They Don't Make Covers Like This Anymore

January 1973 National Lampoon cover featuring Cheeseface.

Long ago and faraway there was a place called America which possessed many great things including the greatest thing of all - a sense of humor. From sea to shining sea, you could hear the laughter in comedy, commentary, biting wit and satire. Sarcasm and irreverence were understood and appreciated and people actually laughed at themselves. And then it was over. Across the land people suddenly became experts on everything from baking sourdough bread to political strategy. Self-importance was compulsory and nuance got a passport and moved.

In those earlier times a fledging publication fighting for survival and wanting to increase subscriptions, produced this cover with the intention of being dark and shocking. The following issue had a picture of Cheeseface seemingly shot because not enough issues were sold. (The Lampoon's best sales period was 1973-75)

The cover, photographed by Ronald G. Harris and art directed by Michael Gross was a success. The American Society of Magazine Editors began a contest in 2005 and ASME members were asked to choose the best covers of the previous 40 years. The Lampoon cover came in at No. 7. I place it much higher. That I could remember the cover 52 years after its publication (yes, I am that old) is no small feat.

This was not just a magazine cover - it was great advertising. Advertising's purpose is to manipulate. What better exemplifies manipulation than threatening to shoot a dog. Okay, a baby may be a better example but that's debatable.

Sadly, the story of Cheeseface does not have a happy ending. He was shot and killed on his owner's farm in Vermont three years later by an unnamed hunter with no known motive.

A cover like this could never happen today. The Lampoon existed in another time and space. While we can't go back, it would be good to move forward knowing that not taking ourselves so seriously is ok. Laughing at our situation is ok. Irreverence is ok. Not just ok. It's necessary.