Guiseppe Baggi

Giuseppe "Peppino" Baggi holds a wonderfully unique spot in the history of MAD Magazine. While many contributors made their mark with ink and paint, Baggi conquered the "Ecchology Dept." with paper.

Between 1967 and 1968, MAD Magazine featured photographs of Baggi's intricate origami creations to drive their subscription campaigns. The ads leaned heavily into visual puns about spending "folding money" and featured striking photography by Irving Schild. Baggi's folded paper cats, turtles, and whales became a staple of the magazine's promotional efforts for about a year and a half.

His work resonated so strongly with the fanbase that in 1969—almost a year after his initial collaboration ended—the MAD editorial team was still receiving numerous reader inquiries asking about the talented paper folder. Yielding to this popular demand, MAD brought Baggi back to publish a special three-page feature dedicated entirely to his art.

Titled the "MAD Origami Zoo of Cliché Creatures" and accompanied by text from writer Frank Jacobs, the showcase highlighted Baggi's brilliant ability to match his folding medium to the joke. His clever creations for the spread included:

• The Fast Buck: Folded directly from a U.S. dollar bill.
• The Booze Hounds: Crafted from Scotch whisky labels.
• The Camera Bug: Shaped out of a Kodak film wrapper.
• The Song Bird: Folded perfectly from sheet music.
• The Social Butterfly: Created using the MAD Magazine masthead.
• The Book Worm: Folded from the printed pages of a book.

Baggi's ingeniously crafted paper creatures remain a memorable and beloved piece of the magazine's late-1960s charm.