Now that Mad magazine has died, it makes sense that Mort Drucker would leave, too. And with him, the art of a particular generation. Not this latest generation, mind you. Pete Buttigieg had to be told who Alfred E. Neuman was.
Ah, Alfred E. Neuman--a name that's never mentioned without that middle initial. If you recognize the full name, and face, then you know Mort Drucker's most famous work. Of all the stuff the usual gang of idiots cranked out over the years, Mr. Drucker's Alfred E. Neuman was the most recognizable. Yeech!
But that homely teen boy with freckles and big ears--not to mention the gap between his teeth--wasn't based on a famous person. Mort Drucker's specialty was caricature. And nobody did it better.
Brando, The Duke, Newman & Redford, Star Wars, Jaws, De Niro, Pacino, Streisand, Spock, Obama, Grease, MAS*H, Fonda (all of them), Nicholson, Dirty Harry, Obi-Won, Michael Jackson . . . .
Whatever the writers could come up with, Mort Drucker would make 1,000 times better. After all, you could get through the magazine without reading the thing--what, us worry?--but you had to linger on the artwork.
His caricature for "The Oddfather" pulled Brando's bottom lip out so far a bird could land on it. And the cheeks couldn't be ignored. The beard for Mr. Hooper from "Jaw'd" was almost perfect. He specialized in noses: Karl Malden, Alan Alda, Jack Lemmon, LBJ, Ernest Borgnine. Yes, we know we'll have to explain to some of the younger readers who they are, or were.
And whereas most of those who have the ability, the talent, of caricature can be cruel, we don't recall any of Mort Drucker's work being insulting. Michael J. Fox once said he knew he made it in Hollywood when Mort Drucker sent him up. George Lucas bought all the original artwork after "The Empire Strikes Out" was published.
From about the time that The Beatles started recording to the election of Barack Obama in 2008, Mort Drucker illustrated Mad's movie and TV parodies. Somebody said he did more than 230 of them over the years. Including "201: A Space Idiocy," "Raving Bully" and "The Supremos."
Maybe because there wasn't a good--or at least easily articulated--reason for Mom to veto such comics, kids of a certain age all over the United States packed Mad magazines around. Under their arms, mingled with their schoolbooks, in backpacks. And were able to smile not just at the jokes and drawings, but at the knowledge that what they were doing was a little subversive. Mom and Dad might not get it, but $2.50 (CHEAP!) could buy some troublemaking.
But it wouldn't have been the same without Mort Drucker, Don Martin and Antonio Prohias.
Mort Drucker died last week at the age of 91. Word has it that he had had trouble breathing as of late, but the cause of death wasn't known as of this writing.
Somewhere in the attic there's a stack of old Mad Magazine copies getting moldy. Since we're at home these days, this afternoon we're going to have to dig them out. And show the kids what a real artist can do for our mood.
Editorial on 04/13/2020