markseifert Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Thought readers of this thread might be interested in this... http://therealalfrede.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-real-alfred-e.html The inspiration for Alfred E. Neuman is long known to have been a character commonly used in advertising, comics, postcards, etc back to the turn of the century. As the author states: The upshot of all the discussion was, basically, that Alfred E. Neuman is a copy of a copy of a copy of an image that bounced around for decades in various guises - political buttons, silly postcards, ads for painless dentistry, and Nazi anti-semitic propaganda posters. No one could identify the image that started it all, although some people suggested that the image evolved from a tradition of cartoonish and racist depictions of Irish immigrants from the mid- to late-19th Century America. Now, the author of this blog, Peter Jensen Brown, thinks he has discovered the origin of the character in advertising for an 1894 Broadway play called The New Boy: Really fascinating stuff and very well researched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 Very cool. Thanks for the link. I read Maria Reidelbach's history of Mad magazine, Completely Mad, many years ago so I was familiar with some aspects of the image's history already, but Brown's recent discoveries have added lots of significant information to the story. It's well worth reading. For trivia buffs: Alfred E. Neuman's first appearance in a Mad comic was on the cover of issue #21 (March 1955), as a tiny image as part of a mock advertisement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Grumbledook Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I was always under the impression (i think I read or heard somewhere) that Alfred was based on the yearbook photo of someone they went to school with? As a kid, that faced freaked me out and I still remember one nightmare featuring it. I couldve sworn he was standing right next to my bed when i woke up. And that was at age 5 before I ever read Mad (loved it in 4th gradeish time) but had seen it a few times in parents tpbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Is Friday the 13th bad for your health? According to a 1993 study published in the British Medical Journal it is. So I hope all of you stayed indoors today and played it safe. Why live dangerously when you can pull up a chair and read a comic book instead. Here are a few stories on my suggested reading list. Adventures into Darkness #6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Tiny Tot #10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Target v7#5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Looney Tunes #101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Dynamic #15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Four Color #352 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 Daredevil #4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 (edited) just did cheap BIN on the bay for Mammoth Man, rounding out summer book bash Edited September 21, 2013 by pcalhoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 22, 2013 Author Share Posted September 22, 2013 just did cheap BIN on the bay for Mammoth Man, rounding out summer book bash Congrats on a successful buying binge. I don't have much to contribute to the topic other than noting that The Monsters of Juntonheim originally was published under the title "A Yank at Valhalla" in the January 1941 issue of Startling Stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 (edited) thanks, BZ - went through the whole Startling run 1939-1955 on philsp last night - a novel every ish, most got reprinted and many are classics - a title that ranks high in my pulp pantheon... Edited September 22, 2013 by pcalhoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted September 25, 2013 Share Posted September 25, 2013 Startling Group: the ‘From Off This World’ is an anthology of the ‘Scientifiction Hall of Fame’ as each issue also reprinted a classic yarn from the ‘golden age’… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 Startling Group: the ‘From Off This World’ is an anthology of the ‘Scientifiction Hall of Fame’ as each issue also reprinted a classic yarn from the ‘golden age’… Great collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 My collection lacks the May 1949 issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cimm Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 1944 Summer 1950 January 1950 March Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
