Over the years, a pretty fair number of Rice student humor magazines have sprung to life, bloomed for a season and then faded away. Although I’ve probably laughed at at least one thing in each of them, they are mostly just baffling, their humor totally dependent on a vanished context. The Bird, though, is different–it somehow holds up. It may simply be that it’s just recent enough (1965) that it still makes sense, but I think there’s more to it than that. It’s charmingly illustrated from front to back. Even the ads, sold to local businesses that catered to students, were individually drawn by the talented Bill Merriman and a staff of artists. There’s a clever story by Greg Curtis.  It’s all silly and smart, infused with a genuine sense of fun, and I enjoyed reading it. We only have one issue, dated December 1965, but I don’t know if that was the only one produced. If you know, or if you have another one, let me know.

Here’s a cartoon from the issue: (Click on these to enlarge, then again to zoom.)