Mad #181 (Albert Feldstein) - Bicentennial Issue - March 1976

Mad celebrated the bicentennial with gap-toothed George Washington on the cover and a three-page article about historical reenactments.

However the big story of the issue is the absence of caricature drawings by Mort Drucker.  He had held the lead-article, page-four position (except for "Caper Goon" that appeared on page 40 of Mad #164) for twenty consecutive issues (Nos. 161-180) with his movie-parody drawings.  Drucker's spot was taken by Angelo Torres with his illustration of Stan Hart's movie parody ("Rollerbrawl").  Drucker returned with three movie parodies in Mad #182. 

Holland artist Jan Van Wessum (1932-1988) made his first of only two Mad appearances in the issue. [JAM 7/2/2010]

Look for Smokey Bear in "Rollerbrawl" and Mad editors Feldstein, Meglin and DeFuccio in "Exciting Abbreviations for Low Glamor Jobs."

Departments:
Future Schlock - Rollerbrawl
The Rhymes We Are A-Changing - Great Poems - Rewritten
Don Martin - One Fine Day Downtown; Once Upon a Time in the Black Hills of South Dakota
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Handicrafts
Poll-ish Joke - The Mad Readers Survey
Fuel-ish Notions - Some Mad Energy-Saving Devices
Caught in a Bind - A Collection of Paired Mad Thick And Thin Books
Holland-Daze Source - Meet Jan Van Wessum - A Refreshing Dutch Treat
Initial Impression - Exciting Abbreviations for Low Glamor Jobs
Joke And Dagger - Spy vs. Spy
Facultease - The Alfred E. Neuman University "Hard Sell" Catalogue
Yankee-Panky - Historical Scenes We'd Like to See Reenacted
Bugs Funny - The Cockroach
Ad-Mission Impossible - If TV Commercials Told Us Everything

Fold-In - Handgun