Friday Spill: A 48 Year Old MAD Magazine Tilley Parody
This MAD Magazine Eustace Tilley parody (published as the back cover of the March 1977 issue) somehow escaped my attention for 48 years. I just ran across it yesterday.
Without an actual copy in hand, I’ve no idea who the artist was. If you know, please let me know.
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More Reading:
Here’s a Spill piece from March of 2024 showing some other parody covers.
Here’s some info I got about the artists behind the Mad Magazine parody, from ChatGPT Deep Research:
MAD Magazine’s New Yorker Cover Parody (March 1977)
In the March 1977 issue of MAD Magazine (issue #189), the back cover featured a parody of The New Yorker’s cover – complete with a yellow diagonal banner proclaiming “A Magazine Cover We’d Like to See.” The artwork spoofs The New Yorker’s refined mascot, Eustace Tilley (the monocled dandy from the magazine’s first cover), by showing him being mugged at gunpoint in 1970s New York City. In essence, it imagines a New Yorker cover that candidly acknowledges the city’s crime problem, a humorous scenario MAD “would like to see.” The tagline “A Magazine Cover We’d Like to See” was not random; it reflects an occasional recurring format in MAD where the magazine proposed outrageous versions of covers, scenes, or ads “we’d like to see” for comedic effect . This New Yorker parody was one such installment in that running gag series.
Writer and Artist Credits
The New Yorker cover parody’s credits make it clear that the writer and illustrator were two different people. According to MAD’s own listing, the piece was written by Bill Johnson Jr. and illustrated by Bob Clarke . (Johnson conceived the gag and any accompanying text, while Clarke provided the artwork.) This credit confirms that the illustrator (Clarke) and the writer (Johnson) were not the same person. It was common in MAD for a writer to script a spoof and a separate artist to draw it, and that was the case here.
The Artist Bob Clarke
Bob Clarke – full name Robert J. Clarke – is the artist responsible for the illustration. He was a veteran illustrator for MAD Magazine and a member of its “Usual Gang of Idiots,” contributing to the magazine for decades. Clarke began working with MAD in the mid-1950s and eventually drew more than 600 pieces for the magazine . Renowned for his versatile, clean cartooning style, he could mimic other artists’ looks with ease – a skill perfect for parodies like a faux New Yorker cover. In fact, MAD’s editors considered him “a singular valuable asset to MAD” for his adaptability . Born in 1926, Robert “Bob” Clarke had a long career in advertising and satire; he continued illustrating for MAD into the 1990s and remained one of the magazine’s most prolific artists until his passing in 2013 . His work on the March 1977 New Yorker parody is a prime example of his ability to lampoon a highbrow publication with spot-on artistic fidelity and wit.
Sources:
https://madcoversite.com/mad189.html#:~:text=%2A%20Back%20Cover%20,%2F%20%2011%20art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Clarke_(illustrator)