Hey, remember all the way to this morning when I posted this? Well, longtime MAD writer Arnie Kogen, who was mentioned in my piece, sent me this…
That sure looks like 1960 to me. Even though I wasn't there (Yes, I didn't have enough pages), I remember it well. 1960 was MAD's very first trip and Gaines took the gang to Haiti. Some observations:
#6 was not Larry Siegel. (I know the top of Larry Siegel's head. This was not it.)
One of the four unidentified people, #8, #11, #12 or #14 could have been Larry Gore, the MAD publicist at the time. I'm guessing Gore was #8.
There was this great story about Gore that Frank Jacobs wonderfully described in his book, The Mad World of William Gaines. On that Haitian trip, Gaines and the guys (there were no women. It was 1960) were visiting the sky-swept Citadel near Cap-Haitian. Each traveler mounted a burro and made the steep, slow climb up the mountain path, which was unspoiled by guardrails. Halfway to the top, at an especially tricky turn, Gore looked down and duly noted, "My burro just crossed himself." I wish I was there just to hear that line. (but, sadly, I didn't have enough pages)