Al Jaffee, Inventive Cartoonist at Mad Magazine, Dies at 102
For 55 years he created the fold-in (as opposed to, say, Playboy’s fold-out), giving readers a satirical double-take on whatever was going on in the news or elsewhere.
By Neil Genzlinger
April 10, 2023
Al Jaffee, a cartoonist who folded in when the trend in magazine publishing was to fold out, thereby creating one of Mad magazine’s most recognizable and enduring features, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 102.
His death, at a hospital, was caused by multi-system organ failure, his granddaughter Fani Thomson said.
It was in 1964 that Mr. Jaffee created the Mad Fold-In, an illustration-with-text feature on the inside of the magazine’s back cover that seemed at first glance to deliver a straightforward message. When the page was folded in thirds, however, both illustration and text were transformed into something entirely different and unexpected, often with a liberal-leaning or authority-defying message.
For instance, the fold-in from the November 2001 issue asked, “What mind-altering experience is leaving more and more people out of touch with reality?” The unfolded illustration showed a crowd of people popping and snorting various substances. But when folded, the image transformed into the Fox News anchor desk.
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