From the Archives 88: Alfred E. Neuman, It's a Gas! (1963)

MAD Magazine is a humor magazine founded in 1952 by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines. It was extremely popular and influential in the mid-20th century, especially under editor Al Feldstein (1956-84), peaking in circulation at 2 million in 1974. It has published 550 regular issues, as well as hundreds of special editions. On July 2, 2019, MAD announced that it would stop publishing new issues by the end of the year.A 1963 issue of MAD included this flexi-disc, purporting to be MAD's mascot Alfred E. Neuman performing the song "It's a Gas," written by N. Blagman and S. Bobrick on the MAD label. The song was written by Norman Blagman and Sam Bobrick, and performed by Mike Russo, Jeanne Hayes, and the Dellwoods. The song apparently features Al Feldstein saying "It's a Gas!" and King Curtis on saxophone. It also features belches provided by the musicians, which were cut into the recording during post-production."It's a Gas" was originally recorded for RCA under the name the "Sweet Sick-teens." RCA released two songs from the session, but refused to release "It's a Gas" because it was in poor taste. MAD loved the track, and was delighted to include it with an issue of the magazine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.