Mad Magazine Poster # 6 Alfred E. Neuman Maze by David Anson Russo

Mad Magazine Poster # 6 Alfred E. Neuman Maze by David Anson Russo

Alfred E. Neuman is the mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine Mad. The character's distinct smiling face, parted red hair, gap-tooth smile, freckles, protruding nose, and scrawny body, actually first emerged in U.S. iconography decades prior to his association with the magazine, appearing in late nineteenth-century advertisements for painless dentistry—the origin of his "What, me worry?" motto. However, he actually first appeared in advertisements for an 1894 play, called "The New Boy", which portrayed a variation of him with the quote, "What's the good of anything?—Nothing!". He also appeared in the early 1930s, on a presidential campaign postcard with the caption "Sure I'm for Roosevelt". The magazine's editor Harvey Kurtzman claimed the character in 1954, and he was named "Alfred E. Neuman" by Mad's second editor, Al Feldstein, in 1956. Since his debut in Mad, Neuman's likeness has appear