Good Days and Mad: A Hysterical Tour Behind the Scenes at Mad Magazine

DeBartolo, a longtime MAD contributor, has written not a history but a collection of often amusing anecdotes that are mostly of the sophisticated/juvenile bent that characterizes one of America's most admirable humor institutions. Magazine founder William Gaines (who died in 1992) emerges as the superstar: he calculated contracts in odd percentages, replied to letters with comments in the margins, organized a staff trip to Haiti to beg MAD's sole Haitian subscriber to renew, got stuck near the top of a climb up the torch of the Statue of Liberty and ordered enormous quantities of food at restaurants ``for the table.'' DeBartolo also tells of his own efforts and exploits during his 30 MAD years. Interspersed throughout are numerous ``forewords'' from MAD contributors-Annie Gaines, Michael Gelman, Al Jaffee et al.-shanghaied into this project by the promise of front billing. Utter MADness. Illustrations. (Nov.)