Mad #95 (Albert Feldstein) - 43-Man Squamish Issue - June 1965

The single best piece of humor writing that I have ever seen was in this issue of Mad.  Tom Koch's three pages of 43-Man Squamish could not have been better.  I was in college when I read about "untreated ibex hide stuffed with bluejay feathers" and a game in which teams line up on opposite sides of a pentagonal field.  I suppose it helps to be a sports fan.  However, I was not alone.  This article proved to be one of the most popular ever for Mad.

This is probably the first issue to make reference to a homosexual stereotype.  Al Jaffee's "HairGoo" magazine parody includes "Mr. Teddy" who has "a brilliant idea for a gay new hairdo" and, completes "a new creation fit for a queen" (himself).  In the middle of the 1960s, Mad reflected many of the aspects of the current culture: surfing movies, topless bathing suits, Playboy bunnies and Peyton Place.

Number 95 also marks the return ("Mad's Modern Believe It Or Nuts!") of the parody of Ripley's Believe It Or Not.  The previous parodies ("Strangely Believe It") appeared many times in Mads 33-42.  The feature ended abruptly with the untimely death of Ernie Kovacs. [MADlog #13]

Bill Gaines is on the Rules Committee. (page 23)

Departments:
Television - A TV Scene We'd Like to See (Mr. Novak)
It Surfs You Right - Mad Visits a Typical Teenage Beach Movie
Getting Even with the Odd - Mad's Modern Believe It or Nuts
Off the Beaten Sound-Track - If Kids Used Movie Cliches in Everyday Life
Hair-'Em, Scare-'Em - HairGoo
There's a Soccer Born Every Minute - 43-Man Squamish
Talk of the Towns - The Sights and Sounds of the U.S.A. (Smalltown)
Iambic Speedometer - The Modern Highwayman
Nuts with Bolts - The Mad Gun-Owners (And Other Small Bores) Primer
Kiddin' on the Keys - Typewri-Toons
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Spring
Billfold-Out - A Celebrity's Wallet (Hugh M. Hefner's)
One Horsing-Around Town - Passion Place

Fold-In - April Fool