DOuG pRATt

More HELP!

October 11th, 2006

As mentioned several weeks ago, the first time Monty Python members John Cleese and Terry Gilliam worked together was in a humor magazine called HELP!  In issue #24, cover date May 1965, an impossibly young-looking Cleese appeared in a fumetti (photo comic) titled, “Christopher’s Punctured Romance.”  It seems fitting to present it now, immediately after viewing the videos of Stephen Colbert’s deft jabs at feminine and feminist stereotypes in the previous posts.  I would suspect that the author’s name, Dave Crossley, is a pseudonym for Cleese himself ^*, but I have been unable to confirm whether or not that’s true.  For me, the use of the name “Jennings” in the story is something of a giveaway.  Also, I once spoke with HELP!’s creator and editor, Harvey Kurtzman, about this story and I don’t recall him referring to anyone other than Cleese being involved, except for the fact it was Gilliam who had found him performing off-off-Broadway with a British troupe called the Cambridge Circus.

^*See comments

A complete, uncensored scan of “Christopher’s Punctured Romance” is in the gallery, and can be viewed by clicking the PG-13 logo.  I have applied this rating because, as described by one friend, “it’s a bit perverse;”  but, then, so was a lot of Monty Python’s material.  The story works on many levels, being subversive and, yes, somewhat obscene.  But it’s a sharp critique of a male-female value system that was changing rapidly in the mid-60’s, as well as a scathing indictment of the true symbolism of Barbie™, beyond its popularity as a mere toy.  I would characterize it as depravity in the service of enlightenment.

NOTE:  Grateful acknowledgment is hereby given to Dennis F. Rogers for loan of his copy of the original magazine.

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