Something's Missing

When the Harvard Lampoon hit the streets this week, something was missing. Pages three through six had been ripped out and replaced by a loose insert.

Douglas A. Ames '80, a former treasurer of the humor magazine, believes the omission was a response to his recent threat to sue the Lampoon if it published the issue in its original form because it included a "Jester, Ibis, Blot" column on pages four and five that he said was "vindictive and malicious" toward him.

"I commend them for having the foresight to not distribute the issue as it stood because I definitely would have sued," Ames said yesterday.

But Andrew S. Borowitz '80, Lampoon president, said yesterday the pages were ditched because they featured "a prominent advertisement for the McGovern-Eagleton campaign" and therefore were outdated.

Ames noted that the masthead, which appeared on the same ripped out pages as the "Jester, Ibis, Blot" piece, was missing "for the first time in the Lampoon's history."

Borowitz disputed that, saying the masthead has been omitted before. Why was it left out his time? "That's just humility," Borowitz said.

Uh-huh.