He was just a goofy little guy — something of a loner, maybe – who just showed up one day in December 1956. And – for better or worse – he never left.

The first appearance on the newsstands of the jug-eared, gap-toothed, clueless smiling “Idiot Kid,” aka: Alfred E. Neuman struck a new beginning for MAD Magazine. Alfred, with the “What - Me Worry?” slogan was a marketing stroke of genius, becoming an iconic image for Baby Boomers during the “duck and cover” Cold War era. The face – created by artist Norman Mingo - became so well known by 1963 that a letter mailed from New Zealand with no address other than Alfred E.’s picture managed to find its way to the magazine’s editorial office in New York City.

“Mingo got it right – perfect – right out of the box,” says MAD expert and collector Grant Geissman. “It became the archetypical image of MAD – the blueprint. Every artist after that had to refer to that image. It was perfect.”

Since then, Alfred has appeared on the cover of MAD in several guises: Santa Claus, Darth Vader, George Washington, King Kong, George W. Bush and more.

Since his 1956 debut as a candidate for President, he has since run several times with the slogan: “You could do worse … and always have!”

Alfred E. and MAD, founded in 1952 by William Gaines and Harvey Kurzman, became widely popular for its mix of offbeat, absurd and irreverent – nothing was sacred – humor. For adolescent teens and a few enlightened adults, MAD drew out parodies of Hollywood films and satirical commentaries on pompous politicians and self-important celebrities. They were also especially brutal with Madison Avenue.

“I mean, MAD had great artists and writers,” Geissman, who authored the definitive book Collectibly MAD (Kitchen Sink Press, 1995), said. “Nothing was out of bounds for them. They operated on many different levels. When I was just a kid, maybe eight or nine years old, some of the stuff was going over my head. But, I knew something cool was going on.

”I mean this is where a kid first found out that maybe everything you were hearing on TV, the advertisers, might not be telling you the truth. Or the politicians you were listening to, just might be lying to you.

“This is where it all began. From MAD, we got the National Lampoon, we got Saturday Night Live – Belushi, Ackroyd, all those guys read MAD as kids. We got movies, like Animal House, from MAD. This is where we learned it all … and nothing was sacred, nothing was out of bounds.”

And, seemingly, nothing will be out of bounds at the Heritage Auction Galleries online sale of MAD historical memorabilia, scheduled to conclude on Friday, Nov. 14. The sale will feature some of the most significant art works used as illustrations in MAD.

“These 36 pieces were withheld from the three previous sales of the MAD archives at Heritage, Sothebys and Christie,” says current MAD publisher John Ficarra. “We wanted to hold onto them for as long as possible. Not as much as a tribute to the early history of MAD … but because these paintings were covering up quite a few holes in the walls. This auction leaves us no choice. Now we have to patch and paint.”

The magazine should be able to buy a lot of paint as the original Mingo painting used for the December 1956 cover is expected to sell for $30,000-50,000. This issue marked Alfred E’s first cover appearance on the magazine and featured a Democratic donkey and a Republican elephant in the background. Heritage staff members maintain this could be a very conservative bid. Especially conservative, considering that MAD collectors include a wide spectrum of Boomers many of whom are very well-heeled, such as movie creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

“I’m afraid to speculate on what that cover will bring,” Geissman says. “But, I personally think the price for MAD no. 30 will scare you to death. It’s going to be huge.”

Another Mingo-illustration of Alfred E. as Uncle Sam, used in MAD no. 126, is expected to bring a conservative $15,000-30,000.

Other pieces up for auction are the cover art for MAD no. 181, featuring Alfred as George Washington ($5,000-10,000); MAD no. 94 with Alfred reversing places with King Kong atop the Empire State building ($15,000-25,000); and MAD no. 243 cover of Superman reading MAD Magazine ($4,000-10,000).

Today, much of MAD’s influence has been diminished by cable television and the Internet.

“Kids don’t read as much as they used to,” Geissman said. “There’s too many video games and other stuff going on.”

But back copies of MAD Magazine show what America was like in the 1950s, when Cold War paranoia and a general culture in censorship, particular within literature for teens, prevailed.

In 1994, Brian Siano, writing for The Humanist, summed up what many collectors found in MAD:

“MAD was a revelation: it was the first to tell us that the toys we were being sold were garbage, our teachers were phonies, our leaders were fools, our religious counselors were hypocrites, and even our parents were lying to us about damn near everything.

“An entire generation had Williams Gaines for a godfather: this same generation later went on to give us the sexual revolution, the environmental movement, the peace movement, greater freedom in artistic expression, and a host of other goodies. Coincidence? You be the judge.”

Gaines, who died in 1992, meanwhile has offered his own view. When asked to cite MAD’s philosophy, he quickly quipped: “We must never stop reminding the reader what little value they get for their money.”

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Eric C. Rodenberg