Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Al Jaffee Explains How Mad Magazine Made American Humor Jewish
http://forward.com/culture/books/333672/al-jaffee-explains-how-mad-magazine-made-american-humor-jewish/* I remember some of this: they were also making fun of ourselves. We made fun of a certain kind of Yiddishkeit just by using these words. Farshimmelt. Furshlugenner. Potrzebie.
-- snip
Mad is famous for delivering pointed attacks on the powerful from a subversively left-wing perspective, and, according to Jaffee, this was because the first generation of MadKurtzman, Elder and Jaffee himself came from Jewish traditions. All the founders had grown up in Yiddish-speaking New York homes and became close friends at the High School of Music and Art. Raised in a world of Jewish humor and Borscht Belt schtick, this group of talented young men brought that background to Mad and in so doing made it the one of the most popular magazines in American history, reaching a pinnacle of 2 million circulation during the 1970s.
I asked Jaffee if he and the other writers, artists and editors considered their non-Jewish readers when they were using so much Yiddish, and he recalled that Kurtzman, the first editor, wanted funny meaningless words. Meaningless to the general reading public, but not meaningless to someone who grew up in a Jewish household. Overall, Kurtzmans philosophy was why do I think its funny? If I think its funny, other people will too. Even if it is these throwaway words. For the readers who did not know the Yiddish words and jokes, Jaffee felt the average reader in the country wouldnt have made a connection between these strange words and the fact that a lot of people working for Mad were Jewish. For them it would have been a jokey, funny, curse-like word. Yet over time, as non-Jewish readers learned the specific Yiddish language of Mad, even they began using Yiddish terms in their letters to the magazine.
During the magazines first decade, the word Jewish was never used, even though the Jewishness constantly came through in varied ways, from such overt markers as Yiddishisms and foods associated with Jews to less obvious one such as commentaries on postwar American indifference to the Holocaust, attacks on McCarthyism, subversive ideas about gender and challenges to suburbanization. I knew that the avoidance of the term Jewish was a common aspect of postwar Jewish American comedy, from the Marx Brothers to Sid Caesars Your Show of Shows, and I wondered whether it was a conscious choice or if the creators of Mad determined that there was no need to say Jewish or even Yiddish since it was already so obvious.
Jaffee explained to me that that his generation of Jewish artists was very sensitive to the fact that they were Jews in a non-Jewish world overshadowed by the Holocaust. In fact, the writers and artists of Mad used to joke amongst ourselves about looking too Jewish. You know, if you walked with your portfolio into an advertising agency, if you looked too Jewish or had a name like Ginsberg, you were dead meat. Whenever possible, the men changed their names to make them sound less Jewish. (For example, Jaffee changed his name from Abraham to something more American Alan, although he said he would not have done so if hed had to pay for it it was a free service to GIs.) It was not necessarily that they were ashamed of theirs names, but they didnt want to be pigeonholed.
For Jaffee, the decision not to advertise himself by wearing a Magen David had more to do with his family history: When Jaffees father brought him and his brothers back to the U.S. in 1933, his mother remained in Lithuania. Jaffee never saw her again, and she disappeared with the countless other Jews of Lithuania during the Nazi invasion.
I lived through a period when Jewish people were very nervous about flaunting their Jewishness, Jaffee said. Even after the war, you were aware that there were people out there who wanted to kill you just because you were Jewish. And its still around. So while Mad Magazine would have an intensely Jewish feel to it, the term would not be used.
Read more: http://forward.com/culture/books/333672/al-jaffee-explains-how-mad-magazine-made-american-humor-jewish/#ixzz40sKtNqEk
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
12 replies, 2078 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (19)
ReplyReply to this post
12 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Al Jaffee Explains How Mad Magazine Made American Humor Jewish (Original Post)
flamingdem
Feb 2016
OP
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)1. Best humor magazine ever. n/t
flamingdem
(39,793 posts)2. Agree. I grew up on it
I still think "snappy answer to stupid question" and other catch phrases of the different artists on a daily basis. Of course 'tis a shadow of its former self. Worst of all I can't read it for free in magazine stores since they don't carry it in many places now.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)3. Not the same once Don Martin left. n/t
flamingdem
(39,793 posts)4. Yeah, he was the best
haikugal
(6,476 posts)5. I have a subscription...
I loved it growing up but my father wouldn't let me read it, said it was communist propaganda....he and I never saw eye to eye.
Thanks for this post!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)7. I was lucky
my father read it with me.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)8. Yes, you were!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)11. My father was a hippy
As a teen, I thought myself conservative. It took me a while to realize how smart my father is.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)12. I grew up to be a hippy...
Dad was a brainwashed Reaganite, poor thing.
You had a fun Dad...it's funny how things turn out sometimes isn't it? I made sure my son got to read many different things and listen to a lot of different music. Very different from how I grew up.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)6. Wow, I never realized this
I was born in 68, and read a lot of MAD Magazine in the 70s and 80s. Best magazine ever.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)9. And I agree
Cracked was funny, but second rate
bvf
(6,604 posts)10. Bookmarked. Looks like a good read, thanks.