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Home , Absent Friends (play), Alan Ayckbourn, Anything Goes, Arthur Treacher, Bedroom Farce (play), By Jeeves

SPOTLIGHT ON THEATER NOTES PRODUCED BY THE PERFORMANCE PLUS™ PROGRAM, KENNEDY CENTER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

THE AND MUSICAL BASED ON THE STORIES BY P.G. WODEHOUSE logo designed by Dewynters plc., TM © 1996 RUG Ltd. TM © 1996 RUG London plc., Dewynters designed by logo y eeves “The Fairy Tale World B J Jeevesorever joined and at the comic Bertie hip, Reginald Jeeves and Bertram Wilberforce Wooster are in the front rank of Fdroll characters invented in the 20th century. of P.G.odehouse Wodehouse” biographer Richard Jeeves is the perfect manservant. Bertie (“Bertram Voorhees* points out that BerThetie Woo stCharacterser TheThe Scene Story: A church hall, later to represent a London Wilberforce” is reserved for the rarest of occasions) is the WWodehouse’s fiction belongs “spiri- John Scherer flat and the house and grounds of Totleigh Towers. far-from-perfect master. Through the imagination of P.G. tually to the world of Victoria and Edward VII,” a The Time: This very evening. Wodehouse they have found a happy symbiosis, not unlike world “roughly limited on one side by the eeves his manservant J , Eager to contribute to the festivities of a charity benefit that of naughty child and protective parent. Diamond of Queen Victoria [1897] and Richard Kline performance in an English village hall, dim-but-affable Given Bertie’s propensity for foolish capers and his limited on the other by the introduction of the cross- bursts on stage strumming a frying pan. Honoria Glossop, his ex-fiance vocabulary, it is a bit difficult to understand how he managed word puzzle [1925].” To his confusion and chagrin, he realizes that the pan has Donna Lynne Champlin to graduate such prestigious institutions of learning as Eton been substituted for his stolen banjo. While his It is, as another observer puts it, the “fairy tale and Oxford. “However did he do it?” seems a reasonable , his friend, in love with Honoria resourceful manservant Jeeves supervises a search world of P.G. Wodehouse.” In that world, rich, for the missing instrument, Bertie tells anecdotes question. Randy Redd idle young scions of aristocratic families are “a about muddled adventures he has had with some Bertie’s refers to him as “the Abysmal Chump.” perpetual twenty-five. Their girls are a perpetual Gussie Fink-Nottle, another friend, in love of his aristocratic friends. Jeeves locates makeshift (He observes that he is sure she eats broken glass and turns twenty. But their behavior-ages are less. They act with Madeline costumes, props, and scenery that allow Bertie and into a werewolf when the moon is full.) James Kall friends to re-enact a recent and chaotic weekend like fifteen-year-olds . . . a rather rowdy fifteen,” house party given at Totleigh Hall. Jeeves—ever dignified, loyal, resourceful—solves Bertie’s prob- according to .** Sir Watkin Bassett, a magistrate When the mistaken identities, misunderstood lems on the basis of knowing, as he puts it, “the psychology of The young people have names like the charac- Merwin Goldsmith intentions, and general folderol of the the individual.” He reads Latin literature in the original, is fond story have been resolved, Bertie’s banjo is of epigrams, studies Spinoza, and is practiced in an array of ters in : Gussie Fink-Nottle, Stiffy Byng, , his daugh- found, and, in a conclusion of village hall ways useful to his dimwitted employer. He concocts a hang- Honoria Glossop, Harold “Stinker” Pinker, and ter spectacle, over cure-all, he apparently remembers everything he reads, Bingo Little. Nancy Anderson the entire hears, and sees, and his problem-solving skills are profound. performs “The They live in or visit places such as Woolam Stiffy Byng, his ward Wizard Rainbow To save the day as many times as he does, it is necessary for Chersey, Chuffnell Hall, Totleigh Towers, Maiden Emily Loesser Finale.” Jeeves to call upon his darker side. He lies, cheats, blackmails, Eggesford, and Steeple Bumpleigh. bribes, and, in one memorable instance, fells a policeman with Harold “Stinker” a blackjack. They use expressions such as “Right-ho!,” Pinker, a clergyman, in love “dashed difficult,” “chappie,” “By Jove!,” “Tally- P.G. Wodehouse insisted that he did not take his characters with Stiffy ho!,” “rannygazoo,” and “oojum-cum-spiff.” Ian Knauer from real life, but, like other authors, he must surely have used characteristics of real people in his work. Bertie may Many of the males are, like Bertie Wooster, Cyrus Budge III (Jr.), have been inspired by the British character actor George members of the Drones Club, where they drink an American guest Grossmith, the originator of “dude .” William Amos, a martinis, scotch and lemon, and lemon sours. Nicolas Colicos student of Wodehouse’s work, believes that some aspects of Arrested in comic adolescence, they require the Ozzie Nutledge Bertie were inspired by Wodehouse’s son-in-law Anthony Bingham Mildmay, the second Baron Mildmay of Flete. services of their servants, or other hired hands, Robert Berman to get them out of the messes they make as Jeeves’ character may have been sparked by a at a they bumble through life. Other Personages London hotel and a mix of others, including one of Tom Ford, Wodehouse’s own. Jeeves’ name is probably derived from Enter Jeeves. Molly Renfroe, , a well-known cricketeer, but accordi ng to *Richard Voorhees, P.G. Wodehouse Court Whisman Amos it may also be a variation on “Jeames,” 19th-century **Richard Usborne, Wodehouse at Work slang for “flunkey.” In celebration of Wodehouse’s accomplishment in creating so indelible a character as Jeeves, C. Northcote Parkinson wrote a “biography” of the paragon of manservants, Jeeves: A Gentleman’s Personal Gentleman (1979).

2 3 ComposerAndrew Lloyd Webber Writer-DirectorAlan Ayckbourn P. G. Wodehouse:ith a name similar to those he assigned Comic to his characters, Master Pelham Grenville Wodehouse wrote his ndrew Lloyd Webber, Lord of y Jeeves is Sir Alan Ayckbourn’s fourth show to way to fame, a bit of infamy, and fortune. Appropriate to the word play which marks his work, he Sydmonton since the begin- appear at the Kennedy Center. Earlier, produc- pronounced his name “Woodhouse” and was called “Plum.” ning of this year, is currently tions of Absurd Person Singular, , W English-born and nanny-and-relative-raised, he began his professional life as a London Athe world’s most renowned and appeared to both critical bank clerk. Within two years, his spare-time writing propelled him into full-time self- composer of musical theater. The interna- B approval and favorable audience response in the employment. In addition to writing stories for a variety of publications, he became a tional success of , , and Phantom of Eisenhower Theater. columnist for the London Globe. the alone have ensured that renown. Adding to it is the affection millions feel Those plays are among the 60-plus that Ayckbourn has By 1914, Wodehouse had moved to the United States; he wrote regularly for the for his other works, notably Jesus Christ written over the last 38 years. In a use of time that Saturday Evening Post, in which almost all of his stories appeared between 1914 to 1939. seems to defy the clock, Ayckbourn also directs—at Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Wodehouse also prospered as a novelist and as a book and lyric writer for musi- Dreamcoat, , and Sunset London’s , in the West End, and at cal . Among the composers with whom he worked were Franz Boulevard. his home base, the Theatre in Scarborough, where he serves as Lehar, , , Sigmund Lloyd Webber’s artistic director. In l992, he even Romberg, Rudolf Friml, , and shelves are full to managed to fill the post of . He was frequently linked as bursting with acco- co-author of musical comedies with lades received in Professor ; they wrote, among others, the United States of Contemporary Theatre at and Great Britain, Oxford University. , , Oh, Kay!, and . including multiple Almost 30 of his plays have been Tony, Drama Desk, produced at the Royal National Writer Lee Davis argues that Wodehouse, Grammy, and Theatre or in the West End. A Bolton, and Kern created the first musicals Olivier awards. larger number of them have been “to treat seriously music, book, and lyrics as UPI/CORBIS-BETTMANN As a producer, through the Really Useful translated into other languages—30, at last count. creative partners.” Group, Lloyd Webber backs the work of The recipient of all of Great Britain’s major theater Wodehouse had written the scripts for three films made in England, but it was other composers and writers as well as awards, Ayckbourn was made a Commander of the his two stays in Hollywood—which he called Dottyville-on-the-Pacific—that his own. It was the British Empire in l987 and was raised to knighthood ear- which gave Washington playwright Ken increased his fortune and gave him new story subjects. lier this year. Ludwig his first hit production ofLend Me Wodehouse’s bit of infamy arose from five radio broadcasts he made from a Tenor, of which an American production About farce—which some think By Jeeves is— Nazi Germany in l940 during internment there. Wodehouse argued later was seen in the Eisenhower Theater in Ayckbourn says, “I love doing [them], but they’re bloody that the programs poked fun at his captors, and writer George Orwell 1990. hard work. They’re much the hardest thing to write.” published an article defending him, calling him “naively conciliatory.” Lloyd Webber wrote the scores for the By Jeeves—one of six musicals Ayckbourn has written— Whether he was naive, indiscreet, or something else, there remain those films The Odessa File, Gumshoe, Variations, is a vastly rewritten version of a work called Jeeves that who regard him as a traitor. Later in the war, he was released by the and . was produced in l975, but did not fare well. The success Nazis and arrested by the French and charged with collaboration. Among Lloyd Webber’s recognitions are in London of this revised version led to the current pro- Released in l947, he left immediately for the United States, where he the Award for Excellence duction, seen first at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera became a citizen in l955. CONTINUED PAGE 6 in and The American House and later in Los Angeles. Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Triple Play Award. Earlier this year, he and lyricist received an Oscar for “,” a song they wrote especially for the filmEvita.

4 5 ACTOR described a conversation with Sheran Hornby as “inane.” He said FROM PAGE 5 And Then There Was Jeeves to her, “You all sound like characters AtComic their home on LongMaster Island, New York, he and Jeeves first appeared in a l9l7 , “Extricating From Page to Stage Young Gussie,” and continued to be prominent thereafter from P.G. Wodehouse,” pronouncing his wife Ethel lived lives of happy routine among cats and dogs, especially Pekingese and dachshunds. in numerous other stories. He and Bertie made their novel Byand Jeeves Screenis not the first time Jeeves and “Wodehouse” as “any sensible man He left to his wife, whom he occasionally called debut in 1934 in Thank You, Jeeves. Wodehouse recalled that would, rhyming ‘Wode’ with ‘spode’... “Baby Doll,” all decisions about domestic life. She Jeeves was conceived when he saw possibilities in another Bertie Wooster have stepped off the pages Wode-as-in-spode-house.” To which she once observed that she was sure he would be butler he had created for the stage. The character had two of P.G. Wodehouse’s novels and short sto- happy living in a dog house if he were assured writ- lines: “Mrs. Gregson to see you, sir” and “Very good, sir. ries. They have pursued crackpot adven- replied, “Wood-as-in-good-house.” ing materials and quiet. Which suit will you wear?” It was only later that “the man’s qualities dawned upon me. I still blush,” he said, “to think of tures on stage, in film, and on television. “What makes you so sure that it is ‘wood’ He was described by friends as ungregarious and a the off-hand way I treated him at our first encounter.”* and not ‘wode?’” he asked. man of simple tastes, with no pretensions; one of With his longtime collaborator Guy his editors called him humble. Though dismissed by Jeeves’ name appears in at least 15 titles of Wodehouse “Because he is,” she said, “my grandfather.” many in the literary establishment, Wodehouse novels, short story collections, and omnibus editions. Bolton, Wodehouse put Jeeves on stage in drew the praise of such varied writers as Orwell, *Introduction to The the l950s in Come On, Jeeves. A new ver- ••••••• Evelyn Waugh, Rudyard Kipling, Agatha Christie, World of Jeeves. sion of Come On, Jeeves, titled Betting on the subject P.G. WODEHOUSE IS Hillaire Belloc, and Ogden Nash. His writings have Bertie, is currently in development with of a number of biographies and studies, been translated into all the European languages as music and lyrics by Robert Wright and some of which are listed on page 16. If you’d well as into Chinese and Japanese. like to read Wodehouse on Wodehouse, look Forgiven for his “Berlin broadcasts” indiscretions, George Forrest. Wodehouse was made a knight of the British for the following: Empire just before his death in l975. Edward Duke adapted several Jeeves sto- Author! Author! New York: Simon and Richard Usborne reports that upon ries for his one-man show, in which he Schuster, l962. hearing of Wodehouse’s death, played both Jeeves and Bertie. Jeeves Takes he asked a Carmelite priest Charge was seen in Great Britain and the Bring on the Girls, co-written with Guy to remember the author at Bolton. New York: Simon and Schuster, . “He replied, ‘Well, I United States, including engagements at l953. will, since you ask me. But Washington’s Ford’s Theatre. in the case of someone Over 70. London: Herbert Jenkins, l957. who brought such joy to so Wodehouse also adapted his servant-mas- many people in the course of ter stories for the films,Thank You, Jeeves ••••••• his life, do you think it is and Step Lively, Jeeves, both of which starred necessary?’”* IRISH PLAYWRIGHT . SEAN O’CASEYdismissed *After Hours With P.G. P.G. Wodehouse as “the performing Wodehouse A British-made l960s television series flea of English literature.” called “” starred Undaunted, Wodehouse immediately as Jeeves and put the insult to advantage by calling as Bertie. his l962 autobiography . It Another British-made series, “Jeeves and was published in the United States Wooster,” starring and Hugh under the title Author! Author! Laurie, has been seen in the United States on PBS.

6 7 “Sorry, I’ve Lost What“Odd how Aimportant Strange names are.Name It always takes me “‘WhatA P.G. ho!’ I said. Wodehouse Sampler “He still remained the same galumphing man with about as long to get them to my satisfaction as it does ‘What ho!’ said Motty. two left feet, who had always been constitutionally NumbersCount” are a problem when applied to to write the novel.” ‘What ho! What ho!’ incapable of walking through the great Gobi desert P.G. Wodehouse. His years are easy; he lived — P.G. Wodehouse ‘What ho! What ho! What ho!’ without knocking something over.” 93 of them, from 1881 to l975. Counting is Wodehouse’s preoccupation with comic names puts After that it seemed rather difficult to go on with — otherwise tricky. How many novels? How him in good company. To name a few... the conversation.” “He was the sort of person who would take every — many short stories? How many books for , who gave us Anthony Dull, Pinch, egg out of a nest and excuse himself on the ground musicals? How many lyrics? How many Speed, Sir Toby Belch, Elbow, Fang, and Doll Tearsheet. “Chumps always make the best husbands. When that he was preventing (in the future) cruelty to you marry, , grab a chump. Tap his forehead first, worms.” straight plays? How many films? How many Ben Jonson, who invented Sir Epicure Mammon, Adam and if it rings solid, don’t hesitate. All the unhappy —Note for an unpublished story other kinds of writing? Overdo, Mosca (Fly), Volpone (Fox), Voltore (Vulture), marriages come from the husbands having brains. Sometimes it depends on who is doing the Dame Pliant, and Tribulation Wholesome. What good are brains to a man? They only unsettle “The Right. Hon. was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes counting and how they do it. Sometimes Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who named characters him.” and had forgotten to say ‘When!’” books and shows have been renamed in Snake, Joseph Surface, Benjamin Backbite, Lady —The Adventures of Sally revivals or new editions. Sometimes names Sneerwell, Lydia Languish, Mrs. Malaprop, and Lucius “She gave a smirk that sounded like a nor’easter —Very Good, Jeeves used in Great Britain are different from O’Trigger. ripping through the sails of a stricken vessel.” Explaining the spelling of his name says, “The —Barmy in Wonderland those used in the United States. John Vanbrugh, who created Miss Hoyden, Lord p is silent as in pshrimp....” Foppington, Fashion, and Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, and “It is no use telling me that there are bad aunts and A good guess is that Wodehouse wrote —Psmith George Etheridge, who conceived Sir Fopling Flutter. good aunts. At the core, they are all something like 120 volumes that include alike. Sooner or later, out pops “It was my Uncle George who discovered that novels and short stories, wrote or contrib- Charles Dickens, who enriched our reading with the cloven hoof.” alcohol was a food, well in advance Scrooge, Mr. Gradgrind, Uriah Heep, Pecksniff, Mr. of medical thought.” uted to 42 musicals, wrote hundreds of —The Code of the Woosters Bumble, Augustus Snodgrass, and Affery Flintwich. song lyrics, wrote numerous plays, and — wrote or contributed to 24 films. In addi- W.C. Fields, who wrote his own screenplays (some- tion, he said in Over 70 (one of his autobio- times under the names Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Otis Criblecoblis, and Charles Bogle) and gave us Egbert graphical works, written in 1957) that he Sousè, J. Pinkerton Snoopington, Ogg Oggilbie, Cuthbert had written 10 boys’ books, a children’s J. Twilley, and Filthy McNasty. book, 315 short stories, and 411 articles. And that was l8 years before he died. Wodehouse himself, who in addition to the characters in By Jeeves worried into existence Stilton Cheesewright, J. Chichester Clam, Boko Fittleworth, Freddie Threepwood, Orlando Wotherspoon, Pongo hadWodehouse a recurring fascination with descrip- Thistleton, Cybil Waddesley-Davenport, Lady tions of babies. One is said to look like “a Bablockhythe, Reggie Foljambe, Lady Betty Boodle, and William Egerton Ossingham Belfry. mass murderer suffering from an ingrowing toenail.” Another is called a “mixture of Given his fascination with nomenclature, it comes as no Winston Churchill and Edward G. surprise to discover that Wodehouse wrote under six Robinson,” while still another looks like “a pseudonyms in addition to writing under his own name: P. Brooke-Haven, Pelham Grenville, J. Plum, C.P. West, J. homicidal fried egg.” Walker Williams, and Basil Windham.

8 9 jingles in the past, but this was going to be a West End musi- prop shop or whatever—be part of it!’”... cal!... And I wrote a book four or five hours long! And On graduating [secondary school] Ayckbourn landed Andrew’s score was also not really right. his first job, “polishing the furniture for Sir “We then proceeded to compound this fool- at the Edinburgh Festival.” By Jeeves, ishness by hiring a director who had never “He was one of the last great actor/managers, like Irving before directed...and leading man who had [19th-century actor/manager Henry Irving], absolutely in “Our company was about to move into a more last sung publicly as a good boy treble but splendid converted theater this last April,” says the charge, but also very supportive of his actors—a gener- was now getting on to 40,” Ayckbourn con- ous and warm man.” They’ve Finally Got It! playwright. “And I began to think that maybe what we tinues. “It was effectively a Ship of Fools.” needed was a fairly high-profile show—and you can’t get Ayckbourn moved on to Stephen Joseph’s Scarborough Alan Ayckbourn discusses his collaboration with Sir Since that time, Ayckbourn has learned something Andrew Lloyd Webber and By Jeeves’ long journey much more high-profile thanJeeves. I told Andrew that I Theater, which he describes as “the first of the fringe was ready to give it another go.” about musicals, having written books and lyrics for theaters.” It was a company open to new ideas and aspir- by rene ackalenick Men on Women on Men, Suburban I B * such shows as ing newcomers. Ayckbourn worked as an actor and stage Major changes were in order. With the idea that less is Strains, , and Me, Myself and I. And iven the formidable reputation of manager, but when he agitated for larger roles, Joseph sug- more, Ayckbourn created a scaled-down piece. though Ayckbourn is best known as the playwright playwright Alan Ayckbourn—now gested that he write his own play, with a role for himself. Steeping himself once more in the Wodehouse canon, he of hilarious, middle-class, billed as England’s most successful If the play worked, Joseph would stage it. Ayckbourn proceeded to rewrite entirely, creating an original story, but one British comedies— living playwright—one would expect did just that, and went on to write several such plays, that retained the Wodehouse flavor. He kept as many of the The Norman Conquest him to be unapproachable, protective under the pseudonym of Roland Allen. Lloyd Webber songs as he could, but ultimately 75 percent of and Bedroom Farce, for Gof his privacy. Not so. In a recent interview, he proved the score would be new. instance—he finds song- It was his playwriting apprenticeship. Ayckbourn has to be easily accessible, open to questions, and totally writing uniquely satisfying. remained connected with Scarborough to this day, unpretentious. Ayckbourn was in the midst of “It’s a much tighter, smaller script, half the length of the original huge tome, and with far fewer people in the cast,” he says. “I both directing and continuing to debut his plays rehearsals for By Jeeves....It was lunch break, and “Playwriting is a lonely busi- before moving them elsewhere.... Ayckbourn munched on fruit and talked of his cur- think Andrew had a hit of a shock when he read the script, with ness, except for joining the rent musical. so many changes, but he said, ‘We’ll give it a whirl.’” creative team at the begin- Is Ayckbourn the writer ever in conflict with Ayckbourn the ning and end,” he says. director? “Andrew had been ringing me up just about every year, It was clear that even in the workshop stage the new show, “Songwriting, however, is a col- saying we must do something with this show,” said under Ayckbourn’s direction, worked. “It’s been a long collaboration,” he acknowledges. laborative effort. You are very Ayckbourn. The show referred to was the original “I’ve been directing almost as long as I’ve been “We booked a rehearsal room and found some singing much with the composer, and Jeeves musical, and Andrew, of course, was Sir writing—since 1959. By 1962-63, I was directing actors—rather than singers who could sort of act—because it’s it’s refreshing.” Andrew Lloyd Webber. text-heavy,” he recalls. “And at the beginning of the second week, my own work, and by the ‘70s, I was directing my Ayckbourn is truly an all- own work in London as well...I’ve got very used The two had collaborated some 20 years ago I called Andrew and said, ‘We’re getting on so well that I think we around man of the theater. to this partnership, and I think I know when the on the show, which was based on P.G. could almost stage it.’” In the tradition of Molière writer has to step aside.... But when I write, I do Wodehouse stories. Lloyd Webber had written And so they did—first in Scarborough where it was and Shakespeare, he has leave myself clear memos as to how it ought to be the music, Ayckbourn the lyrics and the book. But received enthusiastically, and then in London, with most served many roles in his time. staged.... There’s quite a split personality.”... as it turned out, Jeeves proved to be a flop, a flashy of the original Scarborough cast. Critics were ecstatic. Acting, writing, directing, and stage overblown effort, when it opened in London. The musi- By Jeeves...is meant to be good fun. The particular In the International Herald Tribune, Sheridan Morley managing were all part of the cal was mercifully put to bed, and each young man challenge is to make a very professional produc- referred to the show as “a little treasure,” adding that it experience, a solid prepara- went on to success in other directions. “is now a musical comedy which the old man himself tion look artless, which Ayckbourn says is the tion for shaping plays that hardest thing to do. But now at last, something has been done. (Wodehouse) would have recognized and even envied, work. Ayckbourn gave in to Lloyd Webber’s and praise can’t come much higher than that.”... “The premise is that it all happened in a bit of a “I think it’s been invalu- entreaties, and Jeeves has become By Jeeves. hurry,” Ayckbourn says. “Jeeves has organized and improvised [Originally Jeeves was the joint effort of Lloyd Webber and lyri- able, being in on every The new version which began in workshop... the show around a group of amateur actors.... If it looks cist Tim Rice, but Rice] “almost immediately decided he aspect of theater,” he was mounted at Ayckbourn’s own theater...in knowing, then the joke is blown, as it were. We’ve got to didn’t want to go on with it,” Ayckbourn says. “Tim was says. “I say to new writ- Scarborough [England]. It moved on...to a suc- somehow look like people doing their level best, right through interested in many other projects.” Then Ayckbourn ers, ‘If you can’t direct or cessful run at the West End’s Duke of York to the designer.” himself, who had been recruited to write the book, act and are not much of a Theater. took on the lyrics. stage manager, then go and *Reprinted by permission from Irene Backalenick, first printed inTheatreWeek, Why did Ayckbourn agree to revise the show? “It was crazy,” he notes. “I had written a few little work in the box office or November 4-10, 1996.

10 11 utlers and manservants have long been staples of Manservants for All Seasons popular storytelling. To Be or Not To Be A Butler P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves is a memorable example of a servant- While P.G. Wodehouse may have written more Although Jeeves is frequently referred to as a butler, that with-savvy who rescues a master-with-problems. As Jeeves would about than anyone else, others have given is not the correct title of his position. Jeeves is a manser- surely know, and readily tell us, he and Bertie Wooster have an us keen portraits of imperturbable and resource- vant or —a male servant who attends to the per- AT extensive theatrical genealogical history. ful male servants. Jules Verne sent Passepartout to sonal needs of his male employer. The first in a long line of manservants for all seasons probably assist Phileas Fogg on that famous journey Around the World A butler is the chief male servant of a household, usually in appeared in 405 B.C. with Aristophanes’ The Frogs, when the slave in 80 Days. Sam Weller was indispensable to Samuel charge of serving food and responsible for the care of wine Xanthias was set to work for his master Dionysus. About 200 Pickwick in Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, and Ruggles, and liquors. Indeed, the word butler is derived from the years later, the Roman Plautus added to the family and garnered Bthe very British butler, stirred things up in the old French “bouteille” meaning bottle. OUR big laughs with the adventures of Pseudolos and Calidorus in the American West in Harry Leon Wilson’s Ruggles of Red Gap. Y A valet is sometimes called a “gentleman’s gentleman” (a Pseudolos. The meticulous Stevens is the overriding presence in appropriately named comedy term in use at least since 1715) or, as Jeeves himself says Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day. Among the characters of the commedia dell’arte who romped occasionally, a “gentleman’s personal gentleman.” Butlers have been prominent in films since one-reelers first through the Renaissance was the wily Arlecchino (later That Jeeves is a manservant/ took a look at life on the better side of the railroad tracks. ER- Harlequin), the sometimes-willing, sometimes-grudging servant valet in no way stops him S to many masters. Whether opening doors, announcing guests, or presiding from serving the function over the serving of meals, butlers Shakespeare drew on his reading of Plautus’ work The Twin of butler or any other role usually function for comic purposes. Menaechmi to write The Comedy of Errors, in which twin slaves required in the Wooster Consider the stiff, but amusing, upper named Dromio serve twin masters named Antipholus. Later, Ben household. VICE lips of Charles Laughton, William Jonson gave the world two memorable schemers in Mosca, the Powell, , Arthur Treacher, servant, and Volpone, the master, in Volpone. Melville Cooper, Holliwell Hobbes, Molière, drawing on the traditions of the commedia dell’arte, Alan Mowbray, Edward Everett invented Scapin and Leandre in The Rogueries of Scapin, while in Horton, and . In A Chump at Manservants 18th-century , Carlo Goldoni called on the same tradition to Oxford, Stan Laurel impersonated a create Truffaldino and Florindo in The Servant of Two Masters. In maid to Oliver Hardy’s pretend-but- 1789, Royall Tyler capitalized on the servant-master tradition ler. More recently, drew when he wrote the first American comedy, The Contrast, wherein laughter for his portrayal of a four- and Butlers Jonathan (who is the prototype of the stage Yankee) intervenes letter-word-spouting butler in Arthur for his employer, Colonel Manly. and Arthur II: On the Rocks. A few decades later, Nicolai Gogol drew Russian laughs with Memorable sinister butlers include Khlestakov and Osip in The Inspector General. Later, J.M. Barrie Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Dirk Bogarde. got British laughs with Crichton and Lord Loom’s family in The In Tovarich, , as a royal Russian emigré, takes a Admirable Crichton. job as butler and enjoys it so much he stays on in the job More recently, a semi-cloned (anything is possible in comedy) even after his fortune is restored. Jean Pierre Aumont Wodehouse’s Butlers Pseudolos reappeared in Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart, and played the same role in the l960s stage musical. While Jeeves may be the world’s most famous butler, he is ’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the The enormous success of television’s “Upstairs, not the only one Wodehouse invented. In various novels Forum. Downstairs” gave us a long-running view of a butler as the and short stories, upper-class characters—invariably Although the worlds Pseudolos and Jeeves inhabit are separated top-ranking member of “below stairs gentry.” inept—are served by, among others, butlers called Silversmith, Blizzard, Slingsby, Beach, Pollen, Vorper, and by 2,200 years, they are clearly brothers under the skin. True, In other places, who can forget Rochester as man-of-all- Oakshott. Butlers, it should be noted, are invariably called Pseudolos schemes, tricks, and smooth-talks flamboyantly while work to stingy Jack Benny? And let’s not overlook Kato, by their last name only. Jeeves does the same things sedately. But a close look at the who did the honors for the Green Hornet, or Alfred, the schemes, tricks, and smooth talk reveals that the difference butler who keeps the secret that Bruce Wayne and Dick It was probably inevitable that Wodehouse named one of between the two servants is more a matter of style than genes. Grayson are really and Robin. his novels The Butler Did It.

“Ice formed on the butler’s upper slopes.” — “In times of domestic crisis, Jeeves has the gift of creating the illusion that he is not there.” —Ring of Jeeves “The butler was looking nervous, like Macbeth interviewing Lady Macbeth after one of her visits to the spare room.” — and Others “Jeeves doesn’t exactly smile on these occasions, because he never does, but the lips twitch slightly at the corners and the eye is benevolent.” —Joy in the Morning “My God! If a butler publicly rebuked me, I think I should commit suicide. I couldn’t survive it. I don’t suppose there is anything so terrible as a snub from a butler.” —Something Fresh

12 13 Jeeves: Richard Kline Choreographer: While Richard Kline is fondly remembered for the role of Sheila Carter Larry on television’s Three’s Company, he has established himself as a stage actor of considerable range. Most Sheila Carter’s choreography has been seen Amateurs recently he was seen off-Broadway in his own one- in productions in London as well as at man show, Boychik. In regional English theaters in Chichester, Shakespearean roles, he (ANSWERS PAGE 16 ) Manchester, Nottingham, Chester, and Bolton. In the Spotlight: A Play Quiz has appeared in the Plays and musicals about professional theatrical productions comprise a lengthy catalog. The list of plays and musicals, such as New York Her dances have enlivened that most British By Jeeves, that feature amateur playmaking is shorter but equally interesting. Here are clues to 10 shows in which amateurs Shakespeare Festival of Christmastime entertainments—panto- seek the spotlight. How many can you name? How many have been seen at the Kennedy Center? production of Troilus mimes. She choreographed the dance scenes 1. In this satirical comedy, former students of an intimidating teacher present a pageant that goes awry. and Cressida and in for ’s filmJane Eyre. She Washington’s 2.This musical features members of a royal court giving an adaptation of a socially influential American novel. appeared as a dancer in the filmYanks. Shakespeare Theatre 3. Five nuns sing, dance, and tell jokes in a variety show staged to pay for the funerals of colleagues felled by cafeteria food. productions of Love’s Labour Lost and Henry V. 4. In this musical, South African students put on a play attacking apartheid. Designers for Kline has taken center stage in 5. In this musical set in a drained swimming pool, students in a girls’ boarding school give their interpretation of a classic the musicals I Do! I Do!, , and Do I Hear A By Jeeves American novel. Waltz?, and on tour in Neil Simon’s play Jake’s Women. Set designer Roger Glossop has 6.The work of an aspiring playwright is performed in this “comedy” by one of Russia’s greatest playwrights. Guest appearances on television include “NYPD worked with playwright-director Alan Blue,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Hill Street Blues,” “The Mary 7.Workmen offer their version of a classical myth for six newlyweds in this 1590s comedy. Tyler Moore Show,” and “Maude.” Ayckbourn at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, England, on a regular basis. His 8.The children of vaudevillians present a show called Lee Calhoun’s in this musical by Rodgers and Hart. Kline originated the role of Jeeves in the current Goodspeed Opera House production of By Jeeves. By Jeeves is Kline’s designs have also been seen at London’s 9. In this 1965 musical, an aging knight tells his story to fellow prisoners who enact it with him. Royal National Theatre and for productions second visit to the Kennedy Center, having appeared in 10. Amateurs at a small provincial British theater rehearse for a production of John ’s The Beggar’s Opera in this How I Got That Story in the Terrace Theater in 1981. of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has comedy penned by the author of By Jeeves! also created designs for play productions in Israel and Belgium. He is the director of England’s newest theater, the Old Laundry at Bertie: John Scherer Bowness-on-Windermere. John Scherer’s previous appearance in Washington, in Costume designer Louise Belson the Arena Stage production moves easily among theater, dance, and opera of On the Town, earned productions. In England, her work has been him a seen at London’s Royal National Theatre, in Awards nomination. In the meantime, productions for the Royal Shakespeare he has played Company, and in the West End. For her By opposite Betty Jeeves designs, she received an Olivier Award Buckley in the nomination. Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Lighting designer Mick Hughes has Boulevard and with on tour in Busker Alley. lighted shows at Scarborough’s Stephen Last year, Scherer performed at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Joseph Theatre, at London’s Royal National Playhouse in Cole Porter’s and in Theatre, for productions of the Royal Manhattan’s Encore Series production of Porter’s Out of Shakespeare Company, and in the West End. This World. He has been featured in productions at the His work has also been seen on Broadway. Cincinnati Playhouse, the St. Louis Rep, the Denver Center, and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. He toured He was the longtime lighting designer for the with the national companies of and Lloyd prestigious Chichester Festival and served as Webber’s Cats. Scherer first played Bertie in the consultant to the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Goodspeed Opera production of By Jeeves.

14 15 Next Time You’re In London, Answers to Play Quiz, drop in at Bertie Wooster (& Cavenagh) for page 15 . gentlemen’s clothes, located in the 1. Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You Arcade just off Piccadilly Street. You can also find Bertie Wooster Second Hand 2. Clothes or, if you have a need, Bertie 3. Nunsense Wooster Dry Cleaners. Need a quick meal? 4. Sarafina! Stop by one of the Bertie Rooster Fried 5. Moby Dick Chicken Shops. 6. The Seagull 7. A Midsummer Night’s Dream ••••••• 8. Babes in Arms “ You See Me with a furrowed brow you can be sure that what is 9. Man of La Mancha on my mind is the thought that if only I had 10. A Chorus of Disapproval taken up golf earlier and devoted my whole The King and I, Sarafina!, The Seagull, A time to it instead of fooling about writing Midsummer Night’s Dream have been seen at stories and things, I might have got my the Kennedy Center. handicap down to under eighteen.” Total: 14 —P.G. Wodehouse 12 - 14: The spotlight is all yours! 9 - 11: Bright lights, but no spotlight. ••••••• 4 - 8: Dim the lights, please. Want To Be a Wodehouse 0 - 3: Blackout! Groupie? The Wodehouse Society (TWS) is an inter- national organization of Wodehouse enthu- siasts. Members receive a quarterly publica- You May Want to Read tion, appropriately called Plum Lines, and Connolly, Joseph. P.G. Wodehouse: An Illus­ attend biennial conventions. trated Biography. New York: Beaufort, 1983. National Contact: Marilyn Davis, Lee. Bolton, Wodehouse and Kern: The MacGregor, 3215-5 Bermuda Ave, Davis, CA Men Who Made Musical Comedy. New 95616-2758. Telephone: (916) 758-6783. York: Heinman, 1993. Hours: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Pacific Time. Donaldson, Frances. P.G. Wodehouse: A On the Internet, access http://mech. Biography. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1982. math.msu.su/~gmk/pgw.htm for Dukore, Bernard (ed.) Alan Ayckbourn: A Wodehouse information. Casebook. New York: Garland, 1991. Richmond, Keith. The Musicals of Andrew ••••••• Lloyd Webber. London: Virgin, 1995. The Spotlight on Theater discussion , Usborne, Richard. After Hours with P.G. Wodehouse. London: Hutchinson, 1991. which will feature actor, Richard Kline, Voorhees, Richard J. P.G. Wodehouse. New York: Twayne, 1966. will occur on Thursday, June 12, from Walsh, Michael. Andrew Lloyd Webber: His 6-6:45 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. Life and Works, A Critical Biography. New York: Abrams, 1989. Watson, Ian. Conversations with Ayckbourn. London: Macmillan, 1981. White, Sidney Howard. Alan Ayckbourn. Boston: Twayne, 1985. The Kennedy Center: James A. Johnson, Chairman• Lawrence J. Wilker, President Derek E. Gordon, Vice President, Education • Kimberly Ferlaak Motes, Program Manager, Performance Plus™ Shelley D. Woodard, Program Assistant, Performance Plus™ Credits: Writer: John C. Carr • Design: Good Design/Nice Pictures • Production photos: Craig Schwartz, Diane Sobvelewski This project is funded in part through the support of the U.S. Department of Education, The Kennedy Center Corporate Fund, and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

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