In which we review a book that was purchased, either new or used, for one American Dollar or less. Sometimes they're worth the buck. Sometimes they're not. But they're usually pretty interesting.

Ed McMahon's Barside Companion
Pocket Books, 1970
Mass-Market Paperback, 178 pages
Original Price: 95¢
What I Paid: 25¢


Even those of us that are old enough to remember Johnny Carson's tenure on the "Tonight Show" might have missed out on those heady, golden years in which Ed McMahon would regularly appear drunk. If you're only familiar with Ed as the jovial, friendly, white-haired grampa figure, do yourself a favor and check out some of those Classic Carson tapes at your library. If you do, you're bound to see the famous Ed McMahon "drunk reel". Hilarious.

Yes, there was a time when Ed McMahon wasn't famous just for being Johnny's second banana; he was also hail as a prodigious drinker. So much so that in 1969 the World Publishing Company published Ed McMahon's Barside Companion in hardback, with the paperback edition following only a year later.

This is the kind of book you'd find on or near your parents' or grandparents' liquor cabinet. It's a collection of jokes, games, tricks, quotes from W. C. Fields, the full text of the 18th amendment, and assorted bar miscellanea from a time back when drinking was a sport, and cocktail hour was a legitimate after-work tradition. The entire book speaks to a time when drinking was a perfectly reasonable way for an adult to spend an evening, when it was important not to just drink, but to drink well, and trying to drive while intoxicated was a hilarious situation, rather than being a horrific, life-threatening lapse in judgment.

Unlike the old-school joke books you found at garage sales when you were a kid, the Barside Companion has much more to it than a few one-liners and groaners; it even goes into the history of alcohol, and a catalog of classical references to bending one's arm at the bar. It aims to not only make drinking more fun, but more educational as well.

There's even the occasional serious message. In the section titled, "When Can I Start to Drink, Dad?" Ed shares the sage opinions of the Seagram Distillers Company on when a person has the wisdom, the maturity, and the personality to start drinking. First, Seagram reminds us that nobody should try to buy a drink before their of legal age. Then they throw it back into the face of the parents, suggesting that children will emulate the drinking habits of their parents. So, no getting shit-faced in the den and then breaking a few lamps.

The book is copiously (if not richly) illustrated by Phil Inerlandi. You might recognize his work from an old stack of Playboys; in fact, his work gives the book all the elan and sophistication of a really long Playboy article, from the days when that phrase meant something.

All in all, not a bad book for under a buck.

-B.C. Silvia