Ria picked an interesting subject when she wrote “P.G. Wodehouse, A Decent Chap – British Author Was Prolific.”
Who was this man, who died in 1975, and why do people STILL talk in glowing terms about him?
Wodehouse (the British pronounce it “Wood-House”) was born in Merrie Old England in 1881. He displayed quite a knack for writing humor, however his father, a banker, opposed a writing career for his son. Wodehouse dutifully joined the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank but wrote anyway. And the rest, as they say, is history. After a few rough starts, in 1917 the first hint of the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his peerless butler, Jeeves appeared, entitled “Two left Feet. “ People wanted more of this star-crossed duo, and were rewarded through the years with tales of further adventures.
Other characters emerged to populate their own books. Psmith (pronouced “P-Smith” by most of us although Wodehouse informs us the “P” is silent) became another of the much loved cast of characters whom the public clamored to hear more of. As a result, several novels emerged detailing the adventures of the hilarious and forward-thinking Psmith whose unorthodox solutions invariably got him and his friends out of their scrapes.
“A Damsel in Distress” ( which came out first as a book, was then made into a movie. The VHS, available from Amazon.com, was filmed in 1937, and featured a cast of stars including Fred Astaire, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Joan Fontaine, Reginald Gardiner, etc. The Internet Movie Database.com’s review includes this bit: “Wodehouse was also lucky here to have Burns and Allan to work with. It is generally considered that of all the films they made as supporting actors together (such as “Six of a Kind” and “We’re Not Dressing” ) George and Gracie did their best support with Fred Astaire. The funhouse sequence, which includes the song “Stiff Upper Lip”, is wonderful, as is an earlier sequence where the three do a whisk broom dance (that Astaire learned from Burns).”
George Burns talked about making “A Damsel In Distress.” in one of his books: “Gracie, A Love Story.”:
“The picture both Gracie and I enjoyed making the most was Damsel in Distress, a musical comedy starring Fred Astaire based on a P.G. Wodehouse story. RKO asked Paramount to lend us to that studio for this movie, and we really wanted to make it. It was the first film Astaire had done without Ginger Rogers in several years; the musical score had been written by George and Ira Gershwin-it was the last complete score George Gershwin had written before his death-and featured such wonderful songs as ‘A Foggy Day,’ and ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It,’ and it was to be directed by George Stevens. Paramount agreed, but before RKO signed us for the film they wanted us to dance for Fred Astaire and get his approval. That made me a little nervous. I was only a slightly better dancer than a singer, and Astaire might well have been the greatest hoofer who ever lived. I knew Gracie could stay close to him; I wasn’t sure I could.
‘Then I remembered a vaudeville team named Evans and Evans who used to do a popular act in which they danced with whisk brooms. I didn’t know how good I’d look trying to keep pace with Fred Astaire, but I knew I’d be great compared to a whisk broom. So I invited one of the Evanses to come to California to teach the whisk-broom dance to me and Gracie.
‘We spent hours in our backyard next to the pool learning the dance. Not only did we get very good at it, we ended up with the cleanest pool deck in Southern California. When we demonstrated the dance for Fred Astaire, he not only hired us, he thought the brooms were so good he also put them in the picture. So Gracie and I ended up teaching Fred Astaire how to dance.” The book continues with more interesting anecdotes about making the movie.
One of the nice things about any P.G. Wodehouse novel is that you can start with one which is halfway through a series, and Wodehouse can be depended upon to bring you right up to date. He never assumes that all readers know the characters from his previous novels. For instance, in “Jeeves and The Tie That Binds” (new and used from Amazon.com from $1.66) which was published on the author’s 90th birthday with a dust jacket which shows him bending to touch his toes, Wodehouse writes,” But now we come to something which gives me pause. In recording the latest installment of the Bertram Wooster Story, a task at which I am about to have a pop, I don’t see how I can avoid delving into the past a good deal, touching on events which took place in previous installments and explaining who’s who and what happened when and where and why, and this will make it heavy going for those who have been with me from the start. ‘Old hat,’ they will cry, or, if French, ‘Deja vu.’
“On the other hand, I must consider the new customers. I can’t just leave the poor perishers to try to puzzle things out for themselves…The only way out that I can think of is to ask the old gang to let their attention wander for a bit-there are heaps of things they can be doing: washing the car, solving the crossword puzzle, taking the dog out for a run-while I place the facts before the newcomers.” Wodehouse then goes on to give the information as succinctly as possible. By then everyone is up to date and ready for the novel to progress.
Wodehouse almost never fails to mention his main character’s aunts. In real life, Wodehouse was nurtured by his aunts during his childhood years. Most likely these good women became literary fodder for his books. Wodehouse provides both favorite aunts and foreboding aunts, the former nurturing, helpful and pleasant, and the latter hilariously demanding.
Jeeves & Wooster was made into a television series. DVD’s of that series are available on Amazon.com.Those who aren’t big on reading can enjoy the same hilarious situations that others have been reading about for years, however some die-hard fans may grouse that the characters in the TV series don’t fit their own mental images of Jeeves and Wooster, the demanding Aunt Agatha, etc. There’s always that risk when books are converted to the screen.
With Wodehouse’s books, your reading pleasure comes at a very affordable price! Whether you check out P.G. Wodehouse books from the local libary, order used copies on-line from Amazon.com for your own library, or buy new copies from Amazon.com as gifts, these books give laughter and hours of reading pleasure for a fraction of the cost of many other books. If you are unfamiliar with P.G. Wodehouse, Bertie and Jeeves, Psmith and the rest of the cast, give them a try. They are, in Wodehouse’s own words, “most satisfactory!”
