Jeeves and the Old School Chum
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"Jeeves and the Old School Chum" is a short story by
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
, and features the young gentleman
Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligenc ...
and his valet
Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) 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 Berti ...
. The story was published in ''
The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'' in the United Kingdom in February 1930, and in ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
'' in the United States that same month. The story was also included as the ninth story in the 1930 collection ''
Very Good, Jeeves ''Very Good, Jeeves'' is a collection of eleven short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, all featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. It was first published in the United States on 20 June 1930 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 4 J ...
''. Bertie's friend
Bingo Little Richard P. "Bingo" Little is a recurring fictional character in the comedic Jeeves and Drones Club stories of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club. In his early appear ...
appears in the story. He needs help from Bertie and Jeeves when his wife's old school friend, Laura Pyke, starts enforcing her strict ideas about what people should eat on Bingo's diet.


Plot

Bertie visits Bingo Little, who has inherited a large income and country home. On the day of Bertie's departure, Bingo invites him to return for the Lakenham horse races, where he and his wife Rosie will picnic. Rosie tells Bingo that Laura Pyke, her old school friend whom she admired greatly as a child, plans to visit. Bertie leaves, and when he returns later, he finds Bingo upset. Laura Pyke criticizes how other people eat. Rosie hangs on her friend's every word, and now Bingo cannot get the food he wants. Bertie has dinner with the Littles and Pyke, who criticizes Bingo. Bertie is concerned that Pyke is souring Rosie's view of Bingo. Bertie asks Jeeves to think of a way to help Bingo. On the day of the Lakenham races, Bertie expects Pyke will choose the picnic's food. He asks Jeeves, who is bringing his own sandwiches, to also bring some for him. Bingo, however, packs plenty of edible food in the luncheon basket. At the races, they realize no one brought the luncheon basket. Pyke says that lunch is better skipped anyway, and Rosie assents. Bertie discovers that Jeeves has brought enough sandwiches for himself, Bertie, and Bingo. The three of them eat in secrecy, then Jeeves says he removed the basket from the car before they started. He believes that missing lunch may make Rosie less sympathetic towards Pyke. Bertie doubts the plan. As evening approaches, Rosie wants to go home. Bertie drives her and Pyke in the Littles' car. After a while, the car stops. Pyke notices that the car is out of fuel, and insults Bingo for not filling the tank. Rosie defends her husband. Bertie tries to acquire petrol from a nearby house, but the man there is not helpful. Bertie then wanders down the road, and sees his car, driven by Jeeves and containing Bingo. Bingo jumps out, tells Jeeves to wait five minutes, and walks up the road with Bertie, so that they can secretly listen as Rosie and Pyke argue loudly. Then Jeeves drives up, Bingo takes a tin of petrol from the car and hides it nearby, and Bertie and Bingo re-enter the car. They then drive up to Pyke and Rosie. Pyke commands Jeeves to drive her away. Though Rosie is thankful Bingo came, she points out that Bingo should have filled the tank. Bingo says he did, claiming Pyke was mistaken, and that he will fix the car's real problem in a second. Bingo goes to the nearby house and intimidates the man into giving Rosie tea, impressing Rosie. While she is inside, Bertie and Bingo refuel the car with the hidden petrol. Bingo tells Bertie that he will never again doubt Jeeves, who had earlier let most of the petrol out of the tank.


Style

Throughout the series, Bertie sometimes echoes Jeeves's speech patterns, reflecting the influence that Jeeves has over Bertie. For instance, in "Jeeves and the Old School Chum", Bertie says: "Then gradually, by degrees—little by little, if I may use the expression—disillusionment sets in." Wodehouse uses a number of stylistic devices to create humour through repetition. One of the more obvious is repetition between Bertie's narration and dialogue. For example, this occurs in "Jeeves and the Old School Chum":
I couldn't follow him. The old egg seemed to be speaking in riddles.
"You seem to me, old egg," I said, "to speak in riddles. Don't you think he speaks in riddles, Jeeves?"
There are 17 instances of such straightforward repetition between narration and dialogue in the Jeeves series, though this particular device is so obvious that it may seem to be more prominent.


Publication history

The story was illustrated by Charles Crombie in the ''Strand'' and by
James Montgomery Flagg James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist, comics artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters, particularly his 1 ...
in ''Cosmopolitan''. "Jeeves and the Old School Chum" was included in the 1932 collection ''Nothing But Wodehouse'' and in the 1958 collection ''Selected Stories by P. G. Wodehouse''. It was also featured in the 1985 collection ''A Wodehouse Bestiary'', a collection of animal-related short stories by Wodehouse. The American edition of the story appears to contain an editing error, since the British term "petrol" was changed to "gas(oline)" in the American edition, but "dickey" was left unchanged. The word appears in the quote: "Bingo and Mrs. Bingo in their car, and the Pyke in mine, with Jeeves sitting behind in the dickey". The word should have been changed to the corresponding American term, "
rumble seat A rumble seat (American English), dicky (dickie/dickey) seat (British English), also called a mother-in-law seat, is an upholstered exterior seat which folded into the rear of a coach, carriage, or early motorcar. Depending on its configuration, ...
".


Adaptations

The story was adapted for an episode of ''
The World of Wooster ''The World of Wooster'' is a comedy television series, based on the Jeeves stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. The television series starred Ian Carmichael as English gentleman Bertie Wooster and Dennis Price as Bertie's valet Jeeves. The s ...
''. The episode, titled "Jeeves and the Old School Chum", was the third episode of the third series. It was originally broadcast in the UK on 20 October 1967. This story was not adapted into any ''
Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a Britis ...
'' episode.


References

;Notes ;Sources * * * * *


External links


Characters in ''Jeeves and the Old School Chum''


and the stories it includes
Encyclopedia Jeevesiana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeeves and the Old School Chum 1930 short stories Short stories by P. G. Wodehouse Works originally published in The Strand Magazine Works originally published in Cosmopolitan (magazine)