Mad #60 (Albert Feldstein) - First Spy vs. Spy Issue - January 1961

Antonio Prohias burst upon the Mad scene with his clever spies in this issue.  The anti-Castro Cuban provided a much-needed change to the publication.  Mad number 60 offered three pages of the spies with the black winning one, the white winning one, and one tie.  Although devoid of the inside Mad humor, this simple but popular feature has continued to the present day by the Mad staff long after the death of Prohias.

The other outstanding feature of this issue was the very clever double cover which allowed Mad to be the first magazine on the newsstand to congratulate John Kennedy on his election.  There were not only two covers, but two indices and two letter pages for an issue which was actually two 24-page issues of Mad in one.  The Kennedy issue and Nixon issue were upside down upon one another.

Several readers noted that "axolotl" is the second word in a poem by David McCord.  The dictionary definition is: "any larval salamander ... found in lakes and ponds of the southwestern U.S. ..."  [MADlog #13]

Arm of dress is in pocket of pants on clothes line. (page 5)

Departments:
Getting to Snow You - The Producer and I
Joke and Dagger - Spy Vs. Spy
Magna Cum Louder - TeeVee University
Ist Das Nicht Der U.S.A.? - European Tourist's Guide to the U.S.
Inside-Ouch - A Mad Peek Behind the Scenes
Throwing the Bulls - Naked Town
Don Martin - 20 Years in the Shipping Dept.
Bored of Education - Educational Toys
Claptrap - Warm-Ups for Everything
Berg's-Eye View - Dieting
Rah! Rah! Black Sheep - Mad College Songs and Cheers
No Holds Bard - The Mad Shakespeare Primer