Mad #81 (Albert Feldstein) - Eight Ball Issue - September 1963

Al Jaffee was the star of Mad #81.  Although several artists (Davis, Elder and Wood) have drawn as many pages, Jaffee became the first writer to receive credit for 16 pages in one issue.  For the first time since writers received credit, neither Frank Jacobs nor Larry Siegel had an article.  Jaffee's Popular Scientific Mechanics (with Clarke) was another classic Mad parody of other magazines.  He also found time to write about television commercial breaks (also with Clarke) and comic strip characters (with Wood).  Mr. Jaffee has established himself as the most clever of Mad writers with articles that challenge the technical knowledge of the readers.  When Al writes, get ready to learn something.

Another treat from this issue was the return of writer E. Nelson Bridwell.  His articles always have a touch of "horror".  See Mads numbered 34, 40, 53 and 69.  Unfortunately, his article ("New Movie Monsters from Everyday Life") was drawn by Joe Orlando instead of Wally Wood.  The combination of Wood and Bridwell had produced some classic horror parodies that helped to define the Mad style in the early years. [MADlog #13]

"Reaming Flozbits to Increase Multiphase Bleek Grunz Converter Output Efficiency" (page 42)

Departments:
And the Brand Played On - Labels We Should've Seen
Horror Things by You? - Movie Monsters from Everyday Life
Don Martin - The Class Program; Another Brain Operation; A Domestic Scene
Term Warfare - On the Beach - In the Technology of the Cold War
Jest in Time - If Today's Comedians Performed in the Past
Joke and Dagger - Spy Vs. Spy; Spy Vs. Spy Vs. Spy
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Summer Camp
Stepping Away from the Pitch - Beating TV Commercial Breaks
A Cure for the Common Cold - Mad's Wonder Drugs for Common Teenage Ailments
Oy-Vay-All Boats - Off the Deep End
What Mortals These Fools Be - If Comic Strip Characters Behaved Like Real People
Where's the Fire - A Mad Look at Motorcycle Cops
For Whom the Fools Tool - Popular Scientific Mechanics