National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody

National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody is an American humor book that was first published in 1973. It was a spin-off from National Lampoon magazine. The book was a parody of a high school yearbook from the early 1960s. It was edited by P. J. O'Rourke and Doug Kenney and art-directed by David Kaestle. Much of the writing was by P. J. O'Rourke and Doug Kenney. The "literary magazine" was written by Sean Kelly; the sports page was by Christopher Cerf; and the Principal's Letter and the "In Memorium" piece were both by Ed Subitzky.

National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody
AuthorP. J. O'Rourke (editor) and Doug Kenney (Editor)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreParody
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages176 pp

The book, as it was originally published, appeared to be a genuine 1964 yearbook from "C. Estes Kefauver High School": the Kefauver Kaleidoscope. Senator Kefauver himself had only died the year before, in 1963. The school is located in "Dacron, Ohio" (a reference to the city Akron, Ohio,[1] and to inexpensive synthetic fabric Dacron.)

The parody is closely based on the Toledo, Ohio's DeVilbiss High School yearbook, called the Pot 'o Gold. O'Rourke attended DHS for a couple of years in the early 1960s. The swim team photo caption contains the names of a number of O'Rourke's friends from DeVilbiss. Like many great parodies, the Lampoon yearbook very closely mimics the style and content of actual yearbooks, only deviating in subtle ways.

The publication also included a copy of the school newspaper, a basketball program, a report card, a diploma, detention slips and a fake ID. According to apparent inscriptions, the book belonged to "Larry Kroger", class of '64. The character Larry Kroger went on to become the college freshman protagonist (played by Tom Hulce) of the comedy movie National Lampoon's Animal House, released in 1978. The character "Mandy Pepperidge" also makes her first appearance in the Yearbook and reappears in the film (played by Mary Louise Weller).

Five years after the Yearbook parody, in 1978, the National Lampoon published the National Lampoon Sunday Newspaper Parody, a fake Sunday newspaper which also claimed to originate in "Dacron, Ohio" but was contemporary, being dated Sunday February 12, 1978.

The cover photo was taken by Vincent Aiosa.

Note on cover

The credits list the cheerleaders on the cover as models Roberta Caplan, Celia Bau, and Laura Singer. The cover is a one-off gag, unrelated to any of the stories inside.

References

  1. Akron is the metropolitan area nearest Sandusky, Ohio--setting of The King of Sandusky, a fictionalised account of O'Rourke's childhood


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