HARVEY KURTZMAN (1924-1993) was a cartoonist, writer and editor with enormous influence on several generations of cartoonists and readers. Kurtzman is probably best known as the comic genius who created MAD in the early 1950s at Entertaining Comics (E.C.), first as a wild color comic book, then as a black & white magazine. MAD, under Kurtzman, vigorously and fearlessly lampooned American institutions, including other comic strips and television, a medium then in its infancy.
In the late 1950's, after departing MAD, Kurtzman created Trump, a glossy high-budget satire magazine for Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, and the influential Jungle Book for Ballantine Books. He then partnered with publisher James Warren to create the satire publication, Help! While at Help! in the early '60s Kurtzman discovered and gave first national exposure to young cartoonists Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Jay Lynch and Skip Williamson, all later integral to the "underground" comix movement.
Another discovery, Gloria Steinem was a Kurtzman assistant and contributor at Help! before becoming the founder of Ms. and a feminist icon. Steinem's replacement was an equally unknown college drop-out Terry Gilliam. By selecting an obscure British actor named John Cleese to appear in a fumetti (story using panels of captioned photos) and introducing him to Gilliam, Kurtzman planted the seed for what would become Monty Python's Flying Circus. R. Crumb was on his way to New York to replace Gilliam when Help! folded.
In 1962, Kurtzman and collaborator Will Elder created "Little Annie Fanny," premiering in Playboy in 1962, which was the most lavish comic strip ever created. "Annie" continued as a Playboy mainstay until 1988.
Wired for Books Audio Interview