It's Friday the 13th but it's also the 99th birthday of the longest-serving of The Usual Gang of Idiots in MAD magazine and one of the most beloved cartoonists in the world. Abraham "Al" Jaffee was born on March 13, 1921 and he began drawing comic books in 1941. He made his MAD debut in #25 (September, 1955) when he wrote an article entitled, "Baseball…Science or Skill?" for then-editor Harvey Kurtzman.

A few months later when Kurtzman left MAD to do a magazine for Hugh Hefner, Al went with him and didn't return to the pages of MAD until late 1958. He was in almost every issue thereafter, sometimes as a writer, sometimes as an artist, most often as a writer-artist. And in 1964, he originated the MAD Fold-In, which quickly became one of the essential components of almost every issue since. Only recently did he stop doing them and passed the job on to another artist.

Al is one of those wonderful cartoonists who is also a wonderful human being. Everybody who knows the guy loves the guy. Everybody who doesn't know the guy would love the guy if they knew the guy. Happy 99, Al. Hope you enjoy being middle-aged.

I want to make a small point about all these cancellations and closures and postponements we're seeing — WonderCon, Disneyland, Broadway…even the real important ones like the unveiling of the Bullwinkle & Rocky statue. We may well look back some day and decide some of this was unnecessary but we can't say that now, at least with any certainty. You might be washing your hands way more often than you need to…but we don't know. And when you don't know and peoples' lives are in jeopardy, you err on the side of possible over-caution. You have to. So keep on washing 'em.

We're also eliminating a lot of uncertainty. I was set to host six panels at WonderCon and to spend three days there. I felt that if they were going to hold it, I was going to go…but I'm 68 years old now and one of the consistent things we're hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic is that it's really rough on folks, age seventy and up. 68 is way too close to 70. A few days ago, I became convinced they'd have to postpone the con but it wasn't until I got the text message this morning that I felt a small but present weight lift off me: That's one thing I don't have to think about.

I am not worried about the virus. I'm worried about not doing the right things in a tricky situation. Contracting it might be inevitable but you want to do everything in your power to minimize the possibility. I feel a bit better today because I'm making some adjustments in how I live for the time being which I think will do that. And I don't have to keep thinking about whether to brave WonderCon and not let anyone down or to cancel on WonderCon, which was increasingly looking like a risky thing to attend. Its operators did a wise thing and I thank them for doing it now instead of waiting a week or two.

If it turns out that this thing takes a lot fewer human lives than the Worst Case projections, I hope we don't hear people saying the reactions to it and all these cancellations were foolish and unnecessary. I hope they say the fatalities were kept down by swift, smart action and responsible parties erring on the side of caution. And I really hope they say that it was an act of appalling negligence that we weren't better prepared for this and that we won't make that mistake again.

The city of West Hollywood has canceled the unveiling ceremony for the Bullwinkle & Rocky statue. (Thanks, Matt Gill!)

Watch this. Robert Redfield, who is the Prevention Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is testifying before a Congressional committee and Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), hauls out a whiteboard and — well, watch what happens. Ms. Porter represents California's 45th congressional district, which is Irvine and Laguna Hills and that area. You'll wish she represented you…

Broadway shows (and that kind of show in other locations) are going dark for a while. But if you miss show tunes, here are some 20-second excerpts you can sing to yourself to time the washing of your hands.

Here's the statement…

To protect public health and slow the rate of transmission of COVID-19, the California Department of Public Health announced a recommendation that gatherings and events of more than 250 people should either be postponed or cancelled. Comic-Con (organizer of WonderCon) will abide by this recommendation. Therefore WonderCon Anaheim, scheduled for April 10-12, 2020 in Anaheim, California, will be postponed until a later date. We will begin processing refunds in the coming days.

We continue to work closely with officials in San Diego and at this time no decision has been made regarding the rescheduling of Comic-Con slated to take place this summer; July 23-26, 2020. We urge everyone to follow the recommendations set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and your local health officials.

I guess this surprises no one. Oddly enough, here's how I heard. I was in my doctor's office, discussing my health (I'm fine) and this whole mess (it's not). He told me, among other things, to avoid crowds. Here is how the exchange went…

ME: I avoid crowds anyway. There's a comic book convention in Anaheim one month from now but I'm figuring a 99.9% chance of it being postponed.

DOC: If you have any clout with them, encourage them to make it 100%.

ME: Hold on. I just got a text message. [reads text message] Okay. It's 100%.

Anyway, that's all I know about it. I'm pretty sure the answers to the two main questions — "What will the new dates be?" and "Will this mean Comic-Con won't happen on schedule?" is "They'll figure that out when they know more." One of the many maddening/scary things about this virus is how little is known about it. Remember how earlier today I said that people who don't know should learn to say "I don't know"? I didn't have Mr. Trump in mind when I wrote that and it certainly doesn't apply only to him…

…but his claims that the virus would be gone any day now, it was all contained, it would certainly be gone when the weather got warmer, etc…those soundbites will go down in history as the stupidest fuckin' things a President of the United States ever said. It's only mid-March and Politifact already has its Lie of the Year. They just have to pick from among a dozen or so.

Film at 11. (I'm still at my doctor's office. )

I don't think I like living in Interesting Times. I could do with some utter boredom in my world.

Leave us be honest. We're all scared and at the same time, baffled as to how scared we should be. Whatever it is that some people have liked about Donald Trump, it probably isn't how his administration projects a sense of confidence that grown-ups are in control and know what to do. That speech he gave last night was appalling, first for his unwell, unsure demeanor and secondly for the vast number of clarifications and corrections his own staff had to issue immediately after it.

We've come to expect that of his off-the-top-of-his-combover, ad-lib ramblings…but this was a prepared speech that didn't have correct information on the TelePrompter. Rod Dreher, a pundit who politically is on Trump's side, was appalled…

The President of the United States, on live television, reading prepared remarks, told the world that the US was cutting off all trade with Europe for thirty days. But it wasn't true. Completely freaking incompetent. No excuse at all. We are in such trouble…

For a guy who seems to care only about (a) his image and (b) the stock market, Trump sure is doing a lot of damage to both. And we're all sitting here wondering how concerned we should be, how we should protect ourselves as we stare at our calendars, wondering what we should cancel and what will be canceled for us. I actually have an appointment today at my doctor's office for a routine physical. I know I'm going to that but anything beyond it is a big question mark.

We will get through this but it's going to be way more difficult and fraught with worries than it needs to be. The thing to do is to remember that we will get through it.

I need to leave for my appointment soon so I want to just leave you with three thoughts for now. One is to not believe rumors. Rumors, especially on the Internet, seem to be born out of speculation from — and I'll put this in bold because we all have to remember this — someone who has no real information whatsoever. And then someone else treats that as possible inside information and says something based on absolutely nothing but it starts with "I'm hearing that…" and more people think there's a real source somewhere. The fact that something is "going around" doesn't mean it came from anyone with the slightest gram of knowledge about whatever it is.

Second thought: "I don't know" is a powerful, essential phrase in our world. It's what you should say when you don't know instead of trying to act like you know and making up something that might, if only by sheer dumb luck, be a right answer.

And lastly for now: The time you spend panicking and worrying is time you're not spending fixing things. You also may not be doing things you need to do…like, I have scripts that need to be written. I also need to divert some (but not all) of my limited brainpower towards checking to see if I'm doing everything I need to do to deal with these new and as-yet-not-fully-understood problems. But spending time on that and not on getting those scripts done is not good for me because the scripts do have to get done.

It is possible to spend too much time thinking about the coronavirus and also to spend too little. Either one is bad. The way to get through this is to find the sweet spot between them. And it also helps to listen less to "experts" (the kind in quotes) on the Internet and to consult a doctor you trust. Which is what I'm going to do now. Bye.

• All I know is that whenever the crisis is over, no matter how many people have died, no matter how many have suffered or how the economy has been harmed, Donald Trump will insist his administration deserves an A-plus for how they handled it.

As you may know, Late Night with Seth Meyers posts segments from each episode earlier on Twitter. About 6 PM my time (9 PM in New York), they posted this video of tonight's "A Closer Look" segment, which is about the coronavirus. It spends close to sixteen minutes basically calling Donald Trump an idiot…

Friends keep asking me why, in my humblest of humble opinions, so many Democrats have been voting for Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders. I think there are an awful lot of reasons but one biggie is mounting fear of a second Trump term. And the way Trump has managed to seem utterly clueless in a crisis — and interested only in the stock market and his own person image — has only intensified that fear.

You may recall that I wrestled with this question: Do I vote for the person I think would make the best president? Or do I vote for the person I think stands the best chance of clobbering Trump? A good case could be made for either.

It almost came down to a coin-flip for me but when I finally decided it was time to mark my ballot, I went for Option #1 and marked for Sanders. If I'd marked it next month, I might opt for for the guy I thought had the best chance of winning, which to me is Biden. And yes, I know there have been polls saying Bernie's more electable and his die-hards will forever cite them…but those were only some polls, not even most. More importantly, those were polls gauging Sanders before the Trump Attack Machine began selling Americans on the concept that as an avowed Castro-loving, America-hating Commie, Sanders would take away your children, your guns, your beloved pets, your freedoms, your Doritos, your Bud Light, your underwear, etc.

If you think I'm wrong…well, maybe I am. Or maybe you're wrong. We'll never know for sure. Remember I voted for Sanders but not because I thought he was the better candidate. I voted for him because I thought he'd be the better president. After a few more weeks of Trump stumbling about, telling us the virus is contained…and if it isn't, it'll go away when the weather gets warmer…and in the meantime, tests are available for everybody…I might be more inclined to vote for the guy with the best chance of beating him, which I think is Biden, especially with the proper veep selection.

Bernie did not look like a smaller man…not for a second. But I think to most people, I think he started looking like the bigger gamble.

That's why I think a lot of unexpected votes — including a wide number of Democrats who decided at the last minute — went to Joe Biden. And I also think that the army of new, young voters that were energized to turn out for Bernie just didn't materialize…and maybe were overestimated all along. But when you come right down to it, I probably should have voted for Huckleberry…

So Harvey Weinstein got 23 years in prison…and he still may have charges to face in Los Angeles. He's 67…so what are the odds that he staggers out a free man in the year 2043? Or serves even a third of that sentence?

I'm flipping back and forth between news channels and everyone's talking about the satisfaction and possible healing that now comes to the 80+ women who have said Weinstein assaulted them. That's all true and good but I don't hear anyone talking about what I think is even more important: How this impacts other sexual predators who have not (yet) been identified…or not yet even committed similar deeds.

And don't forget all the people who make this kind of thing possible by knowing about such acts and pretending they don't. What happened today is not just about Weinstein and his victims. Maybe I'm missing it but I haven't seen anyone in all this breathless news coverage mention that.

• Someone wrote and asked me, "How many years do you think Harvey Weinstein will get?" I wrote back, "More than he has."

So sorry to hear of the passing at the way-too-young age of 59 of actor Merwin Foard, who I only knew from (a) seeing him on the Broadway stage and (b) a short e-mail correspondence. For a while there, every time I went to New York and made my customary trips to shows I wanted to see, Merwin Foard would be in one of them, twice as a standby who happened to go on a night I was there. He was really terrific.

The first time (I think) I saw him filling in for another actor, he was Fred Graham (i.e., the male lead) in the 1999 revival of Kiss Me, Kate, filling in for the regular star, Brian Stokes Mitchell. I'd seen Mitchell on a previous visit and liked the show so much that a few months later when I went back with my lovely friend Carolyn, I took her because I knew she'd love it. too. I was stunned by how good Mr. Foard was in the part and when I said so in an Internet forum, I got a nice thank-you e-mail from him and we wrote back and forth for a few months.

Later, I saw him fill in for Michael Cerveris in the title role for a revival of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. As with Kiss Me, Kate, he faced the problem that most of the folks out there who'd bought tickets bought them expecting to see the usual star and felt disappointed or baited-and-switched. All standbys and understudies for stars face that but, again, Merwin was so good that everyone forgot he wasn't the person they'd paid to see. And Sweeney is one of the most difficult parts an actor can tackle.

And I saw him in other shows but missed him in some. I didn't get to see him in Show Boat, Mame, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Jekyll & Hyde, Assassins, La Cage Aux Folles, The Little Mermaid, The Addams Family, Annie or his last role, Aladdin. That's what the still of him above right is from. He also did voices for Disney features including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mulan. Pretty impressive career there.

And the first show I saw him in might have been the 1997 revival of 1776, which was easily one of the five-or-so best Broadway productions I've ever seen. He wasn't a standby here. Night after night, he stopped the show with his performance as Richard Henry Lee. Here he is, along with David Huddleston and Michael McCormick performing his big number on (I think) Rosie O'Donnell's talk show. It was even better on the stage with the encore that got cut out for this appearance…

Lee K. Seitz writes about this post concerning the time Sergio Aragonés had a problem with the mails and didn't get any of his cartoons into an issue of MAD. That was in 1967 and it has never happened again to this day…

As often seems to happen because you write so darn fast, I get way behind on your blog. Then I binge a bit to catch up. This is why I'm just now writing about something you discussed way back on February 18.

Your post about Dick DeBartolo's streak ending was fascinating (and a touch sad). But the bit about Sergio's streak got me thinking, "So what did they do for the issue Sergio missed? Did they rerun some of his past marginals? There's been so many, who'd notice?"

So I googled the cover of #111. I was surprised to find that I have that issue! I "inherited" them from my mother's stash back when I was a lad in the late '70s. Many of the covers are no longer attached to their magazines, but I've got them and read them — or at least portions of them — many times back then.

So now, without having to resort to asking you, I know what they did instead of "Mad Marginals": "Songs That Didn't Make It." Now I have to wonder who came up with these titles. I'd guess it was a last minute effort by whatever staff happened to be around at the time.

You'd guess right, Lee, though I'd bet that most of 'em (if not all) came from Nick Meglin, who then had the title of Associate Editor. Nick not only associated with the editor but he wrote most of the funny stuff in MAD that was not credited to freelance writers like Frank Jacobs or Larry Siegel. The other Associate Editor, Jerry DeFuccio, may have come up with a few.

Some folks don't know this but MAD existed for a long time before my buen amigo Sergio began contributing to MAD. He first turned up in MAD #73 cover-dated January of 1963. They bought a bunch of cartoons he'd drawn about astronauts and ran them over two pages in that issue. When they handed him his check, they invited him to contribute more to the magazine. Little did they know how fast and prolific this new member of The Usual Gang of Idiots could be.

He was back with more submissions faster than you could say "Melvin Cowznofski," assuming you could say "Melvin Cowznofski," which not everyone can. Try it and see. They probably could have fired all their writers and artists and just filled each issue after than with Sergio cartoons but for some reason, they didn't want to do that. They took more of his material but gently broke the news to him that there was a limit as to how much work he could sell them. Sergio, even at that age, wasn't much for limits. He came up with a clever way to increase that limit.

MAD from its outset had always been a publication that gave you a lot for your money, cramming gags into backgrounds and attaining a certain density of comedy per page. I remember when I bought my first issue — number 70, which I bought off the rack not long before the day my partner-to-be walked into the MAD offices for the first time. I spent hours going over every inch of every page, constantly noticing funny little things I hadn't noticed before.

And I noticed the marginal gags…little texts stuck perpendicular or upside-down or even right-side-up in the margins throughout the magazine.

The gags in the margin first appeared in MAD #29, the first issue edited by Al Feldstein after Harvey Kurtzman left. Much of that issue consisted of material Kurtzman had been working on and I am at a loss to say whether the marginals were an innovation of the Feldstein era or if they were something Kurtzman had in the works. In #29, they were just gags sprinkled around the pages and went unmentioned in the Table of Contents. In #30, they were listed there as the "Nobody asked us but — Department" and credited to Arnie Rosen and Coleman Jacoby, two gents who became very important comedy writers in television.

Arnie was, in fact, a producer on my first TV writing job, The Nancy Walker Show in 1976 but he did a lot more than that. Among the shows that he and Jacoby worked on that you've heard of were The Phil Silvers Show (aka Sgt. Bilko), The Carol Burnett Show, Get Smart and The Garry Moore Show. Both men were already writing for television when they made this contribution to MAD and I don't think they did much (if anything) else for the magazine. All future marginal gags were uncredited.

On the Table of Contents page, they'd give the premise of the marginal gags in each issue. In #70, it was "If they had a brother, brother!" Here, freshly-scanned from the exact same copy of MAD #70 that I purchased in 1962 when I was ten years of age, is a sample gag from that issue…

Get it? Anyway, right after Sergio sold that first article and a few others, he came up with the idea to replace the text gags with tiny cartoons. He says this was because, with his then-limited English and this his equally-limited knowledge of American people, places and things, he just didn't understand the text gags. Me, I think he was just looking to make extra room for his cartoons in the magazine so they'd pay him more. Nick Meglin and the others who wrote the text gags loved the concept because it meant they didn't have to write all those text gags…except the one issue where the post office screwed up.

Editor Feldstein didn't buy the idea at first. To "sell" it, Sergio drew some real tiny gags and pasted them into a copy of MAD…and Feldstein didn't even notice them at first. Once he did, he decided the idea might be fun for an issue or two but, of course, no one could come up with 12-18 pantomime cartoons per issue. Sergio then came up with enough for more than fifty years. This is not humanly possible but then neither is he.