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Post by jason on Oct 29, 2020 20:41:06 GMT -5
It seems like the writers for Mad, especially in the comic years, were fond of the name "Melvin" (even the Are You A Red Dupe? editorial cartoon used the name). Was it an inside joke or just an inherently funny name?
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 29, 2020 20:44:06 GMT -5
I don't know, but maybe these guys would...  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 29, 2020 21:35:43 GMT -5
I suspect there was an inside joke there; but, it could just as easily be they thought it was a funny name.
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Post by tarkintino on Oct 30, 2020 6:41:58 GMT -5
It seems like the writers for Mad, especially in the comic years, were fond of the name "Melvin" (even the Are You A Red Dupe? editorial cartoon used the name). Was it an inside joke or just an inherently funny name? MAD's use of "Melvin" appeared to have been a random, running joke tossed on characters or situations, but came to become almost a code for something odd, weird ("Melvinized") and often the target of ridicule. Eventually, famed comedian Ernie Kovacs (1919- 1962) wrote for MAD between 1955-58 (with a running satire of Ripley's Believe It or Not!), and expanded the name to "Melvin Cowznofski," which was originally associated with early images of two characters, one a stupid-looking boy who would become Alfred E. Neuman.
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Post by MDG on Oct 30, 2020 8:41:18 GMT -5
It was one of those names coded as a "loser" type. This from '53:
(I was thinking for a moment that Eddie Bracken in "Miracle of Morgan's Creek" was Melvin, but he was given the simiar name "Norval")
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 30, 2020 9:49:11 GMT -5
It seems like the writers for Mad, especially in the comic years, were fond of the name "Melvin" (even the Are You A Red Dupe? editorial cartoon used the name). Was it an inside joke or just an inherently funny name? MAD's use of "Melvin" appeared to have been a random, running joke tossed on characters or situations, but came to become almost a code for something odd, weird ("Melvinized") and often the target of ridicule. Eventually, famed comedian Ernie Kovacs (1919- 1962) wrote for MAD between 1955-58 (with a running satire of Ripley's Believe It or Not!), and expanded the name to "Melvin Cowznofski," which was originally associated with early images of two characters, one a stupid-looking boy who would become Alfred E. Neuman.
I've read quite a bit about the history of Mad and I agree. As far as I can tell it's just a funny name that became a running joke. |
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 30, 2020 15:20:57 GMT -5
At Marvel I guess it was the name Irving. In England someone could be a right Herbert (or 'Erbert).
The three guys whose photo I posted are/were WA state group The Melvins. I forget every group from WA might not be internationally famous. There might not have been a Nirvana without Buzzo and cohorts blazing the trail (so we could blame them I suppose). They took their name in homage to Mad.
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