kurtzman began to introduce other running gags at this time, notably the word
Potrzebie.
First cover appearance of Alfred E. Neuman on Mad 21
Neuman's third appearance was in the border of the first magazine version of Mad
24 (July 1955) with his now-familiar signature phrase "What, me worry?" written
underneath. Initially, the phrase was rendered "What? Me worry?". This border
would be used through Mad 30 (December 1956) and thereafter appeared on the
table of contents page of the reprint series More Trash from Mad from 1958 to
1960 and The Worst from Mad from 1958 to 1961. Neuman also appeared, by name
only, in an early Don Martin feature, "Alfred E. Neuman Answers Your Questions."
In it, Neuman answered a letter from a suicidal reader by giving "expert advice"
on the best technique for tying a hangman's knot.
The character was also briefly known as Mel Haney. In Mad 25, the face and name
were shown together as Alfred E. Neuman, but in that same issue, the face
appears with the name Mel Haney.
In late 1956, Neuman's identity became fixed, when he appeared on the cover of
Mad 30 as a write-in candidate for the Presidency. His features, which had first
been rendered in black-and-white by Bill Elder, were fine-tuned and recreated in
color by Norman Mingo. It was this image which became the character's defining
portrait. Beginning with issue 30, and continuing to the present day, Neuman has
appeared on the cover of every issue of Mad and its spinoffs, in one form or
another, with a small handful of exceptions. One such departure was Mad 233 (September
1982) which replaced Neuman's image with that of Pac-Man.
Mingo painted seven more Neuman covers through 1957 and later became the
magazine's signature cover artist throughout the 1960s and 1970s, although Kelly
Freas rendered Neuman for Mad from 1958 to 1962. A female version of Alfred,
named Moxie Cowznofski and occasionally described in editorial text as Alfred's
"girlfriend," appeared briefly during the late 1950s. Alfred and Moxie were
sometimes depicted side-by-side, defeating any speculation that Moxie was
possibly Alfred in female guise. Her name was inspired by Moxie, a soft drink
manufactured in Portland, Maine which was sold nationwide in the 1950s and whose
logo appeared in many early issues of Mad.
Mad routinely combines Neuman with another character for its cover images.
Neuman has appeared in a slew of guises, including Santa Claus, Darth Vader,
George Washington, King Kong, Baby New Year, Lawrence of Arabia, Batman, Robin,
Spider-Man, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Rosemary's Baby, George S. Patton, the
Fiddler on the Roof, Alex from A Clockwork Orange, Barbra Streisand, Mr. T,
Indiana Jones, Radar O'Reilly, Bruce Springsteen, Mr. Spock, Bart Simpson, Pee
Wee Herman, Michael Jackson, a California Raisin, Don King, Robin Hood, Abraham
Lincoln, Guns N' Roses' Slash, the Man in the Moon, an Oscar statuette, an "Operation"
board game, Jabba the Hutt, Wolverine, Gollum, Spongebob Squarepants, Agent
Smith from The Matrix, Kurt Cobain, Shrek, Dr. Octopus, Dennis Rodman, The
Incredibles' Jack-Jack, a zombie, a caveman, a fetus, a boa constrictor, a rat,
George W. Bush, Justin Timberlake, Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, Barry Bonds,
Suri Cruise, Wilson the Volleyball, the Mona Lisa, and Uncle Sam ("Who Needs You?")
among many other familiar faces. Since his initial unsuccessful run in 1956, he
has periodically been re-offered as a candidate for President with the slogan, "You
could do worse... and always have!"
Early image of the "Me Worry?" kid, possibly from the 1920s.
Considering Neuman's ubiquity as a cover boy, it is perhaps ironic that the
single highest-selling issue of Mad depicted only his feet. The cover image,
spoofing the 1973 film The Poseidon Adventure, showed Neuman floating upside-down
inside a life preserver.
Along with his face, Mad also includes a short humorous quotation credited to
Neuman with every issue's table of contents. Some of these quotations were
collected in the book, Mad: The Half-Wit and Wisdom of Alfred E. Neuman (Warner
Treasures, 1997), illustrated by Sergio Aragonés.
Neuman is now used exclusively as a mascot and iconic symbol of the magazine,
but before this status was codified, he was referenced in several early articles.
In one, he gave "advice" to supposed letterwriters; in one of his replies, a
suicidal reader was instructed on the best way to tie a knot. Other articles
featured the school newspaper of "Neuman High School," and a bulletin from "Alfred
E. Neuman University." An article entitled "Alfred E. Neuman's Family Tree"
depicted historical versions of Neuman from various eras. Since then, Neuman has
appeared only occasionally inside the magazine's articles. A recurring article
titled "Poor Alfred's Almanac" showed his face atop the page, but otherwise the
character had no role in the text. In an issue in 1968, Alfred's face was
assembled, feature by feature, from parts of photographs of well-known politicos,
including then-President Lyndon B. Johnson (left ear), Richard Nixon (nose),
Oregon Governor Mark Hatfield (eyes), and Ronald Reagan (hair). The gap in his
teeth (using the grin of Dwight D. Eisenhower) came from "The 'Credibility Gap'
Created by Practically All Politicians."
Neuman's famous catch phrase is the intellectually uncurious "What, me worry?"
This was changed for one issue to "Yes, me worry!" after the Three Mile Island
nuclear meltdown in 1979. On the cover of current printings of the paperback The
Ides of MAD, as rendered by long-time cover artist Norman Mingo, Alfred is
portrayed as a Roman bust with his catch phrase engraved on the base, translated,
of course, into Latin-- Quid, Me Vexari?
Over the decades, Neuman has often appeared in political cartoons as a shorthand
for unquestioning stupidity. In recent years, Alfred E. Neuman's features have
frequently been merged with those of George W. Bush by editorial cartoonists
such as Mike Luckovich and Tom Tomorrow. The image has also appeared on magazine
covers, notably The Nation) and in numerous Photoshop images and GIF files
in which Neuman's face morphs into Bush's. A large Bush/Neuman poster was part
of the Washington protests that accompanied Bush's 2001 inauguration. The
alleged resemblance between the two has been noted more than once by Hillary
Clinton. On July 10, 2005, speaking at the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival, she
said, "I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington,"
referring to Bush's purported "What, me worry?" attitude. Neuman's features
have also been compared to others in the public eye, including Prince Charles,
Ted Koppel, Oliver North and David Letterman.
Alfred E. Neuman's surname is very frequently misspelled as "Newman."