The Rise of Minna Nordstrom

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"The Rise of Minna Nordstrom"
Author P. G. Wodehouse
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Comedy
Publisher American Magazine (US)
Strand Magazine (UK)
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateMarch 1933 (US)
April 1933 (UK)

"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 . [1] It was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935). [2]

Contents

Plot summary

The story is the fourth of five stories set in Hollywood that are narrated by pub raconteur Mr Mulliner, who tells this one while sipping his usual hot Scotch and soda at a pub called the Angler's Rest. The barmaid has just seen a movie starring Minna Nordstrom, and was much impressed. Mr. Mulliner claims to know the story of how Nordstrom became a star—by "sheer enterprise and determination", not personal connections.

He begins by describing Vera Prebble, a parlormaid working at the home of the head of a large movie studio. She (and, according to Mulliner, nearly every other non-acting resident of Hollywood) starts demonstrating her acting prowess whenever she encounters a studio executive, who in this case is Jacob Z. Schnellenhamer. Annoyed, he fires her, and she retaliates by informing the police (accurately) that he has a stash of liquor in his cellar. Because the story takes place during Prohibition, the police raid the house and confiscate the alcohol.

But he and his wife are planning a party that evening for 150 people, and they must have liquor to serve, Prohibition or no Prohibition. So Schnellenhamer contacts several suppliers (bootleggers), but they are all busy filming movies. Then he tries contacting another studio head, who had the misfortune of having recently hired the same Vera Prebble, firing her, and suffering the same fate. The two of them move on to a third studio head, who had fired Prebble even more recently, with the same result of confiscation of his liquor.

The three studio executives band together and, in one last desperate attempt, visit the home of a fourth studio head, who happens to be away on vacation. Alas, Prebble had just been hired by him, too, and she threatens another police raid if she is not awarded a contract as a movie star. The three studio heads begin to bargain with her, each outbidding the others, until they decide to merge their firms and thus become a sole negotiator to deal with Prebble. This is the crisis that precipitates the creation of the Perfecto-Zizzbaum Corporation—by virtue of the merger of the Colossal-Exquisite, the Perfecto-Fishbein, and the Zizzbaum-Celluloid. The vacationing executive, head of the Medulla-Oblongata studio, is not present to add his company to the mix.

As the negotiations escalate and the executives near an agreement to offer Prebble a 5-year contract, the police arrive. Soon the studio heads try to bribe the police, too, by offering them movie contracts. Recalling previous rejections by the same men, the police decline the offers and head for the cellar. Prebble misleads them and locks them in the coal cellar instead of taking them to the wine cellar. Terms are agreed to. Prebble selects the stage name of Minna Nordstrom, and cannily requires the executives to sign a letter summarizing the main points of their deal before she hands over the key to the liquor.

Publication history

The story was illustrated by Roy F. Spreter in The American Magazine. [3] It was illustrated by Gilbert Wilkinson in The Strand Magazine. [4]

"The Rise of Minna Nordstrom" 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 included in the 1939 collection The Week-End Wodehouse (US edition), published by Doubleday, Doran & Co, [6] and in The Hollywood Omnibus, a collection of Wodehouse stories published in May 1985 by Hutchinson, London. [7]

Adaptations

The story was adapted for television as an episode of Wodehouse Playhouse . The episode, titled "The Rise of Minna Nordstrom", first aired on 21 May 1975. [8]

See also

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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. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 144, D4.14.
  4. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 186, D133.184.
  5. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 115–116, B5.
  6. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 116–117, B6a.
  7. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 129–130, B33.
  8. ↑ Taves, Brian (2006). P. G. Wodehouse and Hollywood: Screenwriting, Satires and Adaptations. London: McFarland & Company. p. 183. ISBN   978-0786422883.
Sources
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