October 4, 1968
- nHE PUMP HOUSE
GANG''"
w/ gY ANTHONY FRAGOLA
Statuuuussss. Success, reeking
instantaneous status. Love it.
Relish it. Gloat in it. Above all,
Enjoy! Enjoy it!
As Tom Wolfe, author of The
Kandy-Kolored-Tangerine-Flake-Stream
Line Baby, would assert, we, the
Pepsi Generation, are in the midst
of...no, not war in Vietnam, no, not
crime in the streets...no, not cold
war that is becoming hotter, but oh,
it's too unmentionable...ah, here
goes--Happiness Explosion.
In the introduction to the Pump
House Gang, Wolfe equates happiness
with the achievement of social sta
tus.
Unbelievable? To prove it to
the jury-”the reader"-Wolfe brings
alive the Hell’s Angels; Hugh Hefner
the founder of Playboy; Carol Doda,
the silicone queen; the Pump House
Gang; and Marshall McLuhan, each do
ing his or her "Thing". Wolfe would
have the reader believe that each of
these groups or characters has found
the ultimate means to satisfy our e^
ternal desire for ego extension.
WE ALL PLAY
Wolfe asserts that we all play
the status game, only now we can win
without fear of failure, without ad
hering to the arbitrary and prescri
bed riles of society.
"Community status systems have
been games with a few winners and
many who feel like losers. What an
intriguing thought--for a man to
take his new riches and free time
and his machines and plit from com-
munitas and starf his own league.
He will still have status competi-
tion^-but he invents the rules."
Why have people dropped out of
coromunitas and created their own
statuspheres where they can enjoy
their egos in the best terms-'their
own? Rebellion? No! Alienation?
No! For Wolfe it is simple. People
"just want to be happy winners for a
change," in the status game. Simple
...yes. Too simple.
Enter Carol Doda.
Ahh-h-h-h-h-h! Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h!
There's Carol Doda, dancing on a
piano in a San Francisco topless
club, flapping and flipping her size
44's in front of the audience, doing
the Monday, doing the Twist, doing
the Swim. With the help of silicone
injectionS”’the main ingredient in
nutty-putty, Carol Doda, an Italian
girl, a cocktail waitress, became a
success, doing her "thing", i.e.,
shaking her size 44 dirigibles to
the sound of rock and roll music.
Carol is about the biggest
thing in her statusphere--the "top
less club". But Carol, like the
rest of the instant status seekers
in The Pump House Gang, seems to be
desperately clinging for meaning.
The N.C. Essay
REVIEWS
and even at the height of their tri
umph, they remain unhappy, insecure,
and unfulfilled.
"SOMETHING BIG"
"Well, I'd like to have a big
show. I want to be first class, in
New York or Chicago or Miami, some
place like that. I've had a chance
to go to Nevada, to Los Vegas, but I
am waiting for something big".
Even Hugh Hefner who created an
empire with his Playboy Magazine is
still socially unacceptable, in Soc
iety. So like a little boy who
won't go out to play, Hefner creates
his own world. If the boys won't
come and play with him, he will play
with the girls.
Hefner is "king of the Status
Drop-outs". Twentieth-century tech
nology has made it possible for him
to control his entire statusphere
with gadgets. Hefner retreats to
his revolving bed, rarely leaving it
controlling his every movement, "in
ever-decreasing concentric circles,
toward...nirvana, ambrosia, while
following one's own perfect orbit,
out there, for all to see... the
Playboy beacon!" But ultimately,
Hefner still remains the rejected
little boy who has built his own co
coon, or is it womb.
WHERE TO?
Does this frenzied quest for
success within one's own statusphere
lead to happiness? No, not really,
regardless of what Wolfe might have
you believe in his introduction.
Take the Pump House Gang itself
vjho attended the Watts riot like it
was a circus show. They are just a
gang of teenagers who spend their
youth on the beaches near La Jolla,
California, looking for the Big Wave.
For them, surfing represents ad
venture, uncertainty, beauty, but
their bubbly of happiness will burst
all too soon, when old age sets in
...25...and a member of the gang
must fade out like a wave. What
then? A new statusphere must be
created with new rules.
Ultimately, the quest for hap
piness through the instantaneous
creation of statuspheres is illusory
subject to changes just as arbitrary
as the rules established by society.
Nevertheless, from beneath the
barrage of Wolfe's detailed report-
orial writing and stylized brill-
ance, the final impression is not
that of the cynical commentator or
the cold, "scientific" socialogist,
but that of the compassionate artist
who commiserates with his fellow men
in their quest for happiness. Wolfe
makes himself the reference frame
for the objective reality of these
groups; he, views them from the
outside, while simultaneously becom
ing one with the group or character
he is treating.
Page 3
election 1968;
AN ANALYSIS
This year the United States
Presidential election involves three
candidates: Richard M. Nixon, Hu
bert H, Humphrey, and George Wallace.
This article is one in a series of
three that is designed to analyze
three major candidates and their
stands on important issues.
Richard Nixon, Republican Pre
sidential nominee, has come a long
way since his Vice-Presidential car
was spat upon by Venezuelaus in 1959
and his subsequent election losses
1960 and 1962. Today he stands as
a dominant feature of American poli
tics and has led the faltering Repu
blican Party to the verge of winning
the 1968 election. The noted Viet
nam Hawk was raised in a family of
poor Quakers, but served in the Navy
during World War II, After his big
break in 1952, when he was nominated
Vice-President under Eisenhower, he
gained hit conservative reputation
by parading around the world for
eight years as a foreign diplomat.
Nixon then suffered two crush
ing defeats as a result of poor
planning, in 1960 when running for
President and 1962 for California
governor. With the reputation as a
loser hanging over his head, Nixon
began rebuilding in 1966; after two
years of organized planning and vir
tually no political boo-hoos, he has
climbed to the top spot on the polls.
To many, the "old-Nixon", was a
serious, hard-working politician
whose mouth watered when the United
States Presidency was mentioned. He
was humorless and faltered miserab=>
ley during the Nixon"Kennedy debates.
As if his bad personality wasn't e-
nough, Dick was hindered by his face
(he's no Don Juan). Well, Nixon
knew what to do because he now has a
phony sense of humor and a new make
up crew. He has also managed to
dodge every question and thereby
keep out of hot water.
Tricky Dick, as he is often
called, has quite a reputation as an
opportunist politician. In fact, he
can out=do anyone, except perhaps
Hubert Humphrey in political deal
ings. Among his many attributes,
Nixon has added a fresh, awesome
barrage of ambiguous platitudes this
year. Perhaps the best way to show
Tricky Dick's political operations
is by an example involving his Vice-
Presidential nominee, Spiro T. Agnew.
Earlier this year Agnew was an ar
dent Rockefeller supporter who orga
nized a Draff-Rockefeller campaign;
Maryland. Agnew decided just before
the Oregon primary that Rockefeller
who blew hot and cold, would an
nounce his candidacy. Agnew made a
big deal of publicizing a press con
ference during which Rockefeller, to
Agnew's surprize, announced that he
would not be a candidate for presi-
.. dent. This event caused Agnew no
(Con't on page 5)