Customer Reviews

Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a child I used to save my paper-route money and buy MAD magazine and share it with my brother (or vise-versa at times). Many, many years later as an adult, I was very interested on how these guys could make this magazine so funny time after time and hear the 'real' stories told from adult to another. Some of the reviews of this book are undeserved and much too harsh in my opinion.

The author shares experiences at MAD that left an impression on him and made MAD what it was and what it is. Those events also helped to define the author, his style and how he got to where he is today.

This is what the book is about. To suggest the author should have censored stories is ridiculous. That defeats the purpose of the book. Why ask a question if you don't want to know the real answer, but instead some sugar-coated twist of the truth or omission? Ignorance is bliss, and other reviewers seem to punish the author for enlightening them and, by doing so, taking away some of their bliss.

If I wanted to read a story like that, I'd of picked up a work of fiction. This story is real and the author is very humble when he shares his perspectives with us. This is not biography of Prince Charles complaining how tough life is with all these servants and money around.

It's a tale of a true journey of both discovery and growth told in a humorous fashion in a way only a MAD writer could write it. I don't think the book was written for children, although I could find nothing truly offensive about it. The complaint about an S&M photograph is just ridiculous. Its a picture of a closet with leather chaps and such meant as joke. No one is wearing them.

If you can't face reality you have no business buying this book, let along being disappointed by it.

For me, I couldn't stop turning the pages. It's funny, it's true and it does what it's author intended for it to do. Answer all those questions I mentioned at the top of this review and why I purchased the book. How anyone could have expected anything different is beyond me. How anyone could suggest 'we don't talk about those things' is just poor advice. Closing your eyes or not talking about something does not change reality. To suggest the authors stories are inappropriate is like telling a professional chef how to cook. If you don't like the food, don't eat there and complain about it, go some where else.

I actually don't understand why people only rated 3 stars for this book. It's awesome once you actually READ IT! I think one of you voted 3 stars because you just wanna look at the pictures. I voted 5 stars because I actually READ it. (I'm sorry if you guys HAVE read it and rate it 3 stars) The cover of the book dosen't lie! It IS a hysterical tour behind the scenes. I'll let you in a little bit of detail, since I own the book. The WHOLE staff of MAD always abuse each other. Example: Dick DeBartolo wanted to speak to the founder "William M. Gaines" Then DeBartolo heard over the phone Gaines said "He's a pain in the ass!" There's alot more abusing before Gaines said "He's a pain in the ass!" I don't remember what else he said, but it's FUNNY!So enclosing, THIS BOOK ROCKS!

- The MADDEST fan of MAD magazine

This book is great! Well, that about does it. Have fun reading the book!

But in all fairness, this book is a great piece of literature. It is perfect for the diehard MAD fan. With only 28 calories per serving, you can trim your waistline as well! This book is a great value, using the exact same words as books costing $10, $20, $50 dollars more. STATISTICS - I counted 1,173 wisecracks made in the book, and several were even funny! This book contains 22 bonus pages, filled with DeBartolo's first works, as well as cooking and plumbing tips. The book also includes several forewords - 14, to be exact. I counted 83 chapters, 18 pictures of MAD covers, 3 MAD Minutes, and a partridge in a pear tree. In conclusion, buy the book already!

If you approach this book with no real preconceptions, this is an incredible book. It is not an objective portral of MAD Magazine or its founder; it's more like a personal homage from the author to Bill Gaines and the history of MAD.

Reading Gaines and reading about how MAD was a lesson in inspiration. Contrasted with the dull banality of everyday life, this book shines out like a technicolor monkey.

The excitement of the word comes with the first sentence and builds to a belly laugh a paragraph. Mr. Debartolo weaves a loving yarn spun from past memories of his association with MAD. The first person approach makes the reader take this ride of hilarity along with the author. I give the book 5 BRAVOS. I want more!

When I received this book as a gift, I wasn't sure whether or not to return it. Since then, I've read it 3 times or so. It's an addictive, funny memoir, told by a man who deservedly owns the title of "Mad's MADdest Writer". I have spoken with DeBartolo on several occaissions, and he put his heart and soul into this book, unlike what the first reviewer seems to think. This book is a fine choice for MAD fans and normal people alike.

A DeBartolo autobiography disguised as an insider's view of MAD, with enough effusive praise of Bill Gaines to satisfy those MAD fans who would like to sanctify the old devil. It is pretty obvious that this book was aimed at the MAD fans who will buy ANYTHING even remotely connected to the magazine. Yes, it is shameless commercialism at its worst. To his credit, DeBartolo really tries hard to make this book work, although most of the shtick has been done before, and better. Worthwhile elements in this mish-mosh are several funny 'forwards' and the artwork by various members of the Usual Gang of Idiots. Don't waste your money on this one.

Reading MAD magazine as a youngster in the 1960s and '70s, and checking in with it occasionally as an adult, I always assumed that the "usual gang of idiots" credit line and the other self-deprecating references within the magazine were the sly, tongue-in-cheek creations of a group of witty intellectuals who understood their audience well. After reading this bumpy, poorly written and -edited puff piece, though, I now believe the MAD crew is truly a group of low-life, low-brow yahoos. My opinion of author Dick DeBartolo, the late Bill Gaines and group hit a nadir from which it's not going to recover when I read, with growing incredulity, DeBartolo's account of part of a MAD staff trip to Thailand. He guilelessly tells, in his amateurish "gee-whiz" prose, of the group's nightly patronage of a Thai brothel, and would have us chuckle at the fact that he and Gaines had sex with the same prostitute on consecutive nights. That such a thing would happen is not particularly shocking -- but that DeBartolo would put it in his book, guilelessly and without any seeming awareness of its offensive potential, among cute anecdotes about hijinx with African animals and Roman ruins is a stroke of naivete so stunning as to make one wonder if the book was read by ANYONE other than the author before it went to print. I said this book was for fanatics only, but on second thought, if you want to remain a MAD devotee, perhaps you ought to pass. It's not even funny.

This book is boring, poorly written and disgusting. All Debartolo
does is make Mad look like a has-been long lost and sold-out business. On top of this, there is a rather disturbing homoerotic S&M photograph midway through the book, which I still can't understand why its there, as it has no place in the context of the book, and it's inclusion is not explained at all.
I really get the idea that this book was not even welcomed by the Mad staff, and that Debartolo made a mistake that he knew he had to finish once it was begun. Save your money and buy the other book about Mad called Completely Mad - its much better.