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MAD’s Buttons and Pins Cleanup!

We’re still cleaning up our stockroom! Today we found pins — lots of pins that we thought you might like to see. This first photo has some of the rarest.

Here's the story on them:

The white cloisonné pin with the red logo was one of several pins given away as a premium if you subscribed to MAD in the 1980s. Other pins in the subscription giveaway were the two featuring Spy vs. Spy, the MAD Zeppelin, Arthur the Plant, Flip the Bird and the black and white Alfred pin.

The blue cloisonné pin with the yellow MAD logo was a “staff and freelancers only” pin Annie Gaines had made during the same time.

The 14k gold logo pin in the upper right was a “staff only” pin Bill Gaines commissioned in either the '60s or '70s and is quite rare.

The small Spy pin (second row down, on the far right) was a mistake (too small) and very few, if any, went out to subscribers.

The football helmet and the gold Alfred head were pins that the pin salesman, Brian Fitterman, had made just for fun. The Alfred is very rare, the football helmet less so.

Over the years, several pins were commissioned to be given away at San Diego Comic-Con, among them the yellow Alfred head, the red logo, the square Alfred and Spy pins and the small "Vote Alfred" pin.

The large "Alfred for President" pin was made to promote the pop-up book, MAD About Politics, while the "WOOF" pin was made to promote the book Bo Confidential.

The rectangular "Alfred for President" pin (second row, left) is an original from the first "Alfred E. Neuman for President" kit which was sold in the magazine in 1960. It is also somewhat rare.

Before there were cloisonné pins, there were traditional buttons. The next photo is a complete set of all the different buttons made as premiums for subscribing to MAD.

How many of all these do you have? Which are your favorites? If you could only possess one, which one would you choose? Let us know in the comments because…you never know! (Hint: Don’t pick the 14k gold one!)

More Nude Celebrity Photos from Hacked Phones

This week, Scarlett Johansson became the latest celebrity to have her cell phone hacked and private nude photos of her leaked on the internet. As it turns out, the Johansson case is but the tip of the iceberg. Dozens of other celebrities have had their phone hacked, but the hackers have had the decency not to leak the photos obtained. Until now.

Editor’s Note: At the time of this posting, The Idiotical was unable to independently verify that these photos are real and not simply the work of a sick, twisted individual with Photoshop.

Upcoming “Edgy” Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Flavors

This week Ben & Jerry’s announced their newest ice cream flavor — Schweddy Balls. This on the heels of another — Clusterfluff. What has happened to this once great, All-American ice cream brand? They are clearly traveling down a rocky road and it’s only a matter of time before these edgy names leave a bad taste in consumers' mouths. We can only imagine what additional flavors they plan announcing in the weeks ahead.

Be Afraid! "Horrifyingly MAD" — A New Book Exclusive to Barnes & Noble!

Why wait to be horrified by the next Republican Presidential debate when you can simply go on down to your local Barnes & Noble (or bn.com) and pick up a copy of the latest MAD book? This soon-to-be-bestseller contains such classic MAD movie satires as The Ecchorcist, Rosemia’s Boo-Boo, The Bland Witch Project and The Calamityville Horror. Plus Sergio Aragones’ A MAD Look At…A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Mummy, Zombies and The Twilight Saga. Plus many, many more delightful articles that we could list here, but nobody reads long blog posts. Who has the time or the attention span? In fact, we would bet very, very few readers are still reading the very words that we’re typing right now. And even those of you who are still ”reading” are probably skimming at best, and you’re mere nano-seconds away from dumping out and going to some sick, twisted site that makes you feel "special” in a way that makes us want to take a shower. Oh, a shower. You’d like that now, wouldn’t you? All nice and wet and sudsy? Get some help, creep.

Other Problems Caused by Today's Cartoons

The announcement yesterday that SpongeBob causes hyperactivity in preschoolers is but the tip of the iceberg. Preliminary results of other studies of popular cartoons point to even more ominous affects on our nation’s children.

The Startling Similarities and Disturbing Differences between Kate Plus 8 and Borders Bookstore Both Ending Their Runs This Week


Borders Bookstore closes its doors for good this week, the same week Kate Gosselin’s show Kate Plus 8 ends its infamous run on TLC. Two disparate stories with nothing in common? Think again.

    • John Gosselin hasn’t been in either in years

    • Borders problems started when they expanded too much too quickly. Ditto Kate’s uterus

    • The wind rushing through the empty Borders Store is identical to the sound of the wind rushing through Kate’s empty head

    • Borders already took 90% off, Kate is still mulling the Playboy offer

    • Borders went out of business because we’ve become a country of shallow, anti-intellectual non-readers, ironically the very reasons Kate’s show became popular in the first place

The MAD 9-11 Cover — The Untold Story

The cover of MAD # 411, which went on sale shortly after the 9-11 attack, was not the cover originally planned for that issue. In fact, another cover was already printed and awaiting to be bound with the magazine’s interior pages when the attack occurred. The working title of the planned cover was “The New York City Marathon” and it was written and illustrated by longtime MAD contributor John Caldwell. Here it is: Like the rest of the nation, we were stunned by the 9-11 attacks and it just didn't occur to us that a MAD cover showing a throng of runners racing through the canyons of downtown Manhattan, while an oblivious Alfred jumped over a dead body, could be interpreted as anything but a silly marathon gag. Fortunately, the magazine’s printer at the time, Quad Graphics in Wisconsin, called and asked if we were absolutely sure that was the image we wanted on the cover of MAD given the recent events. We didn't. With only one day to conceive and deliver a new cover to the printer and still make our shipping schedule, Associate Art Director Nadina Simon disappeared into her office and soon returned with what became the cover of MAD #411. The Alfred used is the classic Norman Mingo Alfred from issue #30, the very first time he appeared on the cover as Alfred E. Neuman. Not a traditional MAD cover by any stretch of the imagination, but given the time and mood of the country, it seemed right.

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