The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie

by Chris Miller

Overview

The creator of Animal House at last tells the real story of the fraternity that inspired the iconic film — a story far more outrageous and funny than any movie could ever capture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316067171
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	10/08/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Chris Miller is a screenwriter who was the story-writer in residence at National Lampoon for 25 years. A former ad man, he now lives in Venice, California.

Editorial Reviews

[Miller's] book is sophomoric, disgusting, tasteless, vile, misogynist, chauvinist, debased and at times so unspeakably revolting that any person of decent sensibility would hurl it into the nearest Dumpster. I couldn’t put it down. I make this self-indicting admission with all due trepidation, but there it is. For better or worse, this is an utterly hilarious book.
— The New York Times

Christopher Buckley

The screenplay for National Lampoon's Animal House was the brainchild of National Lampoon editor Harold Ramis, Doug Kenny and Miller, who turned Dartmouth frat life into the 1978 hit movie. Often, their stories were considered too sordid for Universal's producers to air. Ironically, what seemed too gross to put on screen in the '70s is now too boring to put in print. Yet without actors to give dimension to the zany characters, the tall tales feel like an awkward, horny sophomore faking bravado. What readers learn is Miller's obsession with puerile details and his insane desire to degrade himself. Pinto, the name he gave himself at Dartmouth, finds acceptance at a fraternity because of his "booting prowess" (vomiting skills); he witnesses the sexual victories of his pals, drinks himself sick and survives car accidents. Like the outtakes in DVDs, this book proves that Miller's frat-boy shenanigans deserved to stay on the cutting-room floor, not because of any sense of prudery, but to save the reader from testosterone-fueled overkill. Die-hard fans may be amused by the tales of "Bags" and "Seal," the two real-life inspirations for Animal House's Bluto, the role John Belushi nailed. But none of the recorded pranks have the life-spirit contained in Belushi's clarion call: "Toga!" (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

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 thethird 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

"McLaren's matter-of-fact tone makes the bizarre stories that much zanier. He even executes the musical cues within the text impressively." ---AudioFile

From the Publisher