Comrade Bingo

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"Comrade Bingo"
Comrade Bingo.jpg
1922 Cosmopolitan illustration by T. D. Skidmore
Author P. G. Wodehouse
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Jeeves
Genre(s) Comedy
Publisher The Strand Magazine
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateMay 1922
Preceded by"Jeeves and the Chump Cyril"
Followed by"The Great Sermon Handicap"

"Comrade Bingo" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The story was published in The Strand Magazine in London in May 1922, and then in Cosmopolitan in New York that same month. The story was also included in the 1923 collection The Inimitable Jeeves as two separate chapters, "Comrade Bingo" and "Bingo Has a Bad Goodwood". [1]

P. G. Wodehouse English author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. Born in Guildford, the third son of a British magistrate based in Hong Kong, Wodehouse spent happy teenage years at Dulwich College, to which he remained devoted all his life. After leaving school, he was employed by a bank but disliked the work and turned to writing in his spare time. His early novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic fiction, creating several regular characters who became familiar to the public over the years. They include the jolly gentleman of leisure Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls.

Bertie Wooster fictional character by P. G. Wodehouse

Bertram "Bertie" Wilberforce Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. A young English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie frequently appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligence manages to save Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward situations. As the first-person narrator of ten novels and over 30 short stories, Bertie Wooster ranks as one of the most vivid comic creations in popular literature.

Jeeves fictional character in stories by P.G. Wodehouse

Reginald Jeeves, usually referred to as just Jeeves, is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie Wooster. First appearing in print in 1915, Jeeves continued to feature in Wodehouse's work until his last completed novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, a span of 60 years.

Contents

In the story, Bertie's friend Bingo Little falls in love with a revolutionary, Charlotte Rowbotham, and joins her communist group to win her affection.

Bingo Little fictional character in P.G. Wodehouse canon

Richard P. "Bingo" Little is a recurring fictional character in the comedic Jeeves and Drones Club stories of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club.

Plot

Comrade Bingo

Various groups make speeches in Hyde Park, including a communist group called "Heralds of the Red Dawn". One of them, a bearded man, denounces the Idle Rich to a crowd. Bingo Little's uncle, recently titled Lord Bittlesham, approaches Bertie. He owns Ocean Breeze, a horse on which Bertie has bet money for the Goodwood Cup. Presently, the bearded man loudly insults them.

The Goodwood Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Goodwood over a distance of 2 miles, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late July or early August.

Bertie later meets Bingo at a club. Bingo is in love with Charlotte Corday Rowbotham, a member of the Red Dawn. To impress Charlotte, Bingo joined the Red Dawn. He wore a beard to not be recognized, and was the man in Hyde Park. He wants to win enough money on Ocean Breeze to marry Charlotte, but has no capital to bet with. He invites himself to Bertie's flat the next day, and will bring Charlotte, as well as her father Rowbotham and Comrade Butt, both members of the Red Dawn.

Old Rowbotham had lowered his cup and was eyeing us sternly. He tapped Jeeves on the shoulder. "No servililty, my lad; no servility!"
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
"Don't call me 'sir'. Call me Comrade. Do you know what you are, my lad? You're an obsolete relic of an exploded feudal system."
"Very good, sir."

— Rowbotham disapproves of Jeeves [2]

The next day, they arrive at Bertie's home and dine. Rowbotham advises Bertie to join their group. He disapproves of Jeeves being a servant. Bingo and Charlotte flirt, and Comrade Butt, a rival for Charlotte's affections, is jealous. Bertie dislikes Charlotte.

Bingo Has a Bad Goodwood

Bertie meets Bingo and Lord Bittlesham in front of a club. Bittlesham is nervous. He has received a threatening letter from the bearded man. After Bittlesham leaves, Bingo shows Bertie that his uncle paid him fifty pounds to investigate the threat. Bingo will bet the money on Ocean Breeze.

Bingo and Charlotte spend time together. Jeeves meets with Comrade Butt one evening, and reports that Butt feels rejected.

At Goodwood, Bertie is disappointed when Ocean Breeze loses. Meanwhile, Lord Bittlesham is concerned because the bearded man, secretly Bingo, is there giving a speech. Bingo, who has lost his wager on Ocean Breeze, rants passionately against wealthy horse owners. Comrade Butt then speaks, but is less successful with the crowd than Bingo. After noticing Lord Bittlesham, Butt excites the crowd by exposing Bingo as Bittlesham's nephew, which gets Bingo in trouble with his uncle.

Two days later, Bertie learns that Bingo intends to go to the country for a while. Jeeves explains to Bertie that he informed Comrade Butt about Bingo being Lord Bittlesham's nephew. Pleased, Bertie tells Jeeves he may take the notes and coins on the dressing table, which amounts to fourteen pounds, one shilling, six pence, and a halfpenny.

Background

At the beginning of the story, Bingo implies to Bertie that Lord Bittlesham must have paid a significant amount of money for his new title. This is a reference to the "cash for honors" scandal during that period, when Prime Minister David Lloyd George's government was accused of openly selling peerages at an unprecedented scale. [3]

David Lloyd George Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician. He was the last Liberal to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Publication history

The story was illustrated by A. Wallis Mills in the Strand, and by T. D. Skidmore in Cosmopolitan. [4] A collection of animal-related Wodehouse stories, A Wodehouse Bestiary, published by Ticknor & Fields in 1985, featured the story. [5]

"Comrade Bingo" was included along with "The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy" in the 1976 anthology Classics of Humour, illustrated by Donald Room and published by Book Club Association. The anthology was later reissued in 1978 with the title Great Tales of Humour, published by Everyman's Library. [6]

"The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The story was published in the Saturday Evening Post in the United States in September 1924, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1924. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

Everymans Library Reprint series of Random House

Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent, who continue to publish Everyman Paperbacks.

Adaptations

Television

This story was adapted into part of the Jeeves and Wooster episode "Aunt Dahlia, Cornelia and Madeline", the sixth episode of the third series, which first aired in the UK on 3 May 1992. [7] There are some differences in plot, including:

Radio

This story, along with the rest of The Inimitable Jeeves, was adapted into a radio drama in 1973 as part of the series What Ho! Jeeves starring Michael Hordern as Jeeves and Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster. [8]

Related Research Articles

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ Cawthorne (2013), p. 59.
  2. ↑ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], chapter 11, p. 126.
  3. ↑ Cawthorne (2013), p. 59.
  4. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 147, D17.18, and p. 184, D133.87.
  5. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 130, B34a.
  6. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 196, E83.
  7. ↑ "Jeeves and Wooster Series 3, Episode 6". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "What Ho, Jeeves!: Part 5: Comrade Bingo". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
Sources
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