Mad Magazine - Murder on the Orient Express?

[sirbow]

A blast from the past - I remember a Mad Magazine parody of, I believe, Murder on the Orient Express wherein a buxom character is murdered early and is shown throughout with her eyes wide open and a hole in her head. Later, we find out she was shot in that same hole by multiple people.

Does anyone have scans of this or remember it?

[DeMan]

I vaguely remember this story as well. As I recall, it was drawn by the late, great Mort Drucker, Mad Magazine's master caricaturist, and I believe the victim was drawn to look like she was "played" by Faye Dunaway. From what I remember, the punchline of the story was that, while all the other suspects shot her, she had actually killed HERSELF first just to escape having to listen to Poirot's inevitable long-winded, complicated explanation.

I can't remember whether this was from an actual issue of Mad Magazine or from one of the Mad paperback books that came out in the 1970s/early '80s...

[JIMBO]

I don't remember this one! I never subscribed to MAD but I tried to buy it every month! (This was the mid-late '60s. My interest in it kinda fell by the wayside... with the discovery of PLAYBOY.) As for the movie, the Albert Finney as Poirot, with Sean Connery, version was GREAT! But it came out after I stopped reading MAD.

As for the paperbacks, I think they were all just reprints of features in the magazine. At least, when I knew them.

Jimbo

[DeMan]

Did a little bit of Googling, and I think I've figured out where it appears: It wasn't from an issue of the actual magazine, but from one of the Mad paperback books: The Mad Book of Mysteries, published in 1980, with art by Jack Rickard (not Mort Drucker as I'd assumed). I'll probably be checking Amazon and eBay to see if I can get it at a good price...

[sirbow]

Nice - thanks guys.

[trish]

Did a little bit of Googling, and I think I've figured out where it appears: It wasn't from an issue of the actual magazine, but from one of the Mad paperback books: The Mad Book of Mysteries, published in 1980, with art by Jack Rickard (not Mort Drucker as I'd assumed). I'll probably be checking Amazon and eBay to see if I can get it at a good price...

That's the one thing that is completely indispensable about the Internet. I can remember back before it what trying to track down that particular piece of information would have taken, not to mention all the phone calls to used comic and book stores it would have taken to track down a copy to buy.

The interesting part is that is what completely destroyed stamp collecting. Nobody knew exactly how many little patches of paper were hoarded away, when we got around to actually counting it all, well scarcity just vanished. It really helped with coin collecting once things stabilized though. The only problem with that is nobody uses coins anymore... And time marches on.

[JIMBO]

..... I'll probably be checking Amazon and eBay to see if I can get it at a good price...

DeMan, you are DE MAN! Let us know!

Jimbo

[Ric delCampo]

That's the one thing that is completely indispensable about the Internet. I can remember back before it what trying to track down that particular piece of information would have taken, not to mention all the phone calls to used comic and book stores it would have taken to track down a copy to buy.

The interesting part is that is what completely destroyed stamp collecting. Nobody knew exactly how many little patches of paper were hoarded away, when we got around to actually counting it all, well scarcity just vanished. It really helped with coin collecting once things stabilized though. The only problem with that is nobody uses coins anymore... And time marches on.

I've used the internet to track down items from my childhood. In my preteens, I read a book, a young adult biography, of Joseph McConnell, leading American Jet Ace of the Korean War.
I looked up the book to see if I could buy it. Long out of print, but there was a copy for sale for over $500.00.
A favorite toy of mine, back when I was 6 or 7 was 'The Robot Commando.' I looked that up. Again, a used, out-of-box one was over $500.00. And broken too, in the same way mine was broken!

Concerning stamps. I used to collect stamps.
Back in 1968, when I was 12 years old, Apollo 8 circled the moon. One of the astronauts took the famous 'Earthrise' picture. On Christmas Eve, 1968, the astronauts read a message to Earth, quoting the Book of Genesis.
Not long afterward, the US Post Office issued a stamp recreating the Earthrise picture, with the words "In the beginning, God . . ."
The atheists immediately complained that the US Government was promoting religion, so they withdrew the stamp and re-issued it without the words.
12 year-old me had a brilliant idea! The first version of the stamp would soon be rare and some day would be worth something. So I grabbed two of them for my collection.

Fast-forward some 45 years later. Some friends were showing me a website listing the value of certain rare stamps. So I looked up my Apollo 8 stamps.
They are worth about $5.00 each.

[trish]

If they were worth anything over face you did well ;)

However 12 year old you would have done better to have scrounged any remaining silver quarters you could have found at the time ;) In 1968 there were still some floating about.

[JIMBO]

Collecting (stamps, coins, guns, pipes, cigarette lighters, beer cans, porn...... I have done all those) should be for your own personal enjoyment. If you want something that is sure to appreciate in value, best to look elsewhere.

Jimbo

[trish]

Collecting (stamps, coins, guns, pipes, cigarette lighters, beer cans, porn...... I have done all those) should be for your own personal enjoyment. If you want something that is sure to appreciate in value, best to look elsewhere.

Jimbo

True enough, the corollary is if you do notice your collection value has increased exponentially it is probably a really good time to sell because it all comes back down to earth eventually.

But you are correct, don't ever collect anything as an investment, do it as a hobby or don't bother.

[DeMan]

My copy of "The Mad Book of Mysteries" finally arrived, and I've scanned the relevant pages from their Hercule Poirot parody. I'd misremembered a few details: The art was by Jack Rickard, not Mort Drucker, and the victim was a caricature of Lauren Bacall rather than Faye Dunaway. Enjoy!

[JIMBO]

Thanks for your tireless work DeMan... and posting this for us lazy-ass types.

As usual, MAD is just crazy! Whether or not the victim is Lauren Bacall, I think the guy with the bow tie seems to be played by David Niven.

Jimbo

[sirbow]

Thanks. That is the one!!!! Just as I remember. You the man!