Mad #145 (Albert Feldstein) - Five Easy Pages Issue - September 1971

The Lou Silverstone/Mort Drucker parody of Five Easy Pieces was the best of this issue.  In many ways, the Mad parody was better than the rather depressing movie.  Drucker created 33 excellent caricatures of actor Jack Nicholson who was just finding his place as a leading anti-hero.  Along the way, Drucker found space for additional caricatures of Spiro Agnew, Liberace, Schroeder, Leonard Bernstein, Peter Fonda, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Joe Namath and Lucy van Pelt. 

Mad tells the truth.  On page 39 of the Dick DeBartolo/Donald K. Epstein article ("Excuses, Excuses!"), the college student responds to the question: "Why are you always studying so hard?" with the exact answer I would have given: "Because if I flunked, I'd lose my student deferment ... get drafted into the Army ... be sent overseas ... and the Viet Cong would kill me!"  In fact, by the time Mad #145 was on the newsstands, I was already in my second year in the U.S. Navy avoiding the draft after studying hard enough to graduate from college to avoid the draft hoping that the draft would end (but it didn't).  [JAM 3/1/2010]

Departments:
Callous Key Bum - Five Easy Pages (And Two Hard Ones)
Don Martin - Early One Morning; One Day in a Pet Shop
Malignant Growth - Then ... And Now (Or We've Come a Long Way, Baby!)
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Boating
Chewing Glum - The Mad Orthodontia Primer
Abandon Ship of State! - That Sinking Feeling
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Switch Pitch - What Coaches Say ... In Public And in Private
Wow "Now" Cards - Greeting Cards for the Sexual Revolution
Fowl Play - Hawks & Doves
Hand Shakedown - A Mad Look at Palm Readers
Straddle Defense - Excuses, Excuses ... Past And Present
Sing-Sing Sing - Future Prison Record Albums
The Id and the Inhibit-Id - The Foul and the Prissy Cats

Fold-In - Hot Pants