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I H U M O R IST V Plum Lines

V o l . 13 No 3 T h e q u a r t e r l y n e w sl e t t e r o f T h e W o d e h o u s e S o c ie t y A u t u m n 1992 Notes from Plum

Here's another cat note from Plum to Marge Meisinger. Unlike the previous note, it has a distinctly literary reference. I should add that these notes were forwarded to me by Marilyn MacGregor. Basket Na»W Lane* f Remsenburg, N. Yi 11960 November 11, 1972 Dear Mrs. Meisinger,

Thank you so much for your charming letter. It was so kind of you to remember my 91st birthday.

I feel quite honored to know you have named your cat "Pelham*. My wife and I are such animal lovers, having several cats and two dogs but we never had the unique idea to name any after the characters I*ve written about. So you have one up on me!!

My latest book "Pearls, Girls & Monty Bodkin" was released last month in England. Per­ haps you will have the opportunity to read it in the near future.

With all good wishes, Most Sincerely,

P. G. Wodehouse

Contents The Story of O tis...... 2 A few quick ones...... 6 But me no butts...... 3 Summer Lightning, a play...... 7 On the turf with Bertie...... 3 Wodehouse and M olnar...... 8 Toodle-pip to a classic Jeeves and Wooster. 4 Soapy and Dolly visit London...... 10 P. G. Wodehouse, a biography...... 5 A vote for genius...... 14 What ho, St. Louisians!...... 6 Something new ...... 15 And what ho to you, too,Upper-Mids!...... 6 New members...... 15

Pitbt ichft) at 538 San Lorenzo A venue, F elton CA 95018, USA 1 The Story of Otis

by P. G. (News Item: Researchers at Michigan State Univer­ A morning coat, a monocle, Wodehouse sity have discovered that hens are extremely Striped trousers and a topper, too. sensitive to any form of discourtesy.) His mode of speech, once so abrupt, He's disciplined until it is Unlikely to shock a Plymouth Rock Pity poor Otis Quackenbush: And wound its sensibilities. His hens refused to lay for him. He now has kegs of splendid eggs This meant, of course, a marked decrease Of extra special quality, In what's called take-home pay for him. And everything around the farm But as, irate, he moaned his fate Is joy and peace and jollity. And started in to curse it, he If ever farmer's heart was in Met a man named Pott, who was A constant gentle glow, 'tis his. something hot It teaches us a lesson, this At Michigan University. Experience of Otis's.

"Consider," said Pott, "That every hen, Young, middle-aged or hoary, '11 Be terribly hurt if your manner's curt Tay Weiss found this poem of PGW's in the Or in any way dictatorial. I anthology The Bedside Phoenix Nest (New Why, often in the summer months York: Ives Washburn, 1965). Mcllvaine's When you were feeling dry and hot bibliography says it also appeared in Punch I've hear you speak quite crossly when in 1956 and in The Saturday Review in 1961. Conversing with a Wyandotte! Plum was not a man to waste a perfectly good poem. "Your clothes as well, they give an air Of laissez-faire and messiness, And if there's one thing hens demand It's chic and vogue and dressiness. That coverall you're wearing now: Information and new memberships It's muddy. Do you roll in it? Marilyn MacGregor And worse than that, your old straw hat 3215-5 Bermuda Avenue Has got, I see, a hole in it. Davis CA 95616 No wonder that these fowls of yours Are laying off and packing up. Dues payments and address changes Your speech and your deportment are Tom Wainwright In urgent need of jacking up." 220 Grover Lane Walnut Creek CA 94596 And Otis said "Egad! You're right!" A new expression lit his eyes. Editorial contributions He had too much sense to take offense Ed Ratdiffe, OM When a friend saw fit to criticize. 538 San Lorenzo Avenue "I see, old bean, just what you mean. Felton CA 95018 The wounds that gashed my breast have healed. Dues are $15 per year. My ways I'll mend and be a blend. Of Brummel and Lord Chesterfield. All quotations from P. G. Wodehouse are reprinted by permission of the So now when Otis feeds his fowl. Trustees of the Wodehouse estate. He wears,—and very proper, too—

2 P lum L ines Vol13 No 3 A utumn 1992 makes it doubtfulwhether Wodehouse could But me no butts have had that definition in mind when he wrote "Buried Treasure", first published in 1936. But the word was used with that by D an "N Torman "Emsworth" Donaldson, in San meaning at least as early as 1885, as shown G arrison Diego, wrote me recently in shock and by a quote in OED2. —OM disbelief at a piece of language near the end of "Buried Treasure" (the third story in The Crime Wave at Blandings). What could The Master have meant when he wrote "Lord Bromborough had left his butt7'? On the turf with After a sleepless night agonizing about Lord Bromborough's butt, I realized like Bertie Sherlock Holmes that the answer would be obvious to any child—any child, that is, with access to the second edition of the Oxford im Earl, our racing correspondent, sends English Dictionary [OED1]. sad news about a recent effort by our You will recall that Lord Bromborough Jfavorite race horse, Bertie Wooster. The has been standing at the window of his race, rather grandly named Rothmans Royals breakfast room shying coffeepots and cottage North South Challenge Series Handicap, or loaves at young Brancepeth Mulliner in the the 3:30 at Wolverhampton if you prefer, was gravel drive below. As the story ends, he "for three years old and upwards." Bertie is leaves his post momentarily to re-arm him­ eight years old. Jim reports that the race self with the remains of the kedgeree (acc. to turned out badly for man and beast: Webster "a traditional English breakfast dish, We went to Wolverhampton Races last Monday. a mixture of fish, rice, hard-boiled eggs, Bertie Woostei was running but finished nowhere. cream, and seasonings"), which he has only The camel owes me a lot of money now, as I recently been shoveling into himself like a dutifully back him with a little every time he runs. stevedore loading a grain ship. This ballistic The slightly embittered tone of this scenario suggested a shooting metaphor that message is understandable when you realize surfaces in "Lord Bromborough had left his that Jim has been backing Bertie for most of butt." Bertie's eight years, usually in a purely Enter child with OED2, greasy finger recreational, or non-profit, mode. We must pointing to butt sb.* 2c: "In grouse-shooting, applaud his loyalty, if not his judgment. a position either sunken or on the level Jim includes a newspaper comment ground, protected by a wall of bank of earth about the race: "Bertie Wooster is racing as behind which the sportsman may stand and though his exertions over the years are fire unobserved by the game." You may finally catching up with him .. . " Can't object that Lord Bromborough is not firing someone find a grandfather class for this unobserved, and that he is in fact above his horse to race in? target, but these I dismiss as mere quibbles, Bertie's jockey, for what it's worth, Wodehouse having turned in his lunch bucket before OED2 came to light (this wears beige with maroon sleeves and a pink meaning does not appear in OED1). cap. 1 doubt if different colors would help. Now I don’t know if this will satisfy everybody, but Donaldson raised a good question, and I send question and proposed He was turning on the charm as if answer to you for Plum Lines. If no one through the nozzle of a hose-pipe, and it throws kedgeree at it, we can consider the was going all over her and she liked it. matter settled. "Feet of Clay "Nothing Serious, 1950

It may be argued that the absence of Dan's definition of "butt" in the 1928 OED1

P lum L ines V ol 13 No 3 A utumn 1992 3 Toodle-pip to a classic Jeeves and Wooster

Daniel Cohen sends along this informed review By Joseph typically guileless interview to the Los Angeles Connolly of present and past versions of Wodehouse stories on television and the big screen. The Times, he said: "1 cannot see what they review is from the London Times of May 1,1992 engaged me for. They were extremely nice to and is written by Joseph Connolly, author of P. G. me, but I feel as if I have cheated them." Wodehouse, an Illustrated Biography (Thames & The hostility this interview aroused dimin­ Hudson). ished over the years, Wodehouse soon being in a position to turn down a contract from Paramount and in 1936, take up another offer ranada Television's highly successful from MGM. Later, RKO offered him the Gseries "Jeeves and Wooster" reaches the chance to adapt his own novel, A Damsel in end of its third series this Sunday, and so Distress, for the big screen. comfortably ensconced have Stephen Fry Other loose adaptation of Wodehouse and Hugh Laurie become in the title roles novels followed: Thank You, Jeeves (1936) that a fourth series seems a strong likelihood. featured David Niven, with the much-liked To a whole generation Fry and Laurie are and very stylish Arthur Treacher as the Jeeves and Wooster. Indeed, apart from the gentleman's gentleman. Step Lively, Jeeves was 1960s series The World of Wooster, with Ian released the following the year in order to Carmichael and Dennis Price, few are aware capitalise on Treacher's success. Piccadilly Jim of the existence of any other P. G. Wode­ followed, with Robert Montgomery and Eric house adaptations to the screen, big or small. Blore, and then a diminishing trickle of less In fact, Sir Pelham Grenville Wode­ worthy attempts. house—no great fan of film or television— In the light of these less than triumphant was associated with the cinema and, latterly, sallies, Wodehouse rejected requests to bring the BBC, from the 1920s right up until his his work to television for many years. Even­ death in 1975. The reason was usually tually, the BBC secured permission to pro­ money; his lifelong devotion was to the duce The World of Wooster—a series of half- printed word. To appreciate him fully, hour, black and white sitcoms. But was the particularly in the case of the Jeeves stories, all-important casting right? each syllable must be savoured, and no Wodehouse said that Ian Carmichael screen adaptation can come close. came over only as a burlesque of Bertie and Wodehouse knew this, and so do his he found Dennis Price's Jeeves rather "pasty- fans: one man's Dogface Rainsby is another faced"—but he also expressed the opposite man's Barmy Fotheringay (pronounced view, so we can only assume that he was Fungi) Phipps; confuse Stilton Cheesewright indifferent. with Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright and you are The programmes proved very popular, done for. and an emboldened BBC went ahead with a That said, some film and television fresh series called Blandings Castle, with an versions have been remarkably successful. inspired casting of Sir Ralph Richardson as But oddities abound: when, during the 1980s, Lord Emsworth. This series is now almost I mounted a Wodehouse film season at the unknown and its successor, Ukridge, starring National Film Theatre, the earliest and Rodgers, unheard of. strangest items I unearthed were a couple of So it was rather brave of the BBC to silent shorts from 1924 adapted from the golf launch, in the mid-1970s, Wodehouse Play­ stories. house, a series of plays starring John It was not until 1930 that the big Holly­ Alderton and Pauline Collins, not one of wood studios began to take an interest, which featured the young master and his MGM inviting Wodehouse to be a sort of man servant. Wodehouse Playhouse ran for writer in residence for six months, for the several very successful seasons. staggering salary of $2,000 a week. His The curresnt Jeeves and Wooster series talents were hardly called upon at all. In a continued on bottom of next page

4 Plum Lines Vol 13 No 3 Autumn 1992 that the family finances would not allow him P. G. Wodehouse to go to Oxford to the day he died a multi­ Man and Myth millionaire. He was a prodigious worker who wrote arry Phelps's new biography, P. G. Wode­ ninety-eight books, all or part of forty musi­ house, Man and Myth, will appear in an cals and plays, and over two hundred pub­ EnglishB edition in October, according to its lished lyrics — all of which continue to bring publisher, Constable. (Barry expects an American joy to millions of readers of readers, listeners, edition to follow in the near future.) Constable's and viewers around the world. announcement follows. A great deal of original research sup­ ports the author's judgements and he pro­ This book reveals for the first time the duces an abundance of new Wodehouse fascinating personality behind the myth that anecdotes. The book gives a full account of P. G. Wodehouse created for himself. Our the misunderstanding over Wodehouse's finest humourous writer, creator of literary wartime broadcasts from Germany to, the immortals such as Bertie Wooster and his then, neutral United States of America. Mr. valet Jeeves, projected the image of an Phelps has written a book which sparkles amiable, unworldly recluse with just enough with wit and insight, worthy of his subject. intelligence to open his mouth when he was Barry Phelps has worked as a jour- hungry. A man with few close friends, nalistand in public relations. This is his first bullied by his wife and with no understand­ book. ing of, or interest in, money but blessed with a lucky ability to write sparkling humour. R8 / 392 pages J 16 pages black and white Barry Phelps proves that Wodehouse illustrations /009 471620 / £16.95 / October was in fact a highly complex man who met and was friendly with many of the most talented, famous, and wealthy people of his time — from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to The appearance of a new full-length William Randolph Hearst and Evelyn biography is a major event in the Wodehouse Waugh. He was acutely intelligent, a shrewd world. Barry Phelps has long been interested observer of people and events and was in P. G. Wodehouse and his stories, and was bullied by his wife just to the extent that he for years an unusually well-informed dealer wished and no more. He was obsessed with in his books. He is a man with opinions; I money from the day his father announced expect to find no pussy-footing in his book. —OM

is the next and latest development, and it sense, only on the printed page. All other seems destined to be the most fondly re­ incarnations are deficient. But Wodehouse membered of all. Indeed, now that Fry's has so much to give us that, tho' much is Jeeves has become less nauseatingly unctu­ taken, much abides (I made that up), and I ous, and Laurie's Wooster does not goggle enjoy what abides. and croak quite so much, (for Bertie does American audiences have been given have a brain, it's just terribly small), I believe no chance to see these later Jeeves and Wooster that Wodehouse would have thoroughly shows. Neither the commercial networks nor approved of the entire caper—from soup to PBS have seen fit to import them. The only nuts. remedy for this desperate situation is for all of us to write and telephone our local stations and request more Jeeves and Wooster. Reactions to the Jeeves and Wooster series in Bill Horn sends heartening news in this our Wodehouse Society have varied widely, regard. His local PBS station says that WGBH from the "It stinks" school of thought to the in Boston, importer of the first series, is "It's great" camp. For me, all the Wodehouse considering importing the second series for characters exist, in the deepest and truest the coming season. —OM

Plum Lines Vol13 No 3 Autumn 1992 5 What ho, St. Louisians! A few quick ones by G ary n the Spring 1992 issue of Plum Lines, I note ill Horn notes that the expression "tiddly- M ueller Ithat nearly one-third of the New Members Bom-pom-pom," a Wodehouse expression are from the St. Louis area—no doubt the quoted in a recent article in Plum Lines, was result of the charming account of the 1991 also used by Pooh Bear in A. A. Milne's New York convention by Barbara (Half- books. Bill asks whether Plum could have Portion) Hertenstein that appeared in the St. been "slyly getting at Milne for the latter's Louis Post-Dispatch. nastiness in regard to [Wodehouse's war­ This makes me wonder whether there is time] broadcasts?" Possibly. The only PGW enough interest in PGW in the St. Louis area story in which I know that that phrase was to warrant the formation of a St. Louis used is Joy in the Morning. The story was Chapter of the Wodehouse Society. Instead of finished, according to Donaldson's biogra­ having to wait two years from the next phy, between July and November 1941, convention, maybe we could hold two or shortly after the broadcasts. By then Plum three meetings a year ourselves to tide us knew that he had been villified in the British over until the next convention. press. One of those villifiers, according to Anyone interested? If so, please write to Iain Sproafs Wodehouse at War, was A. A. me at: Milne. If Plum knew this, his "tiddly" phrase 7783 Keswick Place may have been a response. Shrewsbury, Missouri 63119 arb Larkin writes: "I'm finally remember­ Bing to send you some tea that I got the And what ho to you, too, last time I was in London. It's called 'Pelham' tea, from Whittard's—here's the description: Upper-Mid westerners! 'Mr. Whittard's original pre-war recipe. China teas flavoured with Jasmine and ill Horn writes that "the incipient Upper Bergamot. An unusual and most refreshing [idwest Chapter" will become less cup.' I don't know if ths tea was actually incipient and a lot more real just about named after PGW, but we can pretend!" now—he hopes to hold the first meeting in August or September. If you live anywhere illiam Hardwick and Jim Earl send within traveling distance of Minneapolis, Bill W reviews of Summer Lightning, the wants to hear from you. Write to him at: Glasgow production so favorably described 4511 Browndale Ave by Tony Ring elsewhere in this issue. The Minneapolis MN 55424 reviewers call the play "a constant delight, His phone is (216) 341 2581. capturing all the sunlit innocence of Wodehouse's comic vision," and note that the story is told with "infectious warmth and wit." I'm feeling deprived. I wish the play Maiden Eggesford, like so many of our could tour, or find a producer in America. rural hamlets, is not at its best and brightest on a Sunday. When you have y apologies for the poorly printed June walked down the main street and looked 1992 Membership List. The error at the Jubilee Watering Trough, there is M slipped through our fingers unnoticed. An nothing much to do except go home and then come out again and walk down the improved and updated list is included with this issue. main street once more and take another look at the Jubilee Watering Trough. 'Tried in the Furnace," Young Men in Spats, 1936 The Oldest Member

6 P lum Lines Vo l13 No 3 A utumn 1992 the cast played with enthusiastic joie de Summer Lightning vivre, and when I had the opportunity of A Production at Glasgow Citizens' First Theatre talking to some of them in a typical Glaswegian pub after the performance, 21 February to 14 March 1992 Matthew Radford, who played Ronnie Galahad, said they were sad that there was only one week still to run. Normally, it by Tony Tony sent me this article in March. It just recently floated to the surface in the pile of papers accumu­ seems, they would be itching to get on with a Ring lated on my desk in the last several months. —OM new production, but the cast had such fun doing it that they just wanted to carry on. n a Tuesday late in February, 1 found Another piece of technique which I Oa Times review of a production of a new gather was only added during rehearsal was play, Summer Lightning, adapted from the the way they presented Parsloe-Parsloe's PGW novel by Giles Havergal, senior direc­ personality to the audience. He was only in tor of the Glasgow Citizens' First Theatre. the story for a very short time, and there was The review was good, and since Glasgow is no time to develop character. So the actor only 400 or so miles away I phoned to check taking that role barked. Except for a few key that they had seats. I also phoned Norman words, like "reminiscences" and "thousand Murphy in Cumbria to see if he and his wife pounds," he basically said "Woof" at various Charlotte fancied a quick trip across the volumes and repeated it a different number border. Our plans went smoothly, and we of times. It may not sound clever, but it were off to see the play on Friday, 6 March. showed us the character's personality as As always when I visit, Scotland was Galahad wanted us to see it. wet; raining when we arrived and not stop­ A number of the press reviews com­ ping until after we left. But any disappoint­ plained that the cast stumbled over accents ment about the weather was more than from time to time. They still did this when I compensated by the play. What a perfor­ went, but it was to some degree a function of mance! The story of Summer Lightning is too the multiple part playing. It did not detract long for all the intricacies to be included in from the performance as a whole. And the any stage production, and the sensible audience clearly were not concerned. They decision was taken to eliminate the Baxter varied in age from teen to pension, but motif. Four actors and three actresses played responded well and clapped hard. (The all the parts, two of the actors having major theatre holds more than 600 and there were double roles. One played Beach and Lord 20 performances, so that is 12,000 people Emsworth (a compromise on size: the actor seeing the play.) was tall, well-built, but not round); another At the end of the performance I was Ronnie Fish and Galahad. Before you say that taken backstage, then invited to join some of couldn't work, let me assure you it did. the cast for a pint or two of local beer. I was One technique used quite a lot was to keen to hear whether the play might tour, or have the various characters turn to the even have a run in London, but there was a audience and provide narrative, so retaining reluctance to suggest this was possible. But a lot of the verbal felicities which PGW we can hope___ wrote, and which traditional performances In summary, a memorable day, and a would omit. It slowed the play up a little, but worthy addition to the list of productions of gave us innumerable treats, and of course Wodehouse plays. I hope it will be recog­ provided a better introduction to PGW's skill nised and accepted as such. for those unfamiliar with his writing. The Empress was played by a She gave me the sort of look she would chickenwire and imitation leather mock-up, have given a leper she wasn't fond of. which in a rare technical error was painted "Bramley is So Bracing,"Nothing pink. Galahad's monocle was correctly in the Serious, 1950 left eye per Galahad at Blandings, although Full Moon claims it should be in the right. All

Plum L ines Vo l13 No 3 Autumn 1992 7 Wodehouse and Molnar to the well-known tricks: cutting decks in fanciful ways, walking around his chair, etc., but he did all these things whether he was by Jay . G. Wodehouse collaborated, if that is the winning or losing, baffling his partners." W eiss P word I want, with Ferenc Molnar, "He was devoted to the magic number Hungary's foremost playwright and pre­ '7' because the title of his first great success, miere knocker on wood, to create The Play's The Devil, had seven letters in the original the Thing, a great Broadway hit of 1926 and Hungarian.. .and because the play that 1948. In a letter to Bill Townend, Plum followed it, with a six-letter title, was a referred to Molnar as a "friend."1 dismal failure..." But did they really know each other? Did Plum spend any time with this None of the biographers—Connolly, strange guy? If he did, why didn't he make Donaldson, Green, Jasen, or even Wodehouse use of Molnar's abundant quirks for, say, a himself, in the role of memoirist—says a Mulliner story? After all, Plum consistently word about a relationship between the two. complained that he needed plots to keep the They would have made a bizarre pair. furnace of his enormous talent stoked. Wodehouse was tall, utterly British, painfully Although the biographers don't help to shy, sexually inhibited in his private life as answer these questions, there are hints in the well as in his work, and devoted to the magisterial Mcllvaine bibliography. We learn English notion of fair play. Molnar was from Plum's letter to Townend in February, shortish, quintessentially Mitteleuropean, a 1948, that '"The Play's the Thing' is on the dedicated womanizer who wrote ribald eve of being fixed. We have a management bedroom farces, and burdened by an array of with the money and a star of whom Molnar compulsive rituals that would have made approves."3 Lady Macbeth seem an insouciant free spirit. Aha! Plum got the word of Molnar's They lived a tax’ ride away from each other acquiescence, possibly from the nervous from 1947 until 1952 when Molnar died. We Hungarian himself. But wait. In an earlier don't know whether either one of them ever letter to Townend we learn definitely that got into that cab. Molnar and Wodehouse knew each other. I began to speculate about the possible "Most of my friends are jews [sic]," Plum interplay between Plum and Ferenc when I wrote Townend, "Scott Meredith [who had serendipitously stumbled across an essay on changed his name from Feldman], Ira Molnar in the anthology Phoenix Nest that I Gershwin, Lengiel, Molnar, Oscar had purchased because it contained a copy of Hammerstein, Irving Berlin.. And, of Plum's delightful poem, "The Story of Otis." course, the May 24,1948, Life magazine His friend and sometime translator, provides proof positive that Molnar and George Halasz, reported, originally in the Wodehouse met at least once, face to face. On Saturday Review, that some of Molnar's page 85 we see "Faye [Emerson] and the Six "superstitions were the usual ones, such as Wise Men of Broadway" who have contrib­ not starting anything on a Friday or on a uted to the revival of The Play's the Thing. 13th; still others were his private inven­ Two of the wise men are an urbane and tions—they [all] obeyed mysterious laws no contented looking Molnar, seated on the one could ever fathom, and which he would actress's right, and a beaming, boyish, bald not divulge for the world. For instance, he Wodehouse standing directly behind the would knock on wood just like anybody else, actress, who was married at the time to but sometimes he would knock on top of the Elliott Roosevelt. table, sometimes on the underside of a chair, Did the worldly but compulsive Molnar sometimes only once, at other times thrice, chat with the retiring Wodehouse? If he did, and on occasion he would knock on an how puzzled Wodehouse must have been. invisible wall in the air. A passionate card Halasz tells us that Molnar had a peculiar addict (he was known to have played for conversational style. If "someone mentioned thirty-six hours at a stretch more than once in act activity involving an element of danger, a the Budapest Writer's Club), he would resort trip, let's say—and it made no difference

8 P lum Lines V ol 13 No 3 A utumn 1992 whether it was a weekend excursion or a Plum did it again, thirty years later. journey to London, a visit to the dentist, an "The American premiere [of Molnar's Arthur] impending opening night, or a wedding— in P. G. Wodehouse's brilliant adaption... Molnar would interrupt him, knock once, or took place on March 12,1978, at a small off- several times, as per his arcane formulae, and Broadway theater," Gyorgyey writes. She mumble something like 'With God's help/ doesn't give that kind of praise, or any kind 'God willing,' or 'God be with you.' Consid­ of praise, to other Molnar translators and ering that he was always surrounded by at adapters, who were numerous, and included least a dozen friends and sycophants, and Oliver Herford and Edna St. Vincent Millay, that practically no conversation could be not to mention George Halasz. carried on without some reference and risk, With such a rewarding meeting of the as defined by Molnar, he often sounded like minds, it seems a shame we don't know a pious woodpecker." What a pity a character anything at all about how Ferenc Molnar and like the wood-pecking Molnar never met a Plum Wodehouse got along. Somewhere, stutterer like the word blocking George some day, a determined Wodehouse or Mulliner. Molnar scholar may uncover just the missing Pelham Grenville Wodehouse fans and letter or manuscript we need to fill in the scholars—most of us fall into one and, blank. Knock on wood. probably, both of those categories—know a lot about Plum's literary and comradely 'Eileen Mcllvaine, Louise Sherby, and relationships with Bill Townend and Guy James'Heineman, P. G. Wodehouse, A Compre­ Bolton. Bolton shared with Plum the tri­ hensive Bibliography and Checklist (New York: umphs of the Princess Theater and was his James H. Heineman, 1990), N56.116 dearest Long Island friend. Townend sup­ 2 George Halasz, "The Superstitions of plied the inspiration for the immortal Mr. Molnar, and How He Got Rid pf Ukridge and from Dulwich days remained Them,"in The Bedside Phoenix Nest, ed. Martin Plum's most trusted idly. The biographical Levin (New York: Ives Washburn, 1965), pp. and bibliographical studies about Wode­ 17-18. house give us a rather complete picture of 3 Mcllvaine, op. cit., N56.123 these relationships. We even know how he 4 Ibid, N56.116 got along with Jerome Kern, who wrote the 5 G. Halasz, in Martin, op. cit., p. 18. music to Plum's most memorable lyric, 6 Clara Gyorgyey, Ferenc Molnar (Boston: "Bill." (Not very well.) Twayne Publishers, 1980), pp. 125,128. But we really know nothing at all about 7 Gyorgyey, op. cit., p. 136. that other highly successful collaboration, the one with Molnar. And it was highly success­ ful, if not as enduring as the others. Clara Gyorgyey in her study, Ferenc Molnar, writes that The Play's the Thing "opened at the Henry Miller Theater in the brilliant adapta­ tion of P. G. Wodehouse." She goes on to say, 'The play is Molnar's most dazzling, most mercilessly cynical farce in which he sur­ passes his masters, Scribe, Sardou, and, to some extent, even Pirandello.. .The charac­ terization is consummate; the theater folks are aided by a comic social secretary and a funny old butler, Dwornitschek, a worthy cousin of Shaw's William the waiter, or the adapter's Jeeves. The dialogues are sparkling and witty, adorned with subtle quips and blatant gags. Wodehouse's English version is as humorous as the original."

P lum L ines V ol 13 No 3 A utumn 1992 9 Soapy and Dolly Molloy visit London and dine at Barribault's Hotel

The author and his traveling companion are Club, but there it is still—four handsome members of the Society. They prefer to be anony­ stories of red brick and white window mous. Soapy, incidentally, uses a most impressive letterhead: "Barribault's Hotel/Clarges Street, casings, surmounted by a row of dormer Mayfair/London SWl/Suites & Apartments/ windows, situated a little below Brown's Restaurant & Grillroom. " —OM Hotel on the east side of the street. Across from it, we did our best to identify the shop under whose awning Eve Halliday sought //Tt's been a long time, sir," said the head shelter from a sudden shower—until the JL hall porter as we arrived at the Stafford, gallant Psmith, spotting her from a window our unchanging and very English hotel of the club, rose, selected the Honourable Mr. tucked away in St. James's Place, SW1, on Walderwick's umbrella from the rack, May 23rd last. The flight across the Atlantic crossed the street, presented it to the startled had been smooth and on time, immigration girl with a bow, and returned without and customs at Heathrow had been a breeze, another word to the Drones (Leave It to and we had soared into London through the Psmith). Our visit was taking place during light traffic of a Saturday morning. "About one of London's worst droughts, and the eighteen months, isn't it?" Colin continued. episode was pleasant to visualize. "Just about," we confessed, with a Around the comer from Dover Street is foreboding of embarrassment: "We've been Berkeley Square, where Bertie Wooster lived. staying in clubs." How rash. An involuntary No famous figure in English literature has expression of horror and dismay came over been more conveniently located with respect Colin's face—what Jeeves, however imper­ to his club, unless it was Mycroft Holmes, turbable on the outside, no doubt felt when who lived directly across the street from the Bertie unfurled the Old Etonian spats as the Diogenes in Pall Mall. Over the years Berke­ latest addition to the Wooster wardrobe. ley Square has suffered at the hands of real But clubs it had been: the In & Out, the estate developers, and no longer has quite East India & Devonshire, the Cavalry & the same Mayfair eclat it possessed in Bertie's Guards, and a few others, during a fallen- day. It may be that his Berkeley Mansions no away period while we had immersed our­ longer exists. But if it does, could it have selves, as best we could, in the Clubland been the rather massive building on the Heroes books, as Richard Usbome called northwest corner of the square? It had to be them in his definitive study of the dashing large enough to house all the neighbors who tales of adventure and intrigue by John complained about Bertie playing the Buchan, Domford Yates, and Sapper. Now it banjolele, and contemporary enough to suit a was back to the verities. This time we were in smart, modem man about town like himself. London with Wodehouse on our minds, and From that comer, we walked deeper also Sherlock Holmes. into the interior of Mayfair, to the Connaught That still included clubs, of course, Hotel at Carlos Place. We paused a moment among other things. The next day, rested and to gaze upon its stately exterior and ornate refreshed, we sallied forth on a long walk entrance (here is something rather special, through the West End which took us past they declare, even for Mayfair), for we had quite a few Wodehouse sites. From St. plans to return later in the week. Beyond it James's Place to Piccadilly is just a few short lay Grosvenor Square, American country, blocks, with Dover Street rising one block to with its modem U.S. Embassy occupying the the left, the other side of Piccadilly. We had entire western side of the square, statues of forgotten who first pointed out in Dover FDR and Ike scattered about, and buildings Street the obvious candidate for the Drones where wartime strategists planned the

10 Plum Lines Vol13 No 3 Autumn 1992 invasion of Normandy and the liberation of room, occupies the only house in the Strand Europe. Instead of lingering there, we turned to have escaped the Great Fire of 1666. The west, and then south, descending geographi­ Fire's great diarist, Pepys, would surely cally (but not socially) down Park Lane and approve of the use to which it is being put across Hyde Park Comer to the white-hued today. We spent a fine few hours there in the precincts of Belgravia. And after working our company of Richard Usbome, who had way through streets made familiar to Ameri­ joined us for lunch, fulfilling a dream of can audiences by "Upstairs, Downstairs," we years ever since we read bisClubland Heroes came to Pont Street. Pont Street runs east and and Wodehouse at Work. west from Belgravia into Chelsea, and it is In fact, Mr. Usbome catered to our surely the one street of London which Bertie Sherlockian interests as well, for he had been avoided the most, for it was there that Aunt one of the Strand Magazine's last sub-editors Agatha, "the Pest of Pont Street," lived. before George Newnes' great journal closed Bertie would be brought up short by down for good in 1950. He reminisced about two things in Pont Street if he strolled down the Strand of his day, saying that while the it today. The first, at 1 Pont Street, is Drones, editorial staff were keen after the war to a casually fashionable restaurant opened by resume publishing Wodehouse, a stem David Niven's son in 1972. We stopped there negative came down from the publisher, due for a refreshing lunch of cocktails, cold to the evil name Wodehouse had been given poached salmon, smoked chicken salad, and over his radio broadcasts to America while dry, crisp white wine. The room was cheered an internee in Germany. Mr. Usbome talked by sunbeams falling through a large skylight, about Wodehouse himself, and about his and the clientele included one or two English books, and about books about the books, families looking enough like Wodehouse with the highest praise for what Jimmy characters to sustain the illusion. On the wall Heinemann is doing to preserve and promote inside the front door, across from the small Wodehousiana. We talked about the bar, were framed photographs of celebrities Clubland Heroes writers too, especially as infants. Some of them, like Noel Coward Domford Yates, whom Mr. Usbome had as the darlingest little girl, explain a lot. Up fallen afoul of when he wrote about Yates's in the right-hand corner we found a framed work in the '50s, and about the cruel streak letter from P. G. Wodehouse. He had written that that gifted, and often humorous, writer, to young Niven upon the opening of Drones, had had. "We all have a cruel streak some­ remarking how pleased he was by its name, where," we murmured, as we pulled out a and how surprised to hear that next door was half dozen of Mr. Usbome's books that we an establishment—the other thing that would had brought for him to inscribe: "Here's startle Bertie—called Jeeves of Belgravia. ours." Mr. Usborne complied, with a grace Today it is across the street, and flourishing and charm that made this lunch one of the in this most top-drawer of London neighbor­ highlights of our visits to London. hoods. A cleaners that picks up and delivers Across the Strand up Chancery Lane lie your laundry, it performs a range of select the Silvervaults, an underground assembly of valet services with high quality, and the silver dealers, and we went there next at name is a tribute to the place that Wode- Dolly's urging to case the joint. Alas, it was house's characters have won in the public's too well vaulted and guarded for us to have a imagination. stab at it, at least this trip. (The same went for Some egg, bean, or crumpet was once the crown jewels, when we went to see them struck dumb by spotting Bertie Wooster east at the Tower of London later in the week.) In of Leicester Square. Our foray the next day none of the shops did we find a silver cow took us down the Strand between the pitcher, but in one of them we found some­ Aldwych and Fleet Street, to the Wig & Pen, thing else hard to pass up: an art deco cock­ a dining club across from the Royal Courts of tail shaker with small windows cut in the Justice which caters to the legal and press outer hull. When you rotated the inner hull fraternities in the neighborhood. The Wig & to indicate one of the dozen or so cocktails' Pen, with its cozy bar and intimate dining names engraved along the rims, its recipe

P lum Lines V ol 13 No 3 A utumn 1992 11 appeared in the windows. Many were the evidence once again, we are not convinced. same ones drunk frequently today; a few Yes, Claridge's is a Mayfair hotel of fame and were staples of Bertie's heyday in the '20s splendor. But so is the Connaught, the focus, and '30s, like the Side Car and the Palm for example, of nine pages of adoring praise Beach. What would have made the shaker in Peter Mayle's new book, Acquired Tastes truly irresistible, of course, would have been (Bantam, 1992). Yes, Wodehouse says that the recipe for Jeeves's pick-me-up. Barribault's is in Clarges Street, and that does Lunch the next day was at the Naval & recall the name Claridge's. But does not Military Club in Piccadilly, with Dame Jean Clarges Street parallel Carlos Place, the Conan Doyle, daughter of the late Sir Arthur. Connaught's address? We think it may. Yes, To know Wodehouse, it helps to know references to a swirl in the lobby of Texas Conan Doyle, for Plum draw a good deal of millionaires, duchesses with miniature inspiration from his stories, and he knew and poodles, and maharajahs (Jce in the Bedroom, admired Conan Doyle greatly. One early Plum Pie) sound a bit more like Claridge's; publication, in 1903 when he broke away but poodles arouse suspicions, because from banks and aunts, was in interview of Claridge's has a strict "no dog" rule. the famous author on the subject of "Grit." It would be dishonest not to admit that Later, when Dame Jean was a teenager, she the suggestively ostentatious descriptions of told us, her father took her along with him to the lobby of Barribault's, "the Mecca of the lunch with Wodehouse. She was a great fan, rich," sound like Claridge's, which, says The and keen to meet him. What a surprise, she London Encyclopaedia (Adler and Adler, 1986), said, to find that the author of those hilarious "is well established as the London hotel most stories wasn't fun at all in person; rather appropriately equipped to house the rich and serious, in fact. But if she felt let down, the royal." But regardless, what makes Wodehouse never did by Conan Doyle. "I Barribault's Barribault's is its restaurant. It is still revere his work as much as ever," he the real Mecca, drawing the characters of ■wrote in an April 28,1925 letter in Performing Wodehouse's stories thither time and time Flea (he was having lunch with Conan Doyle again. To identify Barribault's Hotel, you that day, perhaps the very one Dame Jean must make certain of the restaurant, and attended): "I used to think it swell, and I still worry about the lobby later if you wish. For think it swell.... And apart from his work, I consider this, from Uncle Dynamite: admire Doyle so much as a man. I should call "Barribault's," [Lord Ickenham] said to the him definitely a great man, and I don't driver, and Sally closed her eyes in a sort of ecstasy. imagine I'm the only one who thinks so. I A girl who as a rule dined sparingly in Soho, she love that solid, precise way he has of talking, found enchantment in the mere name of London's like Sherlock Holmes." The Sherlockian premier restaurant. "Higher Criticism" has pioneered one And this, from Ice in the Bedroom: attractive approach to the study of the Wodehousian Canon, as Richard Usbome There is something about lunch at a place like pointed out in "Three Good Books and a Barribault's that raises the spirits and stimulates the brain. Query" (After Hours with P. G. Wodehouse). On our final night in London, we went However acceptable the restaurant at to the Connaught Hotel for dinner. And on Claridge's, the Connaught's is vastly more the occasion of this little memoir, we wish to famous, for both its exquisite cooking and its make out a new argument for the Connaught quiet splendor as a place for the well-con­ as Barribault's Hotel. Most authorities, it nected and the gently bred to sup. The seems, prefer Claridge's Hotel, a few min­ Connaught's restaurant, declares The London utes' walk away, as the original of Barri­ Encyclopxdia—silent on the subject of bault's. Norman Murphy does, and Richard Claridge's restaurant—"is one of the best in Usbome immediately said Claridge's when London." Lunch especially at the Connaught we asked what he thought was the original of is discussed by Londoners in tones of celes­ Barribault's Hotel. These are not opinions to tial reverence usually reserved for the better be taken lightly. But after examining the sort of miracles performed by the Deity.

12 Plum Lines Vol 13 No 3 Autumn 1992 It is to the Connaught, we believe, that which Barribault's Hotel is always anxious to Uncle Fred, and Galahad Threepwood, chose encourage in its clientele" (Plum Pie). to take the sweet young things they be­ One more point, a very telling one. friended, to help them toward a successful Please note that Barribault's had not only a conclusion of their romantic difficulties. (The dining room, but a separate Grill Room. It night we were there, in fact, a gentleman of was there that Uncle Fred took Sally in Uncle Uncle Fred's years was dining with a sweet Dynamite ("Ev. dress not oblig."), and there young thing, seated discreetly where few are other references to it in the Wodehousian other diners would notice them.) At night, Canon. The Connaught has a separate Grill the lamps throw a dreamy glow off the warm Room. Claridge's does not. ("There are two rich tones of the panelled walls; at lunch­ dining rooms in the Connaught," says Peter time, sunlight streams in through the win­ Mayle in Acquired Tastes:,"and there is a dow along the walls, making every piece of certain amount of discussion about which of china, silver, and crystal in the long room the two is the center of the universe.") sparkle. The service there must be experi­ We fear the Wodehouse Society could enced to be appreciated, for no description of not hold its biennial banquet at the how the staff lays a gleaming-white new Connaught. "I suppose one would be put on tablecloth upon the table, without disturbing Barribault's blacklist if one were to throw a anything on it, each time a blemish appears roll at a fellow customer," says Uncle Fred, on the previous doth, can do justice to this regretfully, in Ice in the Bedroom. The minor miracle of London life. The staff is Connaught honors the proprieties. We heard virtually all French, and while waiters and something from a London acquaintance wine stewards are eloquent in English, the which helps to narrow the choice between only phrase heard from the bustling corps of the Connaught and Claridge's as the original busboys is "Thank you very much!" which of Barribault's Hotel. Our friend manages a they murmur to you on every possible number of well-known writers, and likes to occasion. By the time the wine is decanted take his friends and business associates to the and the entree served, it is hard to resist the Connaught for lunch. One Sunday he invited feeling that God's in His Heaven, all's right a visiting New York publisher there, and was with the world, and you don't care whether taken aback to see him arrive clad in a the peasants outside live or die. turtleneck and jacket. The headwaiter po­ A skilled French chef is in charge of the litely but firmly turned the publisher away, Connaught's kitchen, which boasts a and he, rather than go eat elsewhere, re­ Michelin star. The menu is a striking compro­ turned to his own hotel to change into a suit mise between French cooking and traditional and tie. A few days later, when our friend English taste. (In all other ways, the was at the Connaught again, the headwaiter Connaught is England Personified, tasteful, apologized for having sent his guest back to discreet, and well-bred. By contrast, change, and then said: "If I may ask, sir, Claridge's was remodeled in 1931 as an art where was your guest staying?" deco palace, and makes you feel when you "At Claridge's," answered our friend. enter the lobby that you have suddenly "Ah!" said the headwaiter, "And they stepped out of England and onto the set of a let him go out like that?" Joan Crawford movie.) Some items are clearly English, others just as clearly French. The one which most starkly symbolizes the compromise between French cooking and English taste set us both to giggling: kipper pate. We confess we did not try it. We had other appetizers that melted in the mouth, Lamb Wellington accompanied by a good claret, creme de cacao and kahlua souffles for dessert, and very wonderful it all was too. It left us in "that comfortable state of repletion 1

Plum Lines Vol13 No 3 Autumn 1992 13 knew they were wearing armchairs tight A vote for genius about the hips that season."—"He had a voice that sounded as though he ate spinach by Robert as P. G. Wodehouse a great writer; yea with sand in it."—"The door opened and G reving W or nay? A question of no small import. Gussie's head emerged cautiously, like that Allow me to state my admittedly biased case of a snail taking a look round after a thunder­ for yea. storm." First, what is a "great writer"? Some Wodehouse conveyed the exact image, preach, "A great writer addresses Great meaning, and nuance he wanted. That is a Issues—Love, Death, the Meaning of Life, the writer. He did this consistently, freshly, Current Exchange Rate. He plumbs the enchantingly, for seventy years, with no depths of human emotion, explores the range diminution in quality. That is a great writer. of mankind's experiences, probes the inner Some, though, just can't stick it that a workings of the psyche. From these he forges fellow who wrote humorously was a great an answer on the anvil of his soul." Having writer. "Dash it," they say, "where are the discoursed thus, these high priests of preten­ tears, the bitterness, the angst?" I secretly feel sion take the Code of the Woosters and chuck it these people just like to be depressed. in the dust bin. But what about this comedy wheeze? Not so fast. Granted, you seldom see B. An English actor, whose name I cannot recall, Wooster, M. Mulliner, or C. Threepwood up said on his deathbed, "Dying is easy; comedy late endeavoring to ascertain the Meaning of is difficult." Comedy is difficult because Life. (Psmith doesn't trouble himself with it, comedy depends upon timing. Timing is that and Jeeves, I am sure, discovered it long ago.) "you had to be there" aspect. Be it written, But that is not the point. We are not spoken, or acted, no matter how uproari­ debating Wodehouse the philosopher, but ously funny something could be, it simply Wodehouse the writer—the artisan of words. won't be if not delivered with timing. And Wodehouse the writer wove words into Humorous writing is difficult because a tapestry of joy. He coupled verbs with the writer must, by his words alone, control nouns—spiced with the apropos adjective or the timing with which the reader reads. The adverb, and buttressed by a conjunction or writer does not have a theatre, a screen, a set, two —in a top-notch manner. or a person there. In time and space, the Look at his plots. Not the cow-creamers writer is separated from his audience more lost, found, and stolen, or the engagements than any other entertainer. bumbled into and broken. No; look at their Therefore, a humorous writer must elegance. They have the breeziness of a tale have a perfect ear for the sound, rhythm, and told on the veranda on a summer's evening, pace of words, for their melody and har­ with brandy and coffee. But nothing is mony. A syllable too many or too few; the wasted. Everything matters. If the Oldest almost-right nuance instead of the right one; Member mentions a caddy with a runny nose the bombast where the riposte is required; all in paragraph the first, you can be certain, kill a potentially humorous scene. Wode­ even if the urchin disappears for the nonce, house had this literary perfect pitch para­ he will appear later, and in a role that abso­ graph after paragraph, story after story. That lutely requires a caddy with a runny nose. is genius. Relish the words and the phrases, Next time you read something of crafted with precision and an giggle. Flip Plum's you find funny, change a word, or through a story and underline the parts that add a syllable. You might as well add a beat make you laugh, or make you say, "That's to a Strauss waltz. it!" Your pen will be busy. "But," cry the prune-faced professors, Examples: "It was one of those still "there is no meaning to Wodehouse. He is evenings you get in the summer, when you frivolous. He doesn't contribute to man's can hear a snail dear its throat a mile away." enrichment." —"She fitted into my biggest armchair as if it I can only reply by quoting Samuel had been built round her by someone who continued at bottom of next page

14 P lum L ines V ol 13 N o 3 A utumn 1992 Something new New members

by D oug he most exciting news is the release of Sophie Caroline de Margarie Stow Barry Phelps's new biography of Wode- 9 rue Bonaparte Thouse. See page 5 for details. 75006 Paris Barnes and Noble offers a cassette tape of France the Theatre Lyrics ofP. G. Wodehouse for $6.95. Their summer catalog also includes David Baron Fain Jasen's Uncollected Wodehouse for $6.95, and Ben Silver Corp. nine other titles including the fairly recent 149 King St Plum's Peaches (short stories featuring Charleston SC 29401 Madeline Bassett and other women), Lord Emsworth’s Annotated Whiffle and Tales from David Hall the Drones Club. All at reduced prices. Bames 3 Downing Rd and Noble, 126 Fifth Avenue, New York NY Hanover NH 03755 10011, phone (201) 767-7079. The school stories are discussed in English Jeanette Hansen Schoolboy Stories by Benjamin Watson, rare 2435 Felt St, Apt 92 book librarian at the University of San Santa Cruz CA 95062 Francisco. The flyer I have in front of me, graciously provided by Ann Whipple, TWS, Barbara Hellering says "biographical sketches are provided for 75 Jean Court most of the authors." The book can be ob­ Riverhead NY 11901 tained by writing to or calling: Mrs. J. Schamikow Scarecrow Press 2825 Wairen Si PO Box 4167 Santa Cruz CA 95062 Metuchen NJ 08840 Phone: (800) 537-7107 Katherine Teel Fax 908 548-5767 57-59 2nd Ave, Apt 51 New York NY The price is $25.00. Shipping and handling is $2.50 in the U.S. ($3.50 overseas) for the first Carol Whitlam book and 50c for each additional book. 23 Freshney Dr Grimsby Send any news of anything new to: South Humberside DN311TN Doug Stow England 216 Miramontes Ave Half Moon Bay CA 94019 Corrections:

(415) 726-0639 Marcello and Pat Truzzi live in Michigan. Their state was incorrectly listed in the June Johnson, a man not noted for his tolerance of 1992 Membership List. the frivolous: "Nay, sir, harmless pleasure is the highest praise. Pleasure is a word of Deirdre Creane's correct address is dubious import; pleasure is in general 14 Pearl St dangerous, and pernicious to virtue; to be Charlestown MA 02129 able therefore to furnish pleasure that is harmless, pleasure pure and unalloyed, is as These corrections are included in the August great a power as man can possess." I mean to 1992 Membership List. say, what?

P lum L ines Vo l13 No 3 A utumn 1992 15