The Castaways (short story)

Last updated

"The Castaways"
Author P. G. Wodehouse
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Comedy
Publisher Strand Magazine
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateJune 1933

"The Castaways" is a short story by British author P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the Strand Magazine in June 1933. [1] It was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere , published in 1935. [2]

Contents

The story is one of many narrated by pub raconteur Mr Mulliner, and concerns his nephew Bulstrode Mulliner, a writer in Hollywood. In the story, writing dialogue for sound films is compared to being castaways on a desert island. [3]

This is the last of 5 Hollywood stories recounted by Mr Mulliner, the storyteller of the fictional Angler's Rest pub. Like the others, it follows a story within a story format, in which an unidentified narrator briefly describes events in the pub—events that trigger a story of the tall-tale variety.

Plot

At the Angler's Rest, the barmaid mentions a book she is reading in which a couple of castaways are deposited on a desert island, then fall in love with each other even though each is engaged to a different person back home. Mr Mulliner steps in with a story about his nephew, Bulstrode Mulliner, and a woman named Genevieve Bootle; he claims that their situation was very similar to that story.

Mr Mulliner's nephew Bulstrode Mulliner is an Englishman who moves to Los Angeles planning to make money by striking oil. His fiancée, Mabelle Ridgway, stays in New York. A hat mixup on a train leads him to the office of Jacob Z. Schnellenhamer, the president of the Perfecto-Zizzbaum movie studio. (Both Schnellenhamer and the studio are featured in Mr Mulliner's other Hollywood stories.) Schnellenhamer proposes that Bulstrode sign a document which turns out to be a dialogue-writing contract, not a hat receipt. Schnellenhamer sends Bulstrode to a room in the "Leper Colony", a building in which writers write when working for Perfecto-Zizzbaum. The project Bulstrode has inadvertently joined is a movie adaptation of "Scented Sinners", a failed Broadway musical. 10 other writers are already working on dialogue for it.

One day another writer, Genevieve Bootle, shows up in Bulstrode's room. Although both immediately disclose that they are engaged to others (Genevieve to Ed Murgatroyd, a Chicago bootlegger), a chaste romance develops as a result of solitude and propinquity. The pressure of writing triggers a declaration of love by Bulstrode, and when he embraces Genevieve, Mabelle and Ed burst through the door, the latter carrying a sawed-off shotgun. The two had met on a train to Los Angeles. The two couples argue and break up. Mabelle and Ed meet Schnellenhamer, who tricks them, too, into signing writing contracts for "Scented Sinners". Assigned to the building called the "Ohio State Penitentiary", Ed and Mabelle soon become engaged. Bulstrode meets Ed and Mabelle in the commissary. Everyone confesses: they are all repelled by their current fiancés, and would prefer to return to their original partners. The three of them agree to confront Schnellenhamer and resign.

Schnellenhamer refuses to release them from their contracts. However, sensing unrest among the "Scented Sinners" writers, he calls a meeting to deliver a pep talk to them. This inspirational speech is interrupted by another executive, who informs Schnellenhamer that their company does not own the rights to "Scented Sinners"; a different company outbid them for the rights 11 years previously. All the contracts are thus null and void. The released writers all celebrate their freedom. Bulstrode and Mabelle are happy but have no financial resources to fall back on. Ed offers them a position in his Chicago bootlegging operation, and Bulstrode enthusiastically accepts.

Background

The story was influenced by Wodehouse's experience writing dialogue for films. In a letter to fellow author William "Bill" Townend (dated June 26, 1930, as published in Author! Author! and Performing Flea ), Wodehouse wrote: "When the Talkies came in and they had to have dialogue, the studios started handing out contracts right and left to everyone who had ever written a line of it. Only an author of exceptional ability and determination could avoid getting signed up. ... With the result that the migration to Hollywood has been like one of those great race movement of the Middle Ages. So though there is a touch of desert island about the place and one feels millions of miles from anywhere, one can always count on meeting half a dozen kindred spirits when one is asked out to dinner."

Publication history

The story was illustrated by Gilbert Wilkinson in the Strand. [4]

"The Castaways" was collected in the Mulliner Omnibus, published in 1935 by Herbert Jenkins Limited, and in The World of Mr. Mulliner, published in the UK in 1972 by Barrie & Jenkins and issued in the US in 1974 by the Taplinger Publishing Company. [5] It was collected in The Hollywood Omnibus, a collection of Wodehouse stories published in May 1985 by Hutchinson, London. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

Mr. Mulliner is a fictional character from the short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. Mr. Mulliner is a loquacious pub raconteur who, no matter what the topic of conversation, can find an appropriate story about a member of his family to match it.

P. G. Wodehouse bibliography Wikipedia bibliography

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, was an English author, humorist and scriptwriter. After being educated at Dulwich College, to which he remained devoted all his life, he was employed by a bank, but disliked the work and wrote magazine pieces in his spare time. In 1902 he published his first novel, The Pothunters, set at the fictional public school of St. Austin's; his early stories continued the school theme. He also used the school setting in his short story collections, which started in 1903 with the publication of Tales of St. Austin's.

<i>Blandings Castle and Elsewhere</i> 1935 short story collection by P.G. Wodehouse

Blandings Castle and Elsewhere is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 12 April 1935 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and, as Blandings Castle, in the United States on 20 September 1935 by Doubleday Doran, New York. All the stories had previously appeared in Strand Magazine (UK) and all except the last in various US magazines.

<i>Mr Mulliner Speaking</i> 1929 short story collection by P.G. Wodehouse

Mr Mulliner Speaking is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the United Kingdom on April 30, 1929 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the United States on February 21, 1930 by Doubleday, Doran. The stories were originally published in magazines in the UK and the US between 1924 and 1929.

<i>Meet Mr Mulliner</i> 1927 short story collection by P.G. Wodehouse

Meet Mr. Mulliner is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. First published in the United Kingdom on 27 September 1927 by Herbert Jenkins, and in the United States on 2 March 1928 by Doubleday, Doran. The short stories were originally published in magazines, mainly The Strand Magazine in the UK and Liberty in the US.

"The Reverent Wooing of Archibald" is a short story by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. It was first published in the August 1928 issue of United Kingdom literary magazine Strand, and first appeared in the United States in the September 1928 issue of Cosmopolitan. It was collected in the 1929 book Mr Mulliner Speaking.

No Wedding Bells for Him 1923 short story by P. G. Wodehouse

"No Wedding Bells for Him" is a short story by British author P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the October 1923 issue of Cosmopolitan, and in the United Kingdom in the November 1923 Strand. It features the irrepressible Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, and was included in the collection Ukridge, published in 1924.

"Uncle Fred Flits By" is a short story by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, which was published in the United States in the July 1935 edition of Redbook, and in the United Kingdom in the December 1935 issue of the Strand. It was included in the collection Young Men in Spats (1936).

"Strychnine in the Soup" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in the US in The American Magazine in December 1931, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in March 1932. It also appears in the collection Mulliner Nights (1933).

"Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in the United States by Liberty Magazine on September 4, 1926 and in the United Kingdom in The Strand in November 1926. It was collected in Meet Mr. Mulliner (1927).

"Best Seller" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in the US in Cosmopolitan in June 1930, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in July 1930. The Cosmopolitan version of the story does not include Mr Mulliner. The Mulliner version of the story was included in the collection Mulliner Nights (1933).

"The Smile That Wins" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in the United States, in the October 1931 issue of The American Magazine. It was subsequently published in the United Kingdom in the February 1932 issue of The Strand Magazine. It was collected in Mulliner Nights (1933).

"A Slice of Life" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in the UK in 1926 in The Strand Magazine, and appeared almost simultaneously in Liberty in the United States. It also appears in the collection Meet Mr. Mulliner. The main character in this story, Wilfred Mulliner, plays off-stage parts in "Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo".

"The Truth About George" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in July 1926 in Strand Magazine, and appeared almost simultaneously in Liberty in the United States. It also appears in the collection Meet Mr. Mulliner.

"The Bishop's Move" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in August 1927 in Liberty in the United States, and in September 1927 in The Strand Magazine in the UK. It also appears in the collection Meet Mr. Mulliner.

"Honeysuckle Cottage" is a short story by the British author P. G. Wodehouse. The story was first published in the 24 January 1925 issue of the Saturday Evening Post in the United States, and in the February 1925 issue of the Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom.

"Monkey Business" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in the December 1932 issue of The Strand Magazine, and in the United States in the December 1932 issue of The American Magazine under the title "A Cagey Gorilla". It was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935).

"The Rise of Minna Nordstrom" is a short story by British author P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the March 1933 issue of The American Magazine under the title "A Star is Born", and in the United Kingdom in the April 1933 issue of The Strand Magazine. It was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935).

"George and Alfred" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse and a Mr. Mulliner story. It was published in Playboy magazine in the US in January 1967. The story was also included in the 1966 collection Plum Pie.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Midkiff, Neil (3 July 2019). "The Wodehouse short stories". Madame Eulalie. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  2. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 68–69, A53.
  3. ↑ Taves, Brian (2006). P.G. Wodehouse and Hollywood: Screenwriting, Satires, and Adaptations. McFarland. pp. 51–52. ISBN   0-7864-2288-2.
  4. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 186, D133.185.
  5. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 115–116, B5.
  6. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 129–130, B33.
Sources
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.