quote:

---

I gave it up. The man annoyed me. I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie, but I was dashed if I could see why he couldn't do it with a bright and cheerful smile.

---

Any other fans?

I'm not sure if I like Jeeves or Archie more.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
The Psmith books are fun, too. He is still immensely popular over here.
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I love all his books but my favourite is "Sam the Sudden". I love the running jokes about house rentals and "Is there a Hell?".
 

---

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :
 
Blandings is one of my all-time favourite series but then I used to own a pig called "The Empress of Blandings" myself.

Psmith is also much enjoyed but I have never really got to grips with pronouncing the silent P.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
My favorite line is

quote:

---

He wasn't exactly disgruntled, but he wasn't very gruntled either.

---

Moo
 

---

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 


I have every book and short story he ever wrote -- I think it's about time for me to have another read of some of them.

(Introducing me to PGW is the one thing for which I will always be grateful to a former boyfriend.)
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
I think my favourites are his short stories - the Mulliner stories and the golfing ones particularly.

Though if I am on a diet I do not find 'The Juice of an Orange' very funny...
 

---

Posted by Robert Armin (# 182) on :
 
For pure, life affirming, laughter I go back to Blandings time after time. However, I also love Jeeves, and think that The Code of the Woosters shows Bertie at his finest. And the school stories are among the finest of the genre. There is so much Wodehouse to be thankful for!
 

---

Posted by Lucrezia Spagliatoni Dayglo (# 16907) on :
 
I've always been curious about his comparison of Jeeves clearing his throat to a sheep removing a blade of grass from it's throat. Had he never heard a sheep cough or was he just being extra witty? (ironic?)
 

---

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bob Two-Owls:
Psmith is also much enjoyed but I have never really got to grips with pronouncing the silent P.

---

"As in psalm, ptarmigan, and pshrimp." Or something like that - a line from Leave it to Psmith. Which is a practically perfect book, bringing together, as it does, Psmith and Blandings. There's a brief scene in which Baxter, Lord Emsworth's secretary, is locked out of the house at night. He tries gently throwing pebbles at windows to try and attract someone's attention. But the moment he gets so exasperated that he decides to "say it with flower-pots" always makes me go like this -
 

---

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 
Throughout my bachelorhood, I always used the Madeline Bassett test for potential dates.

quote:

---

She was the sort of girl who puts her hands over a husband's eyes, as he is crawling in to breafast with a morning head, and says, "Guess who?"

---

quote:

---

The P is silent, as in bath.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Adeodatus:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bob Two-Owls:
Psmith is also much enjoyed but I have never really got to grips with pronouncing the silent P.

---

"As in psalm, ptarmigan, and pshrimp." Or something like that - a line from Leave it to Psmith. Which is a practically perfect book, bringing together, as it does, Psmith and Blandings. There's a brief scene in which Baxter, Lord Emsworth's secretary, is locked out of the house at night. He tries gently throwing pebbles at windows to try and attract someone's attention. But the moment he gets so exasperated that he decides to "say it with flower-pots" always makes me go like this -

---

Especially brilliant, since Psmith needles "poor" Baxter for doing the exact same thing Psmith did a few pages back. It's nice seeing a Woedhouse protagonist actually able to think for once, much less do a decent deadpan; no need for Jeeves, someone actually can do their own dirty work for once!
 

---

Posted by HCH (# 14313) on :
 
I have a theory that Bobbie Wickham is descended from George Wickham and Lydia Bennet Wickham.
 

---

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :
 
I was fortunate enough to get an omnibus version of the Jeeves stories for a pittance when our local library had a book sale. It now lives on the bookcase (yes, bookcase] in the bathroom.
 

---

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by St. Gwladys:
I was fortunate enough to get an omnibus version of the Jeeves stories for a pittance when our local library had a book sale. It now lives on the bookcase (yes, bookcase] in the bathroom.

---

A bookcase in the bathroom! Oh, how I wish WE could have a bookcase in the bathroom! However, our bathroom is tiny and I'm propping books on an old Epson salts container next to the bathtub as it is. If it was up to me, there would be bookcases in every room in our apartment!
 

---

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
Well, the complete PGW collection I mentioned above does have its very own bookcase in my living room.

 

---

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
Likewise, we have an entire 6' x 1' bokkshelving of the complete works and some duplicates, but they're kuruman's (who an aficianodo) not mine. One day.
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
My first Wodehouse was Psmith in the City. I was about 12, and lots of it mystifyed me. But I roared with laughter. As I read in bed, my sister put in an official complaint to the Aged Parents, because my laughter kept her awake.

We did not share a room, which gives a clue as to the amount of noise I made.

Fortunately, my fathers official ruling was that reading took precedence over sleep.

I soon discovered Blandings, and Bertie Wooster, and have never looked back. I must see what Wodehouse Kindle has.

PS I was never keen on Ukridge.
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zappa:
Likewise, we have an entire 6' x 1' bookshelving of the complete works and some duplicates, but they're kuruman's (who an aficianodo) not mine. One day.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by moron:

quote:

---

I gave it up. The man annoyed me. I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie, but I was dashed if I could see why he couldn't do it with a bright and cheerful smile.

---

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Wait, there's someone who does Jeeves and Wooster other than Fry and Laurie?

Or, put it another way: is there a pair worth watching other than them?

---

Absolutely!
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Wait, there's someone who does Jeeves and Wooster other than Fry and Laurie?

Or, put it another way: is there a pair worth watching other than them?

---

Ian Carmichael and Dennis Price were the Wooster and Jeeves of my day. Not much has survived - but here is some , so you may judge for yourself.
 

---

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Michael Horden and Richard Briers as Jeeves and Wooster on radio were worth listening to. The BBC has serialised a lot of the books over the years. Some have been rebroadcast on Radio 4 Extra, but there's nothing on currently from a quick check. (I still prefer the pictures from books and radio to those on TV or film)

I go through a phases of reading the books, and did try introducing them my daughter, but all Wodehouse books are on the banned list for me to read aloud because I can't do it without giggling. I was amused that my daughter found and worked her way as many as she could find recently.
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
Give me the radio adaptations any day. Fry and Laurie were perfectly cast, but their TV scripts really grated in places - I gave up watching after the episode where Aunt Agatha ASKS JEEVES FOR ADVICE instead of telling Bertie that he relies too much on Jeeves and looking down her nose at him. This is the aunt who chews broken bottles and bays at the moon; it's completely out of character for her to ask a servant's advice. Though she is happy to order Bertie to sort out her problems in the knowledge that he will immediately ask for Jeeves' help.

Golfers are only allowed to wear plus fours if we can set fire to any we don't like

[ 10. October 2012, 09:12: Message edited by: Jane R ]
 

---

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 
I think of the Jeeveses and Woosters I've come across, Briers and Hordern are easily the best. I didn't like Carmichael's Wooster, but I did like Price's Jeeves. I didn't like Fry's Jeeves, but I did like Laurie's Wooster. I think one of the problems of dramatising the Jeeves stories is that a lot of the humour in the books isn't in the dialogue or the action, it's in Bertie's prose style.
 

---

Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :
 
Fry and Laurie as Jeeves and Wooster were my introduction to PG Wodehouse. My parents used to complain that Stephen Fry was too young to play Jeeves, which I couldn't see at the time - he was a grown up!! - but when I saw it again lately I couldn't believe how young they were. [grin]

J&W are still my favourite, but I have enjoyed Blandings too. I need to read Psmith as I never have...
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
Hugh Laurie was almost born to play Bertie Wooster. In fact, he's more or less the same character as George in Blackadder. No idea how he managed to go from being typecast like that to House.

If you could combine Hugh Laurie then with Stephen Fry now in their respective roles, it's hard to see how they could be beaten.
 

---

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 
Some of Wodehouse's best gems are his poems. I just found Good Gnus (from The Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court). I remember reading it when I was about 19 and being breathless with laughter. Thirty-odd years later, its natural force is unabated (Deuteronomy 34.7)*.


* Random scriptures quotes being a trick I picked up from, I think, the Bishop of Stortford in the Mulliner stories.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
Hugh Laurie was almost born to play Bertie Wooster. In fact, he's more or less the same character as George in Blackadder. No idea how he managed to go from being typecast like that to House.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Wait, there's someone who does Jeeves and Wooster other than Fry and Laurie?

Or, put it another way: is there a pair worth watching other than them?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jane R:
<tangent> I once met Ionicus, the artist who did the cover illustrations for my Penguin editions of Wodehouse, at a ghost story convention. He was slightly bemused to meet someone who wanted to enthuse about his depictions of Wodehouse characters instead of his ghost story illustrations...

(example of Ionicus cover illustration)

---

Wow. I'm one of that generation that think if it ain't got a cover illustration by Ionicus, it ain't Wodehouse. The man was a genius. Not only did he catch the style of the book perfectly, but he usually managed to illustrate a snapshot from the narrative so perfectly that when you read it, you thought, "This is the sentence that made it onto the cover!"
 

---

Posted by kuruman (# 8892) on :
 
I come from a line of Wodehousians. My father's father collected them and passed them to my father who passed them to me. I entered via Blandings at about 14, and am now wondering at what age I can risk recommending them to my sons. Any ideas? For much of my life I've had one on my bedside table to wind down with at the end of the day - perfect. I reckon Evelyn Waugh had it right in his comment about Wodehouse having created a world for us to live in and delight in.
 

---

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
( WB ... ) .... Thank you wodehousians for bringing kuruman out of the woodwork for the first time in about five years. She even found her log-in and password just for Wodehouse.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Great to see you, kuruman!!
 

---

Posted by kuruman (# 8892) on :
 
I've even come back for a second look! Thanks for the welcomes!

And btw, I'd put in a vote for "Leave it to Psmith" as the best of a brilliant lot. As said above, Psmith and Blandings combined takes some beating.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
My father, of blessed memory, used to say:

quote:

---

The P is silent, as in bath.

---

---

quote:

---

The P is silent, as in swimming.

---

 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
Adeodatus:

quote:

---

Wow. I'm one of that generation that think if it ain't got a cover illustration by Ionicus, it ain't Wodehouse. The man was a genius. Not only did he catch the style of the book perfectly, but he usually managed to illustrate a snapshot from the narrative so perfectly that when you read it, you thought, "This is the sentence that made it onto the cover!"

---

quote:

---

He ( Lord Emsworth ) seems to inhabit a heaven on earth

---

Like Evelyn Waugh said, "the gardens of Blandings Castle are the original garden from which we are all exiled."

I don't agree with the Great Gumby that there should be a large age difference between Bertie and Jeeves; no more than 10 years in my opinion, as Jeeves has various uncles and aunts who were still of working age, and was himself romantically interested in Mabel, one of the girls Bingo Little was in love with.
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
<age difference between Jeeves and Wooster>

Yes, I always think of Bertie in his early to mid twenties and Jeeves as being ten to fifteen years older. But Fry and Laurie are about the same age, and when they did the TV series they both looked about 25.

Nowadays, Fry could probably play Beach; or Sir Roderick Glossop (if you can get away with a tall Sir Roderick). And I could see Hugh Laurie as Ukridge... in another ten years or so he could probably play Uncle Fred.

Jeeves' aunts and uncles are not a good guide to his own age; families were bigger then and many people started having children in their late teens or early twenties. If Jeeves' mother was the oldest of ten children he might even have uncles or aunts younger than himself. My mother was the oldest of six children, and my youngest aunt is only about 12 years older than me. And I'm not that old... old enough (just) to be reviled as a Baby Boomer, but young enough to be hit by the double whammy of increasing life expectancy and nonexistent pension.
 

---

Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
Oh Beach is definitely one of my favourites! and possibly my favourite Wodehouse line ever is where Beach rises from a deckchair (from memory now) 'clutching the manuscript to the small of his back, if a back such as his could be said to have a small'

And the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine

But try searching the Amazon Kindle section for <PG Wodehouse free> and you get the most amazing selection of irrelevant cr*p

Mrs. S, scouring the bookshelves for Heavy Weather - read so much the spine has collapsed!
 

---

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :
 
Wodehouse died in the 1970s, Intrepid Mrs S., so he's still in copyright. You won't get any of his works for free. Not through Amazon, anyway.

Now I come to think of it, my Other Half proposed to me with a copy of 'The Man Upstairs' - we were in a second-hand bookshop and he was too embarrassed to propose within earshot of a group of American tourists, so he took a Wodehouse off the shelf and leafed through it to find a proposal scene, pointed to it and asked me if I agreed.

Of course, after that we had to buy the book (any excuse)!
 

---

Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 

quote:

---

Wodehouse died in the 1970s, Intrepid Mrs S., so he's still in copyright. You won't get any of his works for free. Not through Amazon, anyway.

---

Oh poo.

Does it annoy anyone else when you already own a copyright work (sometimes in more than one format!) and you STILL have to buy the e-book?

Mrs. S, annoyed!
 

---

© Ship of Fools 2016


UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0