Sunday, July 23, 2023

THE SEVEN ITCHY YEARS

THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955)
dir: Billy Wilder

THE SEVEN ITCHY YEARS
MAD #26, November 1955
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Will Elder

Comedy about publishing executive Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) bored after seven years of marriage and when his wife and son go away on vacation, is tempted by and has a dream about an affair with his upstairs neighbor (Marilyn Monroe). The image of Marilyn Monroe's dress being blown up in the air by a subway grate is the image she's most associated with and the poster is parodied in the splash panel here.
Sonny Tufts and Victor Moore are also in the cast.
THE NEW MARILYN MARONE
MAD #31, February 1957
a: Wallace Wood

Marilyn Monroe was probably the most iconic sex symbol of the twentieth century. Her calendar pose featured in the second bottom panel is one of the most well-known images of the fifties. There was a big publicity boost while she was working to show that she could be taken seriously and wasn't just some dumb blonde like she was constantly portrayed. This is a parody of magazine articles from then that were reminding the public of that.
THE SEVEN-YEAR TWITCH
From Here to Insanity (Eh!) #12
a: Carl Hubbell

Some of the editors of MAD imitations had no idea what funny was. They figured since MAD had all kinds of backround gags, they should too, except there was no explanation for them. There's no reason to have celebrities like Jack Webb, Liberace, Marlon Brando, Groucho Marx or J. Fred Muggs in the crowd, or advertising mascots like the Cream of Wheat man or a Campbell's Kid. They don't exactly fit in except they were popular celebrities. They could have done something with Jane Russell as Marilyn Monroe's co-star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes but having her floating up in the sky as her character from Underwater doesn't make any sense.
THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR TWITCH
Riot #4, February 1956
w: Stan Lee
a: Joe Maneely

1 comment:

  1. There's a feature in Lunatickle #2 called The Seven Year Itchola, but from the blurry glimpse I got of it, it's not at all clear whether if actually has anything to do with the movie.

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