"Where Quality is a Slogan"

It was Nineteen-Seventy-something . . .

My older brother always had interesting hot rod and motorcycle magazines around.  He also had a nice collection of National Lampoon. 

A little history:  The Harvard Lampoon publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts The Harvard Lampoon is the world's second longest-running continually published humor magazine.  It is the oldest continually published college humor magazine.

By the way, the oldest is Nebelspalter, is a Swiss publication modeled after Punch, which was a British weekly magazine of humor and satire established in 1841.  Punch helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration.

Anyway, The Harvard Lampoon also produces occasional humor books (the best known being the 1969 J.R.R. Tolkien parody Bored of the Rings) and parodies of national magazines such as Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated. Much of the organization's capital is provided by the licensing of the "Lampoon" name to National Lampoon, begun by Harvard Lampoon graduates in 1970.

In 1978, NL created a, well, National Treasure -- at least humor-wise:  National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody.  In the first printing, this publication had exactly the same form and apparent content as that of an American regional Sunday newspaper, of which it was a parody. The main authors of the piece were P. J. O'Rourke and John Hughes.

 The newspaper included: National News, Local News, More Local News, Sports Section, Entertainment, Television Listings, Travel, Real Estate, Gardening, Your Pet, Women's Pages, Classified Ads, a "Swillmart Discount Store" Advertising Supplement, a Parade magazine parody, and eight pages of comics.

The newspaper's name is the "Dacron, Ohio Republican-Democrat", a reference to the cities Akron, Ohio and Dayton, Ohio, and to the cheap polyester fabric Dacron. The newspaper's motto:  "One of America's Newspapers" (reminds me of the current ATT&T "just okay" campaign).

The Swillmart's Store's motto is "Where Quality Is a Slogan"
They offer such items as European Gourmet Mule Cheese.  "Taste sensation. Ideal for caulking." Or, how about some Perpetual Lunch Meat made with a space-age rubber. 

This thing is chock-full of brilliant humor. 

I bring all this up because I want to give a shoutout to my friend John H. who knew that I was a fan and did not have a copy.  So, he scoured the interweb thing and found one for sale.  Now, I'm the proud owner.  John, thank you from the bottom of my funny bone. 

Next, to see if I can find a copy of . . .

Carpe diem Life,
Enjoy the Process,
David Kuhn