So I was flipping through a Mad Magazine anthology that I failed to sell at a yardsale. It's called "Mad About the Sixties". My eye fell upon this picture, from a 1961 piece called "Tomorrow's Parents":
Uncanny, right? Mad Magazine claims these characters are named "Fred and Ginger", but clearly this is the Gorch and Sarah Palin.
A quote from the article to give you an idea of MAD's schtick: "... frightening as it may seem , the rebellious adolescents of the present will become the mothers and fathers of the future".
... and then MAD magazine makes this bold prediction: "The most popular names for boys in 1970 will be Fabian, Frankie, Frankenstein, Bobby, Darin, and Elvis. The most popular names for girls will be Sandra, Tuesday, Wednesday, Annette, Funicello, and Elvis".
Obviously, all these 1961 hip references were about to go very stale. I can see why the Gorch is such an angry guy ... this is the future he was denied.
A few other thoughts: The idea of the Gorch as "first dude" doesn't seem all that absurd to me. Also, I smiled when I saw that they named their son "Kingston Trio", because it reminded me of Bob naming his dog "Rollins Band", and Bryce naming his kid "The Phil Zone Larson-Prefontaine".
