Origins Image tablet calendar (1908) The precise origin of the image used for Alfred E. Neuman is unknown. Among the earliest known images is an advertisement for Atmore's Mince Meat, Genuine English Plum Pudding. Author Maria Reidelbach wrote, "Dating from 1895, this is the oldest verified image of the boy. ... The kid's features are fully developed and unmistakable, and the image was very likely taken from an older archetype ..." A description of the stage play's advertisement was published in the
Hartford Courant, 31 October 1894, using words that could easily be describing the character of Alfred E. Neuman. The paper reported that the "comic, red-headed urchin with a joyous grin all over his freckled face, whose phiz [face] is the trademark of the comedy, is so expressive of the rollicking and ridiculous that
the New York Herald and
the Evening Telegram have applied it to political cartoon purposes." Elements of the plot of the play explain why the character has adult and childlike features, why the character is dressed as he is, and how he may have lost his tooth. The original
New Boy image was published with a two-part phrase that is similar in tone to Neuman's, "What? Me worry?" catch phrase: "What's the good of anything? – Nothing!" A face virtually identical to Neuman's appears in the 1923 issue of the
University of Minnesota's humor magazine
The Guffer above the caption "Medic after passing con exam in
p. chem." Another near-identical face shows on the logo for Happy Jack Beverages, a soda drink produced by the A.B. Cook company in 1939. Another image appeared as aircraft "
nose art" on an
American World War II bomber, over the motto "Me Worry?" Neuman's image was also used derisively in political ads to depict supporters of a rival candidate, implying that only an idiot would vote for the advertiser's opponent. In 1940, those opposing
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's third-term reelection bid distributed postcards with a similar caricature bearing the caption, "Sure, I'm for Roosevelt". In some instances the "idiot" implication may have been used as a
Jewish caricature, as
Carl Djerassi's autobiography claims that in
Vienna after the
Anschluss, he saw posters with a similar face and the caption
Tod den Juden ["Death to Jews"].
Eastern Michigan University held an exhibit and symposium in 2008, on the evolution of Neuman images dating back to 1877.
Name choice The
EC editors grew up listening to the radio, and this was frequently reflected in their stories, names, and references. The name "Alfred E. Neuman" derived from comedian
Henry Morgan's ''Here's Morgan'' radio series on
Mutual,
ABC, and
NBC. One character on his show had a name that was a reference to composer
Alfred Newman, who scored many films and also composed the
familiar fanfare that accompanies
20th Century Fox's opening film logo. In turn, Henry Morgan's possible inspiration was the character "Sir
Henry Morgan", played by
Laird Cregar in
The Black Swan (1942). Newman wrote the
Oscar-nominated
score for that film. The
Mad staff enjoyed Morgan's sarcastic, brash broadcasts and took note; they reworked the name into
Neuman, as Kurtzman explained in a 1975 press release: In 2012, longtime editor
Nick Meglin offered an exasperated, shorter version of the name choice:
Motto Neuman's famous
motto is the intellectually incurious "What, me worry?" This was changed for one issue to "Yes, me worry!" after the
Three Mile Island accident in 1979. On the cover of current printings of the paperback
The Ides of Mad, as rendered by long-time cover artist Norman Mingo, Neuman is portrayed as a
Roman bust with his catchphrase engraved on the base, translated into
Dog LatinQuid, Me Anxius Sum? Mad magazine Harvey Kurtzman first spotted the image on a postcard pinned to the office bulletin board of
Ballantine Books editor
Bernard Shir-Cliff. "It was a face that didn't have a care in the world, except mischief", recalled Kurtzman. Shir-Cliff was later a contributor to various magazines created by Kurtzman. In November 1954, the image made its
Mad debut on the front cover of Ballantine's
The Mad Reader, a paperback collection of reprints from the first two years of
Mad. The character's first appearance in the comic book was on the cover of
Mad #21 (March 1955), in a tiny image as part of a mock advertisement. A rubber mask bearing his likeness with "idiot" written underneath was offered for $1.29 ().
Mad switched to a magazine format starting with issue #24, and Neuman's face appeared in the top, central position of the illustrated border used on the covers, with his now-familiar signature phrase "What, me worry?" written underneath. Initially, the phrase was rendered "What? Me worry?" These borders were used for five more issues, through
Mad #30 (December 1956). The character was also shown on page 7 of Mad #24 as "Melvin Coznowski" and on page 63 as "Melvin Sturdley". In later issues he appeared as "Melvin Cowsnofsky" or "Mel Haney". In
Mad #25, the face and name are shown together on separate pages, as are Neuman and Mel Haney. The crowded cover shot on
Mad #27 marked Neuman's first color appearance. Mad #24 had two appearances by a different Alfred E. Neuman, portrayed as a little man in a traditional
morning suit, with a mustache, slicked-over hair, and spectacles.
Al Feldstein took over as
Mads editor in 1956, and he seized upon the face: Mingo's defining portrait was used on the cover of
Mad #30 in late 1956 as a supposed write-in candidate for the presidency, and it fixed his identity and appearance into the version that has been used ever since. From 1958 to 1962, Mingo focused on his advertising work. During Mingo's absence,
Frank Kelly Freas rendered Neuman for
Mad. Mingo's total surpassed Freas' in 1965, and his leading status endured until 2016, when current contributor Mark Fredrickson became the most prolific
Mad cover artist with his 98th cover. Neuman has appeared in one form or another on the cover of nearly every issue of
Mad and its spinoffs since that issue and continuing to the present day, with a small handful of exceptions. Two such departures were
Mad #233 (September 1982) which replaced Neuman's image with that of
Pac-Man, and
Mad #195 (December 1977) which instead featured the message "Pssst! Keep This Issue Out of the Hands of Your Parents! (Make 'Em Buy Their Own Copy!)". Even when Neuman is not part of the cover gag, or when the cover is entirely text-based, his disembodied head generally appears in miniature form. The most notorious Neuman-free cover was #166 (April 1974), which featured a human hand giving the profane "
middle finger" gesture while declaring
Mad to be "The Number One Ecch Magazine". Some newsstands that normally carried
Mad chose not to display or sell this issue. Neuman's ubiquity as a grinning cover boy grew as the magazine's circulation quadrupled, but the single highest-selling issue of
Mad depicted only his feet. The cover image of issue #161, spoofing the 1972 film
The Poseidon Adventure, showed Neuman floating upside-down inside a life preserver. The original art for this cover was purchased at auction in 1992 for $2,200 by Annie Gaines, the widow of
Mad founder and publisher
William Gaines, and subsequently given on permanent loan to
Mad writer
Dick DeBartolo. The image was copied in 1998 for issue #369 by famed illustrator
Mick McGinty, spoofing the hit film
Titanic. ==Legacy==