Hello
Everybody !
We just received an E Mail from Art
Neuendorffer concerning
the origin of Alfred E. Neuman, .
Message
: "When Mad Magazine was sued for copyright infringement,
one defense it used was that it had copied the picture from
materials dating back to 1911."
How
about 1876!
Art
Neuendorffer
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The
Hunting of the SNARK (An Agony in Eight Fits) [1876] http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/images/modeng/public/CarSnar/CarSnaTi.jpg
http://naiades.com/Snark/
PREFACE by Lewis Carroll
As
this poem is to some extent connected with the lay of the
Jabberwock, let me take this opportunity of answering a question
that has often been asked me, how to pronounce "slithy toves."
The "i" in "slithy" is long, as in "writhe"; and "toves" is
pronounced so as to rhyme with "groves." Again, the first
"o" in "borogoves" is pronounced like the "o" in "borrow."
I have heard people try to give it the sound of the "o" in
"worry."
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What Ward "worry"? (or "Beaver Cleaver")
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Alfred
E. Neuman = BUTCHER ("an incredible dunce") http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/images/modeng/public/CarSnar/CarSnar3.jpg
[Illustrations by Henry Holiday]
The
last of the crew needs especial remark,
Though he looked an incredible dunce:
He had just one idea -- but, that one being "Snark,
" The good Bellman engaged him at once.
He
came as a BUTCHER: but gravely declared,
When the ship had been sailing a week,
He could only kill beavers. The Bellman looked scared,
And was almost too frightened to speak:
But
at length he explained, in a tremulous tone,
There was only one beaver on board;
And that was a tame one he had of his own,
Whose death would be deeply deplored.
The
beaver, who happened to hear the remark,
Protested, with tears in its eyes,
That not even the rapture of hunting the Snark
Could atone for that dismal surprise!
It
strongly advised that the BUTCHER should be
Conveyed in a separate ship:
But the Bellman declared that would never agree
With the plans he had made for the trip:
Navigation
was always a difficult art,
Though with only one ship and one bell:
And he feared he must really decline, for his part,
Undertaking another as well.
The beaver's best course was, no doubt, to procure
A second-hand dagger-proof coat --
So the Baker advised it -- and next, to insure
Its life in some Office of note:
This
the Banker suggested, and offered for hire
(On moderate terms), or for sale,
Two excellent Policies, one Against Fire,
And one Against Damage From Hail.
Yet
still, ever after that sorrowful day,
Whenever the BUTCHER was by,
The beaver kept looking the opposite way,
And appeared unaccountably shy.
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/images/modeng/public/CarSnar/CarSnar7.jpg
"Two added to one -- if that could but be done,
" It said, "with one's fingers and thumbs!"
Recollecting with tears how, in earlier years,
It had taken no pains with its sums.
"The
thing can be done," said the BUTCHER, "I think.
The thing must be done, I am sure.
The thing shall be done! Bring me paper and ink,
The best there is time to procure."
So
engrossed was the BUTCHER, he heeded them not,
As he wrote with a pen in each hand,
And explained all the while in a popular style
Which the beaver could well understand.
"Taking
Three as the subject to reason about --
A convenient number to state --
We add Seven, and Ten, and then multiply out
By One Thousand diminished by Eight.
"The
result we proceed to divide, as you see,
By Nine Hundred and Ninety Two:
Then
subtract Seventeen, and the answer must be
Exactly and perfectly TRUE.
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Art
Neuendorffer
