Harvey Kurtzman

The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America

By: Bill Schelly

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

This biography reveals the true story of Mad creator Harvey Kurtzman—the man who revolutionized humor in America.

Harvey Kurtzman created Mad, and Mad revolutionized humor in America. Kurtzman was the original editor, artist, and sole writer of Mad, one of the greatest publishing successes of the twentieth century. But how did Kurtzman invent Mad, and why did he leave it shortly after it burst, nova-like, onto the American scene?

For this heavily researched biography, Bill Schelly conducted new interviews with Kurtzman’s colleagues, friends, and family, including Hugh Hefner, R. Crumb, Jack Davis, and many others, and examined Kurtzman’s personal archives. The result is the true story of one of the twentieth century’s greatest humorists. Kurtzman’s family life, the details of the FBI’s investigation during the McCarthy Era, his legal battles with William M. Gaines (publisher of Mad), are all revealed for the first time. Rich with anecdotes, this book traces Kurtzman’s life from his Brooklyn beginnings to his post-Mad years, when his ceaseless creativity produced more innovations: new magazines, a graphic novel, and Little Annie Fanny in Playboy.

©2015 Bill Schelly. Introduction copyright © 2015 by Terry Gilliam (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Wonderful thank goodness for Harvey!

As a child I trusted Mad. It’s good to know of the man behind it.

Fantastic and in-depth

A wonderful biography of an extraordinary artist- a great read! I highly recommend this to anyone interested in comics, even if you’re not familiar with the genius of Kurtzman.

Man of the Century

This sensitive and thorough portrait of a great cartoonist reflects great ambition and succeeds. If you don’t come away weeping for humanity at the struggles, victories and tragedies of our saint, Harvey Kurtzman, and his miracles performed, promised and suppressed- then you didn’t understand the book or its subject. In the arts, no one more important lived in the 20th century. Let us all take off our hats and give thanks to this biography and the man it chronicles.

We shall not see his like again and the universe is different without him.