The Inimitable Jeeves, By P. G. Wodehouse

Filed under books I probably should have read before now, so excuses all around, but glad to have arrived to the party at last.

You probably know that Jeeves is a valet, and his employer is a young man named Bertie Wooster. Or perhaps you thought Jeeves was a butler? No. Jeeves is a valet, meaning a manservant to Bertie, not a butler who would be responsible to the household. Bertie lives in a flat in London. He is a rich young man, single, and idle, and liking it that way. He is also, according to Jeeves, “By no means intelligent. Mentally he is negligible–quite negligible.” (p. 43 – in the opening pages of “The Pride of the Woosters is Wounded”.)

These are the first Jeeves and Wooster stories I’ve read but the pattern is clear: Bertie, or one of his friends, gets into some sort of trouble, often having to do with a woman or gambling, and Jeeves is entreated to invent a plan to rescue them. As they follow Jeeves’ advice, Bertie or his friends make the situation worse, but Jeeves, thinking two steps ahead has already taken their expected bungling into account and, on the closing page, Jeeves’ final genius is revealed with happy endings all around.

The stories in The Inimitable Jeeves were all published separately between 1918 and 1922 and then brought together and revised into this volume forming a quasi-novel, published in 1923. The eighteen chapters were originally eleven stories, several of them split into two parts for this version. I wanted to start at the beginning but these aren’t the absolutely earliest appearance of Jeeves and Wooster. There’s an uncollected story called, “Extricating Young Gussie” published in 1915 in the Saturday Evening Post. Then there were four stories published in a collection called My Man Jeeves, in 1919, which included four other, non-Jeeves and Wooster stories. But after The Inimitable Jeeves came out, those four earlier Jeeves stories were republished in, Carry On, Jeeves, in 1925 along with six new stories, so I’ll get to those next. A further set of eleven stories came out in 1930, titled, Very Good, Jeeves. After that, Wodehouse returned to the Jeeves and Wooster characters often, over several novels, a play, and a couple of more short stories, all the way up to his final novel, Aunts Aren’t Gentleman, published in 1974, the year before his death. So there’s a lot to read, if one cares to, not to mention all of Wodehouse’s other writings. My library has three shelves of books devoted to Wodehouse.

I’ll certainly read more. My plan is to read the two other Jeeves and Wooster story collections and then start on the novels. The stories are very funny. I haven’t laughed out loud so much while reading probably since I was reading Raymond Chandler a few years ago. As with Chandler it isn’t just the jokes, it’s also the mere delight in the language itself. The stories are narrated by Bertie Wooster who employs a charming Edwardian, Oxfordian, Jazz-age, slang. I confess to not understanding every word he uses but the context is sufficient to get nearly all of it. I’ve never heard the word, “cove” for instance used to describe a person. It reminded me of the slang Alex and his buddies use with each other invented by Anthony Burgess for A Clockwork Orange.

The humor, though, reminded me of Fawlty Towers. I suspect had Wodehouse been born a generation or two later he would have written for television. The short stories are like episodes of an engaging sit-com: the same characters appearing every episode, slight problems, farcical complications, everything put right at the end. Jeeves is the level-headed presence, gently humoring, affectionately corralling the silly personalities that surround him. As when discovering an old sit-com gem, there’s also a temptation to binge-read through these stories, so I plan to pace myself.

Here’s what happens in the eighteen chapters of The Inimitable Jeeves.

“Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum” – Bertie runs into his old school friend Bingo Little in the park. Bingo is in love with a waitress, Mabel, but worries that his uncle will object and cut off his allowance if he marries her when he actually needs a larger allowance to support her. Jeeves advises that Bingo should read to his uncle a series of romance novels by an author named Rosie M. Banks which defend love between the classes.

“No Wedding Bells for Bingo” – Bingo has told his uncle that Bertie is Rosie M. Banks writing under a pen-name. Bertie goes to lunch with Bingo’s uncle to advocate for Bingo and discovers that the Uncle, inspired by Rosie M. Banks’ novels, has proposed marriage to his cook and hasn’t the money now to raise Bingo’s allowance. Jeeves masterminded the whole thing, both to get out of his own engagement to the uncle’s cook, and to get Mabel the waitress away from Bingo because Jeeves is also pursuing her.

“Aunt Agatha Speaks Her Mind” – Bertie’s bullying Aunt Agatha insists he join her at a resort in Roville, France. She wants to set him up with an English girl named Aline who is there with her brother, Sidney, a curate. The two won’t leave Bertie alone and he feels done for. (Bingo is always trying to get a girl; Bertie is always trying to get away from one.)

“Pearls Mean Tears” – Sidney and Aline burst into Bertie’s hotel room with a sob story. Sidney lost a ton at the Casino. Then he ran into a member of his congregation, got a loan and lost that, too. The two ask Bertie for money, which he gives them, and they give him a set of pearls as collateral and get a receipt for them from Bertie. It all sounds fishy and of course it is. As soon as they leave, Bertie discovers the pearl case is empty. But Jeeves has been on it all along, having recognized the two as con-artists who swindled his former employer. Jeeves maneuvered it to lift the pearls from Sidney’s overcoat as he was leaving. Furthermore, the pearls actually belong to Bertie’s Aunt Agatha who has been frantic. Bertie is able to return them to her and play the hero.

“The Pride of the Woosters is Wounded” – Bingo is in love again. This time with a woman named Honoria Glossop who is the older sister of a boy, Oswald, that Bingo is tutoring. It turns out Aunt Agatha also has her eye on Honoria Glossop as a match for Bertie and has arranged for Bertie to visit at the family house. Bertie, on his own, comes up with a plan to push Oswald into the lake at a time when Honoria is there to see Bingo rescue Oswald, and to catch Bertie in the act of being a louse.

“The Hero’s Reward” – Bertie pushes, Oswald lands in the lake, but Bingo isn’t around. Bertie jumps in but Oswald doesn’t need saving and Honoria just laughs at the whole episode, assuming that Bertie had arranged the stunt to impress her as an awkward attempt at courtship. Bingo, meanwhile, is over Honoria and already in love with the next girl, Braythwayt, a neighbor-friend of Honoria’s.

“Introducing Claude and Eustace” – two cousins of Bertie’s down to London from Oxford. Bertie still has to get out of his engagement to Honoria. Then, good news, there’s a chance Honoria’s father, a psychologist, might think Bertie is crazy due to some Wooster family history and the scene at the lake. Meanwhile Claude and Eustace are running madcap around town.

“Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch” When Sir Roderick Glossop appears at Bertie’s flat to assess his mental health over lunch, the meeting is sabotaged by three cats, a salmon-head, and Sir. Glossop’s stolen top hat, all due to Claude and Eustace’s attempts to win their way into an Oxford Club but arranged by Jeeves to make it look to Sir Glossop like Bertie is mentally unsuitable for his daughter.

“A Letter of Introduction” To avoid Aunt Agatha, Bertie flees to America. He makes friends with a playwright name George Caffyn. A man named Cyril Bassington-Bassington arrives from England with instructions from Aunt Agatha that Bertie should look after him and above all keep him out of the theater. Bertie first finds him in prison. He has a temper and slugged a policeman. The three have lunch together and, of course, George give Cyril a part in his new play, Ask Dad.

“Startling Dressiness of a Lift Attendant” Jeeves makes friends with a valet who has charge of a disagreeable young man. The young man turns out to be the son of the producer of Ask Dad. At the dress rehearsal the young man objects to Cyril and gets him fired. Jeeves arranged the whole thing, of course.

“Comrade Bingo” Back in England, Bingo is in love again. This time with a socialist name Charlotte Corday Rowbotham whom Bertie cannot stand. Bingo’s uncle, meanwhile has been granted a peerage; he’s now Lord Bittlesham the owner of a horse named Ocean Breeze set to run at Goodwood. Bertie and Bingo bet on the horse. Charlotte’s dad is also a communist, plus there’s a Comrade Butt, a rival with Bingo for Charlotte’s affection. Bingo has taken to going around disguised with a beard so that he can pretend to be a communist without betraying his aristocratic position.

“Bingo has a Bad Goodwood” Ocean Breeze fails to win. “Failed to win! Why he was so far behind that he nearly came in first in the next race.” (p. 115). Bingo, disguised, gives a rousing socialist speech at the racetrack. Comrade Butts, tipped off by Jeeves, pulls off Bingo’s false beard exposing him, spoiling the pairing with Charlotte to Bertie’s relief, and losing the allowance from his uncle.

“The Great Sermon Handicap” Bertie has an invitation to Twing Hall, where, coincidentally, Bingo has taken another tutoring job, and Claude and Eustace are also staying. Claude and Eustace have put together a scheme to bet on which of the local parsons will preach the longest sermon on a coming Sunday. As a minister, I found this hysterical. Bingo’s in love again, now with a woman named Cynthia. They think they’ve got the preaching contest locked when Bertie asks an old minister friend of his, Heppenstall to preach an old favorite sermon at least 40 minutes in length. Then Heppenstall gets hay fever and won’t preach. Then another reversal, Heppenstall’s nephew will fill in for his uncle and read the sermon, and use it to impress the powers that be and secure a good position for himself which will allow him to marry Cynthia.

“The Purity of the Turf” The sermon scheme failing to come off they switch to betting on the various games offered at the village fair: the sack race and spoon and egg race and so on. As in the earlier story there’s a local man named Steggles who works to foil their plans to game the contests. Once again, Jeeves makes it all come out right in the end.

“The Metropolitan Touch” Another Bertie-in-love story. This time her name is Mary Burgess. She’s the niece of the Reverend Heppenstall from the previous story. Bingo has to vie for her affection against a local curate. Jeeves recommends that Bingo try doing good works, visiting the sick and what not. Then Bingo finagles the position of directing the village Christmas entertainment and he decides to incorporate some of the numbers from the plays currently playing the theaters in London. The show comes off a disaster. Again, Steggles is involved, turning the Bingo/curate rivalry into a betting opportunity and laying odds on the curate and then working to sabotage Bingo.

“The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace” Claude and Eustace are expelled from Oxford. Aunt Agatha arranges for them to be sent to South Africa, and for Bertie to put them up one evening in London before their ship leaves the next morning. On their night out in London both cousins both fall in love with the same girl, Marion Wardour, and skip their sailing. Everyone’s upset and can’t wait to get rid of them, including Marion. Jeeves works it out to tell the boys, individually, that Marion will meet them in South Africa.

“Bingo and the Little Woman” Bingo’s in love, again, this time with a waitress at the club. He enlists Bertie again in the old Rosie M. Banks story in order to get his uncle to approve and restore his allowance. Bertie shows up at Lord Bittlesham’s house and it works, to a point. Lord Bittlesham restores Bingo’s allowance but won’t give his blessing to the couple. Then it comes out that Bingo has gone ahead and married the girl.

“All’s Well” With Bingo married but still needing his uncle’s support, the three: Bingo, his new wife, and Bertie, go ’round to Lord Bittlesham’s once more. Bertie spies a copy of the latest Rosie M. Banks novel open on a table. He’s able to quote from it to get Lord Bittlesham to consent to the pairing. Then, when all seems set it turns out that Bingo’s wife saw the open copy of the Rosie M. Banks novel on the table and revealed that she actually is Rosie M. Banks. Jeeves makes it right once again, this time by spreading the word that Bertie thinking he was Rosie M. Banks was a psychosis. Factoring in the previous episode with Roderick Glossop, Lord Bittlesham is convinced Bertie is actually crazy and forgives him. Bertie is upset with Jeeves for spreading the slander against him, but, dash-it-all, Jeeves does such good work that Bertie forgives him.