Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg

"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg"
"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg"
Short story by P. G. Wodehouse
	1917 Saturday Evening Post illustration by Henry Raleigh
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Comedy
Publication
Publisher	Saturday Evening Post (US); The Strand Magazine (UK)
Media type	Print (Magazine)
Publication date	3 March 1917 (US); August 1917 (UK)
Chronology
Series	Jeeves
; Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest	; The Aunt and the Sluggard

Last updated November 26, 2024

"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg" 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 on 3 March 1917, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in August 1917. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves .^[1]

Plot

To the casual and irreflective observer it may sound a pretty good wheeze having a duke for an uncle, but the trouble about old Chiswick was that, though an extremely wealthy old buster, owning half London and about five counties up north, he was notoriously the most prudent spender in England. He was what Americans call a hard-boiled egg.

— Bertie thinks Chiswick is a hard-boiled egg (a hard man)^[2]

Bertie has grown a moustache, despite disapproval from Jeeves. Bertie's friend Francis "Bicky" Bickersteth comes to Bertie in search of advice. Bertie asks Jeeves to help. Doubtful, Bicky tells Bertie that the matter is private, but Bertie says that Jeeves probably already knows all about it anyway, and indeed he does: Bicky is in a dilemma since his uncle, the miserly Duke of Chiswick, who gives Bicky an allowance on the condition that Bicky improve himself financially, has decided to visit Bicky. Bicky, wishing to remain in New York, has been lying to his uncle about finding a business opportunity in the city.

Jeeves proposes that Bertie lend his flat to Bicky so that Bicky can pretend he owns a nice flat. Jeeves will pretend to be Bicky's valet. Bertie will remain as Bicky's guest, and Chiswick will have the second spare bedroom. After making a fuss over cab fare, Chiswick arrives, meeting Bertie and Jeeves. He is impressed by his nephew's flat. Bertie leaves to a club, meeting Bicky on the way out. Later, Bertie returns, and Jeeves tells him Bicky and his uncle have gone out. Some trouble has arisen: Chiswick, believing Bicky is now successful, is going to cancel his allowance.

Bicky comes up with a plan: starting a chicken-farm. Bertie wants to lend him the money to start one, but Bicky does not borrow money from friends. Jeeves suggests that Bicky could get the money from Americans who would pay to shake hands with His Grace. Jeeves manages to make a deal with a convention of 87 gentlemen from Birdsburg, Missouri; they will each shake Chiswick's hand and pay a total of one hundred and fifty dollars afterward. Bertie will secretly increase that sum to five hundred dollars. Bertie tells Bicky about the convention, and Bicky tells his uncle that some of his pals want to meet him. The gentlemen come, and things go smoothly until the Birdsburg men ask for a guarantee that Chiswick is really a duke, since they are paying money. Chiswick, who did not know about this payoff, rebukes them. The deal is off, and the Birdsburg men leave.

Bicky admits the truth about the Birdsburg men and his financial status. His uncle is furious, and threatens to cut off all money to Bicky. Jeeves, however, suggests that Bicky could sell the story of this encounter with the Birdsburg convention to a newspaper. Chiswick, who has a horror of publicity, is browbeaten into offering Bicky a secretarial job back in London. Bicky negotiates for a high salary of five hundred pounds a year. They leave. Impressed by Jeeves, Bertie tells him to fetch his shaving things and shave off his moustache. Jeeves, deeply moved, thanks him.

Publication history

"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg" was illustrated by Henry Raleigh in its 1916 publication in the Saturday Evening Post and by Alfred Leete in the Strand.^[3] The story was reprinted in the Saturday Evening Post in 1980 with illustrations by Phil Smith.^[4]

The story was included in the 1919 collection My Man Jeeves and in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.^[5] There are some minor differences between the versions in My Man Jeeves and Carry On, Jeeves. For example, the Duke of Chiswick says a certain taxi ride would have cost "eightpence" in London, and this amount is changed to "a shilling" in the Carry On, Jeeves version.^[6]^[7]

The American edition of the 1939 collection The Week-End Wodehouse also included the story.^[8]

Adaptations

An episode of The World of Wooster adapted the story. The episode, titled "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg", was the fifth episode of the third series. It was originally broadcast in the UK on 3 November 1967.^[9]

This story was adapted into the Jeeves and Wooster episode "The Full House", the second episode of the third series, which first aired in the UK on 5 April 1992.^[10] There are some differences in plot, including:

In the episode, Bicky works in New York as a writer, and the Duke of Chiswick is not Bicky's uncle, but his father: Edger Gascoyne Bickersteth.
In the episode, it is Jeeves, not Bicky, who comes up with the idea to excuse Bicky from learning ranching in Colorado by telling Chiswick that Bicky has instead found a business opportunity in New York.
In the original story, Bertie says the flat costs 200 dollars or 40 pounds a month; in the episode, Bertie says it costs 500 dollars or 100 pounds a month.
In the episode, the Birdsburg gentlemen come to believe Chiswick is a fraud—they had paid to shake hands with the first Duke, not the eighth—and call in the police. When Chiswick learns he has been fooled, he chases after Bicky. Then the police, firing guns, give chase after Bicky, Chiswick, Bertie, and Jeeves.
In the episode, Bertie does not plan to secretly give Bicky more money.
Rather than become Chiswick's secretary, in the episode Bicky gets funding from Chiswick to start a chicken farm.
Bertie does not have a moustache in this episode.

Related Research Articles

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Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligence manages to save Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward situations. Bertie Wooster and Jeeves have been described as "one of the great comic double-acts of all time".

<i>Right Ho, Jeeves</i> 1934 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

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.

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"Jeeves Takes Charge" 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 November 1916, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in April 1923. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

<i>Carry On, Jeeves</i> 1925 short story collection by P. G. Wodehouse

Carry On, Jeeves is a collection of ten short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 9 October 1925 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 7 October 1927 by George H. Doran, New York. Many of the stories had previously appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and some were rewritten versions of stories in the collection My Man Jeeves (1919). The book is considered part of the Jeeves canon.

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<i>Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit</i> 1954 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit is a comic novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 15 October 1954 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 23 February 1955 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, under the title Bertie Wooster Sees It Through. It is the seventh novel featuring Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves.

"Bertie Changes His Mind" 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 August 1922, and in Cosmopolitan in the United States in the same month. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

"The Full House" is the second episode of the third series of the 1990s British comedy television series Jeeves and Wooster. It is also called "Bertie Ensures Bicky Can Continue To Live In Manhattan". It first aired in the UK on 5 April 1992 on ITV.

"The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace" 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 October 1922, and then in Cosmopolitan in New York in November 1922. The story was also included in the 1923 collection The Inimitable Jeeves.

"The Purity of the Turf" 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 July 1922, and in Cosmopolitan in New York that same month. The story was also included in the 1923 collection The Inimitable Jeeves.

"The Artistic Career of Corky" 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 February 1916, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in June 1916, as "Leave it to Jeeves". The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest" 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 December 1916, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in March 1917. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

"The Aunt and the Sluggard" 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 April 1916, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in August 1916. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

"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.

"Fixing it for Freddie" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, and features the young gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. Originally starring Reggie Pepper, the story was published in The Strand Magazine as "Helping Freddie" in the United Kingdom in September 1911, and in Pictorial Review as "Lines and Business" in the United States in March 1912. The story was later changed to feature Bertie Wooster and Jeeves when it was included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

"Clustering Round Young 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 Saturday Evening Post in the United States in February 1925, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in April 1925. The story was also included in the 1925 collection Carry On, Jeeves.

References

Notes

↑ Cawthorne (2013), p. 49.
↑ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], chapter 4, p. 86.
↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 156, D59.32, and p. 183, D133.59.
↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 159, D59.152-D59.153.
↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 33, A22a, and pp. 47-49, A34.
↑ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 90.
↑ "My Man Jeeves". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 116-117, B6a.
↑ Taves, Brian (2006). P. G. Wodehouse and Hollywood: Screenwriting, Satires and Adaptations. McFarland & Company. p. 179. ISBN 978-0786422883.
↑ "Jeeves and Wooster Series 3, Episode 2". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

Sources

Cawthorne, Nigel (2013). A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster. London: Constable & Robinson. ISBN 978-1-78033-824-8.
McIlvaine, Eileen; Sherby, Louise S.; Heineman, James H. (1990). P. G. Wodehouse: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist. New York: James H. Heineman Inc. ISBN 978-0-87008-125-5.
Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1925]. Carry On, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0099513698.

External links

Russian Wodehouse Society: Information about Carry on, Jeeves and the stories which it contains

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[1] Cawthorne (2013), p. 49.

[2] Wodehouse (2008) [1925], chapter 4, p. 86.

[3] McIlvaine (1990), p. 156, D59.32, and p. 183, D133.59.

[4] McIlvaine (1990), p. 159, D59.152-D59.153.

[5] McIlvaine (1990), p. 33, A22a, and pp. 47-49, A34.

[6] Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 90.

[7] "My Man Jeeves". Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 4 May 2020.

[8] McIlvaine (1990), pp. 116-117, B6a.

[9] Taves, Brian (2006). P. G. Wodehouse and Hollywood: Screenwriting, Satires and Adaptations. McFarland & Company. p. 179. ISBN 978-0786422883.

[10] "Jeeves and Wooster Series 3, Episode 2". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

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v t e Carry On, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
"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"
The Inimitable Jeeves Carry On, Jeeves Very Good, Jeeves Thank You, Jeeves Right Ho, Jeeves The Code of the Woosters Joy in the Morning The Mating Season Ring for Jeeves Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit Jeeves in the Offing Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves Much Obliged, Jeeves Aunts Aren't Gentlemen