Alfred wasn't originally called Alfred. He was first a nameless goofy looking, gap-toothed boy in a 50's ad for a dentist in Texas! Some demented MAD reader in Texas saw the ad and, for some strange reason, decided that they should send it to MAD and then, for some even stranger reason, MAD liked the boy and used him in articles. Eventually, he took over the whole cover and became even more MAD than Dave Berg, Al Jaffee, and Bill Gaines himself! But, without a name, he was even more pointless than MAD. So they decided to have the readers name him. Many a name was attempted, and Alfred E. Nueman was the one that stuck and THAT is the true story of how the very symbol of MAD came about.
