(W) Mary-Lou Weisman (A) Al Jaffee Al Jaffee's work for MAD has made him a cultural icon, but the compelling and at times bizarre story of his life has yet to be told. Six-year-old Jaffee was separated from his father, uprooted from his home in Savannah, Georgia, and transplanted by his mother to a shtetl in Lithuania. After returning to America, he struggled with challenges at least as great as those he had met in Europe. His luck changed, however, when he was chosen to be a member of the first class to attend New York City's High School of Music and Art. He would go on to forge relationships with Stan Lee, Harvey Kurtzman, and Will Elder, launching a career that would bring him to MAD magazine.