There has come into our hands a copy of the Lampoon for December 17 last, which purports to be a parody (or imitation) of Punch, or the London Charivari, the well-known English periodical. Accordingly, we marched off to Widener Library and then to Lamont in an abortive attempt to find the original article in order to be able to effect a comparison. Neither of those institutions stocked the magazine, but we were finally able to secure through the kind offices of a tutor the issues of Punch for December 13 and December 20, which by coincidence were the issues immediately preceding and following the Lampoon parody (or imitation).

It is our sad duty to report in this case the outsides of the sandwich were far more appetizing than the stuffing (so to speak), which points up the dangers of parodying a magazine which is really funny to people of discernment at whom the Lampoon presumably aims. It also points up the dangers of parodying a magazine which is unread by probably 95 percent of the College community and which, in view of the deplorable situation in the libraries, is also virtually unobtainable. Without having a copy of the original for comparison, it would be completely impossible for the reader of the parody to know what was funny, or indeed to appreciate the few really good items which the Lampoon has concocted.

Probably the most hopeful thing about the whole job is the drawings. A full page drawing of Alice in Symbol-land" is very well done, and a full-page imitation of Emmett--the man who draws horribly grotesque trains--approaches the master's style in all but clarity of line. The rest of the cartoons and illustrations are all clever, in content as well as form.

The Charivaria--tidbits from current events, something like the New Yorker's Talk of the Town--are incomparably better in the original, but tongue-in-cheek items are probably the hardest of all writing to spoof. There is an excellent story about the birth of a game called "Museum Ball" which probably comes closer to the witty Punch style than anything else in the issue, though a poem on queues is also amusing. The play reviews, especially a report of a new musical comedy by Mr. T. S. Eliot called, "The First Serpent," are the best actual parody in the magazine; the cinema and book columns lag far behind their British counterparts.

But the Lampoon missed its greatest opportunity when it came up with a rather crude satire of the column, "Impressions of Parliament," a pleasantly flippant account of the Parliamentary proceedings of the week. The effect of giving the legislators such names as Mr. K. G. Skeemer, Mr. Upton AdamBoyse, Lord Elpus, and Earl Ebyrd is simply to crush whatever little joke is being hatched at that point. The vast humor opportunities of dealing really lightly with British governmental and social foibles are almost buried.

The Bow Street humorists have now tried two parodies in one term. Whether this reflects a lack of original talent is impossible to tell, but it is certain that they have not enhanced their reputation by taking this "easy way out." There must be unique possibilities for original humor in such a unique place as Harvard, and it is up to the College's "funny magazine" to find them.