MAD magazine, which has kept legions of American youths reading under the covers with flashlights since 1952, is putting a last batch of original drawings of Alfred and other early works up for auction.
Alfred E. Neuman, the grinning face with the flapping ears, has become such a familiar presence that Charles, Prince of Wales, may have felt it necessary to deny that he looked like him.
The heir to the British throne, then nine years old, supposedly sent a letter to that effect in 1958. On Buckingham Palace stationery and mailed from a nearby post office, it was published in MAD's letters column.
The sale is scheduled for Nov. 14 at the Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas and online. A preview exhibition of the 36 items to be sold will be held at New York's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art on Oct. 29, a Heritage spokesman said.
MAD, founded by William Gaines and Harvey Kurzman, became widely popular for its mix of zany, absurdist and irreverent humor _ especially its devastating parodies of Hollywood films and satirical commentaries on pompous politicians and self-important celebrities.
MAD's current editor, John Ficarra, said the 36 original works had been held out of previous sales of the magazine's archives at Heritage, Christie's and Sotheby's.
"We wanted to hold onto them for as long as possible," he said in a statement. "Not as much as a tribute to the early history of MAD... but because these paintings were covering up quite a few holes in the walls. This auction leaves us no choice. Now we have to patch and paint.
"We have waited until all the rest of the great artwork of MAD was sold to offer this final collection. It just doesn't get any better than this."
The collection is mostly made up of Alfred E. Neuman covers, including the first one drawn by the late Norman Mingo for MAD's issue No. 30 of December 1956. It shows the gap-toothed icon as a "write-in candidate for president," saying "What _ me worry?"
