There were standard shift vehicles, phones attached to walls, and no remote control of televisions. There were plastic bread bags inside boots, no permanent press shirts and people walked places. And ... there was Alfred E Neuman. Remember Mad magazine? I read every single one I could get my hands on. It was sort of a quiet rebellion. Can't imagine where I found them -- maybe at Al's Dairy Bar on Columbus Avenue (Corry PA people will get that).
I cannot explain why some things pop into my head, but Alfred E Neuman suddenly dropped in the other day and I Googled him just to see his silly grin once again -- tooth missing and looking a lot like my neighbor Harrison -- at least as far as smile and attitude goes. Hard to believe that this "mascot' of Mad is now almost 70 years old. "Good grief, Charlie Brown". Once again --- where did the time go? Do you know/remember that he was even a write-in candidate for President one time? His relaxed "devil-may-care" attitude was somehow refreshing in the 50's and on for a long time. Maybe I wish I had some of that attitude these days.
Anyway -- then this happened -- totally unrelated but not. My son texted me a link to Oddly History on Instagram where they had posted photos of famous people when they were young. There were photos of Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Abraham Lincoln, Hillary Clinton in hippy garb, JFK, Stalin, and Teddy Roosevelt . Now here's the thing -- I cannot see even a hint of today's Joe Biden in the young Joe Biden photo, but 10 year old JFK bears a striking, and I mean an uncannily striking, resemblance to Alfred E Neuman. Seriously -- check it out. I certainly do not mean any disrespect to JFK... but at age ten he could have been on the cover of Mad as Alfred's twin brother. It's a chuckle of the day.
By the way -- the younger generation seems to have no idea of what I am talking about in the whole Alfred E Neuman and Mad thing. But then -- sometimes (often) I don't get what they are saying either. So we are even.
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