EASTER FINDS LAMPY IN NEW GRASS-GREEN DRESS

The following review of the current issue of the Harvard Lampoon was written for the Crimson by Robeson Bailey '29.

Lampy has dressed himself up in a new-grass green, and with this appropriate Easter finery steps forth for all the world to view. And, it must be owned, he cuts not a bad figure. In fact, if one's window be open to any of the vagrancies of early spring in Cambridge, one will find the Jester in a delightful mood, albeit a few of the stories and jokes he has for you are distinctly not after his best manner. There are, however, a sufficient number of high spots in his present repertoire to render the ensemble a product of very high quality, so high in fact that the number, in the reviewer's opinion, ranks well at the top of Lampy's efforts for the year.

We are told in an editorial that "Lampy has thrown open his pages to the ardent versifiers and enlarged his already spacious garret for their comfort." From the samples he gives us, our only regret is that there are not more of these rondeaus, ballads, and other charming whatnots of the facile versifier's art, which might have taken the place of a few of the prose selections; for some of the latter are--well--as we have said before, not after his best manner, which is putting it charitably. Of particular feebleness are the two attempts on pages one twenty-one and two, while "Light Cast on Moving Tragedy" very nearly approaches these in its unworthiness. The rest of the prose is at least up to a satisfactory level, though none of it deserves particular lar mention.

Having now disposed of all that is questionable in the issue, we may turn to a consideration of what is more typical of Lampy at his best. There are three bits of very pleasing verse: the opening rondeau; "A Ballade of Spring" with an appropriate page decoration, and also "Place Your Bets" which is set in the midst of a fine page decoration. Of these three, perhaps "Place Your Bets" takes the laurel owing to the fine adaptation of decoration to the subject and execution of the verse, which of itself is more than good. But "A Ballade of Spring" deserves further mention for its difficult double refrain and lack of forced rhymes.

The drawings are unusually good. "Mother Manhattan" is as well done and as effective as any of the similar things to be found in the pages of Lampy's more professional cousins. "Friendly Enemies" is a clever variation on the one-horse-town theme, although the caption is infinitely superior to the drawing itself. On the other hand "The Canonization of a Saint" contains better drawings that the caption deserves.

Taken all in all, the present issue is more uneven in its merit than perhaps seems necessary. But at the same time praise for the issue as a whole far out-weighs any slight blame incurred by a few mediocre attempts at humour. If one feels the slightest tingle of the spring tickling the soles of one's feet or the whims of one's mind, then let him haste to make acquaintance with Lampy in his new spring jacket.