Louis Donald Silverstone (May 17, 1924 – March 9, 2015) was a comedy writer who was one of "The Usual Gang of Idiots" at ''

MAD Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

'' from 1962 to 1990. At ''MAD'', he was primarily, though by no means exclusively, a writer of television and movie

parodies A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can als ...

. His first-ever contribution was "Bananaz," a parody of ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

''. It was not until 1968 that he began contributing other kinds of articles, many of which were otherwise related to television and movies. In all, Silverstone had more than 180 bylines for ''Mad''. This included conceiving the idea for "Madde," a 24-page insert purporting to be a typical issue of ''Mad'' if it had been published in the year 1776. The insert was published during the summer of the

Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

and three of its ten articles were written by "scrivener" Silverstone: "Thou Knowest Thou Art in Troubled Waters When...", "The Madde Revolutionary War Primer," and "Ye Madde Hate Book." In 1983 he created "The Book of Mad," which purported to be excerpts from a ''Mad'' issue of Biblical times. Silverstone also wrote for television shows including ''

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is an American hidden camera and practical joke reality television series. The show was created, developed, and presented by Allen Funt. Various versions of the show have appeared on television from 1948 to 2014. The program ...

'' and the animated

Jackson Five The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Tito ...

cartoon. Following his association at '' MAD'', Silverstone moved to its competitor ''

Cracked Cracked may refer to: Television * ''Cracked'' (British TV series), a 2008 British comedy-drama television series that aired on STV * ''Cracked'' (Canadian TV series), a 2013 Canadian crime drama series that aired on CBC * "Cracked", a Season 8 ( ...

'', where he served several years as an editor and writer. Silverstone grew up in

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a City (New Jersey), city in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nicknamed "The Queen City",

, where he graduated from Plainfield High School, and attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. He worked as an accountant for several years before becoming a comedy writer "through sheer determination and relentless persistence." He was married for 61 years.

References

External links

Complete list of Silverstone's articles for MAD Magazine

Legacy

Dignity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silverstone, Lou American comedy writers American humorists American satirical comics writers American satirists American parodists American magazine editors Mad (magazine) people 1924 births 2015 deaths Plainfield High School (New Jersey) alumni Writers from Plainfield, New Jersey People from Long Beach, New York Military personnel from Union County, New Jersey University of Illinois alumni