Overview

Animal House, the film adaptation of stories Chris Miller published in National Lampoon about his experiences at a Dartmouth (USA) fraternity, is among the most beloved and successful comedies of all time. Its portrayal of college party life is still imitated on campuses across America - toga party, anyone? Now, nearly thirty years after the movie hit cinemas, there are no taboos left and Chris Miller can finally answer the fans who all want to know one thing: was it really like that? The answer: Yes - but much, much more out of control! Here, for the first time, are the real stories of Alpha Delta Phi. Like the one about the frat brother who entertained the house by lighting his hair on fire - not the hair on his head, however. Or about the pledge who trick-or-treated around campus in a very revealing jack-o-lantern costume. Or about initiation night when a frozen hot dog became very painful for two rushes.

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9780316067171

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The Dartmouth frat escapades of the National Lampoon writer whose experiences inspired the film Animal House.The Alpha Delta Phi house at Dartmouth was called Animal House for a number of reasons, the most famous of which involved some members who were haplessly chasing a chicken around the yard (eager to kill it for dinner), only to be brought up short when an upperclassman (known as The Man ) plugged the chicken with a .45 slug from his upstairs room. Unfortunately for readers of Miller's biography about his sophomore Dartmouth year in 1960 at the AD house, nothing quite that eventful happens-it's action-packed but mostly of the binge-drinking, puking, pissing and trying-to-get-laid variety. Miller was a smart-ass gentile from the Long Island suburbs with a yen for girls, obscure rock 45s and Yiddish slang who found himself at home with the ADs, who treasured drinking and the bestowing of nicknames (Miller's is Pinto ). The author writes that what cartoon characters and AD brothers had in common was their exuberance, a truism he proves time and again throughout these raucous, bleary pages where schoolwork is but a vague concern and the unceasing bacchanal is everything. Written in a juvenile, slangy rush, Miller's book has energy to spare. The stories are related mostly in streams of obscene dialogue and are focused on activities centered either immediately above or below the waist. There's a time limit on such behavior, of course, given the ADs' amused cynicism about all human activity [and] Dadaistic displays of sociopathic behavior in public spaces, and the attraction begins to pall at about the halfway point, not long after Miller/Pinto starts referring to himself in the third person. For Animal House completists, be assured, one can find here most of the film's raw elements, from the road trip, the band playing Shout! and even the Dean's decision to put the house on an unprecedented triple warning. A boozy holler of a book, with a great soundtrack. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Chris Miller is a screenwriter who was the story-writer in residence at National Lampoon for 25 years. A former ad man responsible for coining such phrases as 'I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!

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