Mad #33 (Albert Feldstein) - Axolotl Issue - June 1957

"Axolotl" appeared out of nowhere eleven times in No. 33.  It was part of a subscription ad, the name of a Bavarian linguist, a vending machine product, the name on a boat, medical advice, a bar sign, the general store, a farmer's crop, the name of a ship, a name on a crate and a "Strangely Believe It" item.  This can not be a coincidence.  There must have been a memo from the editor: "The word is axolotl, use it!"

Several readers noted the "Axolotl" is the second word in a poem by David McCord.  The dictionary definition is: "any of several larval salamanders of the genus Ambystoma found in mountain lakes of Mexico and the western U.S. ordinarily living and breeding in the larval condition but being capable, when the pond it inhabits dries up, of gradually losing the gills and fins while beginning to breathe air at the surface and of eventually emerging as an adult salamander." [PSA2]

Encyclopedia is condensed to two pages. ("Reader's Disgust" - back cover)

Reader Tony Perodeau's favorite is "The Unfortunate Part of Feeding Pigeons Homemade Popcorn"

Departments:
Spoil-Sports - Baseball's Hall of Shame
Movies - Foreign Movies
Shopping - Super-Duper Markets Force-out-the-Small-Retail-Grocer Gala Sale
Soft-Sell Advertising - Future TV Ad
Ernie Kovacs - Kovacs' Strangely Believe It!
Traveler's Aid - The Railroad Timetable
Section 8 - Why I Left the Army and Became a Civilian
Wild Life - The Unfortunate Part of Feeding Pigeons Homemade Popcorn
Out-of-Order - Vending Machines of the Future
Henry Morgan - The Truth About Cowboys
Signed, Sealed and Undelivered - Dead Letters
Show-Off - Mad Tickets
Eddie Lawrence - The Old Philosopher
Science - The Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures 
People - Hollywood Is Ruining Marlin Brando
Having a Ball - High-School Dance
Hollywood - Scenes We'd Like to See