SANE

SHANE (1953)
dir: George Stevens

SANE
MAD #10, April 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: John Severin
This was John Severin's last piece for MAD. He was one of the “usual gang of idiots” for the first few issues but Kurtzman decided early on he wasn't quite right for them. He was perfect for western, war, and adventure stories in the other Kurtzman titles, but not for humor. Though years later he became Cracked's main artist, and his photorealism came in handy when they relied on Happy Days and M*A*S*H every issue. Here's his Shane parody in MAD, which kinda sorta worked since Westerns were still the dominant genre for movie the same way superheros are now.

A stranger, Shane (Alan Ladd) comes into town, Happening upon the land of homesteaders Joe Starrett (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur) and their son Joey (Brandon DeWilde). A band of tough guys constantly terrorizes the Starretts and all the other homesteaders, trying to run them off their land.

Joey looks up to Shane, seeing another adult figure who will hopefully help him with fightin' and shootin'. Joe recognizes that Shane is a good guy and offers him a place to stay.

The “I'm a-leavin'/I'm a-stayin'” bit comes fom their earlier High Noon parody.

Shane goes to the general store to get local supplies where he gets harrassed by the posse of tough guys, particularly for ordering a non-alcoholic drink at the bar. One guy, Jack tries to pick a fight with Shane, and Shane fights back. The locals later decide to go to the store together since every time they go they're harassed by the tough posse and this time there's more likely to be safety in numbers.

The tough cattlemen go after the settlers, one tough guy, Jack Wilson (Jack Palance), is especially tough, and a fight ensues at the store. Joey hides but knows Shane will do something about it.

The settlers are chased away, one is shot by Wilson.

The settlers want to leave, deciding their land isn't worth fighting for, Shane takes the ranchers on and wins, then goes on his way. Joey's immortal quote “Shane, come back!” comes at the end.

STRAIN
Get Lost #1, March 1954
w & a: Ross Andru & Michael Esposito

The Van Heflin character and the other homesteaders aren't even used here.

SANE Nuts! 2, May 1954
artist and writer unknown

The Jean Arthur character of Marian Starrett is drawn as either a Daisy Mae-type or granny in these other parodies but she is just a mid-thirties housewife.

KANE KEEN, PRIVATE EYE

MARTIN KANE, PRIVATE EYE
1949-1954 NBC

Martin Kane, Private Eye was both a TV and radio series that had several different actors eho played him throughout his run and was parodied in multiple comics.

KANE KEEN, PRIVATE EYE
MAD #5, June-July 1953
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Jack Davis

MARVIN SHAME, SHAMUS
Nuts! #2, May 1954
a: Hy Fleishman

MARVIN PAYNE, PRIVATE EYE
Eh! #3, April 1954
a: Dick Ayers

A comic existed of the series drawn by MAD artist Wally Wood.

JULIUS CAESAR!

JULIUS CAESAR (1953)
dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

JULIUS CAESAR!
MAD #17, November 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Wallace Wood

“There were so many imitations. The imitations were coming out of the woodwork. I've got an attic filled with MAD imitations, Blecch, Ecch, Ptui, Ergh, Blaugh, Blurp...”
--Harvey Kurtzman
Comics Journal interview, 1981

More of a parody of parodies than the movie itself, how when MAD first came out in 1952 and became a runaway success eventually, every other publisher jumped on the bandwagon trying to duplicate that success, and it was ubiquitous enough of a target for them.

The movie was an adaptation of Shakespeare's play, with Louis Calhern as Caesar. James Mason was Brutus.

These are caricatures of actual existing U.S. Senators.

Marlon Brando played Marc Anthony in Julius Caesar. Martin Kane was sponsored by the American Tobacco Company. The Sherlock Holmes portrait is based on Bill Elder's drawing of him in many MAD parodies.

“Dom Da Domm Domm” comes from the horns used in the Dragnet theme.

Kurtzman was no stranger to doing take-offs of take-offs, before MAD, he did this in his strip for Lana #2 in 1948.

Bijou Funnies, an underground comic of the 60s and 70s, did a whole issue that was a parody of Kurtzman's MAD in 1973, with the back cover a parody of the opening page from this story, written by Jay Lynch and drawn by Ralph Reese, who had been an assistant to Wood.