THE MOST SINCERE FORM OF FLATTERY

When a classmate from Cooper Union learned of my meeting with Mr. Al Jaffee, of MAD magazine Fold-in fame, he rightly asked if I showed Mr. Jaffee my "works."  What works?

Many years ago when I was an engineering student at The Cooper Union, I was active with the school newspaper, as a proof reader and a cartoonist.  Every April Fool's Day the newspaper would do a special parody issue, at least while I was there.  I clearly recall parodies of People, USA Today, New York, and MAD.  I understand in earlier years the newspaper would retain its typical format but the news were all made-up or satirical.  But for the magazines that I mentioned, the newspaper staff painstakingly made the special issue look very much like the real thing, including page format, logo, and design.  At first glance you would think it was the real thing.  Of course, the magazine name would change slightly, so we had MADD instead of MAD, Cooper People and not just Cooper.  Maybe we had Cooper Today, as I do not have a copy of the USA Today parody and memory is not that good.

I had a great time contributing to the MAD parody.  The magazine had only twelve pages, counting the front and back covers, as well as the inside front and inside back cover.  I drew four of the twelves pages and someone supplied the stories.  I am sure I had some current copies of MAD magazine of the time to base my drawings on.  The following two strips, page one and the inner back page (where Mr. Jaffe would normally have his fold-in) are imitation of Don Martin's drawings.  It has been many years since I drew these pictures, but I studied Master Martin's art well, as I made sure the characters have funny, extra-long feet that bend downward.  I happened to recently bought a two-volume collection of all of Master Martin's works.

For a short while, Cooper Union used the nearby National Bookstore as the school bookstore.  The store is no longer there now, its place occupied by FedEx/Kinko, which is right next to the Starbucks, which itself used to be Riviera Café.  The staff at National Bookstore were notorious for being unfriendly.  We had to check our bags at the front and they did not accept a few forms of money.  Of course, when you do a satire, you usually exaggerate things a bit.

  Bowlmor was the favorite bowling alley for Cooper Union student.  I never visited the place but did know Dean Baker as someone who liked to talk.