Carry On, Jeeves: (Jeeves & Wooster)

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Arcade game, patented in 1909 by J. D. Estes of Philadelphia, and very popular in the 20s and 30s. It involved getting a wooden ball through one of a series of hoops at the end of a lane like a skittle alley. Thisstory seems to beBertie’s only reference to his sister, who is named on p 245 as Mrs Scholfield.Wodehousehimself acquired a ready-made (step-)daughter, Leonora,on his marriage in 1914. Suppose you get in cheap-made dishes from the pastrycook’s, and hire a couple of greengrocers, or carpet beaters, to figure as footmen, dismissing honest Molly, who waits on ordinary days. [...] Suppose you pretend to be richer and grander than you ought to be – you are a Dinner-giving Snob. In the magazine appearances of this story, the discussion between Bingo and Bertie omits all mention of Uncle Willoughby’s Memoirs and the events at Easeby. Late Victorian British slang for the head, especially in the phrase off one’s onion for “mad, crazy,” which is the most frequent usage of the term by Wodehouse.

This sort of catalogue is a favourite comic device of Wodehouse’s: Compare the list of spectators of Ashe Marson’s exercises in Something Fresh, Chapter 1. The American edition of the Reggie Pepper story takes place in America (in New York and Pine Beach) rather than England (in London and Marvis Bay).

P.G. Wodehouse

Clive Exton adapted the stories into a television series staring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, as Jeeves and Wooster. It aired on ITV from 1990 to 1993.

Well, this is a collection of stories as opposed to the one, cohesive novella-sized story that my favorite Jeeves & Woosters have previously been served up. Sure, these one-off short stories deliver a punch, but to watch the long-haul battle of epic misunderstandings that the Wooster/Jeeves team endure is to see Wodehouse float like a butterfly and sting like a bee...while Bertie hilariously flounders about like a half-drowned fish. The gentleman burglar, created by Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law E. W. Hornung, first appeared in 1899. And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. As a diameter is – by definition – a line through the centre of a sphere or circle, this is tautologous. Bertie is saying the same thing twice, for comic emphasis. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?P.G. Wodehouse's Carry On Jeeves is the story about Bertram "Bertie" Wooster and his gentleman's gentleman of a servant, Jeeves. Jeeves has a head suited to fix the oddest of problems and seems almost magic at times with his ability to understand people. Although Bertie is unsure at first of Jeeves, Bertie soon realizes that Jeeves is a necessity that no gentleman should be without. The parasang is a Persian unit of measure, approximately equal to three miles (5km). One example in the OED for the figurative sense of parasang is taken from Jeeves in the Offing (1960). Bertie conclusion at the end of this first story will be repeated in every subsequent iteration of the plot: “A great respect for this bloke’s judgement began to soak through me.”

The book of the same title by J. M. Carroll published in the US in 1931 turns out to be a history of the Baptist Church. Bertie would have enjoyed that! Jeeves takes charge -- The artistic career of Corky -- Jeeves and the unbidden guest -- Jeeves and the hard-boiled egg -- The aunt and the sluggard -- The rummy affair of old Biffy -- Without the option -- Fixing it for Freddie -- Clustering round young Bingo -- Bertie changes his mind. A Google search for this exact phrase only returned quotations from the present story. It turns out that Harrogate has a variety of mineral-water wells, as described in a 1920–21 brochure (text transcription online); of the 87 known springs, sixteen are used for drinking; the rest for bathing. Under the heading Sulphur Waters—Saline—Mild are listed “The Magnesia Water” and “The Crescent Saline Water.” So Uncle George’s prescription was for a mix of two of these mineral waters. Much confusion has been caused by this reference. Mark Hodson’s original note is reproduced in smaller type below, but I [NM] find it unconvincing, for reasons noted below it. It seems simplest to assume that George Travers is the brother of Tom Travers, and thus became a courtesy uncle when Tom married Dahlia.Intoning is a way of chanting on a single note practiced particularly in the Church of England. In the Anglican liturgy, Responses are the parts of the service which take the form of a scripted dialogue, usually between priest and clerk or between priest and congregation.

A prison was established by New York City on this island in the East River in 1832, soon joined by a workhouse, lunatic asylum and hospital. The prison closed in 1930 and inmates were moved to Rikers Island. If Aunt Dahlia is Bertie’s father’s sister, her “late father” is also Bertie’s grandfather! Would he not refer to Anstruther as a friend of his own grandfather? Still, this is not conclusive.

Literary and Cultural References

Jeeves … a guide, don’t you know; philosopher, if I remember rightly, and—I rather fancy—friend. (magazine versions only) * An 8th century abbess of Rouen (feastday 6 October). There doesn’t appear to be a hotel of that name in New York at present.