Uneasy Money
by
P. G. Wodehouse
Literary and Cultural References
This is part of an ongoing effort by the members of the Blandings Yahoo! Group to document references, allusions, quotations, etc., in the works of P. G. Wodehouse. These notes are by Neil Midkiff, with contributions from others as credited below.
Uneasy Money was first published on March 17, 1916, by D. Appleton and Company, New York, and on October 4, 1917 by Methuen & Co., London. It was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post and the Strand prior to book publication; see this page for details of serial appearances. The serials are transcribed, with original illustrations, on our site; here is a link to the first SEP episode from December 4, 1915 and a link to the first Strand episode from December 1916.
Since the British magazine and book editions are somewhat abridged, these annotations and their page numbers relate to the D. Appleton US first edition, in which the text covers pp. 1–[326]. (Scan at the Internet Archive.) A cross-reference table to the paginations of some other available editions is at this link (opens in a new browser tab or window).
Instead of noting in this document the passages omitted and other wording changed for the British book, I have prepared a composite transcription with color-coding and dynamic footnotes; at present it is not fully complete but does present all the passages and most of the significant wording changes made for the British text.
The D. Appleton first US edition is dedicated “To My Wife, Bless Her”; the UK edition has no dedication.
I
Runs from p. 1 to p. 21 in the 1916 US edition.
On a day in June (p. 1)
US editions begin with On; UK editions read In a day in June.
Further differences between editions are illustrated in a composite transcription on this site.
Bandolero Restaurant (p. 1)
No such restaurant appears in the 1910 or 1915 London city directories. Wodehouse referred a few times to an 1894 popular song of a similar name; see The Luck of the Bodkins. The purported location is given a few paragraphs later as the corner of Piccadilly Circus and Shaftesbury Avenue; see A Damsel in Distress.
brown … face (p. 1)
We can assume that his suntanned face is due to playing golf rather than any deliberate sunbathing for the sake of fashion. The trend toward bronzing for the sake of appearance did not arise until the 1920s; see Meet Mr. Mulliner.
a secret sorrow (p. 1)
See The Mating Season.
Palace Theater (p. 1)
See Leave It to Psmith.
From the corner of Piccadilly Circus and Shaftesbury Avenue to the Palace Theatre would be a distance of about three-tenths of a mile or half a kilometer.
starting at the Savoy Grill and finishing up near Hammersmith (p. 1)
Google Maps walking directions along modern roads show that this is a distance of roughly five miles. A nine-hole mental course along this route would work out to just under a thousand yards per hole—far longer than typical professional golf courses whose holes are more like 300 to 350 yards.
dying roosters (p. 2)
Compare the dying duck in the notes to The Mating Season.
benedict (p. 3)
A married man.
“like one that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread” (p. 3)
From Part VI of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
five shillings (p. 3)
One-fourth of a pound sterling. The Bank of England inflation calculator suggests a multiplying factor of 72 to account for consumer price inflation from 1916 to 2023, so this would be the rough equivalent of £18 or US$25 in present-day terms.
Debrett (p. 4)
Debrett’s Peerage of England, Scotland and Ireland, a directory of the peerage, originally compiled by John Debrett (1750–1822), which first appeared in 1803. [MH]
anti-race-suicide enthusiast (p. 4)
Here I take this to mean only the beggar who claims to need help to support his children. The term race suicide has a rather unfortunate history, being used often by bigots who were concerned that birth rates were declining among the majority population in England and America, and that other ethnic groups would eventually outnumber the current majority because of prolific childbirth. Wodehouse seems not to have adopted this attitude in general, as he lampoons the ideas and ideals of eugenics in The Coming of Bill and Bill the Conqueror.
brassy (p. 4)
A golf club; see A Glossary of Golf Terminology on this site.
tastes differ … no accounting for them (p. 5)
Miss Brinkwater … seemed to be feeling that there was no accounting for tastes.
Laughing Gas, ch. 12 (1936)
No accounting for tastes is the way one has to look at these things, one man’s caviar being another man’s major-general, as the old saw says.
Jeeves in the Offing, ch. 7 (1960)
“There’s something about onion soup that seems to draw them like a magnet. Can’t stand the muck myself but there’s no accounting for tastes.”
Archie Gilpin in Service with a Smile, ch. 9.3 (1961)
“Oh well, no accounting for tastes.”
Major Plank in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, ch. 20 (1963)
“Unpleasant brat, that. And yet his mother dotes on him, which just shows there’s no accounting for tastes.”
Gally in Galahad at Blandings, ch. 2.1 (1965)
“Where you and I shrink from this cinnamon bear, the young Rockmeteller will be all over it. No accounting for tastes.”
Freddie Threepwood in “Life with Freddie” (in Plum Pie, 1966/67)
“You know, a thing I’ve never understood,” said the General, “is how fellows could drink champagne out of women’s shoes.”
[…]
“No accounting for tastes.”
Do Butlers Burgle Banks?, ch. 5.6 (1968)
old Bodger (p. 14)
See Full Moon.
Marvis Bay (p. 15)
Though we learn later (p. 17) that Marvis Bay is in Cornwall in this book, it is located in Devonshire in “The Lost Bowlers” (1905) and “Unpleasantness at Kozy Kot” (in A Few Quick Ones, US edition, 1959). In “Fixing It for Freddie”/“Helping Freddie” it is said to be in Dorsetshire.
In “Wilton’s Holiday” (1915), “The Heart of a Goof” (1923), and the UK versions of “Deep Waters” (1910) and “Ordeal by Golf” (also titled “A Kink in His Character”, 1919), the exact location of Marvis Bay is unspecified.
Maxims (p. 16)
The Maxim gun, invented by Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1884, was the first automatic machine gun. It used the energy of the recoil from one firing to eject the empty cartridge and to load the next one.
firing … into the brown (p. 16)
In bird hunting, to fire into the dense mass of a flock of birds, instead of singling out one bird as a target.
slice (p. 17)
See A Glossary of Golf Terminology.
trouble and expense (p. 18)
the City (p. 18)
See Leave It to Psmith.
noblesse oblige (p. 20)
French: Nobility has its obligations.
II
Runs from p. 22 to p. 29 in the 1916 US edition.
Pen and Ink Club (p. 23)
Later references in Wodehouse to this fictional club may be influenced by the real-life P.E.N. Club (see Laughing Gas), but this mention predates that organization’s founding in 1921.
A chance meeting with James B. Wheeler, the artist, at the Pen-and-Ink Club seemed to open the way.
Indiscretions of Archie, ch. 4 (1921)
“They’ve just made her president of the Pen and Ink Club.”
“First Aid for Dora” (1923)
the editor of this paper had sent me a ticket for the forthcoming dance of the Pen and Ink Club, with instructions to let him have a column and a half of bright descriptive matter.
“Ukridge Sees Her Through” (1923)
When, shortly after his arrival in England, he had met Lady Wickham at a Pen and Ink Club dinner and she had invited him to pay a visit to Skeldings, his first impulse had been to decline.
“Mr. Potter Takes a Rest Cure” (1926; in Blandings Castle and Elsewhere, 1935)
“To-night is the dance of the Pen and Ink Club, and I wired to your aunt to ask if I might borrow her brooch.”
“The Level Business Head” (1926)
“There’s the Pen and Ink dinner on Friday, and on Tuesday the Writers’ Club is giving a luncheon to Mrs. Carrie Melrose Bopp, the American novelist.”
Rosie M. Banks in “All’s Well with Bingo” (1937; in Eggs, Beans and Crumpets, UK edition, 1940)
It was not the fact that Mrs. Bingo was off to London to attend the annual dinner of the Pen and Ink Club that had caused melancholy to mark him for its own, sorely though he always missed her when she went away.
“Leave It to Algy” in A Few Quick Ones (1959)
The function at which Leila Yorke had committed herself to speak was the bimonthly lunch of the women’s branch of the Pen and Ink Club, and she had completely forgotten the engagement till Sally reminded her of it.
Ice in the Bedroom, ch. 10 (1961)
seventeen-something and again in eighteen-something (p. 23)
The American Revolutionary War (1775–83) and the War of 1812.
Miss Edna May … Belle of New York (p. 23)
American actress/singer (1878–1948), star of the 1897 musical The Belle of New York (music by Gustave Kerker, book and lyrics by Hugh Morton). After a disappointing run of 64 performances on Broadway, it transferred to London in 1898 and became a hit, running for 674 performances, the first American show to play for over a year in London.
great American institutions (p. 23)
If you are reading the UK book, see the composite transcription for a list of these, omitted from the British text.
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III
Runs from p. 30 to p. 39 in the 1916 US edition.
IV
Runs from p. 40 to p. 53 in the 1916 US edition.
V
Runs from p. 54 to p. 68 in the 1916 US edition.
VI
Runs from p. 69 to p. 88 in the 1916 US edition.
VII
Runs from p. 89 to p. 106 in the 1916 US edition.
VIII
Runs from p. 107 to p. 111 in the 1916 US edition.
IX
Runs from p. 112 to p. 133 in the 1916 US edition.
X
Runs from p. 134 to p. 145 in the 1916 US edition.
XI
Runs from p. 146 to p. 151 in the 1916 US edition.
XII
Runs from p. 152 to p. 160 in the 1916 US edition.
XIII
Runs from p. 161 to p. 174 in the 1916 US edition.
XIV
Runs from p. 175 to p. 187 in the 1916 US edition.
XV
Runs from p. 188 to p. 202 in the 1916 US edition.
XVI
Runs from p. 203 to p. 217 in the 1916 US edition.
XVII
Runs from p. 218 to p. 227 in the 1916 US edition.
XVIII
Runs from p. 228 to p. 254 in the 1916 US edition.
XIX
Runs from p. 255 to p. 269 in the 1916 US edition.
XX
Runs from p. 270 to p. 281 in the 1916 US edition.
XXI
Runs from p. 282 to p. 285 in the 1916 US edition.
XXII
Runs from p. 286 to p. 301 in the 1916 US edition.
XXIII
Runs from p. 302 to p. 308 in the 1916 US edition.
XXIV
Runs from p. 309 to p. 318 in the 1916 US edition.
XXV
Runs from p. 319 to p. [326] in the 1916 US edition.
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Outline and introductory notes posted 2024-02-01 NM
Wodehouse’s writings are copyright © Trustees of the Wodehouse Estate in most countries;
material published prior to 1929 is in USA public domain, used here with permission of the Estate.
Our editorial commentary and other added material are copyright
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