Along the way, his father traded drawings for food; after Rome was liberated by the Allies, he drew and sold portraits of the soldiers standing in front of the Colisseum for a dollar.
Afterward, he settled in New York City, studied graphics design at Cooper Union, freelanced for such publications as Life, Glamour and Esquire, and set up his own photography studio.
These included food photography for clients as varied as Bon Appetit magazine and Stax Records, who hired Schild to deliver the cover for the Green Onions album by Booker T. and the MG's.
When Schild began at Mad he used a large, heavy camera that required a tripod at the request of editor Al Feldstein; half a century and nearly 250 photo assignments later, his work was digital.
Perhaps owing to his childhood experiences, his favorite Mad assignment was a roll of toilet paper with a swastika pattern that was used as a poster insert with the slogan "Wipe Out Hate!