title: "It Didn't Hurt a Bit" Kid: dental precursor to Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman.
abstract: Since 1956, Mad Magazine has featured the same unique character on virtually every cover: a grinning, freckle-faced, red-headed boy with a missing central incisor and enormous protruding ears. Known as "Alfred E. Neuman," the "What--Me Worry?" Kid, he has become one of the most widely recognized images in the modern Western world. Capturing the imagination of Mad readers, he is portrayed as a comical figure with contradictory characteristics: he is a likeable, inept, inspiring, mischievous, quintessential nerd.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Dentistry, USA.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Christen
mesh_terms: D000083:Acetanilides / Q000266:history; D000329:Advertising / Q000266:history*; D000700:Analgesics / Q000266:history; D002359:Cartoons as Topic / Q000266:history*; D006665:History of Dentistry; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D000083:Acetanilides; D000700:Analgesics