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Wikipedia

Jeeves

Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie[1]) 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.

Reginald Jeeves
Jeeves character
Jeeves on the cover of My Man Jeeves (1920)
First appearance"Extricating Young Gussie" (1915)
Last appearanceAunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974)
Created byP. G. Wodehouse
Portrayed by
In-universe information
Full nameReginald Jeeves
AliasInspector Witherspoon
NicknameReggie
GenderMale
OccupationValet of Bertie Wooster
Relatives
  • Charlie Silversmith (uncle)
  • Queenie Silversmith (cousin)
  • Mabel (niece)
  • more...
NationalityBritish

Both the name "Jeeves" and the character of Jeeves have come to be thought of as the quintessential name and nature of a manservant, inspiring many similar characters as well as the name of an Internet search engine, Ask Jeeves, and a financial-technology company.[2] A "Jeeves" is now a generic term as validated by its entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.[3]

Jeeves is a valet, not a butler; that is, he is responsible for serving an individual, whereas a butler is responsible for a household and manages other servants. On rare occasions he does fill in for someone else's butler. According to Bertie Wooster, he "can buttle with the best of them".

Inspiration

A valet called Jevons appears in Wodehouse's 1914 short story "Creatures of Impulse", and may have been an early prototype for Jeeves.[4] Like Jeeves, Jevons is described as the perfect valet.[5] "Creatures of Impulse" appeared in The Strand Magazine, and was not republished in any collection, though some parts went into the making of "The Crime Wave at Blandings".[6]

In his 1953 semi-autobiographical book written with Guy Bolton, Bring on the Girls!, Wodehouse suggested that the Jeeves character was inspired by an actual butler named Eugene Robinson whom Wodehouse employed for research purposes. Wodehouse described Robinson as a "walking Encyclopaedia Britannica". However, Robinson worked at Wodehouse's house in Norfolk Street where Wodehouse did not live until 1927, long after Jeeves had been created.[4]

Wodehouse named his Jeeves after Percy Jeeves (1888–1916), a popular English cricketer for Warwickshire. Wodehouse witnessed Percy Jeeves bowling at Cheltenham Cricket Festival in 1913. Percy Jeeves was killed at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, less than a year after the first appearance of the Wodehouse character who would make his name a household word.[7]

In a letter written in 1965, Wodehouse wrote that he had read Harry Leon Wilson's Ruggles of Red Gap when it was first published as a magazine serial in 1914 and it influenced the creation of Jeeves.[8] Ruggles of Red Gap is a comedic novel about an English valet who is won by an American from an English earl in a poker game. In the letter, Wodehouse wrote, "I felt that an English valet would never have been so docile about being handed over to an American in payment of a poker debt. I thought he had missed the chap's dignity. I think it was then that the idea of Jeeves came into my mind."[9]

The development of Jeeves and Bertie was influenced by Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, according to Richard Usborne; Sherlock Holmes and Jeeves are "the great brains" while Dr. Watson and Bertie are "the awed companion-narrators, bungling things if they try to solve the problems themselves".[10] Jeeves and Bertie have been described as comic versions of Holmes and Watson.[11][12] Wodehouse directly compares Jeeves and Bertie to Holmes and Watson in some of the Jeeves stories, such as in Aunts Aren't Gentlemen.[13]

Fictional biography

Early life and family

Wodehouse disclosed little about Jeeves's early life. According to the character, he was privately educated,[14] and his mother thought him intelligent.[15]

Jeeves has an uncle, Charlie Silversmith, who is butler at Deverill Hall. Silversmith dandled Jeeves on his knee frequently when Jeeves was very young and, when Jeeves is an adult, they write regularly to each other.[16][17] Charlie Silversmith's daughter Queenie Silversmith is Jeeves's cousin. Jeeves also mentions his late uncle Cyril in Right Ho, Jeeves. His niece Mabel is engaged to Bertie Wooster's friend Charles "Biffy" Biffen. His cousin Egbert is a constable and plays a role in the short story "Without the Option".[18]

Jeeves has three placid aunts, in contrast to Bertie Wooster's aunts.[19] Aunt Emily is interested in psychical research, and another aunt, Mrs. Pigott, owns a cat in Maiden Eggesford; this cat plays a major role in Aunts Aren't Gentlemen. Jeeves occasionally references an aunt without naming her, including an aunt who read Oliver Wendell Holmes to him when he was young.[20] In Right Ho, Jeeves, he references his Aunt Annie, though she was widely disliked.[21]

Employment history

In his youth, Jeeves worked as a page boy at a girls' school. He apparently served in the military to some extent in World War I.[22] In the play Come On, Jeeves, Jeeves states that he was a batman.

Shortly before entering Bertie's service, Jeeves was employed by Lord Frederick Ranelagh, who was swindled in Monte Carlo.[23] Jeeves previously worked for Lord Worplesdon, resigning after nearly a year because of Worplesdon's eccentric choice of evening dress.[24] Jeeves later helps Lord Worplesdon in Joy in the Morning. Other former employers include Mr. Digby Thistleton (later Lord Bridgnorth), who sold hair tonic;[25] Mr. Montague-Todd, a financier who is in the second year of a prison term when Jeeves mentions him;[26] and Lord Brancaster, who gave port-soaked seedcake to his pet parrot.[27]

Jeeves becomes Bertie Wooster's valet. However, his tenure with Bertie Wooster has occasional lapses during the stories; at these times, Jeeves finds work elsewhere. Jeeves works for Lord Chuffnell for a week in Thank You, Jeeves, after giving notice because of Bertie Wooster's unwillingness to give up the banjolele, and is briefly employed by J. Washburn Stoker in the same novel. In Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, he serves as substitute butler for Bertie's Aunt Dahlia, and later enters Sir Watkyn Bassett's employment for a short time as part of a scheme to help Bertie. Jeeves is Lord Rowcester's butler for the length of Ring for Jeeves.[28]

While working for Bertie Wooster, he occasionally pretends to be the valet of one of Bertie's friends as part of some scheme, though he is still actually Bertie's valet. He pretends to be the valet of Bicky Bickersteth in "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg", Rocky Todd in "The Aunt and the Sluggard", and Gussie Fink-Nottle when Gussie masquerades as Bertie Wooster in The Mating Season.[29] Jeeves acts as a bookmaker's clerk in Ring for Jeeves, disguising himself for the role with a check suit and walrus moustache.[30] In the play Come On, Jeeves, which has mostly the same plot as Ring for Jeeves, it is mentioned that Jeeves changed his appearance as a bookmaker's clerk, though in the play, Jeeves also impersonates a medieval ghost named Lady Agatha, wearing makeup and women's medieval clothing to complete the disguise. He pretends to be a broker's man in "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" and Bertie's solicitor in Aunts Aren't Gentlemen. In one instance, he pretends to be Bertie Wooster in a telephone conversation with playwright Percy Gorringe.[31] In Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, he assumes an alias, calling himself Chief Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard. This alias is also mentioned in Aunts Aren't Gentlemen.

Jeeves is a member of the Junior Ganymede Club, a London club for butlers and valets.

The stories

Jeeves is first hired by Bertie in "Jeeves Takes Charge" to replace a valet whom Bertie had fired for stealing from him. In this short story, Bertie briefly fires Jeeves after Jeeves, who believes that Bertie would not be happy with his fiancée Florence Craye, takes steps to end Bertie's engagement to her. Bertie quickly rehires Jeeves after realizing that Jeeves was right. Thereafter, Jeeves lives with Bertie, usually in their London residence at Berkeley Mansions. Over the course of the short stories and novels, Jeeves helps Bertie, frequently extricating him from unwanted engagements, and also assists Bertie's friends and relatives with various dilemmas. Jeeves often has another motive, such as disposing of an item recently acquired by Bertie that Jeeves does not like, for example a bright scarlet cummerbund. He sometimes receives a monetary reward from Bertie and other people he helps in early stories, though this does not occur in later stories.

Bertie and Jeeves experience a variety of adventures in numerous short stories and novels. Aside from changes in his employment status, some events occur that are particularly noteworthy for Jeeves. Jeeves gets engaged twice in "Jeeves in the Springtime", though he never references these fiancées afterward, and it appears that he does not become engaged again.[32] In the only story Jeeves narrates, "Bertie Changes His Mind", he opposes Bertie's decision to live with his nieces. Jeeves and Bertie visit Deverill Hall, where Jeeves's Uncle Charlie is employed as butler, in The Mating Season.

In the novel Ring for Jeeves, which is set after World War II, Jeeves temporarily works as Lord Rowcester's butler while Bertie is sent to a school where the idle rich learn to fend for themselves. This is the only story in which Jeeves appears without Bertie Wooster. The novel was adapted from the play Come On, Jeeves.

Jeeves's first name was not revealed until the penultimate novel, Much Obliged, Jeeves. Bertie Wooster learns Jeeves's name when he hears another valet greet Jeeves with "Hullo, Reggie." The readers may have been surprised to learn Jeeves's first name, but Bertie was stunned by the revelation "that he had a first name" in the first place.[33][34] In the club book of Jeeves's club, the Junior Ganymede, all members must record the foibles of their employers to forewarn other butlers and valets. Bertie wants Jeeves to destroy his section. Jeeves is initially reluctant to defy his club's rules, but he eventually does destroy the pages for Bertie by the end of Much Obliged, Jeeves.

Jeeves last appears in Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, in which Jeeves and Bertie head to the rural village of Maiden Eggesford, though Jeeves wants to go to New York. He and Bertie visit New York at the end of the story.

Personal characteristics

Age and appearance

While Bertie Wooster is approximately 24 years old in "Jeeves Takes Charge" (1916), Jeeves's age is not stated in the stories, and has been interpreted differently by various illustrators and adaptations. However, there are a few hints in the books regarding Jeeves's age. Jeeves has a long employment history, and he is older than Bertie Wooster.[35] On the other hand, Jeeves is young enough to be engaged to a waitress courted by Bingo Little, who is the same age as Bertie Wooster, in "Jeeves in the Springtime". In Ring for Jeeves, Jeeves is described as resembling "a youngish High Priest of a refined and dignified religion".[36]

In the reference work Wodehouse in Woostershire by Wodehouse scholars Geoffrey Jaggard and Tony Ring, it is speculated using information provided in the Jeeves canon that Bertie's age ranges from approximately 24 to 29 over the stories, and that Jeeves is roughly ten years older than Bertie, giving an age range of 35 to 40.[37] This happens to agree with a personal letter written in 1961 by P. G. Wodehouse to scholar Robert A. Hall, Jr., in which Wodehouse, explaining that his characters did not age with real life time, gave an approximate age for Jeeves:

Keggs in A Damsel in Distress is supposed to be the same man who appears in The Butler Did It, but does it pan out all right? It doesn't if you go by when the books were written. The Damsel was published in 1919 and the Butler in 1957. But I always ignore real life time. After all, Jeeves—first heard of at the age presumably of about thirty-five in 1916—would now be around eighty-five, counting the real years.[38]

In appearance, Jeeves is described as "tall and dark and impressive".[39] When they first meet in "Jeeves Takes Charge", Bertie describes Jeeves as "a kind of darkish sort of respectful Johnnie" with "a grave, sympathetic face" and a nearly silent way of walking that Bertie equates to a "healing zephyr".[40] On multiple occasions, Bertie states that Jeeves has "finely chiselled features", and a large head, which seems to Bertie to indicate intelligence. As Bertie says, Jeeves is "a godlike man in a bowler hat with grave, finely chiselled features and a head that stuck out at the back, indicating great brain power".[41] Bertie also describes Jeeves's eyes as gleaming with intelligence.[18]

Personality

Bertie frequently describes Jeeves as having a "feudal spirit". Jeeves enjoys helping Bertie and his friends,[42] and solves Bertie's personal problems despite not being obliged to do so. Jeeves interrupts his vacation twice to come to Bertie's aid (in "The Love That Purifies" and Jeeves in the Offing). He regularly rescues Bertie, usually from an unwanted marriage but also from other threats, such as when he saves Bertie from a hostile swan or when he pulls Bertie out of the way of a taxi.[43] Jeeves is evidently offended when a revolutionary tells him that servants are outdated in "Comrade Bingo".[44]

Jeeves generally manipulates situations for the better and is described as "a kindly man" in Ring for Jeeves.[45] However, he does influence Bertie's decisions to suit his own preferences, such as when he causes Bertie to change his mind about living with his nieces in "Bertie Changes His Mind". Jeeves is also stubborn when opposing a new item that Bertie has taken a liking to, such as an alpine hat or purple socks. While he often stays on in spite of these radical objects, he can only withstand so much: the worst case is when he resigned after Bertie, privately labeling him as a "domestic Mussolini", resolved to study the banjolele in the countryside.[46] Usually, Jeeves finds a way to help Bertie with a problem, and Bertie agrees to give away the item that Jeeves disapproves of. Even when Bertie and Jeeves are having a disagreement, Jeeves still shows sympathy, as much as he shows any emotion, when Bertie is in serious trouble.[47]

Often wearing "an expression of quiet intelligence combined with a feudal desire to oblige",[48] Jeeves consistently maintains a calm and courteous demeanor. When he feels discomfort or is being discreet, he assumes an expressionless face which Bertie describes as resembling a "stuffed moose"[49] or "stuffed frog".[50] When very surprised, he will raise his eyebrow a small fraction of an inch, and when he is amused, the corner of his mouth twitches slightly.[51] His composure extends to his voice, which is soft and respectful.[52] When he wishes to start a conversation, he sometimes makes a low gentle cough "like a very old sheep clearing its throat on a misty mountain top".[53] He may also cough to signify disapproval.[54] Bertie states that he saw the normally imperturbable Jeeves come "very near to being rattled" for the first time when the sight of Bingo Little in a false beard caused Jeeves to drop his jaw and steady himself with a table in "Comrade Bingo".[55] In Joy in the Morning, Bertie claims that the only occasion on which he had ever seen Jeeves "really rattled" was when he first met Bertie's friend Boko Fittleworth, who wears turtleneck sweaters and flannel trousers with a patch on the knee; Jeeves "winced visibly and tottered off" to recover his composure in the kitchen, where Bertie supposes Jeeves pulled himself together with cooking sherry.[56]

Bertie says that Jeeves is persuasive and magnetic.[57] He believes that Jeeves could convince a candidate standing for Parliament to vote against herself.[58] There is a poetic side to Jeeves, who recites a great deal of poetry. He is much affected when a parted couple reconciles, and tells Bertie that his heart leaps up when he beholds a rainbow in the sky.[59]

It is not unusual for Bertie's acquaintances to ask for Jeeves's help directly without discussing it with Bertie, and Jeeves is willing to assist them even if Bertie is not involved in any way.[60] Bertie once says that Jeeves "isn't so much a valet as a Mayfair consultant."[61] On one occasion, Bertie considers it probable that even the distinguished Sir Roderick Glossop has consulted Jeeves, and says, "Jeeves is like Sherlock Holmes. The highest in the land come to him with their problems. For all I know, they may give him jewelled snuff boxes."[62]

Skills

Jeeves presents the ideal image of the gentlemanly manservant, being highly competent, dignified, and respectful. He speaks intelligently and correctly, using proper titles for members of the nobility. One of his skills is moving silently and unobtrusively from room to room. According to Bertie, Jeeves noiselessly "floats" and "shimmers".[63] Bertie once remarks, "Presently I was aware that Jeeves was with me. I hadn't heard him come in, but you often don't with Jeeves. He just streams silently from spot A to spot B, like some gas".[64] In addition to being a proficient valet, Jeeves can serve capably as a butler, and does so on a few occasions. As Bertie says in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, "If the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them."[65]

Jeeves has an encyclopedic knowledge of literature and academic subjects. He frequently quotes from Shakespeare and the romantic poets. Well informed about members of the British aristocracy thanks to the club book of the Junior Ganymede Club, he also seems to have a considerable number of useful connections among various servants. Jeeves uses his knowledge and connections to solve problems inconspicuously.[66] Richard Usborne, a leading scholar of the life and works of Wodehouse, describes Jeeves as a "godlike prime mover" and "master brain who is found to have engineered the apparent coincidence or coincidences".[67] To form his plans, Jeeves often studies "the psychology of the individual" or the personality of one or more people involved in the situation.[68] His mental prowess is attributed to eating fish, according to Bertie Wooster, who credits the phosphorus content in the fish with boosting Jeeves's brain power. Jeeves does not try to argue this claim, though at least once he says he does not eat a lot of fish.[69]

One of Jeeves's greatest skills is making a special drink of his own invention, a strong beverage which momentarily stuns one's senses but is very effective in curing hangovers. The drink is Jeeves's version of a prairie oyster.[70] Bertie first hires Jeeves after his hangover is cured by one of Jeeves's special drinks.[24] Not simply a hangover cure, the drink can also give energy to someone who needs it, yet calm down someone who is agitated.[71] Dark in colour, Jeeves's special pick-me-up is composed of Worcester sauce, a raw egg, and red pepper according to Jeeves, though Bertie suspects that the drink consists of more than that.[72] Wodehouse mentions other ingredients in a personal letter he wrote late in his life, though these ingredients are not referred to in the stories.[73] Additionally, Jeeves is capable of typing and writing shorthand.[74]

Jeeves has knowledge in more dubious subjects as well. He is well-informed about how to steal paintings and kidnap dogs.[75][76] He uses a Mickey Finn to incapacitate the unscrupulous Bingley.[77] Capable of action when the situation calls for it, Jeeves uses a golf club to knock out Sippy Sipperley in "The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy", and takes down a swan with a raincoat and boathook in "Jeeves and the Impending Doom". He finds it necessary to get Aunt Dahlia to knock out Bertie with a gong stick in "Jeeves Makes an Omelette", though he agrees with Bertie not to use this sort of tactic again.[78][79] After Jeeves uses a cosh to knock out Constable Dobbs in The Mating Season, an astonished Bertie describes Jeeves as "something that would be gratefully accepted as a muscle guy by any gang on the lookout for new blood".[80]

Hobbies

Jeeves often reads intellectual, "improving" books, including the works of Spinoza, Shakespeare, and "Dostoevsky and the great Russians".[81][82] He also enjoys the works of romance novelist Rosie M. Banks,[83] and regularly reads The Times, which Bertie occasionally borrows to try the crossword puzzle.[84] In "Jeeves in the Springtime", he went dancing in Camberwell, where he was seen by Bertie's friend Bingo Little. Bingo says that he saw Jeeves "swinging a dashed efficient shoe".[85] Once a week, Jeeves takes the afternoon off to play bridge at his club, the Junior Ganymede.[86]

One of Jeeves's hobbies is fishing, which he tends to do during his annual summer holiday, typically taken at Bognor Regis. Bertie sees him fishing in Joy in the Morning.[87] Appreciating travel in general, Jeeves wants to go on a cruise in two different stories, "The Spot of Art" and The Code of the Woosters. Jeeves claims that travel is educational, though Bertie suspects that Jeeves has a Viking strain and "yearns for the tang of the salt breezes".[88] Jeeves occasionally enjoys gambling, which is the reason he wishes to go to Monte Carlo in "Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit".

Relationship with Bertie Wooster

The premise of the Jeeves stories is that the brilliant valet is firmly in control of his rich and unworldly young employer's life. Jeeves becomes Bertie Wooster's guardian and all-purpose problem solver, devising subtle plans to help Bertie and his friends with various problems. In particular, Jeeves extricates Bertie Wooster from engagements to formidable women whom Bertie reluctantly becomes engaged to, Bertie being unwilling to hurt a woman's feelings by turning her down. While Jeeves wants to keep Bertie from a fiancée whom he believes will not make Bertie happy, Jeeves also wants to keep his position, which he feels would be threatened by a wife.[89][90] Jeeves also provides assistance when Bertie, who refuses to let a pal down, gets drawn into trouble trying to help a friend or a relative he is fond of. Bertie is usually unaware of the extent of Jeeves's machinations until all is revealed at the end of the story. On one occasion, Bertie acknowledges and accepts his role as a pawn in Jeeves's grand plan, though Jeeves objects, saying that he could have accomplished nothing without Bertie's cooperation.[91]

For the most part, Bertie and Jeeves are on good terms. Being fond of Bertie, Jeeves considers their connection "pleasant in every respect".[92] Bertie says that he looks on Jeeves as "a sort of guide, philosopher, and friend".[93] At times when Bertie is separated from Jeeves, Bertie is miserable. When Bertie must stay by himself in a hotel in "The Aunt and the Sluggard", he struggles without having Jeeves there to press his clothes and bring him tea, saying "I don't know when I've felt so rotten. Somehow I found myself moving about the room softly, as if there had been a death in the family"; he later cheers himself up by going round the cabarets, though "the frightful loss of Jeeves made any thought of pleasure more or less a mockery".[94] In Thank You, Jeeves, when Jeeves has left Bertie's employment because of their disagreement over a banjolele, Bertie still seeks Jeeves for help and Jeeves comes to his aid.[95] Bertie dislikes when Jeeves goes on his annual holiday, stating, "without this right-hand man at his side Bertram Wooster becomes a mere shadow his former self".[96] Jeeves appreciates the praise that Bertie bestows on him, saying that "Mr. Wooster has always been gratifyingly appreciative of my humble efforts on his behalf".[97]

Jeeves has firm ideas about how an English gentleman should dress and behave, and sees it as his duty to ensure that his employer presents himself appropriately. When friction arises between Jeeves and Bertie, it is usually over some new item about which Bertie Wooster is enthusiastic that does not meet with Jeeves's approval, such as bright purple socks, a white mess jacket, or a garish vase. Bertie becomes attached to these less conservative pieces and views Jeeves's opposition to them as "hidebound and reactionary",[98] marking him "an enemy to Progress".[99] This type of disagreement results in a period of coolness between them. The conflict is resolved by the end of the story, typically after Jeeves has helped Bertie with his latest problem. Bertie, grateful, agrees to have it Jeeves's way. He does not object if he learns that Jeeves, foreseeing that Bertie would agree to give up the item, has already disposed of it.

Bertie considers Jeeves to be a marvel, and wonders why Jeeves is content to work for him, stating, "It beats me sometimes why a man with his genius is satisfied to hang around pressing my clothes and what not".[100] Jeeves has been offered twice the salary Bertie pays him by another gentleman, but still remains with Bertie.[101] Jeeves views Bertie as being friendly but mentally negligible, though his opinion of Bertie's intelligence seems to improve over time. In an early story, he says that Bertie is "an exceedingly pleasant and amiable young gentleman, but not intelligent. By no means intelligent. Mentally he is negligible – quite negligible."[102] Hearing this spurs Bertie to try to solve problems on his own, though he ultimately fails and needs Jeeves's assistance. Nonetheless, Jeeves's view of Bertie's intelligence has apparently softened by the first novel, when Jeeves says that Bertie "is, perhaps, mentally somewhat negligible, but he has a heart of gold".[103] At one point in the ninth novel, Jeeves actually commends Bertie's quick thinking, saying that Bertie's tactic of hiding from an antagonist behind a sofa "showed a resource and swiftness of thought which it would be difficult to overpraise".[104]

Influence

Jeeves's name is used as a synonym for a personal manservant.[105] A "Jeeves" is a generic term for a model valet or butler according to the Oxford English Dictionary[106][107] and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.[108] It can mean a "resourceful helper" according to the Encarta World English Dictionary.[109] In a comedy routine in a 1993 Seinfeld episode, Jerry Seinfeld said, "Did you ever notice a lot of butlers are named Jeeves? I think when you name a baby Jeeves; you've pretty much mapped out his future. Not much chance he's gonna be a hitman."[110]

From 1996 until 2006, Ask.com, a question-and-answer search engine, was known as Ask Jeeves and featured a caricature of a butler on its launch page.[111] The name of Jeeves has also been used by other companies and services, such as the British dry-cleaning firm Jeeves of Belgravia and the New Zealand company Jeeves Tours.[112]

The fictional amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey and his valet Mervyn Bunter, created by Dorothy L. Sayers in 1923, were partially inspired by Bertie Wooster and Jeeves.[113]

Jeeves series

List of stories

The Jeeves canon is a series of comedic stories following Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, consisting of 35 short stories and 11 novels.[114] With minor exceptions, the short stories were written and published first (between 1915 and 1930); the novels later (between 1934 and 1974). While the series of stories featuring the character of Jeeves are often referred to as the "Jeeves" stories, the series is also called by other names such as the "Jeeves and Wooster" or "Jeeves and Bertie" stories.

Bertie Wooster narrates (in the first person) all the stories but two, "Bertie Changes His Mind" (which Jeeves himself narrates in the first person), and Ring for Jeeves (which features Jeeves but not Bertie Wooster and is written in the third person).

Jeeves and Bertie first appeared in "Extricating Young Gussie", a short story published in the US in September 1915, though it was not seen in the UK until 1916. In the story, Jeeves's character is minor and not fully developed, and Bertie's surname appears to be Mannering-Phipps. The first fully recognisable Jeeves and Wooster story was "Leave It to Jeeves", published in early 1916. As the series progressed, Jeeves assumed the role of Bertie Wooster's co-protagonist. Most of the Jeeves stories were originally published as magazine pieces before being collected into books, although 11 of the short stories were reworked and divided into 18 chapters to make an episodic semi-novel called The Inimitable Jeeves. Other collections, most notably The World of Jeeves, restore these to their original form of 11 distinct stories.

The collection The World of Jeeves (first published in 1967, reprinted in 1988) contains all of the Jeeves short stories (with the exception of "Extricating Young Gussie") presented more or less in narrative chronological order, but with some variations from the originals.

An efficient method of reading the entire Jeeves canon is to read The World of Jeeves, followed by the eleven novels in order of publication. The novels generally mention characters and events that happened in previous stories. Another way of reading most of the Jeeves canon is to read the short story collections The Inimitable Jeeves, Carry On, Jeeves, and Very Good, Jeeves, followed by the novels. While Carry On, Jeeves features some earlier stories, it also includes stories that occur after events in The Inimitable Jeeves.

Setting and timeline

The short stories are set primarily in London, where Bertie Wooster has a flat and is a member of the raucous Drones Club, or in New York City, though some short stories are set around various stately homes in the English countryside. The novels all take place at or near an English country house, most commonly Brinkley Court, Worcestershire (in four novels) and Totleigh Towers, Gloucestershire (in two novels).

The Jeeves stories are described as occurring within a few years of each other. For example, Bertie states in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954) that his Aunt Dahlia has been running her paper Milady's Boudoir, first introduced in "Clustering Round Young Bingo" (1925), for about three years.[116] However, there are inconsistencies between the stories that make it difficult to construct a timeline. For instance, it is stated in Jeeves in the Offing that Aunt Dahlia ran her paper for four years, and not three, as is shown in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit. Nonetheless, some scholars have attempted to create a rough timeline. J. H. C. Morris suggested that the Jeeves canon spanned approximately five years, stating that four Christmases are accounted for, and another must have passed during Bertie's time in America in the early stories, making five in all.[117] Kristin Thompson also suggested that approximately five years passed during the stories, though Thompson instead relied on explicit references to time passed between events in the series.[118]

The stories follow a floating timeline, with each story being set at the time it was written, while the characters do not change and past events are referred to as happening recently. This results in the stories following "two kinds of time", as the characters hardly age but are seen against the background of a changing world.[119] This floating timeline allows for comedic references to films, songs, and politicians that would have been well known to readers when the stories were written. For example, in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1954), when Bertie is surprised to hear that his Aunt Dahlia wants to sell her weekly paper, he remarks, "It was like hearing that Rodgers had decided to sell Hammerstein."[120] (This is a reference to Rodgers and Hammerstein, who created popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s.) However, certain Edwardian era elements, such as aristocratic country houses and traditional gentlemen's clubs like the Drones Club, continue to be prevalent throughout the series, despite becoming less common in the real world.[121] Several writers have described the Jeeves series as being set in the interwar period (1918–1939).[122][123][124]

The setting is generally an idealised version of the world, with international conflicts being downplayed or ignored. Illness and injuries cause negligible harm, similar to downplayed injuries in stage comedy.[125]

Comic style

The plots and dialogue of the Jeeves stories were strongly influenced by Wodehouse's experience writing for the stage, and the playlike quality of the stories is often comically exaggerated. For example, many stage comedies involve two sundered couples, and this number is increased to five for the plot of the Jeeves novel The Mating Season. Bertie frequently uses theatrical terminology to describe characters and settings. For instance, in Joy in the Morning, Bertie says that Lord Worplesdon's study "proved to be what they call on the stage a 'rich interior', liberally equipped with desks, chairs, tables, carpets and all the usual fixings." Later in the same scene, when Worplesdon sends his butler to fetch Jeeves, Bertie says, "During the stage wait, which was not of long duration, the old relative filled in with some ad lib stuff about Boko, mostly about how much he disliked his face" (chapter 22).[126] The dialogue is sometimes written like in a script. For example, several lines of text in the first chapter of Right Ho, Jeeves are rendered in script format.[127]

Wodehouse uses a number of what Kristin Thompson terms "delaying devices" to keep the competent Jeeves from solving problems too quickly. For example, Bertie sometimes cannot get help from Jeeves initially because Jeeves is away on vacation. In multiple stories, Jeeves delays solving Bertie's problem because he disapproves of an object Bertie has acquired.[128] Jeeves is shown to be a "thoroughly pragmatic, occasionally Machiavellian figure" who is willing to delay solving problems until it is advantageous for him to do so.[129] In some stories, Bertie insists on trying to handle problems himself. Jeeves, planning in the background, can estimate the extent of Bertie's mistakes in advance and incorporate them into his own plan in the end.[42]

Wodehouse has Jeeves consistently use a very formal manner of speaking, while Bertie's speech mixes formal and informal language. These different styles are frequently used to create humour in the stories, such as when Bertie has to translate Jeeves's erudite speech for one of his pals who is not familiar with Jeeves. An example of this occurs in "The Artistic Career of Corky", when Jeeves comes up with a plan to help Bertie's friend Corky. Jeeves says his plan "cannot fail of success" but has a drawback in that it "requires a certain financial outlay". Bertie explains to Corky that Jeeves means "he has got a pippin of an idea, but it's going to cost a bit".[130]

Jeeves often tells Bertie about his machinations at the end of the stories, but does not always reveal everything to Bertie. This can be seen in the only story narrated by Jeeves, "Bertie Changes His Mind", in which Jeeves manipulates events without telling Bertie. The reader can infer some of Jeeves's offstage activity from subtle clues in Bertie's narrative. For example, in "Jeeves and the Kid Clementina", Bertie ends up in a tree while trespassing as part of a task outlined by the mischievous Bobbie Wickham, and is confronted by a policeman. The only information given to the reader about how the policeman got there is when he says, "We had a telephone call at the station saying there was somebody in Miss Mapleton's garden." After reading the story, the reader can look back and infer that Jeeves called the police himself or got someone else to do it, knowing the incident would ultimately make Bertie seem heroic to Miss Mapleton and would make Bertie realize the dangers of Bobbie's scheming.[131]

Adaptations

Television

Film

  • In 1919, two silent short comedy films, "Making Good with Mother" and "Cutting Out Venus", were released in the US. These shorts were inspired by the Reggie Pepper stories and directed by Lawrence C. Windom. Reggie Pepper, a prototype for Bertie Wooster, was given a manservant named "Jeeves" who was a reformed burglar. The shorts featured Lawrence Grossmith as Reggie Pepper and Charles Coleman as Jeeves.[137]
  • Thank You, Jeeves! (1936) was the first film to feature Jeeves and Bertie, with Arthur Treacher as Jeeves and David Niven as Bertie Wooster. In the film, they meet a girl and help her brother stop two spies trying to get his secret plans. The film has almost nothing to do with the book of that title. Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937) also featured Arthur Treacher as Jeeves. Bertie Wooster does not appear, Jeeves is portrayed as a naive bumbler, and the film has nothing to do with any Wodehouse story. Wodehouse was disappointed with the two Treacher films.[138]
  • By Jeeves (2001) was a recorded performance of the musical, released as a video with British actor Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and American actor John Scherer as Bertie Wooster.

Radio

  • "Leave It To Jeeves" (1940) was an episode of the American CBS radio series Forecast. It was not based on the Wodehouse short story originally titled "Leave it to Jeeves". Alan Mowbray portrayed Jeeves and Edward Everett Horton portrayed Bertie Wooster. The scriptwriter was Stuart Palmer.[139]
  • In the 1955 BBC Light Programme dramatisation of the novel Ring for Jeeves, Deryck Guyler portrayed Jeeves and Ian Carmichael portrayed Bill, Lord Rowcester.[140] In the following 1956 dramatisation of Right Ho, Jeeves, Deryck Guyler again portrayed Jeeves, and Naunton Wayne portrayed Bertie Wooster.[141]
  • Jeeves was a 1958 LP record issued by Caedmon with Terry-Thomas as Bertie Wooster and Roger Livesey as Jeeves. Side one was the story "Indian Summer of an Uncle"; side two was "Jeeves Takes Charge". The album was re-released on Harper Audio in 1989.[142]
  • What Ho! Jeeves (1973 to 1981) was a popular BBC Radio 4 series adapting various Jeeves stories with Michael Hordern as Jeeves, and Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster.
  • In 1988, David Suchet portrayed Jeeves and Simon Cadell played Bertie Wooster in the BBC Saturday Night Theatre radio adaptation of the novel Right Ho, Jeeves.[143]
  • In 1997, L.A. Theatre Works dramatised The Code of the Woosters, with Martin Jarvis as Jeeves (and Roderick Spode) and Mark Richard as Bertie Wooster.[144] In 1998, the same organisation dramatised Thank You, Jeeves, with Paxton Whitehead as Jeeves and Simon Templeman as Bertie Wooster. Both dramatisations were adapted by Richard, who had previously adapted the novels as theatrical plays, and were recorded before a live audience.[145]
  • In 2006, BBC Radio 4 dramatised The Code of the Woosters for its Classic Serial series, with Andrew Sachs as Jeeves and Marcus Brigstocke as Bertie Wooster.
  • Jeeves Live! (2007—2020) is an intermittent series of dramatic readings of Jeeves short stories, performed by Martin Jarvis in front of a live audience and broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[146] The series includes the following eight stories: "Fixing It for Freddie", "Bertie Changes His Mind", "Jeeves and the Song of Songs", "Jeeves Takes Charge", "The Aunt and the Sluggard", "Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit", "Indian Summer of an Uncle", and "The Great Sermon Handicap". Two other stories aired under the title Jeeves in Manhattan, "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest" and "The Artistic Career of Corky". Six of these readings were recorded live at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.[147][148]
  • In 2014, Martin Jarvis portrayed Jeeves and Jamie Bamber portrayed Bill, Lord Rowcester, in a radio drama adapting Ring for Jeeves for BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial series.[149]
  • In 2018, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves was adapted as a radio drama for BBC Radio 4. Martin Jarvis portrayed Jeeves and James Callis portrayed Bertie Wooster.[150]

Theatre

  • Come On, Jeeves (opened 1954, still presented from time to time as of 2017 under its name or as Ring for Jeeves) was a 1952 play by Guy Bolton and Wodehouse (adapted into the 1953 novel Ring for Jeeves), opened 1954 in Worthing, England (cast unknown), published in 1956.
  • The Jeeves novel The Mating Season was dramatized as a play by Marjorie Duhan Adler, under the title Too Much Springtime. The play was published by the Dramatic Publishing Company in Chicago in 1955.[151]
  • Mark Richard dramatised multiple Jeeves novels for the stage: Right Ho, Jeeves (premiered 1993), The Code of the Woosters (1994), Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (1995),[152] Thank You, Jeeves (1996),[153] and Jeeves in the Morning (1997).[154] Richard portrayed Bertie Wooster in these productions, with Page Hearn as Jeeves. They reprised their roles for Hearn's dramatisation of a Jeeves novel, Jeeves and the Mating Season (2001).[155] These productions were presented by the City Lit Theater Company in Chicago. Richard adapted the scripts of The Code of the Woosters and Thank You, Jeeves for L.A. Theatre Works radio productions.[156][157]
  • Playwright Margaret Raether has adapted five plays from the Jeeves stories which have been presented at multiple theatres in the United States. The plays are: Jeeves Intervenes (premiered 2006), Jeeves in Bloom (2009), Jeeves Takes a Bow (2012), Jeeves at Sea (2015),[158] and Jeeves Saves the Day (2020).[159] Jeeves Intervenes is loosely based on "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg", and Jeeves in Bloom on Right Ho, Jeeves. The plot of Jeeves Takes a Bow involves a friend of Bertie's who takes an interest in performing on the stage (a plot point used in "Extricating Young Gussie" and "Jeeves and the Chump Cyril"), and in Jeeves at Sea, another friend of Bertie's pretends to be his own twin brother (in circumstances similar to those in Wodehouse's Reggie Pepper story "Rallying Round Old George").[158][160]
  • Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, a play based on the novel The Code of the Woosters, premiered in 2013 with Matthew Macfadyen as Jeeves and Stephen Mangan as Bertie Wooster.

Musicals

  • Jeeves (22 April 1975 to 24 May 1975, 38 performances), an unsuccessful musical loosely based on Wodehouse, opened in London (with Michael Aldridge as Jeeves, and David Hemmings as Bertie Wooster). Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics and book by Alan Ayckbourn, based on the novel The Code of The Woosters.
  • By Jeeves (1 May 1996 to 12 February 1997; 28 October 2001 to 30 December 2001, 73 performances), a more successful complete rewrite of the earlier version, opened in London (with Malcolm Sinclair as Jeeves, and Steven Pacey as Wooster), and premiered in the US in November 1996 (with Richard Kline as Jeeves, and John Scherer as Wooster). It was produced again in 2001 on Broadway (with Martin Jarvis as Jeeves, and Scherer as Wooster), with one recorded performance released as a video film and aired on television.

Comics

Literature

  • The short story "Clubs are Trumps" was written by Hugh Kingsmill as a sequel to the Jeeves story "The Purity of the Turf". It was published in 1931 in an issue of The English Review, and reprinted in The Best of Hugh Kingsmill, published in 1970 by Victor Gollancz, London.[161]
  • In the 20 May 1953 issue of Punch, writer Julian Maclaren-Ross wrote a parody of the Jeeves stories titled "Good Lord, Jeeves". In the story, Bertie loses his wealth and needs a job; Jeeves, who has just been elevated to the peerage, hires Bertie as his valet. Wodehouse wrote to Maclaren-Ross saying how much he liked it.[162] It was included in Maclaren-Ross's book The Funny Bone, published in 1956 by Elek, London.[163]
  • In the 1970s and 1980s, Jeeves and Bertie Wooster were featured in a number of full-page magazine print advertisements for Croft Original Sherry. The advertisements each had comedic prose imitating Wodehouse's writing style and a colour illustration similar to the magazine illustrations that originally appeared with many of Wodehouse's stories.[164]
  • Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman (1981), a fictional biography of Jeeves by Northcote Parkinson, attempts to provide background information about him.[165]
  • "Scream for Jeeves" (1990) was written under the pseudonym H.P.C. Wodecraft and published in Crypt of Cthulhu #72. It purports to put Jeeves and Bertie Wooster into the action of Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls".
  • Wake Up, Sir! (2005) by Jonathan Ames is a homage to the Bertie and Jeeves novels.
  • Jeeves and the Wedding Bells (2013), a pastiche novel authorized by the Wodehouse estate, was written by British novelist Sebastian Faulks, who became the first writer authorized by the Wodehouse estate to produce a new fiction utilizing the Jeeves and Wooster characters.
  • The short story "Greeves and the Evening Star" by Matt Hughes, published in the 2015 anthology Old Venus, is a science fiction parody of Jeeves and Wooster that takes place on the planet Venus.[166] The characters based on Jeeves and Bertie Wooster are renamed Greeves and Bartie Gloster.
  • Jeeves and the King of Clubs (2018), a pastiche novel authorized by the Wodehouse estate, was written by Ben Schott. A sequel by Schott titled Jeeves and the Leap of Faith was released in 2020.[167]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Much Obliged Jeeves, Chapter 4.
  2. ^ [https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/02/fintech-startup-jeeves-raises-57m-goes-from-yc-to-500m-valuation-in-one-year/?tpcc=ECTW2020 TechCrunch: Jeeves raises $57m" 2 September 2021}
  3. ^ "Home : Oxford English Dictionary". Oed.com. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  4. ^ a b Cawthorne (2013), p. 169.
  5. ^ Wodehouse, P. G. (October 1914). "Creatures of Impulse". Madame Eulalie. Retrieved 21 January 2018. What a treasure Jevons was! What a model of what a gentleman's servant should be! Existence without Jevons would be unthinkable.
  6. ^ Usborne (2003), p. 82.
  7. ^ "The most invaluable nugget contained in the book [Wodehouse at the Wicket by P. G. Wodehouse and Murray Hedgcock] traces the origin of the name Jeeves to Percy Jeeves, a Warwickshire professional cricketer known for his impeccable grooming, smart shirts and spotlessly clean flannels. Wodehouse probably saw him take a couple of smooth, effortless catches in a match between Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. The name, the immaculate appearance and silent efficiency stuck and the inimitable manservant appeared first in 1916, just weeks after the original Percy Jeeves died in the war in France." Navtej Sarna (3 June 2012). "Of Lords, aunts and pigs". The Hindu Literary Review.
  8. ^ Thompson (1992), p. 121.
  9. ^ Murphy, N. T. P. (2015). The P. G. Wodehouse Miscellany. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-0750959643.
  10. ^ Usborne (2003), Plum Sauce: A P G Wodehouse Companion, pp. 58–59.
  11. ^ Dirda, Michael (10 November 2011). "Holmes and away". New Statesman America. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  12. ^ Meyers, Jeffrey; Meyers, Valerie (2002). The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Reader: From Sherlock Holmes to Spiritualism. New York: Cooper Square Press. p. xii. ISBN 9781461661276.
  13. ^ Thompson (1992), pp. 112–114.
  14. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1960], Jeeves in the Offing, chapter 2, p. 19.
  15. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1930], Very Good, Jeeves, chapter 5, p. 128.
  16. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1949], The Mating Season, chapter 8, p. 86.
  17. ^ Wodehouse (2008) (1971), Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 10 and chapter 15, p. 161.
  18. ^ a b Garrison (1991), pp. 96–98.
  19. ^ Wodehouse (2008) (1971), Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 12, p. 126.
  20. ^ Ring & Jaggard (1999), p. 131.
  21. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Right Ho, Jeeves, chapter 23, p. 288.
  22. ^ Cawthorne (2013), pp. 170–173. When asked by Lord Rowcester if he was in the First World War, Jeeves claims he "dabbled in it to a certain extent".
  23. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 46.
  24. ^ a b Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 13.
  25. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 2, p. 56-57 and chapter 4, p. 93.
  26. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 10, p. 268.
  27. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Right Ho, Jeeves, chapter 14, pp. 153–154.
  28. ^ Cawthorne (2013), pp. 173–174.
  29. ^ Cawthorne (2013), p. 174.
  30. ^ Ring & Jaggard (1999), p. 137.
  31. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1954], Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 3, pp. 36–37.
  32. ^ Usborne (2003), p. 91.
  33. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 38. "'Hullo, Reggie,' he said, and I froze in my chair, stunned by the revelation that Jeeves's first name was Reginald. It had never occurred to me before that he had a first name" (Bertie about Bingley greeting Jeeves).
  34. ^ In the 1937 film Step Lively, Jeeves, Jeeves, portrayed by Arthur Treacher, states his first name to be Rupert. However, Wodehouse had nothing to do with the script of that film, and Treacher's Jeeves character is so unlike Wodehouse's Jeeves that the viewer could easily believe him to be a different Jeeves altogether.
  35. ^ Wodehouse (1968) [1966], Plum Pie, chapter 1, p. 46. Aunt Dahlia implies that Jeeves is "maturer" than Bertie.
  36. ^ Wodeshouse (2008) [1953], Ring for Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 40.
  37. ^ Ring & Jaggard (1999), pp. 124–126.
  38. ^ Hall (1974), pp. 16 and 19. Jeeves's first appearance was in "Extricating Young Gussie", which was published in 1915 the US. However, multiple Wodehouse reference books say that Jeeves first appeared in 1916, possibly because that is when he first appeared in both the US and the UK.
  39. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1953], Ring for Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 40.
  40. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 12.
  41. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1949], The Mating Season, chapter 23, p. 219.
  42. ^ a b Usborne (2003), p. 86.
  43. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 4, pp. 32–34.
  44. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 12, p. 126.
  45. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1953], Ring for Jeeves, chapter 19, p. 211.
  46. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Thank You, Jeeves, chapter 1.
  47. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1963], Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 33. Bertie says regarding Jeeves, "He and the young master may have had differences about Alpine hats with pink feathers in them, but when he sees the y.m. on the receiving end of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, he sinks his dudgeon and comes through with the feudal spirit at its best. So now, instead of being cold and distant and aloof, as a lesser man would have been, he showed the utmost agitation and concern. That is to say, he allowed one eyebrow to rise perhaps an eighth of an inch, which is as far as he ever goes in the way of expressing emotion."
  48. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Thank You, Jeeves, chapter 5, p. 50.
  49. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Right Ho, Jeeves, chapter 9, p. 94.
  50. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1954], Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 12, p. 118 and chapter 21, p. 219.
  51. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1974], Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, chapter 5, p. 46, and chapter 20, p. 182.
  52. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 31.
  53. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 11, p. 122.
  54. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1963], Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, chapter 23, p. 191.
  55. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 12, p. 123–24.
  56. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1947], Joy in the Morning, chapter 6, p. 52.
  57. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Right Ho, Jeeves, chapter 22, p. 269. Bertie describes Jeeves: "He is magnetic. There is about him something that seems to soothe and hypnotize. To the best of my knowledge, he has never encountered a charging rhinoceros, but should this contingency occur, I have no doubt that the animal, meeting his eye, would check itself in mid-stride, roll over and lie purring with its legs in the air."
  58. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 8, p. 84.
  59. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1947], Joy in the Morning, chapter 16, p. 154 and chapter 17, p. 161. Jeeves is probably quoting William Wordsworth's poem "My Heart Leaps Up".
  60. ^ Usborne (2003), p. 93.
  61. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1949], The Mating Season, chapter 25, p. 245.
  62. ^ Wodehouse (1966), Plum Pie, chapter 1, p. 15.
  63. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1938], The Code of the Woosters, chapter 1, p. 1 and chapter 2, p. 28.
  64. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1938], The Code of the Woosters, chapter 6, p. 136.
  65. ^ Cawthorne (2013), p. 170.
  66. ^ Cawthorne (2013), p. 173.
  67. ^ Wodehouse at Work to the End, Richard Usborne 1976.
  68. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1930], Very Good, Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 98. Jeeves says that studying "the psychology of the individual" is essential to solving problems, and that this means studying "the natures and dispositions of the principals in the matter".
  69. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 5, p. 137.
  70. ^ Cawthorne (2013) p. 47.
  71. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1954], Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 7, p. 65. "It's a curious thing about those specials of Jeeves's, and one on which many revellers have commented, that while, as I mentioned earlier, they wake the sleeping tiger in you, they also work the other way round. I mean, if the tiger in you isn't sleeping but on the contrary up and doing with a heart for any fate, they lull you in. You come in like a lion, you take your snootful, and you got out like a lamb. Impossible to explain it, of course. One can merely state the facts."
  72. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Right Ho, Jeeves, chapter 5, p. 48.
  73. ^ Wodehouse (2011), P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters, p. 541. Wodehouse wrote: "Jeeves's bracer does not contain dynamite as is generally supposed. It consists of lime juice, a lump of sugar, and one teaspoonful of Mulliner's Buck-U-Uppo. This, it will be remembered, is the amount of the Buck-U-Uppo given to elephants in India to enable them to face tigers on tiger hunts with the necessary nonchalance."
  74. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 10, and chapter 16, p. 183.
  75. ^ Wodehouse (1993) [1959], A Few Quick Ones, chapter 4, p. 79. Jeeves tells Bertie how to steal a painting with treacle and brown paper, and says that this is "the recognized method in vogue in the burgling industry".
  76. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1930], Very Good, Jeeves, chapter 5, pp. 125–126. Jeeves tells Bertie how to lure a dog using aniseed, and says that it is extensively used in the dog-stealing industry.
  77. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 11, p. 123.
  78. ^ Wodehouse (1993) [1959], A Few Quick Ones, chapter 4, p. 89.
  79. ^ Thompson (1992), p. 131. "Certainly Jeeves never uses violence against Bertie, though he does—regretfully—get Aunt Dahlia to knock him out as part of the solution in 'Jeeves Makes an Omelet'."
  80. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1949], The Mating Season, chapter 24, p. 235.
  81. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1971], Much Obliged, Jeeves, chapter 7, p. 72. Bertie says, "'You want me to recommend you a good book? Well, of course, it depends on what you like. Jeeves, for instance, is never happier than when curled up with his Spinoza or his Shakespeare.'"
  82. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1954], Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 1, p. 11. "'My personal tastes lie more in the direction of Dostoevsky and the great Russians.'"
  83. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 19.
  84. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1960], Jeeves in the Offing, chapter 2, p. 25.
  85. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 15.
  86. ^ Wodehouse (1968) [1966], Plum Pie, chapter 1, p. 32.
  87. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1947], Joy in the Morning, chapter 20, p. 184.
  88. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1938], The Code of the Woosters, chapter 1, p. 9.
  89. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 36. In "Jeeves Takes Charge", Bertie fires Jeeves after Jeeves causes Florence to end her engagement to Bertie. Jeeves explains his actions: "'As I am no longer in your employment, sir, I can speak freely without appearing to take a liberty. In my opinion you and Lady Florence were quite unsuitably matched... You would not have been happy, sir!'"
  90. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 10, p. 256. Upset that Bertie appears to be contemplating marriage, Jeeves states that, in his experience, "when the wife comes in at the front door the valet of bachelor days goes out at the back".
  91. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Thank You, Jeeves, chapter 22, pp. 259–260.
  92. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 10, pp. 256 and 266.
  93. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 1, p. 10. This is a reference to a poem by Alexander Pope.
  94. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 5, pp. 125–126 and 130.
  95. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Thank You, Jeeves, chapter 15, p. 173.
  96. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1954], Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 1, p. 8.
  97. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1953], Ring for Jeeves, chapter 5, p. 61.
  98. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Right Ho, Jeeves, chapter 1, pp. 20–21.
  99. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 16, p. 210.
  100. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 2, p. 45.
  101. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1925], Carry On, Jeeves, chapter 4, p. 84.
  102. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1923], The Inimitable Jeeves, chapter 5, p. 55.
  103. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1934], Thank You, Jeeves, chapter 7, p. 82.
  104. ^ Wodehouse (2008) [1963], Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, chapter 21, p. 178.
  105. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (2 December 2018). "Jeeves And Wooster, But Make It A Modern Spy Novel". National Public Radio. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  106. ^ Cawthorne (2013), pp. 169–170. "Jeeves has achieved the ultimate accolade: his own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, where he is 'the perfect valet, used allusively'. 'Jeevesian' and 'Jeeves-like' also appear."
  107. ^ Ring, Tony (c. 2000). "Jeeves and Wooster March Into The Twenty-first Century". Wodehouse.ru. Retrieved 15 August 2007. The frequency with which the term 'Jeeves' is used without further explanation in the media of today, and its inclusion as a generic term in the Oxford English Dictionary, suggests that P G Wodehouse's Jeeves, together with his principal employer Bertie Wooster, remain the most popular of his many enduring characters.
  108. ^ "9 Words from P.G. Wodehouse". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  109. ^ Encarta World English Dictionary (2007). . Encarta.msn.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2007. Jeeves [ jeevz ], noun – Definition: resourceful helper: a useful and reliable person who provides ready solutions to problems ( informal ) [Mid-20th century. < a character in the novels of P. G. Wodehouse]
  110. ^ Seinfeld, Jerry (20 May 1993). "Did you ever notice a lot of butlers are named Jeeves?". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  111. ^ Johnson, Bobbie (10 February 2006). "That'll be all for now, Jeeves". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  112. ^ Murphy, N. T. P. (2015). The P. G. Wodehouse Miscellany. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-0750959643.
  113. ^ Thompson (1992), pp. 115–116.
  114. ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (2013). A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster. Philadelphia: Running Press. pp. 42–151. ISBN 978-1-78033-825-5.
  115. ^ The Russian Wodehouse Society. "Bibliography of short stories". Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  116. ^ Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, chapter 5, p. 45.
  117. ^ Morris (1981), p. 4.
  118. ^ Thompson (1992), pp. 340–341.
  119. ^ French (1966), p. 95.
  120. ^ Thompson (1992), pp. 343–344. "Dozens of references to contemporary events and personalities give the series its second kind of time, with the world changing around the unaging characters."
  121. ^ French (1966), p. 73.
  122. ^ WATSON, GEORGE (1997). "The Birth of Jeeves". The Virginia Quarterly Review. 73 (4): 641–652. JSTOR 26438951 – via JSTOR.
  123. ^ "Bertie Wooster returns as a spy in Jeeves sequel by Schott's Miscellany author". The Guardian. 13 October 2017.
  124. ^ "What ho, Jeeves… we're back! | lady.co.uk". lady.co.uk.
  125. ^ Hall (1974), p. 45.
  126. ^ Thompson (1992), pp. 102–103.
  127. ^ Thompson (1992), p. 104.
  128. ^ Thompson (1992), pp. 125–127.
  129. ^ Thompson (1992), p. 129.
  130. ^ Hall (1974), p. 91–94.
  131. ^ Thompson (1992), p. 155.
  132. ^ . British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  133. ^ Haslam, Melanie (1990). "Croft Original Sherry Commercial: [Jeeves and Wooster]". WARC. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  134. ^ "Croft Original 'One Instinctively Knows When Something Is Right'". HAT Ads. History of Advertising Trust. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  135. ^ "Thank You, P.G.Wodehouse (1981)". BFI. British Film Institute. 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  136. ^ "Thank You, P. G. Wodehouse". BBC Genome. BBC. 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  137. ^ Taves (2006), pp. 16 and 150.
  138. ^ Taves (2006), pp. 74–81.
  139. ^ Taves (2006), p. 98.
  140. ^ "Radio Theatre: Ring for Jeeves". The Radio Times. BBC (1631): 11. 11 February 1955. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  141. ^ "Three Star Bill Drama: Naunton Wayne with Deryck Guyler and Richard Wattis in ' Right Ho, Jeeves'". The Radio Times. BBC (1699): 13. June 1956. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  142. ^ Ross 2002, pp. 44–45.
  143. ^ "Saturday-Night Theatre: Right Ho, Jeeves". The Radio Times. BBC (3365): 41. 26 May 1988. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  144. ^ "The Code of the Woosters". LATW. L.A. Theatre Works. 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  145. ^ "Thank You, Jeeves!". LATW. L.A. Theatre Works. 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  146. ^ "Jeeves Live!". British Comedy Guide. BBC. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  147. ^ "Jeeves - Live!". BBC Radio 4. BBC. 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  148. ^ "Jeeves in Manhattan". BBC Radio 4. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  149. ^ "Classic Serial: Ring for Jeeves". BBC Radio 4. BBC. 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  150. ^ "Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves". BBC Radio 4. BBC. 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  151. ^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 140.
  152. ^ Pixler, Joe (3 January 1996). "Thank You, Jeeves". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  153. ^ Langer, Adam (5 December 1996). "Thank You, Jeeves/Tea With Saki: An Afternoon of Sinful Sweets and Wicked Wit". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  154. ^ Langer, Adam (27 November 1997). "Jeeves in the Morning". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  155. ^ Bommer, Lawrence (26 April 2001). "Jeeves and the Mating Season". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  156. ^ "Thank You, Jeeves". Stage West Theatre. Allied Theatre Group. 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  157. ^ "Mark Richard". L.A. Theatre Works. LATW. 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  158. ^ a b "Margaret Raether". Playscripts. 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  159. ^ Reid, Kerry (6 February 2020). "Jeeves Saves the Day offers a midwinter escape". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  160. ^ Glazer, Daniel Love (28 January 2010). "Review of Jeeves in Bloom" (PDF). Plum Lines. 31 (2): 6. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  161. ^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 328, L16. The story was printed on pages 574–85 in English Review 53 and pages 385–95 in The Best of Hugh Kingsmill.
  162. ^ Wodehouse (2011), P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters, pp. 457–460. For the parody, see Maclaren-Ross, "Good Lord, Jeeves", Punch, 20 May 1953, Vol. CCXXIV, No. 5876, pp. 592–593.
  163. ^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 328, L21.
  164. ^ Two examples appear in the 7 December and 14 December 1977 issues of the UK magazine Punch, each with an illustration by Brian Hughes.
  165. ^ Parkinson, C. Northcote (1981) [1979]. Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman (U.S. ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-44144-4.
  166. ^ Shippey, Tom (13 March 2015). "Science Fiction: The Lost World". The Wall Street Journal. New York. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  167. ^ Grylls, David (24 October 2020). "Jeeves and the Leap of Faith by Ben Schott, review — a 'new' Wodehouse". The Times.

Bibliography

  • Cawthorne, Nigel (2013). A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster. London: Constable & Robinson. ISBN 978-1-78033-824-8.
  • French, R. B. D. (1966). P. G. Wodehouse. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. ASIN B002CFDZJO.
  • Garrison, Daniel H. (1991) [1989]. Who's Who in Wodehouse (Revised ed.). New York: Constable & Robinson. ISBN 1-55882-087-6.
  • Hall, Robert A. Jr. (1974). The Comic Style of P. G. Wodehouse. Hamden: Archon Books. ISBN 0-208-01409-8.
  • Kuzmenko, Michel (The Russian Wodehouse Society) (22 March 2007). "Wodehouse books". Bibliography. Retrieved 15 August 2007.
  • 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.
  • Morris, J. H. C. (1981). Thank You, Wodehouse. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-79494-0.
  • Reggie (16 March 2007). . Blandings, a Companion to the Works of P. G. Wodehouse. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  • Ring, Tony; Jaggard, Geoffrey (1999). Wodehouse in Woostershire. Chippenham: Porpoise Books. ISBN 1-870304-19-5.
  • Ross, Robert (2002). The Complete Terry-Thomas. London: Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 978-1-903111-29-1.
  • Taves, Brian (2006). P. G. Wodehouse and Hollywood: Screenwriting, Satires and Adaptations. London: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2288-3.
  • Thompson, Kristin (1992). Wooster Proposes, Jeeves Disposes or Le Mot Juste. New York: James H. Heineman, Inc. ISBN 0-87008-139-X.
  • Usborne, Richard (2003). Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion. New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567-441-9.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1923]. The Inimitable Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951368-1.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1925]. Carry On, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951369-8.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1930]. Very Good, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951372-8.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1934]. Thank You, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951373-5.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1934]. Right Ho, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951374-2.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1938]. The Code of the Woosters (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951375-9.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1947]. Joy in the Morning (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951376-6.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1949]. The Mating Season (Reprinted ed.). Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951377-3.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1953]. Ring for Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951392-6.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1954]. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-1-78033-824-8.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (1993) [1959]. A Few Quick Ones (Reprinted ed.). London: The Guernsey Press Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-09-981950-3.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1960]. Jeeves in the Offing (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951394-0.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1963]. Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951395-7.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (1968) [1966]. Plum Pie (Reprinted ed.). London: Pan Books Ltd. ISBN 978-0-330-02203-3.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1971]. Much Obliged, Jeeves (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951396-4.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2008) [1974]. Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (Reprinted ed.). London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-0-09-951397-1.
  • Wodehouse, P. G. (2013). Ratcliffe, Sophie (ed.). P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters. London: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2288-3.

External links

  • Jeeves Stories at Standard Ebooks
  • The Wodehouse Society's page
  • The P G Wodehouse Society (UK)
  • (March 2007 Archive.org cache) at the BBC Comedy Guide (down)
  • (March 2007 Archive.org cache) at the BBC Comedy Guide

jeeves, other, uses, disambiguation, born, reginald, nicknamed, reggie, fictional, character, series, comedic, short, stories, novels, english, author, wodehouse, highly, competent, valet, wealthy, idle, young, londoner, named, bertie, wooster, first, appearin. For other uses see Jeeves disambiguation Jeeves born Reginald Jeeves nicknamed Reggie 1 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 Reginald JeevesJeeves characterJeeves on the cover of My Man Jeeves 1920 First appearance Extricating Young Gussie 1915 Last appearanceAunts Aren t Gentlemen 1974 Created byP G WodehousePortrayed byStephen Fry Michael Hordern Dennis Price othersIn universe informationFull nameReginald JeevesAliasInspector WitherspoonNicknameReggieGenderMaleOccupationValet of Bertie WoosterRelativesCharlie Silversmith uncle Queenie Silversmith cousin Mabel niece more NationalityBritishBoth the name Jeeves and the character of Jeeves have come to be thought of as the quintessential name and nature of a manservant inspiring many similar characters as well as the name of an Internet search engine Ask Jeeves and a financial technology company 2 A Jeeves is now a generic term as validated by its entry in the Oxford English Dictionary 3 Jeeves is a valet not a butler that is he is responsible for serving an individual whereas a butler is responsible for a household and manages other servants On rare occasions he does fill in for someone else s butler According to Bertie Wooster he can buttle with the best of them Contents 1 Inspiration 2 Fictional biography 2 1 Early life and family 2 2 Employment history 2 3 The stories 3 Personal characteristics 3 1 Age and appearance 3 2 Personality 3 3 Skills 3 4 Hobbies 4 Relationship with Bertie Wooster 5 Influence 6 Jeeves series 6 1 List of stories 6 2 Setting and timeline 6 3 Comic style 7 Adaptations 7 1 Television 7 2 Film 7 3 Radio 7 4 Theatre 7 5 Musicals 7 6 Comics 7 7 Literature 8 See also 9 References 9 1 Notes 9 2 Bibliography 10 External linksInspiration EditA valet called Jevons appears in Wodehouse s 1914 short story Creatures of Impulse and may have been an early prototype for Jeeves 4 Like Jeeves Jevons is described as the perfect valet 5 Creatures of Impulse appeared in The Strand Magazine and was not republished in any collection though some parts went into the making of The Crime Wave at Blandings 6 In his 1953 semi autobiographical book written with Guy Bolton Bring on the Girls Wodehouse suggested that the Jeeves character was inspired by an actual butler named Eugene Robinson whom Wodehouse employed for research purposes Wodehouse described Robinson as a walking Encyclopaedia Britannica However Robinson worked at Wodehouse s house in Norfolk Street where Wodehouse did not live until 1927 long after Jeeves had been created 4 Wodehouse named his Jeeves after Percy Jeeves 1888 1916 a popular English cricketer for Warwickshire Wodehouse witnessed Percy Jeeves bowling at Cheltenham Cricket Festival in 1913 Percy Jeeves was killed at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 less than a year after the first appearance of the Wodehouse character who would make his name a household word 7 In a letter written in 1965 Wodehouse wrote that he had read Harry Leon Wilson s Ruggles of Red Gap when it was first published as a magazine serial in 1914 and it influenced the creation of Jeeves 8 Ruggles of Red Gap is a comedic novel about an English valet who is won by an American from an English earl in a poker game In the letter Wodehouse wrote I felt that an English valet would never have been so docile about being handed over to an American in payment of a poker debt I thought he had missed the chap s dignity I think it was then that the idea of Jeeves came into my mind 9 The development of Jeeves and Bertie was influenced by Arthur Conan Doyle s Sherlock Holmes stories according to Richard Usborne Sherlock Holmes and Jeeves are the great brains while Dr Watson and Bertie are the awed companion narrators bungling things if they try to solve the problems themselves 10 Jeeves and Bertie have been described as comic versions of Holmes and Watson 11 12 Wodehouse directly compares Jeeves and Bertie to Holmes and Watson in some of the Jeeves stories such as in Aunts Aren t Gentlemen 13 Fictional biography EditEarly life and family Edit Wodehouse disclosed little about Jeeves s early life According to the character he was privately educated 14 and his mother thought him intelligent 15 Jeeves has an uncle Charlie Silversmith who is butler at Deverill Hall Silversmith dandled Jeeves on his knee frequently when Jeeves was very young and when Jeeves is an adult they write regularly to each other 16 17 Charlie Silversmith s daughter Queenie Silversmith is Jeeves s cousin Jeeves also mentions his late uncle Cyril in Right Ho Jeeves His niece Mabel is engaged to Bertie Wooster s friend Charles Biffy Biffen His cousin Egbert is a constable and plays a role in the short story Without the Option 18 Jeeves has three placid aunts in contrast to Bertie Wooster s aunts 19 Aunt Emily is interested in psychical research and another aunt Mrs Pigott owns a cat in Maiden Eggesford this cat plays a major role in Aunts Aren t Gentlemen Jeeves occasionally references an aunt without naming her including an aunt who read Oliver Wendell Holmes to him when he was young 20 In Right Ho Jeeves he references his Aunt Annie though she was widely disliked 21 Employment history Edit In his youth Jeeves worked as a page boy at a girls school He apparently served in the military to some extent in World War I 22 In the play Come On Jeeves Jeeves states that he was a batman Shortly before entering Bertie s service Jeeves was employed by Lord Frederick Ranelagh who was swindled in Monte Carlo 23 Jeeves previously worked for Lord Worplesdon resigning after nearly a year because of Worplesdon s eccentric choice of evening dress 24 Jeeves later helps Lord Worplesdon in Joy in the Morning Other former employers include Mr Digby Thistleton later Lord Bridgnorth who sold hair tonic 25 Mr Montague Todd a financier who is in the second year of a prison term when Jeeves mentions him 26 and Lord Brancaster who gave port soaked seedcake to his pet parrot 27 Jeeves becomes Bertie Wooster s valet However his tenure with Bertie Wooster has occasional lapses during the stories at these times Jeeves finds work elsewhere Jeeves works for Lord Chuffnell for a week in Thank You Jeeves after giving notice because of Bertie Wooster s unwillingness to give up the banjolele and is briefly employed by J Washburn Stoker in the same novel In Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves he serves as substitute butler for Bertie s Aunt Dahlia and later enters Sir Watkyn Bassett s employment for a short time as part of a scheme to help Bertie Jeeves is Lord Rowcester s butler for the length of Ring for Jeeves 28 While working for Bertie Wooster he occasionally pretends to be the valet of one of Bertie s friends as part of some scheme though he is still actually Bertie s valet He pretends to be the valet of Bicky Bickersteth in Jeeves and the Hard boiled Egg Rocky Todd in The Aunt and the Sluggard and Gussie Fink Nottle when Gussie masquerades as Bertie Wooster in The Mating Season 29 Jeeves acts as a bookmaker s clerk in Ring for Jeeves disguising himself for the role with a check suit and walrus moustache 30 In the play Come On Jeeves which has mostly the same plot as Ring for Jeeves it is mentioned that Jeeves changed his appearance as a bookmaker s clerk though in the play Jeeves also impersonates a medieval ghost named Lady Agatha wearing makeup and women s medieval clothing to complete the disguise He pretends to be a broker s man in Jeeves and the Greasy Bird and Bertie s solicitor in Aunts Aren t Gentlemen In one instance he pretends to be Bertie Wooster in a telephone conversation with playwright Percy Gorringe 31 In Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves he assumes an alias calling himself Chief Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard This alias is also mentioned in Aunts Aren t Gentlemen Jeeves is a member of the Junior Ganymede Club a London club for butlers and valets The stories Edit Jeeves is first hired by Bertie in Jeeves Takes Charge to replace a valet whom Bertie had fired for stealing from him In this short story Bertie briefly fires Jeeves after Jeeves who believes that Bertie would not be happy with his fiancee Florence Craye takes steps to end Bertie s engagement to her Bertie quickly rehires Jeeves after realizing that Jeeves was right Thereafter Jeeves lives with Bertie usually in their London residence at Berkeley Mansions Over the course of the short stories and novels Jeeves helps Bertie frequently extricating him from unwanted engagements and also assists Bertie s friends and relatives with various dilemmas Jeeves often has another motive such as disposing of an item recently acquired by Bertie that Jeeves does not like for example a bright scarlet cummerbund He sometimes receives a monetary reward from Bertie and other people he helps in early stories though this does not occur in later stories Bertie and Jeeves experience a variety of adventures in numerous short stories and novels Aside from changes in his employment status some events occur that are particularly noteworthy for Jeeves Jeeves gets engaged twice in Jeeves in the Springtime though he never references these fiancees afterward and it appears that he does not become engaged again 32 In the only story Jeeves narrates Bertie Changes His Mind he opposes Bertie s decision to live with his nieces Jeeves and Bertie visit Deverill Hall where Jeeves s Uncle Charlie is employed as butler in The Mating Season In the novel Ring for Jeeves which is set after World War II Jeeves temporarily works as Lord Rowcester s butler while Bertie is sent to a school where the idle rich learn to fend for themselves This is the only story in which Jeeves appears without Bertie Wooster The novel was adapted from the play Come On Jeeves Jeeves s first name was not revealed until the penultimate novel Much Obliged Jeeves Bertie Wooster learns Jeeves s name when he hears another valet greet Jeeves with Hullo Reggie The readers may have been surprised to learn Jeeves s first name but Bertie was stunned by the revelation that he had a first name in the first place 33 34 In the club book of Jeeves s club the Junior Ganymede all members must record the foibles of their employers to forewarn other butlers and valets Bertie wants Jeeves to destroy his section Jeeves is initially reluctant to defy his club s rules but he eventually does destroy the pages for Bertie by the end of Much Obliged Jeeves Jeeves last appears in Aunts Aren t Gentlemen in which Jeeves and Bertie head to the rural village of Maiden Eggesford though Jeeves wants to go to New York He and Bertie visit New York at the end of the story Personal characteristics EditAge and appearance Edit While Bertie Wooster is approximately 24 years old in Jeeves Takes Charge 1916 Jeeves s age is not stated in the stories and has been interpreted differently by various illustrators and adaptations However there are a few hints in the books regarding Jeeves s age Jeeves has a long employment history and he is older than Bertie Wooster 35 On the other hand Jeeves is young enough to be engaged to a waitress courted by Bingo Little who is the same age as Bertie Wooster in Jeeves in the Springtime In Ring for Jeeves Jeeves is described as resembling a youngish High Priest of a refined and dignified religion 36 In the reference work Wodehouse in Woostershire by Wodehouse scholars Geoffrey Jaggard and Tony Ring it is speculated using information provided in the Jeeves canon that Bertie s age ranges from approximately 24 to 29 over the stories and that Jeeves is roughly ten years older than Bertie giving an age range of 35 to 40 37 This happens to agree with a personal letter written in 1961 by P G Wodehouse to scholar Robert A Hall Jr in which Wodehouse explaining that his characters did not age with real life time gave an approximate age for Jeeves Keggs in A Damsel in Distress is supposed to be the same man who appears in The Butler Did It but does it pan out all right It doesn t if you go by when the books were written The Damsel was published in 1919 and the Butler in 1957 But I always ignore real life time After all Jeeves first heard of at the age presumably of about thirty five in 1916 would now be around eighty five counting the real years 38 In appearance Jeeves is described as tall and dark and impressive 39 When they first meet in Jeeves Takes Charge Bertie describes Jeeves as a kind of darkish sort of respectful Johnnie with a grave sympathetic face and a nearly silent way of walking that Bertie equates to a healing zephyr 40 On multiple occasions Bertie states that Jeeves has finely chiselled features and a large head which seems to Bertie to indicate intelligence As Bertie says Jeeves is a godlike man in a bowler hat with grave finely chiselled features and a head that stuck out at the back indicating great brain power 41 Bertie also describes Jeeves s eyes as gleaming with intelligence 18 Personality Edit Bertie frequently describes Jeeves as having a feudal spirit Jeeves enjoys helping Bertie and his friends 42 and solves Bertie s personal problems despite not being obliged to do so Jeeves interrupts his vacation twice to come to Bertie s aid in The Love That Purifies and Jeeves in the Offing He regularly rescues Bertie usually from an unwanted marriage but also from other threats such as when he saves Bertie from a hostile swan or when he pulls Bertie out of the way of a taxi 43 Jeeves is evidently offended when a revolutionary tells him that servants are outdated in Comrade Bingo 44 Jeeves generally manipulates situations for the better and is described as a kindly man in Ring for Jeeves 45 However he does influence Bertie s decisions to suit his own preferences such as when he causes Bertie to change his mind about living with his nieces in Bertie Changes His Mind Jeeves is also stubborn when opposing a new item that Bertie has taken a liking to such as an alpine hat or purple socks While he often stays on in spite of these radical objects he can only withstand so much the worst case is when he resigned after Bertie privately labeling him as a domestic Mussolini resolved to study the banjolele in the countryside 46 Usually Jeeves finds a way to help Bertie with a problem and Bertie agrees to give away the item that Jeeves disapproves of Even when Bertie and Jeeves are having a disagreement Jeeves still shows sympathy as much as he shows any emotion when Bertie is in serious trouble 47 Often wearing an expression of quiet intelligence combined with a feudal desire to oblige 48 Jeeves consistently maintains a calm and courteous demeanor When he feels discomfort or is being discreet he assumes an expressionless face which Bertie describes as resembling a stuffed moose 49 or stuffed frog 50 When very surprised he will raise his eyebrow a small fraction of an inch and when he is amused the corner of his mouth twitches slightly 51 His composure extends to his voice which is soft and respectful 52 When he wishes to start a conversation he sometimes makes a low gentle cough like a very old sheep clearing its throat on a misty mountain top 53 He may also cough to signify disapproval 54 Bertie states that he saw the normally imperturbable Jeeves come very near to being rattled for the first time when the sight of Bingo Little in a false beard caused Jeeves to drop his jaw and steady himself with a table in Comrade Bingo 55 In Joy in the Morning Bertie claims that the only occasion on which he had ever seen Jeeves really rattled was when he first met Bertie s friend Boko Fittleworth who wears turtleneck sweaters and flannel trousers with a patch on the knee Jeeves winced visibly and tottered off to recover his composure in the kitchen where Bertie supposes Jeeves pulled himself together with cooking sherry 56 Bertie says that Jeeves is persuasive and magnetic 57 He believes that Jeeves could convince a candidate standing for Parliament to vote against herself 58 There is a poetic side to Jeeves who recites a great deal of poetry He is much affected when a parted couple reconciles and tells Bertie that his heart leaps up when he beholds a rainbow in the sky 59 It is not unusual for Bertie s acquaintances to ask for Jeeves s help directly without discussing it with Bertie and Jeeves is willing to assist them even if Bertie is not involved in any way 60 Bertie once says that Jeeves isn t so much a valet as a Mayfair consultant 61 On one occasion Bertie considers it probable that even the distinguished Sir Roderick Glossop has consulted Jeeves and says Jeeves is like Sherlock Holmes The highest in the land come to him with their problems For all I know they may give him jewelled snuff boxes 62 Skills Edit Jeeves presents the ideal image of the gentlemanly manservant being highly competent dignified and respectful He speaks intelligently and correctly using proper titles for members of the nobility One of his skills is moving silently and unobtrusively from room to room According to Bertie Jeeves noiselessly floats and shimmers 63 Bertie once remarks Presently I was aware that Jeeves was with me I hadn t heard him come in but you often don t with Jeeves He just streams silently from spot A to spot B like some gas 64 In addition to being a proficient valet Jeeves can serve capably as a butler and does so on a few occasions As Bertie says in Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves If the call comes he can buttle with the best of them 65 Jeeves has an encyclopedic knowledge of literature and academic subjects He frequently quotes from Shakespeare and the romantic poets Well informed about members of the British aristocracy thanks to the club book of the Junior Ganymede Club he also seems to have a considerable number of useful connections among various servants Jeeves uses his knowledge and connections to solve problems inconspicuously 66 Richard Usborne a leading scholar of the life and works of Wodehouse describes Jeeves as a godlike prime mover and master brain who is found to have engineered the apparent coincidence or coincidences 67 To form his plans Jeeves often studies the psychology of the individual or the personality of one or more people involved in the situation 68 His mental prowess is attributed to eating fish according to Bertie Wooster who credits the phosphorus content in the fish with boosting Jeeves s brain power Jeeves does not try to argue this claim though at least once he says he does not eat a lot of fish 69 One of Jeeves s greatest skills is making a special drink of his own invention a strong beverage which momentarily stuns one s senses but is very effective in curing hangovers The drink is Jeeves s version of a prairie oyster 70 Bertie first hires Jeeves after his hangover is cured by one of Jeeves s special drinks 24 Not simply a hangover cure the drink can also give energy to someone who needs it yet calm down someone who is agitated 71 Dark in colour Jeeves s special pick me up is composed of Worcester sauce a raw egg and red pepper according to Jeeves though Bertie suspects that the drink consists of more than that 72 Wodehouse mentions other ingredients in a personal letter he wrote late in his life though these ingredients are not referred to in the stories 73 Additionally Jeeves is capable of typing and writing shorthand 74 Jeeves has knowledge in more dubious subjects as well He is well informed about how to steal paintings and kidnap dogs 75 76 He uses a Mickey Finn to incapacitate the unscrupulous Bingley 77 Capable of action when the situation calls for it Jeeves uses a golf club to knock out Sippy Sipperley in The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy and takes down a swan with a raincoat and boathook in Jeeves and the Impending Doom He finds it necessary to get Aunt Dahlia to knock out Bertie with a gong stick in Jeeves Makes an Omelette though he agrees with Bertie not to use this sort of tactic again 78 79 After Jeeves uses a cosh to knock out Constable Dobbs in The Mating Season an astonished Bertie describes Jeeves as something that would be gratefully accepted as a muscle guy by any gang on the lookout for new blood 80 Hobbies Edit Jeeves often reads intellectual improving books including the works of Spinoza Shakespeare and Dostoevsky and the great Russians 81 82 He also enjoys the works of romance novelist Rosie M Banks 83 and regularly reads The Times which Bertie occasionally borrows to try the crossword puzzle 84 In Jeeves in the Springtime he went dancing in Camberwell where he was seen by Bertie s friend Bingo Little Bingo says that he saw Jeeves swinging a dashed efficient shoe 85 Once a week Jeeves takes the afternoon off to play bridge at his club the Junior Ganymede 86 One of Jeeves s hobbies is fishing which he tends to do during his annual summer holiday typically taken at Bognor Regis Bertie sees him fishing in Joy in the Morning 87 Appreciating travel in general Jeeves wants to go on a cruise in two different stories The Spot of Art and The Code of the Woosters Jeeves claims that travel is educational though Bertie suspects that Jeeves has a Viking strain and yearns for the tang of the salt breezes 88 Jeeves occasionally enjoys gambling which is the reason he wishes to go to Monte Carlo in Jeeves and the Yule tide Spirit Relationship with Bertie Wooster EditThe premise of the Jeeves stories is that the brilliant valet is firmly in control of his rich and unworldly young employer s life Jeeves becomes Bertie Wooster s guardian and all purpose problem solver devising subtle plans to help Bertie and his friends with various problems In particular Jeeves extricates Bertie Wooster from engagements to formidable women whom Bertie reluctantly becomes engaged to Bertie being unwilling to hurt a woman s feelings by turning her down While Jeeves wants to keep Bertie from a fiancee whom he believes will not make Bertie happy Jeeves also wants to keep his position which he feels would be threatened by a wife 89 90 Jeeves also provides assistance when Bertie who refuses to let a pal down gets drawn into trouble trying to help a friend or a relative he is fond of Bertie is usually unaware of the extent of Jeeves s machinations until all is revealed at the end of the story On one occasion Bertie acknowledges and accepts his role as a pawn in Jeeves s grand plan though Jeeves objects saying that he could have accomplished nothing without Bertie s cooperation 91 For the most part Bertie and Jeeves are on good terms Being fond of Bertie Jeeves considers their connection pleasant in every respect 92 Bertie says that he looks on Jeeves as a sort of guide philosopher and friend 93 At times when Bertie is separated from Jeeves Bertie is miserable When Bertie must stay by himself in a hotel in The Aunt and the Sluggard he struggles without having Jeeves there to press his clothes and bring him tea saying I don t know when I ve felt so rotten Somehow I found myself moving about the room softly as if there had been a death in the family he later cheers himself up by going round the cabarets though the frightful loss of Jeeves made any thought of pleasure more or less a mockery 94 In Thank You Jeeves when Jeeves has left Bertie s employment because of their disagreement over a banjolele Bertie still seeks Jeeves for help and Jeeves comes to his aid 95 Bertie dislikes when Jeeves goes on his annual holiday stating without this right hand man at his side Bertram Wooster becomes a mere shadow his former self 96 Jeeves appreciates the praise that Bertie bestows on him saying that Mr Wooster has always been gratifyingly appreciative of my humble efforts on his behalf 97 Jeeves has firm ideas about how an English gentleman should dress and behave and sees it as his duty to ensure that his employer presents himself appropriately When friction arises between Jeeves and Bertie it is usually over some new item about which Bertie Wooster is enthusiastic that does not meet with Jeeves s approval such as bright purple socks a white mess jacket or a garish vase Bertie becomes attached to these less conservative pieces and views Jeeves s opposition to them as hidebound and reactionary 98 marking him an enemy to Progress 99 This type of disagreement results in a period of coolness between them The conflict is resolved by the end of the story typically after Jeeves has helped Bertie with his latest problem Bertie grateful agrees to have it Jeeves s way He does not object if he learns that Jeeves foreseeing that Bertie would agree to give up the item has already disposed of it Bertie considers Jeeves to be a marvel and wonders why Jeeves is content to work for him stating It beats me sometimes why a man with his genius is satisfied to hang around pressing my clothes and what not 100 Jeeves has been offered twice the salary Bertie pays him by another gentleman but still remains with Bertie 101 Jeeves views Bertie as being friendly but mentally negligible though his opinion of Bertie s intelligence seems to improve over time In an early story he says that Bertie is an exceedingly pleasant and amiable young gentleman but not intelligent By no means intelligent Mentally he is negligible quite negligible 102 Hearing this spurs Bertie to try to solve problems on his own though he ultimately fails and needs Jeeves s assistance Nonetheless Jeeves s view of Bertie s intelligence has apparently softened by the first novel when Jeeves says that Bertie is perhaps mentally somewhat negligible but he has a heart of gold 103 At one point in the ninth novel Jeeves actually commends Bertie s quick thinking saying that Bertie s tactic of hiding from an antagonist behind a sofa showed a resource and swiftness of thought which it would be difficult to overpraise 104 Influence EditJeeves s name is used as a synonym for a personal manservant 105 A Jeeves is a generic term for a model valet or butler according to the Oxford English Dictionary 106 107 and the Merriam Webster Dictionary 108 It can mean a resourceful helper according to the Encarta World English Dictionary 109 In a comedy routine in a 1993 Seinfeld episode Jerry Seinfeld said Did you ever notice a lot of butlers are named Jeeves I think when you name a baby Jeeves you ve pretty much mapped out his future Not much chance he s gonna be a hitman 110 From 1996 until 2006 Ask com a question and answer search engine was known as Ask Jeeves and featured a caricature of a butler on its launch page 111 The name of Jeeves has also been used by other companies and services such as the British dry cleaning firm Jeeves of Belgravia and the New Zealand company Jeeves Tours 112 The fictional amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey and his valet Mervyn Bunter created by Dorothy L Sayers in 1923 were partially inspired by Bertie Wooster and Jeeves 113 Jeeves series EditList of stories Edit The Jeeves canon is a series of comedic stories following Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves consisting of 35 short stories and 11 novels 114 With minor exceptions the short stories were written and published first between 1915 and 1930 the novels later between 1934 and 1974 While the series of stories featuring the character of Jeeves are often referred to as the Jeeves stories the series is also called by other names such as the Jeeves and Wooster or Jeeves and Bertie stories Bertie Wooster narrates in the first person all the stories but two Bertie Changes His Mind which Jeeves himself narrates in the first person and Ring for Jeeves which features Jeeves but not Bertie Wooster and is written in the third person Jeeves and Bertie first appeared in Extricating Young Gussie a short story published in the US in September 1915 though it was not seen in the UK until 1916 In the story Jeeves s character is minor and not fully developed and Bertie s surname appears to be Mannering Phipps The first fully recognisable Jeeves and Wooster story was Leave It to Jeeves published in early 1916 As the series progressed Jeeves assumed the role of Bertie Wooster s co protagonist Most of the Jeeves stories were originally published as magazine pieces before being collected into books although 11 of the short stories were reworked and divided into 18 chapters to make an episodic semi novel called The Inimitable Jeeves Other collections most notably The World of Jeeves restore these to their original form of 11 distinct stories The Man with Two Left Feet 1917 One story in a book of thirteen Extricating Young Gussie The first appearances of Jeeves and Bertie originally published 1915 09 18 in the Saturday Evening Post 115 My Man Jeeves 1919 Four stories in a book of eight all four reprinted in slightly rewritten forms in the 1925 collection Carry On Jeeves The non Jeeves stories feature Reggie Pepper Leave It to Jeeves rewritten and retitled The Artistic Career of Corky in Carry On Jeeves originally published 1916 02 05 in the Saturday Evening Post The Aunt and the Sluggard slightly rewritten for Carry On Jeeves originally published 1916 04 22 in the Saturday Evening Post Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest slightly rewritten for Carry On Jeeves originally published 1916 12 09 in the Saturday Evening Post Jeeves and the Hard boiled Egg slightly rewritten for Carry On Jeeves originally published 1917 03 03 in the Saturday Evening Post The Inimitable Jeeves 1923 A semi novel consisting of eighteen chapters originally published as eleven short stories some of which were split for the book A Letter of Introduction with Startling Dressiness of a Lift Attendant together Jeeves and the Chump Cyril originally published 1918 04 03 in the Saturday Evening Post The Pride of the Woosters Is Wounded with The Hero s Reward together Scoring off Jeeves originally published February 1922 in the Strand Introducing Claude and Eustace with Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch together Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch originally published March 1922 in the Strand Aunt Agatha Speaks Her Mind with Pearls Mean Tears together Aunt Agatha Takes the Count originally published April 1922 in the Strand revised for TIJ Comrade Bingo with Bingo Has a Bad Goodwood together Comrade Bingo originally published May 1922 in the Strand The Great Sermon Handicap originally published June 1922 in the Strand The Purity of the Turf originally published July 1922 in the Strand The Metropolitan Touch originally published September 1922 in the Strand The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace originally published October 1922 in the Strand Bingo and the Little Woman with All s Well together Bingo and the Little Woman originally published November 1922 in the Strand Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum with No Wedding Bells for Bingo together Jeeves in the Springtime originally published December 1921 in the Strand and Cosmopolitan Carry On Jeeves 1925 Ten stories Jeeves Takes Charge Recounts the first meeting of Jeeves and Wooster originally published 1916 11 18 in the Saturday Evening Post The Artistic Career of Corky a rewrite of Leave It to Jeeves originally published in My Man Jeeves Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest originally published in My Man Jeeves Jeeves and the Hard boiled Egg originally published in My Man Jeeves The Aunt and the Sluggard originally published in My Man Jeeves The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy originally published 1924 Without the Option originally published 1925 Fixing it for Freddie a rewrite of a Reggie Pepper story Helping Freddie originally published in My Man Jeeves Clustering Round Young Bingo originally published 1925 02 21 in the Saturday Evening Post Bertie Changes His Mind The only story in the canon narrated by Jeeves originally published August 1922 in the Strand and Cosmopolitan Very Good Jeeves 1930 Eleven stories Jeeves and the Impending Doom originally published 1926 The Inferiority Complex of Old Sippy originally published 1926 Jeeves and the Yule tide Spirit US title Jeeves and the Yuletide Spirit originally published 1927 Jeeves and the Song of Songs originally published 1929 Episode of the Dog McIntosh US title Jeeves and the Dog McIntosh originally published 1929 The Spot of Art US title Jeeves and the Spot of Art originally published 1929 Jeeves and the Kid Clementina originally published 1930 The Love That Purifies US title Jeeves and the Love That Purifies originally published 1929 Jeeves and the Old School Chum originally published 1930 Indian Summer of an Uncle originally published 1930 The Ordeal of Young Tuppy US title Tuppy Changes His Mind originally published 1930 Thank You Jeeves 1934 The first full length Jeeves novel Right Ho Jeeves 1934 US title Brinkley Manor The Code of the Woosters 1938 Joy in the Morning 1946 US title Jeeves in the Morning The Mating Season 1949 Come On Jeeves 1952 play with Guy Bolton adapted 1953 into Ring for Jeeves produced 1954 published 1956 Ring for Jeeves 1953 Only Jeeves novel without Bertie Wooster US title The Return of Jeeves adapting the play Come On Jeeves Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 1954 US title Bertie Wooster Sees It Through A Few Quick Ones 1959 One short story in a book of ten Jeeves Makes an Omelette a rewrite of a Reggie Pepper story originally published in My Man Jeeves Jeeves in the Offing 1960 US title How Right You Are Jeeves Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves 1963 Plum Pie 1966 One short story in a book of nine Jeeves and the Greasy Bird Much Obliged Jeeves 1971 US title Jeeves and the Tie That Binds Aunts Aren t Gentlemen 1974 US title The Cat nappers The collection The World of Jeeves first published in 1967 reprinted in 1988 contains all of the Jeeves short stories with the exception of Extricating Young Gussie presented more or less in narrative chronological order but with some variations from the originals An efficient method of reading the entire Jeeves canon is to read The World of Jeeves followed by the eleven novels in order of publication The novels generally mention characters and events that happened in previous stories Another way of reading most of the Jeeves canon is to read the short story collections The Inimitable Jeeves Carry On Jeeves and Very Good Jeeves followed by the novels While Carry On Jeeves features some earlier stories it also includes stories that occur after events in The Inimitable Jeeves Setting and timeline Edit The short stories are set primarily in London where Bertie Wooster has a flat and is a member of the raucous Drones Club or in New York City though some short stories are set around various stately homes in the English countryside The novels all take place at or near an English country house most commonly Brinkley Court Worcestershire in four novels and Totleigh Towers Gloucestershire in two novels The Jeeves stories are described as occurring within a few years of each other For example Bertie states in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 1954 that his Aunt Dahlia has been running her paper Milady s Boudoir first introduced in Clustering Round Young Bingo 1925 for about three years 116 However there are inconsistencies between the stories that make it difficult to construct a timeline For instance it is stated in Jeeves in the Offing that Aunt Dahlia ran her paper for four years and not three as is shown in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit Nonetheless some scholars have attempted to create a rough timeline J H C Morris suggested that the Jeeves canon spanned approximately five years stating that four Christmases are accounted for and another must have passed during Bertie s time in America in the early stories making five in all 117 Kristin Thompson also suggested that approximately five years passed during the stories though Thompson instead relied on explicit references to time passed between events in the series 118 The stories follow a floating timeline with each story being set at the time it was written while the characters do not change and past events are referred to as happening recently This results in the stories following two kinds of time as the characters hardly age but are seen against the background of a changing world 119 This floating timeline allows for comedic references to films songs and politicians that would have been well known to readers when the stories were written For example in Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 1954 when Bertie is surprised to hear that his Aunt Dahlia wants to sell her weekly paper he remarks It was like hearing that Rodgers had decided to sell Hammerstein 120 This is a reference to Rodgers and Hammerstein who created popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s However certain Edwardian era elements such as aristocratic country houses and traditional gentlemen s clubs like the Drones Club continue to be prevalent throughout the series despite becoming less common in the real world 121 Several writers have described the Jeeves series as being set in the interwar period 1918 1939 122 123 124 The setting is generally an idealised version of the world with international conflicts being downplayed or ignored Illness and injuries cause negligible harm similar to downplayed injuries in stage comedy 125 Comic style Edit The plots and dialogue of the Jeeves stories were strongly influenced by Wodehouse s experience writing for the stage and the playlike quality of the stories is often comically exaggerated For example many stage comedies involve two sundered couples and this number is increased to five for the plot of the Jeeves novel The Mating Season Bertie frequently uses theatrical terminology to describe characters and settings For instance in Joy in the Morning Bertie says that Lord Worplesdon s study proved to be what they call on the stage a rich interior liberally equipped with desks chairs tables carpets and all the usual fixings Later in the same scene when Worplesdon sends his butler to fetch Jeeves Bertie says During the stage wait which was not of long duration the old relative filled in with some ad lib stuff about Boko mostly about how much he disliked his face chapter 22 126 The dialogue is sometimes written like in a script For example several lines of text in the first chapter of Right Ho Jeeves are rendered in script format 127 Wodehouse uses a number of what Kristin Thompson terms delaying devices to keep the competent Jeeves from solving problems too quickly For example Bertie sometimes cannot get help from Jeeves initially because Jeeves is away on vacation In multiple stories Jeeves delays solving Bertie s problem because he disapproves of an object Bertie has acquired 128 Jeeves is shown to be a thoroughly pragmatic occasionally Machiavellian figure who is willing to delay solving problems until it is advantageous for him to do so 129 In some stories Bertie insists on trying to handle problems himself Jeeves planning in the background can estimate the extent of Bertie s mistakes in advance and incorporate them into his own plan in the end 42 Wodehouse has Jeeves consistently use a very formal manner of speaking while Bertie s speech mixes formal and informal language These different styles are frequently used to create humour in the stories such as when Bertie has to translate Jeeves s erudite speech for one of his pals who is not familiar with Jeeves An example of this occurs in The Artistic Career of Corky when Jeeves comes up with a plan to help Bertie s friend Corky Jeeves says his plan cannot fail of success but has a drawback in that it requires a certain financial outlay Bertie explains to Corky that Jeeves means he has got a pippin of an idea but it s going to cost a bit 130 Jeeves often tells Bertie about his machinations at the end of the stories but does not always reveal everything to Bertie This can be seen in the only story narrated by Jeeves Bertie Changes His Mind in which Jeeves manipulates events without telling Bertie The reader can infer some of Jeeves s offstage activity from subtle clues in Bertie s narrative For example in Jeeves and the Kid Clementina Bertie ends up in a tree while trespassing as part of a task outlined by the mischievous Bobbie Wickham and is confronted by a policeman The only information given to the reader about how the policeman got there is when he says We had a telephone call at the station saying there was somebody in Miss Mapleton s garden After reading the story the reader can look back and infer that Jeeves called the police himself or got someone else to do it knowing the incident would ultimately make Bertie seem heroic to Miss Mapleton and would make Bertie realize the dangers of Bobbie s scheming 131 Adaptations EditTelevision Edit The World of Wooster 30 May 1965 to 17 November 1967 20 episodes of 30 minutes was a half hour comedy series for BBC1 with Dennis Price as Jeeves and Ian Carmichael as Bertie Wooster 132 In the 1970s and 1980s Jeeves and Bertie Wooster were portrayed by various actors in twelve commercials for Croft Original Sherry 133 One 1973 advertisement featured Jeremy Irons as Bertie Wooster 134 In the 1981 BBC Two documentary Thank You P G Wodehouse Jeeves was portrayed by Michael Aldridge and Bertie Wooster was portrayed by Jonathan Cecil 135 136 Jeeves and Wooster 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993 23 episodes of 50 minutes a hit ITV series starring double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster The scripts for this series by Clive Exton have been praised for their fidelity to Wodehouse s original vision although there are some departures from the stories including the use of Hugh Laurie s ability to sing and play boogie woogie piano to have Bertie perform such songs accompanied by Jeeves Film Edit In 1919 two silent short comedy films Making Good with Mother and Cutting Out Venus were released in the US These shorts were inspired by the Reggie Pepper stories and directed by Lawrence C Windom Reggie Pepper a prototype for Bertie Wooster was given a manservant named Jeeves who was a reformed burglar The shorts featured Lawrence Grossmith as Reggie Pepper and Charles Coleman as Jeeves 137 Thank You Jeeves 1936 was the first film to feature Jeeves and Bertie with Arthur Treacher as Jeeves and David Niven as Bertie Wooster In the film they meet a girl and help her brother stop two spies trying to get his secret plans The film has almost nothing to do with the book of that title Step Lively Jeeves 1937 also featured Arthur Treacher as Jeeves Bertie Wooster does not appear Jeeves is portrayed as a naive bumbler and the film has nothing to do with any Wodehouse story Wodehouse was disappointed with the two Treacher films 138 By Jeeves 2001 was a recorded performance of the musical released as a video with British actor Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and American actor John Scherer as Bertie Wooster Radio Edit Leave It To Jeeves 1940 was an episode of the American CBS radio series Forecast It was not based on the Wodehouse short story originally titled Leave it to Jeeves Alan Mowbray portrayed Jeeves and Edward Everett Horton portrayed Bertie Wooster The scriptwriter was Stuart Palmer 139 In the 1955 BBC Light Programme dramatisation of the novel Ring for Jeeves Deryck Guyler portrayed Jeeves and Ian Carmichael portrayed Bill Lord Rowcester 140 In the following 1956 dramatisation of Right Ho Jeeves Deryck Guyler again portrayed Jeeves and Naunton Wayne portrayed Bertie Wooster 141 Jeeves was a 1958 LP record issued by Caedmon with Terry Thomas as Bertie Wooster and Roger Livesey as Jeeves Side one was the story Indian Summer of an Uncle side two was Jeeves Takes Charge The album was re released on Harper Audio in 1989 142 What Ho Jeeves 1973 to 1981 was a popular BBC Radio 4 series adapting various Jeeves stories with Michael Hordern as Jeeves and Richard Briers as Bertie Wooster In 1988 David Suchet portrayed Jeeves and Simon Cadell played Bertie Wooster in the BBC Saturday Night Theatre radio adaptation of the novel Right Ho Jeeves 143 In 1997 L A Theatre Works dramatised The Code of the Woosters with Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and Roderick Spode and Mark Richard as Bertie Wooster 144 In 1998 the same organisation dramatised Thank You Jeeves with Paxton Whitehead as Jeeves and Simon Templeman as Bertie Wooster Both dramatisations were adapted by Richard who had previously adapted the novels as theatrical plays and were recorded before a live audience 145 In 2006 BBC Radio 4 dramatised The Code of the Woosters for its Classic Serial series with Andrew Sachs as Jeeves and Marcus Brigstocke as Bertie Wooster Jeeves Live 2007 2020 is an intermittent series of dramatic readings of Jeeves short stories performed by Martin Jarvis in front of a live audience and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 146 The series includes the following eight stories Fixing It for Freddie Bertie Changes His Mind Jeeves and the Song of Songs Jeeves Takes Charge The Aunt and the Sluggard Jeeves and the Yule Tide Spirit Indian Summer of an Uncle and The Great Sermon Handicap Two other stories aired under the title Jeeves in Manhattan Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest and The Artistic Career of Corky Six of these readings were recorded live at the Cheltenham Literature Festival 147 148 In 2014 Martin Jarvis portrayed Jeeves and Jamie Bamber portrayed Bill Lord Rowcester in a radio drama adapting Ring for Jeeves for BBC Radio 4 s Classic Serial series 149 In 2018 Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves was adapted as a radio drama for BBC Radio 4 Martin Jarvis portrayed Jeeves and James Callis portrayed Bertie Wooster 150 Theatre Edit Come On Jeeves opened 1954 still presented from time to time as of 2017 update under its name or as Ring for Jeeves was a 1952 play by Guy Bolton and Wodehouse adapted into the 1953 novel Ring for Jeeves opened 1954 in Worthing England cast unknown published in 1956 The Jeeves novel The Mating Season was dramatized as a play by Marjorie Duhan Adler under the title Too Much Springtime The play was published by the Dramatic Publishing Company in Chicago in 1955 151 Mark Richard dramatised multiple Jeeves novels for the stage Right Ho Jeeves premiered 1993 The Code of the Woosters 1994 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 1995 152 Thank You Jeeves 1996 153 and Jeeves in the Morning 1997 154 Richard portrayed Bertie Wooster in these productions with Page Hearn as Jeeves They reprised their roles for Hearn s dramatisation of a Jeeves novel Jeeves and the Mating Season 2001 155 These productions were presented by the City Lit Theater Company in Chicago Richard adapted the scripts of The Code of the Woosters and Thank You Jeeves for L A Theatre Works radio productions 156 157 Playwright Margaret Raether has adapted five plays from the Jeeves stories which have been presented at multiple theatres in the United States The plays are Jeeves Intervenes premiered 2006 Jeeves in Bloom 2009 Jeeves Takes a Bow 2012 Jeeves at Sea 2015 158 and Jeeves Saves the Day 2020 159 Jeeves Intervenes is loosely based on Jeeves and the Hard boiled Egg and Jeeves in Bloom on Right Ho Jeeves The plot of Jeeves Takes a Bow involves a friend of Bertie s who takes an interest in performing on the stage a plot point used in Extricating Young Gussie and Jeeves and the Chump Cyril and in Jeeves at Sea another friend of Bertie s pretends to be his own twin brother in circumstances similar to those in Wodehouse s Reggie Pepper story Rallying Round Old George 158 160 Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense a play based on the novel The Code of the Woosters premiered in 2013 with Matthew Macfadyen as Jeeves and Stephen Mangan as Bertie Wooster Musicals Edit Jeeves 22 April 1975 to 24 May 1975 38 performances an unsuccessful musical loosely based on Wodehouse opened in London with Michael Aldridge as Jeeves and David Hemmings as Bertie Wooster Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber lyrics and book by Alan Ayckbourn based on the novel The Code of The Woosters By Jeeves 1 May 1996 to 12 February 1997 28 October 2001 to 30 December 2001 73 performances a more successful complete rewrite of the earlier version opened in London with Malcolm Sinclair as Jeeves and Steven Pacey as Wooster and premiered in the US in November 1996 with Richard Kline as Jeeves and John Scherer as Wooster It was produced again in 2001 on Broadway with Martin Jarvis as Jeeves and Scherer as Wooster with one recorded performance released as a video film and aired on television Comics Edit In Alan Moore s comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Black Dossier 2007 Jeeves appears in the segment What Ho Gods of the Abyss in which he contacts the League through a cousin in the British Museum to help combat the arrival of a Mi go to Brinkley Court and Bertie Wooster s Aunt Dahlia s possession by Cthulhu The Japanese manga series Please Jeeves 2008 2014 adapts many of the Jeeves short stories It was translated by Tamaki Morimura and illustrated by Bun Katsuta Literature Edit The short story Clubs are Trumps was written by Hugh Kingsmill as a sequel to the Jeeves story The Purity of the Turf It was published in 1931 in an issue of The English Review and reprinted in The Best of Hugh Kingsmill published in 1970 by Victor Gollancz London 161 In the 20 May 1953 issue of Punch writer Julian Maclaren Ross wrote a parody of the Jeeves stories titled Good Lord Jeeves In the story Bertie loses his wealth and needs a job Jeeves who has just been elevated to the peerage hires Bertie as his valet Wodehouse wrote to Maclaren Ross saying how much he liked it 162 It was included in Maclaren Ross s book The Funny Bone published in 1956 by Elek London 163 In the 1970s and 1980s Jeeves and Bertie Wooster were featured in a number of full page magazine print advertisements for Croft Original Sherry The advertisements each had comedic prose imitating Wodehouse s writing style and a colour illustration similar to the magazine illustrations that originally appeared with many of Wodehouse s stories 164 Jeeves A Gentleman s Personal Gentleman 1981 a fictional biography of Jeeves by Northcote Parkinson attempts to provide background information about him 165 Scream for Jeeves 1990 was written under the pseudonym H P C Wodecraft and published in Crypt of Cthulhu 72 It purports to put Jeeves and Bertie Wooster into the action of Lovecraft s The Rats in the Walls Wake Up Sir 2005 by Jonathan Ames is a homage to the Bertie and Jeeves novels Jeeves and the Wedding Bells 2013 a pastiche novel authorized by the Wodehouse estate was written by British novelist Sebastian Faulks who became the first writer authorized by the Wodehouse estate to produce a new fiction utilizing the Jeeves and Wooster characters The short story Greeves and the Evening Star by Matt Hughes published in the 2015 anthology Old Venus is a science fiction parody of Jeeves and Wooster that takes place on the planet Venus 166 The characters based on Jeeves and Bertie Wooster are renamed Greeves and Bartie Gloster Jeeves and the King of Clubs 2018 a pastiche novel authorized by the Wodehouse estate was written by Ben Schott A sequel by Schott titled Jeeves and the Leap of Faith was released in 2020 167 See also EditList of Jeeves characters an alphabetical list of Jeeves characters List of P G Wodehouse characters in the Jeeves stories a categorized outline of Jeeves characters List of P G Wodehouse locations including locations in the Jeeves stories List of fictional butlers also including once butler valets such as JeevesReferences EditNotes Edit Much Obliged Jeeves Chapter 4 https techcrunch com 2021 09 02 fintech startup jeeves raises 57m goes from yc to 500m valuation in one year tpcc ECTW2020 TechCrunch Jeeves raises 57m 2 September 2021 Home Oxford English Dictionary Oed com Retrieved 15 September 2013 a b Cawthorne 2013 p 169 Wodehouse P G October 1914 Creatures of Impulse Madame Eulalie Retrieved 21 January 2018 What a treasure Jevons was What a model of what a gentleman s servant should be Existence without Jevons would be unthinkable Usborne 2003 p 82 The most invaluable nugget contained in the book Wodehouse at the Wicket by P G Wodehouse and Murray Hedgcock traces the origin of the name Jeeves to Percy Jeeves a Warwickshire professional cricketer known for his impeccable grooming smart shirts and spotlessly clean flannels Wodehouse probably saw him take a couple of smooth effortless catches in a match between Gloucestershire and Warwickshire The name the immaculate appearance and silent efficiency stuck and the inimitable manservant appeared first in 1916 just weeks after the original Percy Jeeves died in the war in France Navtej Sarna 3 June 2012 Of Lords aunts and pigs The Hindu Literary Review Thompson 1992 p 121 Murphy N T P 2015 The P G Wodehouse Miscellany Stroud Gloucestershire The History Press pp 132 133 ISBN 978 0750959643 Usborne 2003 Plum Sauce A P G Wodehouse Companion pp 58 59 Dirda Michael 10 November 2011 Holmes and away New Statesman America Retrieved 23 March 2020 Meyers Jeffrey Meyers Valerie 2002 The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Reader From Sherlock Holmes to Spiritualism New York Cooper Square Press p xii ISBN 9781461661276 Thompson 1992 pp 112 114 Wodehouse 2008 1960 Jeeves in the Offing chapter 2 p 19 Wodehouse 2008 1930 Very Good Jeeves chapter 5 p 128 Wodehouse 2008 1949 The Mating Season chapter 8 p 86 Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 1 p 10 and chapter 15 p 161 a b Garrison 1991 pp 96 98 Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 12 p 126 Ring amp Jaggard 1999 p 131 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves chapter 23 p 288 Cawthorne 2013 pp 170 173 When asked by Lord Rowcester if he was in the First World War Jeeves claims he dabbled in it to a certain extent Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 4 p 46 a b Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 1 p 13 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 2 p 56 57 and chapter 4 p 93 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 10 p 268 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves chapter 14 pp 153 154 Cawthorne 2013 pp 173 174 Cawthorne 2013 p 174 Ring amp Jaggard 1999 p 137 Wodehouse 2008 1954 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit chapter 3 pp 36 37 Usborne 2003 p 91 Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 4 p 38 Hullo Reggie he said and I froze in my chair stunned by the revelation that Jeeves s first name was Reginald It had never occurred to me before that he had a first name Bertie about Bingley greeting Jeeves In the 1937 film Step Lively Jeeves Jeeves portrayed by Arthur Treacher states his first name to be Rupert However Wodehouse had nothing to do with the script of that film and Treacher s Jeeves character is so unlike Wodehouse s Jeeves that the viewer could easily believe him to be a different Jeeves altogether Wodehouse 1968 1966 Plum Pie chapter 1 p 46 Aunt Dahlia implies that Jeeves is maturer than Bertie Wodeshouse 2008 1953 Ring for Jeeves chapter 4 p 40 Ring amp Jaggard 1999 pp 124 126 Hall 1974 pp 16 and 19 Jeeves s first appearance was in Extricating Young Gussie which was published in 1915 the US However multiple Wodehouse reference books say that Jeeves first appeared in 1916 possibly because that is when he first appeared in both the US and the UK Wodehouse 2008 1953 Ring for Jeeves chapter 4 p 40 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 1 p 12 Wodehouse 2008 1949 The Mating Season chapter 23 p 219 a b Usborne 2003 p 86 Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 4 pp 32 34 Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 12 p 126 Wodehouse 2008 1953 Ring for Jeeves chapter 19 p 211 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Thank You Jeeves chapter 1 Wodehouse 2008 1963 Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves chapter 4 p 33 Bertie says regarding Jeeves He and the young master may have had differences about Alpine hats with pink feathers in them but when he sees the y m on the receiving end of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune he sinks his dudgeon and comes through with the feudal spirit at its best So now instead of being cold and distant and aloof as a lesser man would have been he showed the utmost agitation and concern That is to say he allowed one eyebrow to rise perhaps an eighth of an inch which is as far as he ever goes in the way of expressing emotion Wodehouse 2008 1934 Thank You Jeeves chapter 5 p 50 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves chapter 9 p 94 Wodehouse 2008 1954 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit chapter 12 p 118 and chapter 21 p 219 Wodehouse 2008 1974 Aunts Aren t Gentlemen chapter 5 p 46 and chapter 20 p 182 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 1 p 31 Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 11 p 122 Wodehouse 2008 1963 Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves chapter 23 p 191 Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 12 p 123 24 Wodehouse 2008 1947 Joy in the Morning chapter 6 p 52 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves chapter 22 p 269 Bertie describes Jeeves He is magnetic There is about him something that seems to soothe and hypnotize To the best of my knowledge he has never encountered a charging rhinoceros but should this contingency occur I have no doubt that the animal meeting his eye would check itself in mid stride roll over and lie purring with its legs in the air Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 8 p 84 Wodehouse 2008 1947 Joy in the Morning chapter 16 p 154 and chapter 17 p 161 Jeeves is probably quoting William Wordsworth s poem My Heart Leaps Up Usborne 2003 p 93 Wodehouse 2008 1949 The Mating Season chapter 25 p 245 Wodehouse 1966 Plum Pie chapter 1 p 15 Wodehouse 2008 1938 The Code of the Woosters chapter 1 p 1 and chapter 2 p 28 Wodehouse 2008 1938 The Code of the Woosters chapter 6 p 136 Cawthorne 2013 p 170 Cawthorne 2013 p 173 Wodehouse at Work to the End Richard Usborne 1976 Wodehouse 2008 1930 Very Good Jeeves chapter 4 p 98 Jeeves says that studying the psychology of the individual is essential to solving problems and that this means studying the natures and dispositions of the principals in the matter Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 5 p 137 Cawthorne 2013 p 47 Wodehouse 2008 1954 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit chapter 7 p 65 It s a curious thing about those specials of Jeeves s and one on which many revellers have commented that while as I mentioned earlier they wake the sleeping tiger in you they also work the other way round I mean if the tiger in you isn t sleeping but on the contrary up and doing with a heart for any fate they lull you in You come in like a lion you take your snootful and you got out like a lamb Impossible to explain it of course One can merely state the facts Wodehouse 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves chapter 5 p 48 Wodehouse 2011 P G Wodehouse A Life in Letters p 541 Wodehouse wrote Jeeves s bracer does not contain dynamite as is generally supposed It consists of lime juice a lump of sugar and one teaspoonful of Mulliner s Buck U Uppo This it will be remembered is the amount of the Buck U Uppo given to elephants in India to enable them to face tigers on tiger hunts with the necessary nonchalance Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 1 p 10 and chapter 16 p 183 Wodehouse 1993 1959 A Few Quick Ones chapter 4 p 79 Jeeves tells Bertie how to steal a painting with treacle and brown paper and says that this is the recognized method in vogue in the burgling industry Wodehouse 2008 1930 Very Good Jeeves chapter 5 pp 125 126 Jeeves tells Bertie how to lure a dog using aniseed and says that it is extensively used in the dog stealing industry Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 11 p 123 Wodehouse 1993 1959 A Few Quick Ones chapter 4 p 89 Thompson 1992 p 131 Certainly Jeeves never uses violence against Bertie though he does regretfully get Aunt Dahlia to knock him out as part of the solution in Jeeves Makes an Omelet Wodehouse 2008 1949 The Mating Season chapter 24 p 235 Wodehouse 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves chapter 7 p 72 Bertie says You want me to recommend you a good book Well of course it depends on what you like Jeeves for instance is never happier than when curled up with his Spinoza or his Shakespeare Wodehouse 2008 1954 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit chapter 1 p 11 My personal tastes lie more in the direction of Dostoevsky and the great Russians Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 1 p 19 Wodehouse 2008 1960 Jeeves in the Offing chapter 2 p 25 Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 1 p 15 Wodehouse 1968 1966 Plum Pie chapter 1 p 32 Wodehouse 2008 1947 Joy in the Morning chapter 20 p 184 Wodehouse 2008 1938 The Code of the Woosters chapter 1 p 9 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 1 p 36 In Jeeves Takes Charge Bertie fires Jeeves after Jeeves causes Florence to end her engagement to Bertie Jeeves explains his actions As I am no longer in your employment sir I can speak freely without appearing to take a liberty In my opinion you and Lady Florence were quite unsuitably matched You would not have been happy sir Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 10 p 256 Upset that Bertie appears to be contemplating marriage Jeeves states that in his experience when the wife comes in at the front door the valet of bachelor days goes out at the back Wodehouse 2008 1934 Thank You Jeeves chapter 22 pp 259 260 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 10 pp 256 and 266 Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 1 p 10 This is a reference to a poem by Alexander Pope Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 5 pp 125 126 and 130 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Thank You Jeeves chapter 15 p 173 Wodehouse 2008 1954 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit chapter 1 p 8 Wodehouse 2008 1953 Ring for Jeeves chapter 5 p 61 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves chapter 1 pp 20 21 Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 16 p 210 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 2 p 45 Wodehouse 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves chapter 4 p 84 Wodehouse 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves chapter 5 p 55 Wodehouse 2008 1934 Thank You Jeeves chapter 7 p 82 Wodehouse 2008 1963 Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves chapter 21 p 178 Garcia Navarro Lulu 2 December 2018 Jeeves And Wooster But Make It A Modern Spy Novel National Public Radio Retrieved 27 January 2021 Cawthorne 2013 pp 169 170 Jeeves has achieved the ultimate accolade his own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary where he is the perfect valet used allusively Jeevesian and Jeeves like also appear Ring Tony c 2000 Jeeves and Wooster March Into The Twenty first Century Wodehouse ru Retrieved 15 August 2007 The frequency with which the term Jeeves is used without further explanation in the media of today and its inclusion as a generic term in the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that P G Wodehouse s Jeeves together with his principal employer Bertie Wooster remain the most popular of his many enduring characters 9 Words from P G Wodehouse Merriam Webster Retrieved 27 January 2021 Encarta World English Dictionary 2007 Jeeves Encarta msn com Archived from the original on 28 March 2008 Retrieved 15 August 2007 Jeeves jeevz noun Definition resourceful helper a useful and reliable person who provides ready solutions to problems informal Mid 20th century lt a character in the novels of P G Wodehouse Seinfeld Jerry 20 May 1993 Did you ever notice a lot of butlers are named Jeeves TV Fanatic Retrieved 23 January 2021 Johnson Bobbie 10 February 2006 That ll be all for now Jeeves The Guardian Retrieved 27 January 2021 Murphy N T P 2015 The P G Wodehouse Miscellany Stroud Gloucestershire The History Press pp 164 165 ISBN 978 0750959643 Thompson 1992 pp 115 116 Cawthorne Nigel 2013 A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster Philadelphia Running Press pp 42 151 ISBN 978 1 78033 825 5 The Russian Wodehouse Society Bibliography of short stories Retrieved 8 March 2017 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit chapter 5 p 45 Morris 1981 p 4 Thompson 1992 pp 340 341 French 1966 p 95 Thompson 1992 pp 343 344 Dozens of references to contemporary events and personalities give the series its second kind of time with the world changing around the unaging characters French 1966 p 73 WATSON GEORGE 1997 The Birth of Jeeves The Virginia Quarterly Review 73 4 641 652 JSTOR 26438951 via JSTOR Bertie Wooster returns as a spy in Jeeves sequel by Schott s Miscellany author The Guardian 13 October 2017 What ho Jeeves we re back lady co uk lady co uk Hall 1974 p 45 Thompson 1992 pp 102 103 Thompson 1992 p 104 Thompson 1992 pp 125 127 Thompson 1992 p 129 Hall 1974 p 91 94 Thompson 1992 p 155 P G Wodehouse s The World of Wooster British Film Institute Archived from the original on 17 January 2009 Retrieved 5 December 2010 Haslam Melanie 1990 Croft Original Sherry Commercial Jeeves and Wooster WARC Retrieved 13 February 2013 Croft Original One Instinctively Knows When Something Is Right HAT Ads History of Advertising Trust Retrieved 13 February 2013 Thank You P G Wodehouse 1981 BFI British Film Institute 2018 Retrieved 20 March 2018 Thank You P G Wodehouse BBC Genome BBC 2018 Retrieved 20 March 2018 Taves 2006 pp 16 and 150 Taves 2006 pp 74 81 Taves 2006 p 98 Radio Theatre Ring for Jeeves The Radio Times BBC 1631 11 11 February 1955 Retrieved 25 February 2018 Three Star Bill Drama Naunton Wayne with Deryck Guyler and Richard Wattis in Right Ho Jeeves The Radio Times BBC 1699 13 June 1956 Retrieved 25 February 2018 Ross 2002 pp 44 45 Saturday Night Theatre Right Ho Jeeves The Radio Times BBC 3365 41 26 May 1988 Retrieved 21 January 2018 The Code of the Woosters LATW L A Theatre Works 2017 Retrieved 25 February 2018 Thank You Jeeves LATW L A Theatre Works 2017 Retrieved 25 February 2018 Jeeves Live British Comedy Guide BBC Retrieved 1 January 2020 Jeeves Live BBC Radio 4 BBC 2020 Retrieved 1 January 2020 Jeeves in Manhattan BBC Radio 4 BBC 2019 Retrieved 8 June 2019 Classic Serial Ring for Jeeves BBC Radio 4 BBC 2018 Retrieved 25 February 2018 Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves BBC Radio 4 BBC 2018 Retrieved 22 April 2018 McIlvaine 1990 p 140 Pixler Joe 3 January 1996 Thank You Jeeves Chicago Tribune Retrieved 18 July 2019 Langer Adam 5 December 1996 Thank You Jeeves Tea With Saki An Afternoon of Sinful Sweets and Wicked Wit Chicago Reader Retrieved 16 July 2019 Langer Adam 27 November 1997 Jeeves in the Morning Chicago Reader Retrieved 18 July 2019 Bommer Lawrence 26 April 2001 Jeeves and the Mating Season Chicago Reader Retrieved 30 August 2019 Thank You Jeeves Stage West Theatre Allied Theatre Group 2019 Retrieved 16 July 2019 Mark Richard L A Theatre Works LATW 2017 Retrieved 18 July 2019 a b Margaret Raether Playscripts 2018 Retrieved 8 April 2018 Reid Kerry 6 February 2020 Jeeves Saves the Day offers a midwinter escape Chicago Reader Retrieved 6 February 2020 Glazer Daniel Love 28 January 2010 Review of Jeeves in Bloom PDF Plum Lines 31 2 6 Retrieved 26 February 2019 McIlvaine 1990 p 328 L16 The story was printed on pages 574 85 in English Review 53 and pages 385 95 in The Best of Hugh Kingsmill Wodehouse 2011 P G Wodehouse A Life in Letters pp 457 460 For the parody see Maclaren Ross Good Lord Jeeves Punch 20 May 1953 Vol CCXXIV No 5876 pp 592 593 McIlvaine 1990 p 328 L21 Two examples appear in the 7 December and 14 December 1977 issues of the UK magazine Punch each with an illustration by Brian Hughes Parkinson C Northcote 1981 1979 Jeeves A Gentleman s Personal Gentleman U S ed New York St Martin s Press ISBN 0 312 44144 4 Shippey Tom 13 March 2015 Science Fiction The Lost World The Wall Street Journal New York Retrieved 2 April 2018 Grylls David 24 October 2020 Jeeves and the Leap of Faith by Ben Schott review a new Wodehouse The Times Bibliography Edit Cawthorne Nigel 2013 A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster London Constable amp Robinson ISBN 978 1 78033 824 8 French R B D 1966 P G Wodehouse Edinburgh Oliver and Boyd ASIN B002CFDZJO Garrison Daniel H 1991 1989 Who s Who in Wodehouse Revised ed New York Constable amp Robinson ISBN 1 55882 087 6 Hall Robert A Jr 1974 The Comic Style of P G Wodehouse Hamden Archon Books ISBN 0 208 01409 8 Kuzmenko Michel The Russian Wodehouse Society 22 March 2007 Wodehouse books Bibliography Retrieved 15 August 2007 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 Morris J H C 1981 Thank You Wodehouse New York St Martin s Press ISBN 0 312 79494 0 Reggie 16 March 2007 Wodehouse Who s Who Jeeves Blandings a Companion to the Works of P G Wodehouse Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Ring Tony Jaggard Geoffrey 1999 Wodehouse in Woostershire Chippenham Porpoise Books ISBN 1 870304 19 5 Ross Robert 2002 The Complete Terry Thomas London Reynolds amp Hearn ISBN 978 1 903111 29 1 Taves Brian 2006 P G Wodehouse and Hollywood Screenwriting Satires and Adaptations London McFarland amp Company ISBN 978 0 7864 2288 3 Thompson Kristin 1992 Wooster Proposes Jeeves Disposes or Le Mot Juste New York James H Heineman Inc ISBN 0 87008 139 X Usborne Richard 2003 Plum Sauce A P G Wodehouse Companion New York The Overlook Press ISBN 1 58567 441 9 Wodehouse P G 2008 1923 The Inimitable Jeeves Reprinted ed Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951368 1 Wodehouse P G 2008 1925 Carry On Jeeves Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951369 8 Wodehouse P G 2008 1930 Very Good Jeeves Reprinted ed Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951372 8 Wodehouse P G 2008 1934 Thank You Jeeves Reprinted ed Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951373 5 Wodehouse P G 2008 1934 Right Ho Jeeves Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951374 2 Wodehouse P G 2008 1938 The Code of the Woosters Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951375 9 Wodehouse P G 2008 1947 Joy in the Morning Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951376 6 Wodehouse P G 2008 1949 The Mating Season Reprinted ed Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951377 3 Wodehouse P G 2008 1953 Ring for Jeeves Reprinted ed Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951392 6 Wodehouse P G 2008 1954 Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 1 78033 824 8 Wodehouse P G 1993 1959 A Few Quick Ones Reprinted ed London The Guernsey Press Co Ltd ISBN 0 09 981950 3 Wodehouse P G 2008 1960 Jeeves in the Offing Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951394 0 Wodehouse P G 2008 1963 Stiff Upper Lip Jeeves Reprinted ed Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951395 7 Wodehouse P G 1968 1966 Plum Pie Reprinted ed London Pan Books Ltd ISBN 978 0 330 02203 3 Wodehouse P G 2008 1971 Much Obliged Jeeves Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951396 4 Wodehouse P G 2008 1974 Aunts Aren t Gentlemen Reprinted ed London Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 09 951397 1 Wodehouse P G 2013 Ratcliffe Sophie ed P G Wodehouse A Life in Letters London W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 7864 2288 3 External links EditJeeves Stories at Standard Ebooks The Wodehouse Society s page The P G Wodehouse Society UK BBC s World of Wooster March 2007 Archive org cache at the BBC Comedy Guide down ITV s Jeeves and Wooster March 2007 Archive org cache at the BBC Comedy Guide Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jeeves amp oldid 1133076852, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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