An homage, a distant relative, or an incredible coincidence...
...you decide.
There's an old-fashioned drive-in restaurant in southern New Jersey with a great mascot out front to lure in hungry beach-goers and locals to try the pastrami cheesesteaks, homemade onion rings and custard eclairs. A 3-story former Muffler Man with a face that's a dead ringer for Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman proudly stands watch in front of Mr. Bill's Coney Island Drive-In on Route 73 in Winslow, just off the Atlantic City Expressway. Mr. Bill's has been a South Jersey institution for over fifty years, and offers an authentic retro vibe where Richie, Potsie and Ralph Malph would feel right at home. When the drive-in first opened, its owner, Ray, named the place after his father-in-law, Bill. It was also Ray who purchased the Muffler Mad-Man and made him Mr. Bill's' master of ceremonies, getting the attention of eccentric roadside attraction fans ever since. Categorized as "happy halfwits" by the Muffler Man aficionados at roadsideamerica.com, they are a rare mutation of the more common Paul Bunyan MMs, with similar bodies but heads of a more, shall we say, moronic nature. Which brings to mind a sage quote from Mr. Neuman himself: "It takes one to know one -- and vice versa!"
