"Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" is a short story by English humorist P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The story was published in Playboy magazine in the United States in December 1965, and in Argosy magazine in the United Kingdom in January 1967. The story was also included in the 1966 collection Plum Pie.[1]
In the story, Bertie tries to help his new friend Sir Roderick Glossop, and gets into trouble involving the theatrical agent Jas Waterbury and Waterbury's niece Trixie.
Plot
Bertie returns from seeing Sir Roderick Glossop, who once disliked Bertie but is now friendly. Roderick's fiancée Myrtle refuses to marry while Roderick's daughter, Honoria, is unmarried. Dahlia Travers, Bertie's aunt, tells Bertie that Blair Eggleston, who writes for her weekly paper, loves Honoria but is too shy to say it. Aunt Dahlia asks Bertie to play Santa Claus at her Christmas party, but Bertie refuses. Jeeves supports Bertie's decision, which impresses Bertie because he turned down Jeeves's request for them to visit Florida after Christmas, because Bertie does not want to miss the Drones Club Darts Tournament.
Wanting to help Sir Roderick, Bertie kisses Honoria in front of Eggleston, to spur Eggleston to confess his feelings. Bertie tells this to Aunt Dahlia, who then gets a call from Honoria. She was engaged to Eggleston, but he broke the engagement when Bertie kissed her. She will now marry Bertie. Bertie does not want to marry her, but also does not want to hurt her feelings by refusing. Jeeves advises pretending to be engaged to someone else.
Bertie decides to hire an actress through a theatrical agent to pretend to be his fiancée. He chooses the greasy-headed agent Jas Waterbury, who recommends his niece Trixie. At the Drones Club, Bertie is troubled to hear from Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright that Jas cheated two of Bertie's fellow Drones, Oofy Prosser and Freddie Widgeon. While sharing an embrace with Trixie, Bertie is discovered, but by Eggleston, not Honoria. Bertie tells him that he and Trixie are engaged, but it hardly matters, since Eggleston and Honoria reconciled already. Jas tells Bertie to marry Trixie, since Bertie has named her as his fiancée. Bertie refuses, but Jas hints at threatening a breach of promise case. Jas expects Bertie to pay him tomorrow. Aunt Dahlia discusses with Jeeves how to help Bertie.
"I represent Messrs. Alsopp and Wilson, wine merchants, goods supplied to the value of three hundred and four pounds, fifteen shillings and eightpence, a bill which Mr. Wooster finds it far beyond his fiscal means to settle. I am what is technically known as the man in possession." A hoarse "Gorblimey" burst from Jas's lips. I thought it rather creditable of him that he did not say anything stronger.
Before Jas enters Bertie's flat, Jeeves tells Bertie to hide behind the piano. Then Jeeves lies to Jas, claiming to be in Bertie's flat as the man in possession, or broker's man, for a wine company. (This means that Bertie's creditors have a legal right to Bertie's property until his debt is paid; Jeeves is employed to take possession of the property and watch over it until Bertie pays off his debt.) This stuns Jas, who thought Bertie was wealthy. Jeeves adds that Bertie is dependent on his aunt, Mrs. Travers, and that he pretends to be Bertie's valet so that Bertie will not get in trouble with his aunt.
Aunt Dahlia enters, acting shocked to find out that Jeeves is a broker's man, and declares that she will send Bertie off to Canada, with nothing left to pay Jas. Convinced that he can get no money from Bertie, Jas leaves. Bertie thanks Jeeves and Aunt Dahlia, and reluctantly agrees to play Santa Claus for his aunt, but Jeeves suggests that Sir Roderick would make a better Santa Claus. Aunt Dahlia agrees. Grateful to Jeeves, Bertie gives up the Darts Tournament for a trip to Florida.
Style
One of the stylistic devises used by Wodehouse is the transferred epithet, applying an adjective to a noun instead of using the corresponding adverb to modify the verb. An example of this can be seen in this story: "'I take it, Jeeves', I said as I started to pick at a moody fried egg, 'that Aunt Dahlia has told you all."[3]
In contrast to the manner in which an employer would normally be expected to address his valet, Bertie often speaks in a deferential tone to Jeeves when asking for help. This can be seen in "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird":
"Oh, Jeeves," I said, "I hope I'm not interrupting you when you were curled up with Spinoza's Ethics or whatever it is, but I wonder if you could spare me a moment of your valuable time." "Certainly, sir."[4]
The story presents a rare instance of Jeeves telling an actual joke, which he does while pretending to be a broker's man. Claiming that Bertie is financially dependent on Aunt Dahlia and that she would send Bertie to Canada if she discovered his debts, Jeeves says, "Should she learn of my official status, I do not like to envisage the outcome, though if I may venture on a pleasantry, it would be a case of outgo rather than outcome for Mr. Wooster".[5] The humour of the pun derives not from the joke itself but through Jeeves's restraint in telling the joke.[6]
Throughout the stories, Bertie picks up vocabulary and speech patterns from Jeeves, reflecting the control that Jeeves exerts over Bertie, whereas Jeeves rarely borrows from Bertie's speech. For example, Bertie says the following in "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird", employing language often used by Jeeves: "I am not a disobliging man, Jeeves. If somebody wanted me to play Hamlet, I would do my best to give satisfaction."[7]
Background
Before writing the final version of a story, Wodehouse wrote what he termed a "scenario", a manuscript of preliminary notes for the story. There are two surviving scenarios for "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird". In the earlier scenario, dated 28 November 1965, the story starts with Bertie about to leave for the Drones Club, instead of returning from visiting Sir Roderick Glossop as in the final story. Jeeves still wants to catch a tarpon in the scenario, but Aunt Dahlia asks Bertie to hire a conjuror (magician) for her Christmas party. It is for this reason that Bertie visits Jas Waterbury's theatrical agency, and there is no mention of Jas threatening Bertie with a breach of promise case. Bertie then visits Sir Roderick Glossop, who tells Bertie he cannot marry Lady Chuffnell until Honoria is engaged. Blair Eggleston, who is Glossop's patient, loves Honoria, but she dislikes him. The scenario simply ends with the note, "This ends Act One".[8]
The second scenario, dated just six days later, 4 December 1965, starts with Bertie and Jeeves in New York. Aunt Dahlia asks Bertie by telephone to come play Santa Claus, and wants Bertie to visit Wilfred Cream, the playboy character mentioned in Jeeves in the Offing, who is Sir Roderick Glossop's patient at his clinic in Chuffnell Regis. Bertie then learns that Wilfred has fallen for Honoria and reformed, and endeavours to get her engaged to Wilfred so Sir Roderick can marry Lady Chuffnell. This scenario ends with the note, "The story now proceeds as in the original version". In one draft of the story, Roderick Spode featured prominently in the plot, and was the one who ended up playing Santa Claus.[9]
The final version of the collection Plum Pie sent to its publisher, Herbert Jenkins, shows minor changes made by Wodehouse. The following quote, spoken by Jeeves, shows an example of one of these final changes made by Wodehouse: "If your allusion is to the American poet John Howard Payne, sir, he compared it to its advantage with pleasures and palaces. He [called it sweet and] said there was no place like it" (phrase in brackets added). Another example: "'Should she learn of my official status, I do not like to envisage the outcome. If I may venture on a pleasantry...'" (becomes "...the outcome, though if I may venture..."). Both of these changes make Jeeves's language more elaborate. There is also an example of a change made to Bertie's speech: "'Heaven help the tarpon that tries to pits its feeble cunning against you, Jeeves.' I said. 'It will be a one-sided contest'" (becomes "Its efforts will be bootless").[10]
Publication history
The story was illustrated by Bill Charmatz in Playboy.[11] It was illustrated by Belinda Lyon in Argosy.[12]
Since the story was not written until long after 1931, it was not included in the first edition of the Jeeves Omnibus, a 1931 collection of all the Jeeves short stories from the three earlier collections The Inimitable Jeeves, Carry On, Jeeves and Very Good, Jeeves. "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" was later included, along with "Jeeves Makes an Omelette", in the second edition of the omnibus, which was titled The World of Jeeves and published in 1967.[13]
Adaptations
An episode of The World of Wooster adapted the story. The episode, titled "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird", was the first episode of the third series. It was originally broadcast in the UK on 6 October 1967.[14]
The story was adapted into part of the Jeeves and Wooster episode "Honoria Glossop Turns Up", the third episode of the fourth series, which first aired in the UK on 30 May 1993.[15] There are minor differences in plot, including:
The episode takes place in New York rather than London. There is no mention of Christmas or a darts tournament in the episode.
In the episode, Glossop's previous wife left him for a conductor, whereas in the original story, Glossop was a widower.
Myrtle is called Mrs. Snap in the episode; she was Lady Chuffnell, aunt of Bertie's friend Chuffy, in the original story.
In the episode, Aunt Dahlia does not appear; it is Bingo Little who tells Bertie about Eggleston's feelings. Furthermore, in the episode, Eggleston is a doctor rather than a writer, and he punches Bertie when he finds him with Trixie. Trixie is not actually Jas's niece but his girlfriend in the episode.
The scene where Jeeves pretends to be a broker's man and Aunt Dahlia pretends to be an overbearing aunt is excluded entirely; instead, Bertie and Jeeves escape trouble by jumping off an ocean liner.
Related Research Articles
Dahlia Travers is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's bonhomous, red-faced Aunt Dahlia. She is much beloved by her nephew, in contrast with her sister, Bertie's Aunt Agatha.
Right Ho, Jeeves is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, the second full-length novel featuring the popular characters Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, after Thank You, Jeeves. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 15 October 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, under the title Brinkley Manor. It had also been sold to the Saturday Evening Post, in which it appeared in serial form from 23 December 1933 to 27 January 1934, and in England in the Grand Magazine from April to September 1934. Wodehouse had already started planning this sequel while working on Thank You, Jeeves.
Honoria Glossop is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories by English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. Athletic as well as scholarly, she is a formidable young lady and one of the women whom Bertie Wooster becomes reluctantly engaged to.
Jeeves in the Offing is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 4 April 1960 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title How Right You Are, Jeeves, and in the United Kingdom on 12 August 1960 by Herbert Jenkins, London.
Sir Roderick Glossop is a recurring fictional character in the comic novels and short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. Sometimes referred to as a "nerve specialist" or a "loony doctor", he is a prominent practitioner of psychiatry in Wodehouse's works, appearing in several Jeeves stories and in one Blandings Castle story.
The Code of the Woosters is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published on 7 October 1938, in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States by Doubleday, Doran, New York. It was serialised in The Saturday Evening Post (US) from 16 July to 3 September 1938 and in the London Daily Mail from 14 September to 6 October 1938.
Very Good, Jeeves is a collection of eleven short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, all featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. It was first published in the United States on 20 June 1930 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 4 July 1930 by Herbert Jenkins, London. The stories had all previously appeared in Strand Magazine in the UK and in Liberty or Cosmopolitan magazines in the US between 1926 and 1930.
Thank You, Jeeves is a Jeeves comic novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 16 March 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 23 April 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, New York.
"Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit" 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 the United Kingdom in December 1927, and in Liberty in the United States that same month. The story was also included as the third story in the 1930 collection Very Good, Jeeves.
"Jeeves' Arrival" is the first episode of the first series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "In Court after the Boat Race" or "Jeeves Takes Charge". It first aired in the UK on 22 April 1990 on ITV. The episode aired in the US on 11 November 1990 on Masterpiece Theatre.
" Honoria Glossop Turns Up" is the third episode of the fourth series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "Bridegroom Wanted". It first aired in the UK on 30 May 1993 on ITV.
"Scoring off Jeeves" 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 February 1922, and then in Cosmopolitan in New York in March 1922. The story was also included in the 1923 collection The Inimitable Jeeves as two separate chapters, "The Pride of the Woosters Is Wounded" and "The Hero's Reward".
"Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch" 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 March 1922, and then in Cosmopolitan in New York in April 1922. The story was also included in the 1923 collection The Inimitable Jeeves as two separate chapters, "Introducing Claude and Eustace" and "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch".
"Bingo and the Little Woman" 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 November 1922, and then in Cosmopolitan in New York in December 1922. The story was also included in the collection The Inimitable Jeeves as two separate stories, "Bingo and the Little Woman" and "All's Well".
"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.
"Without the Option" 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 June 1925, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in July 1925. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.
"The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" 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 the United Kingdom in April 1930, and in Cosmopolitan in the United States that same month, both as "Tuppy Changes His Mind". The story was also included as the eleventh story in the 1930 collection Very Good, Jeeves.
What Ho! Jeeves is a series of radio dramas based on some of the Jeeves short stories and novels written by P. G. Wodehouse, starring Michael Hordern as the titular Jeeves and Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster.
McIlvaine, Eileen; Sherby, Louise S.; Heineman, James H. (1990). P. G. Wodehouse: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist. New York: James H. Heineman Inc. ISBN978-0-87008-125-5.
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