''National Lampoon The 199th Birthday Book: A Tribute to the United States of America, 1776–1975'' was an American humor book that was issued in 1975 in paperback. Although it appears to be a regular book, it was a "special issue" of ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and therefore was sold on newsstands rather than in bookstores. The book was a collection of new material and was ''not'' an anthology of already published material. The "199th Birthday" of the title is a reference to the fact that in 1976 the United States celebrated its 200th birthday, (the Bicentennial), thus in 1975 when this book was published the United States was 199 years old. The cover art was photographed by Arky & Barrett was conceived and art-directed by Michael C. Gross. It shows a row of four naked female models whose skin has been colored with

bodypaint Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or " ...

so they resemble the "

Betsy Ross flag The Betsy Ross flag is a reconstructed early design for the flag of the United States, which is conformant to the Flag Act of 1777 and has red stripes outermost and stars arranged in a circle. These details elaborate on the 1777 act, passed ea ...

" with a star for the first American states, previously the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...

. The three naked models on the left wear dark wigs and the one on the right has a red wig, so that even their hair reflects the pattern of the flag. The editor of the book was

Tony Hendra Anthony Christopher "Tony" Hendra (10 July 1941 – 4 March 2021) was an English satirist, actor and writer who worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School (where he was a classmate of Stephen Hawking) and at St John's Co ...

. Contributors included

Doug Kenney Douglas Clark Francis Kenney (December 10, 1946 – August 27, 1980) was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film who co-founded the magazine ''National Lampoon'' in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its ...

P.J. O'Rourke Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for ''Th ...

Michael O'Donoghue Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 – November 8, 1994) was an American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to ''National Lampoon'' magazine, and was the ...

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He i ...

, Sam Gross, Bobby London,

Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...

, Jeff Jones, George Evans, and the illustrator

Noel Sickles Noel Douglas Sickles (January 24, 1910 – October 3, 1982) was an American commercial illustrator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Scorchy Smith''. Sickles was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. Largely self-taught, his career began ...

External links

Mark's Very Large National Lampoon Site gives a list of the special issues, but no detail on this one

This Amazon listing lists the editor and some of the contributors

199th Birthday Book 1975 books United States Bicentennial {{Comedy-book-stub