Some time ago I bought one of those DVD sets with all the Mad magazines, and I have been gradually going through them as I have time. I started with the first issue in 1952, and I'm just now hitting the 60s. I am thinking sometime around the mid 60s I should start recognizing some of the stuff from way back, as that is probably the time frame when I started reading them.
The early stuff is different than what it became in the later years, but as always there is lots of crazy stuff in there. From 1953: