The P. G. Wodehouse thread

[Allegra]

How would you rank those three Mulliners, Allegra? I've only read 'Meet...'. It contained the finest Plum short I've read though, in 'The Truth About George'.

I like both Meet Mr. Mulliner (yes 'The Truth About George' is super!) and Mulliner Nights, most of the stories in Mr. Mulliner Speaking somehow didn't strike me as very interesting or funny. Good thing is there are more Mulliner stories scattered in a few other collections besides Young Men in Spat.

@WaylanderToo Isn't the word 'philistine' obsolete? I agree with The Big Peat, each has his/her own taste. As for me, I watched some Wooster & Jeeves TV series on Youtube, didn't find it very funny. Wodehouse's masterful prose, style and his own brand of humour can only be truly appreciated by reading his writing.

 

[Bick]

I like both Meet Mr. Mulliner (yes 'The Truth About George' is super!) and Mulliner Nights, most of the stories in Mr. Mulliner Speaking somehow didn't strike me as very interesting or funny. Good thing is there are more Mulliner stories scattered in a few other collections besides Young Men in Spat.

Thanks. And yes, there are several in Blandings Castle and Elsewhere, which I have. I will seek out nights, but may give Speaking a miss for now. I seem to recall Teresa offering the same opinion.

As for me, I watched some Wooster & Jeeves TV series on Youtube, didn't find it very funny. Wodehouse's masterful prose, style and his own brand of humour can only be truly appreciated by reading his writing.

Quite right. When the TV series came out, I loved it. I thought several things were very good - casting was excellent, and many of the character actors were spot on. I still see the face of Gussie Fink-Nottle from the TV show when I read the books. However I saw an episode last week, and it doesn't quite work on screen in hindsight as well as I recalled. And now I've read Plum widely, I'd agree with your assessment. Interestingly, Hugh Lawrie and Stephen Fry had the same view going in. They are huge fans of Wodehouse and had real hesitation doing the show as they felt the work was best read, not filmed. However, they ended up agreeing to it on the basis that they felt they'd be able to do as good a job as anyone else, knowing the works so well. I'd have to agree. The scripts for TV fall slightly flat in comparison with the books, as there is so much subtext and so many thoughts expressed that one cannot film. That said, as actors bringing Jeeves and Wooster to life, they are the characters. I see them in my minds eye when reading now, as visually and by mannerism, they were perfect.

 

[Vince W]

Agreed @Bick, Fry and Laurie to me are the characters now and whenever I read any of the stories it's their voices I hear in my head.

 

[Bick]

Jeeves, Wooster, Tuppy Glossop and Gussie Fink-Nottle from the TV series.

 

[Allegra]

Yes I agree the cast is nearly perfect (if only Hugh Lawrie can be a touch more handsomer), and Gussie 'Spink-Bottle''s actor is just perfect.

Now I am finding time here and there to read Indiscretions of Archie. I laughed my tears out on a scene in the chapter that Archie posted as an artist's model. It goes like this:

Archie now perceived that the door was ajar, and that on an envelope attached with a tack to one of the panels was the name "Elmer M. Moon" He pushed the door a little farther open and tried again.

"Oh, Mr. Moon! Mr. Moon!" He waited a moment. "Oh, Mr. Moon! Mr. Moon! Are you there, Mr. Moon?"

He blushed hotly. To his sensitive ear the words had sounded exactly like the opening line of the refrain of a vaudeville song-hit. He decided to waste no further speech on a man with such an unfortunate surname until he could see him face to face and get a chance of lowering his voice a bit. Absolutely absurd to stand outside a chappie's door singing song-hits in a lemon-coloured bathing suit.

Hugh Lawrie would do a good job on this one.

Plum himself didn't seem to mind at all to transfer his stories on the big or small screen. My impression from his biography and interviews is that he was quite happy about it and found it fun.

 

[The Big Peat]

I am pretty sure the actor who played Tuppy Glossop has a doppelgänger who went on to be my Latin & Classics teacher.

I'd also agree with the consensus that the TV series has nothing on the books, and that's a reflection on the mediums rather than the TV series' staff.

 

[Bick]

Are you till on your Plum marathon, Allegra? I've started reading The Clicking of Cuthbert. Very good of course. I don't expect this will take more than a couple of days, its very moreish. Vladimir Brusiloff!

 

[2DaveWixon]

Great thread! I've always wanted to read Wodehouse...I love the Jeeves & Wooster series. My wife has read Wodehouse and loves him..and I've just discovered that many of his books are free at the US Amazon site, so I've got a nice selection on my Kindle now. We have reading nights, where no TV is allowed...we read out loud to each other. We'll finish The Shining soon, and then it's on to Wodehouse! So thanks for the thread and conversation everyone...this has been inspirating!

I'm trying to imagine moving from THE SHINING to any Wodehouse book...whiplash of the brain! But I'll bet it keeps the blood flowing in that brain.

 

[JaeDarcy]

The very fact of this thread made me happy tonight when I found it.
I love Wodehouse so much. (And I think Fry and Laurie nailed it.)

I was just writing in a different forum about how I don't let myself read other books when I'm writing a first draft and Wodehouse is the reason. In addition to SF I write mystery novels set in 1923. They have comical flourishes, but mostly they're pretty serious fare dealing with the repercussions of WWI. But midway through the first one I stopped to read some Wodehouse (I was trying to immerse myself in contemporary culture) and when I went back to read the next chapter I wrote, it read like my MC turned into Bertie Wooster overnight.

A lot of unwriting and rewriting that night... and a moratorium on reading whilst writing!

 

[Allegra]

Are you till on your Plum marathon, Allegra? I've started reading The Clicking of Cuthbert. Very good of course. I don't expect this will take more than a couple of days, its very moreish. Vladimir Brusiloff!

I am temporarily taking a break by reading a mainstream novel - The Seamstress by Maria Duenas so the friend who recommended it to me won't strangle me for not reading it. Why is it that when I switch from Wodehouse to anything else the anything else often seems tasteless: the language is flat and dull, not much 'light and sweetness' (what Uncle Fred is dedicated to spread in his path) to lit up your brain and mood?

The last two I read are Pigs Have Wings and Service with A Smile. To follow up with the Blandings Castle theme next one will be Galahad at Blandings. I feel Galahad is another version of Uncle Fred in a slightly different style. The Clicking of Cuthbert Sounds interesting!

 

[Silver Bee]

I was quite pleased to discover that a TV series existed and my boyfriend had it amongst his DVD collection, as I discovered Wodehouse a few years ago back in Spain and I really love his books.

"So who are the main actors? Do I know them?" I asked, all excited and happy.
"Oh, yes! Fry and Laurie!", he replied, knowing my unconditional love for these two gentlemen.
"Brilliant! I'm looking forward to seeing Fry playing Wooster. Laurie is a great choice for Jeeves too".
"Erm... It's the other way round, actually"
"..."
"Yep."
"Really? No way... It must be Fry playing Wooster!"
"Nope."
"But... But..."
"The other way round."

I shook my head in disbelief. For some reason, Fry as Wooster and Laurie as Jeeves was the natural, logical thing to do! I don't know why

 

[Bick]

For some reason, Fry as Wooster and Laurie as Jeeves was the natural, logical thing to do! I don't know why

But once you've seen them the other way round, surely it could never be any other way?

 

[Toby Frost]

Also, rather confusingly, the supporting cast changes between different series. I'm pretty sure that the actress who plays Madeleine Bassett in the first series plays someone completely different and much tougher in a later episode (maybe Angela?). I think in terms of casting and scripts the third series was best, although I liked it more when the characters were in England, as the joke seemed to work better there.

I used to rather fancy the actress who was Madeleine in the last two seasons (I was about 11 at the time it came out). Actually, probably on the character. Not sure what that says. Hmm.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Fry as Wooster

But only because we know NOW what Fry is like in real life.
At the first showing, we didn't.
The Register used to run competitions for people to imagine real life Fry comments on technology. His actual comments are priceless.

 

[Silver Bee]

But once you've seen them the other way round, surely it could never be any other way?

Oh well, that's true Maybe in a parallel universe it's played the *ahem* correct way *ahem*

I think Aunt Dahlia was played by a different actress each season?

 

[Bick]

I used to rather fancy the actress who was Madeleine in the last two seasons (I was about 11 at the time it came out).

Elizabeth Morton, married to Peter Davidson, apparently. You're a young chappie Toby!

 

[2DaveWixon]

I was quite pleased to discover that a TV series existed and my boyfriend had it amongst his DVD collection, as I discovered Wodehouse a few years ago back in Spain and I really love his books.

"So who are the main actors? Do I know them?" I asked, all excited and happy.
"Oh, yes! Fry and Laurie!", he replied, knowing my unconditional love for these two gentlemen.
"Brilliant! I'm looking forward to seeing Fry playing Wooster. Laurie is a great choice for Jeeves too".
"Erm... It's the other way round, actually"
"..."
"Yep."
"Really? No way... It must be Fry playing Wooster!"
"Nope."
"But... But..."
"The other way round."

I shook my head in disbelief. For some reason, Fry as Wooster and Laurie as Jeeves was the natural, logical thing to do! I don't know why

I'm afraid I cannot relate... Having already seen Fry as Jeeves and Laurie as Bertie, I am now incapable of imagining them reversed. (Understand: if I had not yet seen the series, I would still be able to imagine the reverse situation -- but it's too late now, my imagination has been made to wear concrete boots...)

 

[Toby Frost]

Well, that's nice of you, but not all that young! There's a moment when Bertie jumps into a boat to escape from Madeleine's friend, who is trying to shoot him because she thinks he's a burglar but actually he's been hiding in their house because of, well, plot, which still makes me crack up. It's Hugh Laurie's look of gormless apology that does it.

 

[Allegra]

The only 'shortcoming' of Fry as Jeeves is his built. Wodehouse described many times Jeeves's ability of appearing and disappearing without being noticed. I can't imaging a big guy like Fry not being noticed. I like Fry and Laurie's acting, but their images are not exactly what I have in mind for the Jeeves & Wooster under Plum's pen.

 

[Allegra]

Now reading Galahad at Blandings. Lord Emsworth's account of his phone call with Tipton Plimsoll in N.Y. is a killer. I haven't laughed so hard since...well, last time I read Plum.