NPR marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' Apple Records.
"As far as I can tell, the idea behind Apple was a tax dodge," music journalist Douglas Wolk says. "The top tax rate in England at that time was enormous. And John Lennon said something to the effect of, 'We talked to our accountants. We realized we could either give the money to the government or we could put it into a business.'"
The band's advisers reportedly recommended Beatles greeting cards or investing in real estate. The Beatles rejected those ideas. Just three months after it launched, Apple Records released its first single, "Hey Jude."
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Comics historian Mark Evanier notes the passing of classic Mad Magazine artist Will Elder.
Elder drew many of the most memorable stories in the comic book issues of Mad, including classic parodies of Archie, Wonder Woman, The Shadow, Mandrake the Magician and many more. When Kurtzman quit in a financial dispute, Elder went right along with him, working on virtually everything Harvey did after that. The path went from a fancier version of Mad for Hugh Hefner called Trump to a cheaper, self-published version of Mad called Humbug to an even cheaper publication called Help! Eventually, Kurtzman and Elder put most of their energy into what was at the time, the most expensive-to-produce (per page) comic strip/book ever, "Little Annie Fanny" for Playboy.
Meanwhile, Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents on of Elder's wonderful Mad parodies: Pt. 1, Pt. 2.
And here is The New York Times obituary for Elder.
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