A MAD World : Original Artwork From the Irreverent Magazine That Lampooned Everything Goes to Auction

What, him worry? Not Jerry Weist.

He didn’t seem mad at all as he stood alone Thursday in a Beverly Hills auction gallery, surrounded by part of a 2,000-picture collection of original MAD magazine artwork he’s trying to sell.

Weist is convinced that not everyone who grew up reading MAD magazine turned out like that hapless What-Me-Worry kid, Alfred E. Neuman--the freckle-faced clod with the missing front tooth who has appeared on every cover since 1952.

Its fans say the irreverent comic book liberated the Cold War generation by lampooning the Establishment decades ahead of stand-up comics, “Saturday Night Live” and Spy magazine.

Those rebellious teen-age readers who snickered back then over the magazine’s put-downs are now middle-aged and moneyed. And plenty nostalgic, Weist predicted as he stood with a Neuman-like smile on his face before a MAD magazine cover hanging on the wall of Sotheby’s.

The 1970 cover depicted a grinning Alfred E. struggling with a broom and trying to do what Weist hopes the auction will do: clean up.

The artwork is from the collection of MAD founding publisher William M. Gaines, who died three years ago at age 70.

Gaines was a rowdy, roly-poly man who saved every cartoon panel ever drawn by artists that he referred to as “the usual gang of idiots.” He remained in charge, even after the magazine changed hands in 1961 and eventually ended up under the ownership of Time-Warner.

That conglomerate is behind the auction scheduled for Oct. 20 in New York. Officials have promised that a percentage of the expected $1-million profit will go to the magazine’s original artists.

Their distinctive styles are evident in the 28-panel sample that is on display through Saturday at the Rodeo Drive gallery.

There’s Mort Drucker’s action-filled “Battyman” parody from 1989. Norman Mingo’s portrait-like depiction of pop singers from 1966. Hilariously detailed pieces by Sergio Aragones and Don Martin. Antonio Prohias’ “Spy vs. Spy” capers. Surprise-filled “fold-ins”--a MAD staple--by Al Jaffee.

Weist, a 47-year-old Brooklyn artist, is Sotheby’s consultant for the auction. He said he has been a MAD fanatic since age 11, when he took part of his weekly pay for working his father’s Wichita, Kan., grocery from the magazine rack.

He was soon hooked on MAD’s offbeat spoofs of movies such as “The Sound of Mucas” and the strange terms it tossed around in its cartoon panels--words like “potrzebie.” Finally, “One day I called directory assistance in New York and got Bill Gaines’ home number and called him. We stayed friends,” Weist said.

MAD’s circulation is said to have peaked at about 2.4 million in 1973 as the last of the Baby Boomers hit junior high school. Recent circulation was reported at 584,684.

Early MAD readers who managed to hide their copies from their mothers and hang on to them are happy they did.

Sherman Oaks jazz guitarist Grant Geissman has turned part of his home into a MAD museum.

“I have every magazine and all of the memorabilia--the Alfred E. Neuman for President kits, even the underwear,” said Geissman, 42, who also has written a book about the magazine and was scheduled to deliver a lecture Thursday night to more than 100 fellow MAD collectors.

MAD made him a happy kid, Geissman said. And a happy man.