The MAD World of William M. Gaines

1973, 1974 Bantam edition
Frank Jacobs
The MAD World of William M. Gaines
Original price unknown, bought used for 50 cents (cheap)
Very worn paperback
B

Jacobs, the MAD writer who'd been contributing to the magazine the longest (15 years at that point), tells the publisher's life story in the form of anecdotes.  (When Jacobs does finally get around to revealing Gaines's birthday, it's so he can put the man's horoscope.)  It's a nice, fun, sort of light read, although it does address Gaines's sexism, paternalism, and contradictions.  Much of the book isn't even about MAD, since the E.C. horror comics get quite a bit of attention, including Gaines's infamous testimony before a Senate subcommittee, in which he said that a beheading had been tastefully drawn.  Jacobs also discusses Gaines's falling out with original MAD editor Harvey Kurtzman.  Gaines and Kurtzman made up eventually, and the latter returned to MAD a few years before the two men died within months of each other.

Dick DeBartolo also wrote a book about Bill Gaines, which we'll get to in 1994.  And about halfway between the publication of the two books, I met the MAD publisher.  It was the summer of 1983, and I went to New York City for the first and only time, with my cousin and aunt.  We ended up on Madison Avenue, and my cousin and I, both devoted MAD readers, decided to look for "485 MADison Avenue," as the address was always listed.  We found the building and then we went inside to read the directory.  Then we took the elevator up to the office.  Every step of the way, my aunt was skeptical, but my cousin and I wanted to see how far we could take this.  It ended up with the receptionist asking if we wanted to meet Bill Gaines.  Of course we said yes. 

He was very welcoming, but when he noticed my aunt's T-shirt from an anti-nuke march in NYC, and she said how nice all the people at the march were, he snapped, "Well, they've gone home now!"  And that, as much as his girth and long hair and beard, told us that he was the real Bill Gaines.