Mad #128 (Albert Feldstein) - Wizard of Oz Issue - July 1969

There was no Mad in 1939 to do a parody of the Wizard of Oz but Frank Jacobs and Mort Drucker combined for an updated, 30th anniversary version titled "The Guru of Ours."  Liza Minelli, daughter of Judy Garland (1922-1969), is in the lead role.  Garland died shortly after Mad #128 was published.  The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion are replaced by the Bore (Pat Boone), the Snob (George Hamilton) and the Punk (Michael J. Pollard).  Ed Sullivan (1901-1974) is the Wizard/Guru and Tiny Tim (1932-1996) is Aunt Em.  The classic songs of the Wizard of Oz are rewritten as only Frank Jacobs can do.  Future issues of Mad will reprise other classic movies in the Mad parody/satire style. [JAM 12/10/2009]

Aunt Em is wearing one tennis shoe and one slipper on page four.

Look for Dustin Hoffman, Paul Simon and others on page six, and Schroeder on page eight.  A special thanks is due to Mort Drucker for his drawing of the flower child on page ten.

Departments:
Pot at the End of the Rainbow - The Guru of Ours
Don Martin - On a Saturday Afternoon; One Day in the Hospital; One Day in a Sawmill
Fair Game - Mad's Nature Study Guide
Pump and Circumstances - The Heart Transplant
Rib a Dubbed Dud - Mad's Foreign Film Producer of the Year
Evaluating the Pounds - You Know You're Really Overweight When
Picket Yourself - Mad's All-Inclusive Protest Newspaper Story
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Amusement Parks
Joke and Dagger - Spy Vs. Spy
For Better or Verse - Some "Greeting Cards to Newlyweds" We'd Like to See
Inside-Ouch - A Peek Behind the Scenes at a Laundry & Dry Cleaner
Punch in the Noise - A Portfolio of Appropriate Comic Strip Sound Effects
Rah-Rah-Riot - A Mad Look at Two College Generations

Fold-In - Hair