1894 political cartoon Original Inspiration for Mad Magazines Alfred E Neuman

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                                    Mads "Alfred E Neuman "  Very  Early 1894 Cartoon Inspiration.
     The cartoon chromolithograph depicts New York Congressman Lemuel Ely Quigg, complete with big ears, wide grin and wide collar.It measures 9" x 14" and contains a poem called "The Prize Idiot" and is mechanically signed "H."  It was created very shortly after the printing of the very first original inspiration for Alfred E.,  which was a poster advertisement for the hit play "The New Boy." Some of the original Mad Magazine Art has exceeded $100,000. I venture that there will probably never be another original of this beautiful chromolithograph ever found. I suppose it is possible, but I really believe this will be the only opportunity to own this wonderful historical piece of Mads Alfred E. Neuman.     Part of the blog that tells the story of this piece follows here, But more can be found at:

The Real Alfred E.: The Real Alfred E.

therealalfrede.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-real-alfred-e.html

The Real Alfred E. ... The cartoon depicts New York Congressman Lemuel Ely Quigg as the New ... Were the artists at Mad Magazine more familiar with The New ..

 
     Alfred E. Neuman is a copy of a copy of a copy of an image that bounced around for decades in various guises - political buttons, silly postcards, ads for painless dentistry, and Nazi anti-semitic propaganda posters.   No one could identify the image that started it all.     Until now, the the earliest known, fully Neuman-esque image has been "The Kid," a member of "A Pie Family. John E. Hett, writing in The Journal of Madness (#14, 2002), noted that, "[t]his image was the first to standardize the clothing and contained the now famous missing tooth."  He also suggested that The Kid may have been one of the most widely distributed Neuman-like images of the 1890s, and as such may have been one of the most influential in the evolution of Alfred E. Neuman.  In her book, Completely Mad, Maria Reidelbach wrote that, "[d]ating from 1895, this is the oldest verified image of the boy. . . .  The kid's features are fully developed and unmistakable, and the image was very likely taken from an older archetype that has yet to be found."      
     I have found the missing "archetype."  It is not an advertisement for dental services or pies and is not an anti-Irish cartoon.  Before he advertised pies and long before he became Alfred E. Neuman, the trademark face of Mad Magazine, he was the face of the comic farce stage play, the blockbuster hit of 1894, The New Boy.  The Los Angeles Herald (November 7, 1894) reported, in words that may just as well have been intended for Alfred E. Neuman, that the, "comic red-headed urchin with a joyous grin all over his freckled face, whose phiz [(face)] is the trademark of the comedy, is so expressive of the rollicking and ridiculous that the New York Herald and the Evening Telegram have applied it to political cartoon purposes."
      
The play itself was apparently not the only thing that was funny about The New Boy.  The poster and advertising image struck a chord with the public.  TheLos Angeles Herald (November 7, 1894), in an article about the New York theater scene, remarked that the,

 . . . comic red-headed urchin with a joyous grin all over his freckled face, whose phiz [(face)] is the trademark of the comedy, is so expressive of the rollicking and ridiculous that the New York Herald and the Evening Telegram have applied it to political cartoon purposes. 
The image inspired Mad Magazine-style political satire from its inception.  A cartoon with the same look and layout of The New Boy poster, appeared on the front page of The Evening Telegram (New York) on September 22, 1894, just five days after opening night.  The cartoon depicts New York Congressman Lemuel Ely Quigg as the New Boy, complete with big ears, wide grin, wide collar and missing teeth.  Where the poster identifies the play as being written, "by Arthur Law," the cartoon suggests that Quigg blundered into his post, "by A.C.Cident".  In place of the producer's name, the cartoon suggests that Quigg is controlled by, "Management T. C. Platt," a reference to local Republican Party boss Thomas C. Platt.  The cartoon lampoons Quigg's purported non-progressive politics with the phrase, "What's the good of reform? Nothing."