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by
Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services
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| When
Marla (Weisenborn) Wyche, '91 Art, first
landed in New York City in the early 1990s,
she was a tourist who thought she'd visit
the city for a couple weeks. Now, nearly a
decade later, she's still there, in small
part because of a dream job at the famed MAD
Magazine. |
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| Wyche,
who is the daughter of Ray Weisenborn, former
head of the MSU Speech Communications Department,
is now a freelancer and a stay-at-home mother
for her year-old daughter, Whitney. But for
more than seven years she designed the layout
for one of the country's most madcap institutions. |
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| Wyche
found the job through a classified ad in the New York
Times. She had come back from a two-month backpacking
trip in Europe and needed a "real job" when she saw the
ad. |
| "I
thought thousands of people would apply, but I was called
back for an interview," Wyche recalls. She didn't hear
back from MAD for one month, but when they did call her,
it was to ask her to come in to work. |
| Wyche
said when she first started she couldn't believe she was
getting paid to do a rewarding job in a creative setting.
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| "It
was a real office, with people sitting in front of computers
working, like most offices, but it was also really informal,"
said Wyche, who says she has a good sense of humor but
is not "off the walls," as MAD humor can be. "It was the
best of both worlds. It was a fun environment, very relaxed.
We could say anything and we wouldn't get in trouble.
And the real reward was each month when the magazine came
out." |
| Wyche's
job at the magazine was production and design. She designed
pages and layouts for the artists. She did not do drawing,
such as illustrations of the versatile MAD icon, Alfred
E. Newman. All drawings in the magazines are assigned
to freelance illustrators, Wyche said. |
| Wyche
said that she came to love New York City while she was
working for MAD, but she tries to return to Montana (her
mother lives in Hamilton) a couple of times a year "to
get my mountain fix." |
| Wyche
said she has her hands full with her new mothering duties
and doesn't plan to return to MAD. But her 16-month old
daughter, Whitney, has led her career in a new direction.
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"We love to read together," Wyche said. "I have a couple
projects on the back burner, particularly children's books."
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