The Nick Meglin Papers include a range of material related to the life and career of Nick Meglin. Included are artwork, clippings, correspondence, feature ideas, marketing material, readership surveys, scripts, related to Meglin's decades-long tenure at MAD Magazine, as well as unpublished entries for a planned MAD Encyclopedia written by Meglin. Also included by Nick Meglin are sketches and illustrations, essays and articles, song lyrics, comics, greeting card ideas, materials from television appearances, and photoshoots of Meglin. The collection includes materials related to Meglin's books, including The Art of Humorous Illustration, On-The-Spot Drawing, and Drawing from Within, as well as his musicals, including Tim and Scrooge and Grumpy Old Men—The Musical. Also included is correspondence between Meglin and a range of subjects, including E.L. Doctorow, Mort Drucker, Hugh Hefner, Norman Rockwell, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, Stephen Sondheim, Art Spiegelman, and Weird Al Yankovic, as well as other writers, humorists, cartoonists, and illustrators. Included in the collection is also material from Meglin's youth, illustrations from his role as an illustrator in the U.S. army, and copies of his obituary.
Nick Meglin (July 30, 1935–June 2, 2018) was a humorist, writer, illustrator, and longtime editor at MAD Magazine. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nick Meglin attended Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn College, and the School of Visual Arts, where he graduated with a BFA. From 1958-1960, Meglin served as an illustrator with the U.S. Army. Meglin started working at MAD Magazine in 1956, and over the course of his life held various titles at MAD, including Idea Man, War Correspondent, Associate Editor, Tennis Editor, Co-Editor, and, upon his retirement in 2004, Contributing Editor. Meglin had the longest full-time association in MAD Magazine history, and during his tenure, Meglin played a central role in shaping its editorial voice.
Meglin wrote several hundred articles on sports, opera, art, and humor for publications including the New York Times and Tennis magazine, and contributed illustrations to Opera News (for the Metropolitan Opera) and Quarter Notes (for WCPE Radio in Raleigh). He also wrote for television, comedy albums, audio dramas, syndicated comic strips, and TV animation. Meglin was the author of over fifteen books, including The Art of Humorous Illustration (Watson-Guptill, 1973, which was revised and expanded in 2001 as Humorous Illustration), On-The-Spot-Drawing (Watson-Guptill, 1969), and Drawing from Within, which he co-wrote with his daughter Diane Meglin (Warner Books, 1999, and North Light Books, 2008). He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Tim and Scrooge, a sequel to A Christmas Carol, with Neil Berg, and lyrics to the musical Grumpy Old Men—The Musical, with Neil Berg and Dan Remmes.
Meglin made over fifty appearances on television and radio, including The Today Show, 60 Minutes, Larry King Live, The Howard Stern Show, Friends, Thirtysomething, NPR, and WUNC's The State of Things with Frank Stasio. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the Society of Illustrators, and the National Cartoonists Society. He also taught illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Nick Meglin died on June 2, 2018 at his home in Durham. At the time of his death, Nick Meglin was survived by his partner, Linda Maloof; two children, Diane Elizabeth and Christopher Allen; three grandchildren, Max, Elena, and Benjamin; siblings Joyce Wessel and Albert Meglin; and his ex-wife Lucille (Lucky) Meglin.
