'Poon Opens Relations With Moscow Magazine

Russia's leading humor magazine, Krokodil, has awarded the Lampoon a perpetual subscription and the right to call itself "progressive." The Lampoon is Harvard's only humor magazine.

The presentation took place in Moscow on August 25, when the Lampoon's Culinator (i.e. chief cook) Elling Eide '57 visited the Krokodil offices to present them with a scroll and a perpetual subscription to the Lampoon. Eide claims that the Russians were "overjoyed."

Liked "Rock and Roll" Article

The scroll said, ". . . laughter, in time, can form the basis for a better mutual understanding." The editors of Krokodil thought that a recent article decrying "Rock and Roll" was especially good as it obviously decried "Art for Art's sake." This, they added, is "progressive." Lampoon poetry was hailed by the Soviets for its "realistic attitude."

Eide also wrote an article for the Krokodil which will be published shortly. It is a humorous conversation between the Lampoon's symbol, the Ibis, and the Russian magazine's mascot, a crocodile. Eide said that the article contains a humorous jab at Russia's poor modern architecture. In the article, Ibis says, "I liked St. Basil's best of all the buildings I saw."

Offered 800 Rubles

Eide maintains that by Lampoon standards this line is very funny because it has an "unprogressive" philosophy at its foundation. He was offered 800 rubles (two hundred dollars at the official rate) for the article but declined to be so "capitalistic." He remained steadfast even after he was told, "Take it. It's the States' money."