The Seattle Roots Of Mad Magazine Mascot Alfred E. Neuman

SEATTLE, WA — The owner of the beloved Mad Magazine confirmed this week the publication will cease to exist in its current form after 67 years. But the magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, will likely live on as a comedy icon — and in the annals of Puget Sound history.

Neuman's roots can be traced back to early 20th century Seattle publisher and designer Harry S. Stuff, according to researcher Peter Blecha, who published an essay about the character in 2016 for HistoryLink.org, the Washington state history online archive.

In 1914, Stuff designed and published a poster called "The Eternal Optimist," according to Blecha's research. It showed a grinning, gap-toothed half-wit with the phrase, "Me — worry?" at the bottom. The image went on to be used in everything from postcards to political advertisements.

The poster came amid Stuff's successful publishing and graphic design career in Seattle, according to Blecha. Stuff came to Puget Sound from the Midwest in 1902, opening a printer called Ivy Press. He published poetry and art magazines, and items for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909.

Stuff died in 1938, and it wasn't until the early 1950s that his "eternal optimist" would make it into Mad Magazine. Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman saw the image in the office of another New York Publisher and put it on the cover of a 1954 Mad Magazine book. In 1956, Mad editor Al Feldstein commissioned artist Norman Mingo to redesign the image, creating the character that would become the imbecile Alfred E. Neuman.

The image has appeared in just about every issue of Mad since then, sometimes used to satirize famous people — everyone from Michael Jackson and Barack Obama to Donald Trump.

Stuff's widow, Helen Pratt Stuff, sued Mad Magazine in the mid-1960s for copyright infringement. But Mad's lawyers argued that the Neuman image had been in use for years before Stuff's 1914 poster.

"In the end, the court essentially ruled that there was evidence that the face had an evolutionary lineage dating back prior to Stuff's 'The Eternal Optimist,' and that by this late date it had passed into the public domain," Blecha wrote. "And thus, Helen Pratt Stuff's previous court victories were overturned and that silly face of 'The Eternal Optimist' would henceforth belong to all mankind."

Mad Magazine is not going away completely. The magazine's publisher, DC Comics, has said that it will still be available by subscription and at comic book stores. The publishing change will take effect in August, according to DC.

You can view Stuff's original "eternal optimist" image on the Historylink website. You can read more of Blecha's historical research on HistoryLink, or at the Northwest Music Archives.