Frank Jacobs, ace Mad writer, dies

007, a “James Bomb” stage musical by Mort Drucker and Frank Jacobs, 1965

Frank Jacobs, a long-time writer for Mad magazine has died, the semi-dormant publication announced on Twitter.

One of Jacobs’ specialties was devising musical parodies. One of his best was published in 1965. “007” envisioned a James Bond (or “James Bomb”) stage musicial.

As written by Jacobs, all of the songs were sung to the tune of songs from the stage musical Oklahoma! Artist Mort Drucker provided a James Bomb drawn to resemble Sean Connery.

In the story, Bomb confronts ICECUBE, an organization that is dragging Great Britain to the North Pole. The leader of ICECUBE is revealed to be Mike Hammer, who is angry at Bomb for taking away all his book sales. Drucker drew Hammer to look like author Mickey Spillane.

Jacobs made his first sale to Mad in 1957, debuting with five pieces in the June issue, according to his biography in Wikipedia. Mad’s editors quickly requested more. Jacobs also wrote 13 paperback books under the Mad imprint.

Below is Mad’s announcement about the death of Jacobs.

There aren’t words to express our sadness at the passing of MAD Magazine writer Frank Jacobs. One of MAD's most prolific writers, Frank set the standard in satire and parody for six decades. MAD would not be MAD without him. R.I.P. 1929-2021

Photo by Sam Viviano pic.twitter.com/0lxzOOSQdP

— MAD Magazine (@MADmagazine) April 6, 2021

Mad magazine may be shutting down

Part of the Mort Drucker-drawn parody of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service from the 1970s

Mad magazine, the humor publication that debuted in 1952, may be shutting down later this year.

David DeGrand, a writer and artist for Mad, said Wednesday night via Twitter he could “confirm” the upcoming end of publication.

Another cartoonist, Evan Dorkin, also took to social media to talk about Mad.

“Goodbye, MAD Magazine,” Dorkin wrote in a separate post on Twitter. “As a youngster I was a huge fan of the 70’s era, as a young adult I rediscovered the 50’s comics, as an old nerd I somehow became a contributor…Getting the e-mail today was crushing.”

Neither Mad nor DC Comics had made an announcement Wednesday night. Both Mad and DC are part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit that also includes Warner Bros.

The Vulture blog of New York magazine said it obtained an email sent to freelancers by DC saying issue 10 of Mad will be the last one with original content. Mad will reuse features until subscription obligations are complete, Vulture said.

Mad had published 550 issues from 1952 to 2018. It went back to No. 1 in 2018.

The publication began as a comic book. It switched to a magazine format in 1955.

Over the decades, Mad published many parodies of James Bond and other spies.

They included “007” (April 1965 issue), showing what a stage musical featuring “James Bomb” would be like. The villainous organization ICECUBE is towing the U.K. to the North Pole. The head of the organization is revealed to be Mike Hammer, angry that Bomb had taken away his book sales.

The parody, drawn by Mort Drucker and written by Frank Jacobs, included songs were all sung to the tune of songs from Oklahoma! For example: “Poor Bond Is Dead,” instead of “Poor Jud Is Dead.”

The March 1974 issue of Mad that parodied the first eight movies in the 007 series produced by Eon Productions. The parody titles were Dr. No-No, From Russia With Lunacy, Goldfingerbowl, Thunderblahh, You Only Live Nice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Shamus, Dollars Are Forever and Live And Let Suffer. Mad later parodied other Bond films.

Mad in the 1960s also did parodies of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (which included Sean Connery’s Bond as a henchman), Mission: Impossible, I Spy and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

UPDATE (12:45 p.m., July 4): Tom Richmond, another Mad artist, confirms everything in a detailed post on his website. An excerpt:

I could go on and on about the end of an era and a true American original, about how MAD had an incalculable influence on satire, comedy in general, and the humor of the entire planet, how its pages regularly featured some of the greatest cartoonists who ever lived like (Harvey) Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Wally Wood, Will Elder, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Paul Coker… too many to list really. I could go on and on but all that is meaningless with respect to today. None of that history can be taken away, and none of it is a reason for the next issue to come out. In the end in this day and age, the only reason anything is allowed to exist comes down to money. If something is profitable, it continues. If it is not, it ends.

MAD is ending for the same reason anything ends… it’s all about the Benjamins.

Richmond writes that the company still owns all that artwork he cited. That’s still valuable content for future reprints and collections. Essentially, the company really doesn’t need new material the way Mad is selling.

A James Bond musical?

Coming soon to a stage near you?

The website BROADWAY WORLD.COM said June 29 there’s a planned James Bond stage musical in the works and that a daughter of Eon Productions co-founder Harry Saltzman is involved.

The title is simply James Bond: The Musical and, according to the website the curtain may rise in 2017 on the production.

Here’s an excerpt with more details:

(Merry) Saltzman, daughter of legendary Bond film producer and impresario Harry Saltzman, said the world’s favorite spy will soon be singing, dancing, and laughing his way into audiences’ hearts in an original production with songs and lyrics by Jay Henry Weisz and a book by Dave Clarke.

The spelling of Merry Saltzman is correct. Documentaries about the making of James Bond movies included interviews of Saltzman children Steven and Hilary but Merry Saltzman didn’t participate. You can see Merry Saltzman referenced in THIS 1994 OBITUARY BY THE NEW YORK TIMES.

To read the entire Broadway World.com story, CLICK HERE.

In 1965, Mad magazine presented a parody of a 007 stage musical. Mad’s version, written by Frank Jacobs and drawn by Mort Drucker, had songs all sung to the tune of classic Rodgers and Hammerstein songs from Oklahoma! (“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh-07! Is the greatest spy there is today! Though the Empires’s gone, He keeps right on…So you’d better not get in his way!”)

To view that parody, CLICK HERE for a 2012 post by the James Bond 007 Dossier website. It has PDF images of the Jacobs-Drucker work.

UPDATE (July 4): A June 30 story in PLAYBILL has some additional details.

Ms. Saltzman is quoted as saying the stage production will use “several Bond villains, plus some new ones.” She also told Playbill the show will feature ” our own Bond girl.” She also told Playbill the stage production might not start until early 2018.