Mad #183 (Albert Feldstein) - Pizza Issue - June 1976

Norman Mingo (1896-1980) was the king of all Mad cover artists.  He drew 97 front covers and a few back covers in a Mad career that began in 1956 (Mad #30) with "Alfred E. Neuman for President" and ended in 1979 (Mad #211) with the king of diamonds.  Along the way, he drew Mount Rushmore, Whistler's Mother, Fidel Castro, Abe Lincoln, Frankenstein's Monster, King Kong, Batman & Robin, Santa Claus, Jack-in-the-Box (twice), Bonnie & Clyde, Rosemary's Baby, Uncle Sam, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Barbra Streisand, The Godfather, George Washington and many others for Mad.  In issue #183, Mingo drew Alf rolling a giant pizza out of a pizza parlor in his new job as delivery boy.  Mingo was a prolific commercial illustrator from Chicago whose best-known works occurred after age 60 thanks to Mad's publisher Gaines and editor Feldstein.

Although Richard Nixon had been retired for nearly two years, Mad writers were not finished with him.  Stan Hart shows him meeting with Ron Ziegler in San Clemente in  the "Mind Power Magazine" parody.  Lou Silverstone shows him wringing his hands with glee as Gerald Ford appears on television to pardon him in "Take It with a Grain of Salt When ..."  And, Silverstone jabs Nixon again in "Barfetta" who suggests that the principal of "Richard M. Nixon High School" should change the school's name to prevent students from "...stealing copies of exams ... lying ... cheating ... blackmailing teachers ... and (rigging) a school election."  Since his first appearance (Mad #23 "Gopo Gossum") in 1955, Nixon has been a favorite target of Mad writers and artists. [JAM 7/5/2010]

Look for Jaws and a cigar-smoking bird in "Barfetta."

(From reader Tony Perodeau) - "Another Davis-Silverstone collaboration, 'Take it with a Grain of Salt When ...' also appears to have been done in 1974 with its references to Nixon'x pardon and an attempt to make a TV series of the 'Planet of the Apes' franchise (the family's reaction as drawn by Davis was spot-on.)"

Departments:
Withdrawal Simpletons - Dum-Dum Afternoon
Don Martin - One Summer Day in the Jungle; One Afternoon Down Home
From Whom the Belch Tolls - A Mad Look at Burps Through History
Grinding Their Acts - Academy Awards for Public Servants
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Family Fare Warning - Other TV Guidance Announcements
Humane Being - Getting Involved
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Grooming
Mental Piece - Mind Power Magazine
An Affair to Dismember - Unweddings of the Future
Cy-NaCl - Take It with a Grain of Salt When
Disguise Da Limit - Barfetta

Fold-In - CIA