Errata and addenda to The Millennium Wodehouse Concordance

Volume 7: Wodehouse with Old Friends

p. xiii:

CRW — The Crime Wave at Blandings

p. xiv:

Titbits-IOJ — The Intrusions of Jimmy, from 11-6/10 to 10-9/10

SatEvePost-BTC — from 24-5/24 to 12-7/24

p. xv:

New-TSB — from 12/26 to 7/27

Change SOF to SFI on the lines for Colliers and JohnBull Something Fishy

Strand-RHT — “Rough-Hew Them How We Will.” (title includes quotation marks and full stop)

Cosmo-RHT — “Rough-hew Them How We Will” (title includes quotation marks)

Dream-WGG — in magazine the title is all uppercase, so why not Ways to Get a Gal as standard?

Cosmo-GAC — Good-by to All Cats

Strand-GAC — Good-bye to All Cats

Cosmo-CPR — Compromised!

Add an entry for AHM, The Amazing Hat Mystery, in Strand 6/34, Cosmo 8/33, YMS, YSP

p. xvi:

Strand-MAT — date should be 12/36

BSB also appeared in EGB as well as USNSE

Punch-DJB — Dudley Jones, Bore-Hunter

USPears titles are not the ones shown in the magazine:

KBA — How Kid Brady Assisted a Damsel in Distress

KBB — How Kid Brady Broke Training

KBF — How Kid Brady Fought for His Eyes

KBJ — How Kid Brady Joined the Press

KBT — How Kid Brady Took a Sea Voyage

KBW — How Kid Brady Won the Championship

KBL — Kid Brady—Light-Weight: How he Made His Début

Hampton-WAD — The Watch Dog

 

ALEXANDER, Grover Cleveland (1887–1950): American baseball pitcher

ALGER, Horatio (1832–1899): American author, especially of rags-to-riches stories

ARNO, Peter (1904–1968): American cartoonist and illustrator, known especially for New Yorker covers and comic panels

ARNOLD, Dorothy (1886–1919): New York socialite, vanished from a crowded street

BAGSHOT, ‘Beano’ instead of ‘Boko’

BALBOA, Vasco Núñez de (c.1475–1519), Spanish conquistador

BARD, Wilkie (1874–1944): British music hall singer/comedian

BARNEY GOOGLE: Central character of US comic strip from 1919; song (1923) by Billy Rose and Con Conrad

BASSET, Fred: named after a canine cartoon character, a basset hound, created by Alex Graham in 1963

BAUER, Miss: Sybil Bauer (1903–1927), American champion swimmer; in 1922 she broke the men’s record in the 440 yd. backstroke; after this story she swam for the US at the 1924 Olympics. Died of cancer at 23.

BAYARD, Chevalier (1473–1524)

BELASCO, David (1853–1931): American playwright, director, producer

BELLAMY-NORTH, Mrs.: This entry has it backwards; Finglass spoke about the election at Mrs. Bellamy-North’s garden party.

BENEDICK, George: Questionable at best; if his nieces Anne and Jane have the surname Benedick then his sister Beatrice must have married the late Mr. Benedick, so it is unlikely to be Lord Uffenham’s family name too.

BENSON, Battling Jack: In TPB he is merely Benson, and the fight takes place in his own town of San Francisco, so he would not “return home.” In PSJ he is Battling Jack, but the fight takes place in his native town of Louisville, so once again “return” is misleading.

BERTILLON: after Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914), French criminologist and biometrician, who codified a system of fingerprint identification as well as other body measurement techniques

BEVAN, Aneurin (1897–1960): Welsh M.P. from 1929; Minister of Health 1945–51; at the left wing of the Labour Party. In a 3 July 1948 speech he told of “a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.”

BINGHAMPTON, Theodore: As far as I can tell, Viscount is speculation; he is a lord of some sort. His wife should be spelled Emerald Poskitt, his father-in-law J. Middlemass Poskitt. “Residuary legatees” is misleading; he inherits the bulk of Poskitt’s estate.

BLANC, M.: This is François Blanc (1806–1877), the first man to operate a successful casino in Monte Carlo. Other sources cite his royalty payment as 150,000 francs per year plus 10% of the casino profits, or at 1.5 million francs for a fifty-year concession, so the exact contract may be lost to history. Mr. Scobell in The Prince and Betty pronounces his name Blong (US editions) or Blonk (UK).

BLAYTHWAIT, Bobby: Strand serial, Collier’s serial, US book all spell him as Pobby Blaythwaite, so an error cannot be presumed, but rather an amendment by a Jenkins editor to Bobby without the final ‘e’ in the surname.

BLEECK’S: Its formal name was the Artist and Writers Restaurant at 213 West 40th Street, New York; everyone called it Bleeck’s (pronounced Blake’s) after its proprietor John Bleeck. It had been a speakeasy club during Prohibition, and a hangout for Herald Tribune reporters, New Yorker writers, and Metropolitan Opera singers and crew. Life magazine profile.

BLENKINSOP, R B was called Tape-Worm or Tape Worm but not Tapeworm.

BLICESTER, Rodney, 3rd Earl of: p. 32, line 9, change Penfold to Pinfold. Add cross-ref. to Joseph, Earl of Blicester, in volume 2, from Strand-QUE. His given name is not specified as Rodney until ThisWeek-FOL in 1958 and FQO-FOL in 1959, also in IIB. It is conceivable that Joseph and Rodney were brothers, and that Rodney is the fourth Earl.

BLONDIN, Charles (1824–1897): French acrobat and tightrope walker

BLÜCHER, Gebhard Leberecht von (1742–1819): Prussian prince and field marshal, ally of Britain under Wellington in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo

BODKIN, Monty: add citation of BAA ch 1.

BOIELLE, Paul: add cross reference to Jeanne Le Brocq; note that Cosmo-RHT has Eighth Avenue, New York, instead of Soho, and Coney Island “barker” instead of Earl’s Court side-showman; note that only in Cosmo-RHT is the general manager named Mr. Galloway and related to the founder of the firm.

BREARLEY, Walter (1876–1937): English cricketer, a fast bowler

BREEZE, Edmund: misprint in BIW for Edmund Breese (spelled correctly in ANC), American stage actor (1871–1936) with Broadway credits from 1900 up to his death.

BRIDGNORTH, Tubby: USIIY and Amer-IIY do not seem to specify Tubby’s rank nor that of his father. I have not seen IIY, but all references to “duke” found in a Google Books snippet search are to other dukes.

BRIGGS, Anthony: add cross-reference to Volume 8 for his appearance in QUS ch 13.

BRISTOW: change “predecessor” to “successor”

BROWN: the carrier... is actually anonymous; his name “don’t signify” and he volunteers first Smith, then Brown as pseudonyms.

BROWN, Sue: correct the cross-reference, which should be to Volume 5.

BRYAN, William Jennings (1860–1925), American orator and politician

BULLETT, Isaac (not Isaak)

BUNTING, Cyril: add cross-reference to Volume 5.

BUNYAN, J J: add “His collection of art is curated by Mortimer Bayliss.”

BURGER, Hamilton: prosecuting attorney in the Perry Mason stories of Erle Stanley Gardner.

BURKE, Edmund [delete the second Burke]

BURLEIGH, Lord: William Cecil (1520–1598), 1st Baron Burghley, Queen Elizabeth I’s Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer. Portrayed in Sheridan’s The Critic (1779) in one scene in which he enters, shakes his head, and exits; other characters explain at length what he meant. [See Norman Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook]

BUTTERWICK, J B: In TPT his initials are J. G. except at one spot when they are given as J. B.

CADWALLADER: add cross-reference to Blenkiron and Dwight Blenkiron.

CAGNEY, James (1899–1986): American actor and dancer

CALLENDER, George Barnert: in Colliers-DEW his college is unspecified

CARMODY, Amyas: misspelled Aymas in USMFN, p. 199

CARNERA, Primo (1906–1967), Italian boxer, world heavyweight champion 1933–34, 6′9″ tall.

CHALMERS, “Bill”: I can find no evidence that he is the eighth of his line; the only mention that he is an earl is that the Earl of Wetherby is of his rank.

CHAMBERS, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1860–1921), Australian-born English dramatist; Passers By was first staged in 1911.

Add entry: CHEVALIER, Maurice (1888–1972), French actor and singer. Mentioned in PGM ch 11 in connection with the 1931 motion picture Love Me Tonight in which he plays a tailor pretending to be an aristocrat.

CHIDERDOSS, Doss: correctly spelled thus in Pearsons-RRK, misspelled in Volume 7; add cross-reference to Volume 8. Pen name of A. R. Marshall, writing poems liberally sprinkled with rhyming slang in the Sporting Times. See “What I Think” and the end notes there for more.

CHINGACHGOOK: add cross-references to Volumes 5, 6, and 8.

CHISHOLM, Wilfred: Delete “A well-dressed man despite a small, clipped moustache” and the closing sentence about Silver River stock; both those apply to James Ponder rather than Chisholm.

CLARENCE: see the errata to Volume 5 under EMSWORTH, p. 99, for a more complete list of Clarences.

CLARKSON’S: a real-life wigmaker’s shop: Willy Clarkson (1861–1934), wigmaker and costume designer, took over his father’s business (founded 1833) in 1878.

COCOA TREE: Originally a chocolate house, favored as a Tory meeting place, in St. James’s Street; converted into a club around 1746, by the late eighteenth century known for extremely high-stakes gambling, with wagers of a hundred thousand pounds and more not unknown.

COLLINS, Lottie (1865–1910): English singer/dancer in music halls, best known for the song “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay!”

CONWAY, John Beresford (“Berry”): Mrs. Jervis (named only in ch 8) is merely his aunt, not his great-aunt.

COOKIE1 is spelled COOKY in USPears-KBT.

CORK, Nelson: add citation for Star-UKK. FQO-FOL is a mere mention in a list of Drones.

CORTES(Z): Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), Spanish conquistador

CRATER, Judge: Joseph Force Crater (1889–?), New York State Supreme Court justice who disappeared amid political scandal in 1930, declared dead in absentia 1939.

CRUMP, Edwin: in TPB his given name is unspecified.

DACRE, Rev. Joseph: change “Johnny” to “Jimmy” as in Strand: see Douglas, James.

DAVIS, Pauline: change “Sheriff” to “Sherriff”; her snake Clarence is sent to the Zoo in ch. 7 and does not join her at Brookport, L.I.

DAWLISH, Philip: I cannot find any reference to “7th” or “seventh” Earl in the UK book or US serial. Ditto for DAWLISH, 8th Earl of.

DEAR ABBY: conducted by “Abigail Van Buren” (Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips, 1918–2013) from 1956 to 2002; her daughter Jeanne Phillips began collaborating with her in 2000 and continues the column at present. Pauline was the twin of Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer, who took over the “Ann Landers” column in 1955.

DELANCY, Loretta: in ThisWeek-FOL her given name is Mabel.

DELANEY, Capt: change “dinner” to “supper”

DEMPSEY, Jack: the Nonpareil (1862–1895), Irish-born welterweight and lightweight boxer active in the USA 1883–95; this page lists his record. He was 5′8″ tall and his weight ranged from 128 to 152 lb. over his career. [Unrelated, but interesting, is an English welterweight wrestler, Thomas Moore (1920–2007), who took his grandmother’s surname of Dempsey and fought under the ring name Jack Dempsey from the 1940s to the 1960s.]

DIX, Dorothy (Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, 1861–1951): American journalist, advice columnist

DOLLEN: actually Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Döllen (1820–1897), Latvian-born astronomer who worked at Russian and Estonian observatories. Neither Volume 7 nor TSB have the correct spelling of his 1863 work, Die Zeitbestimmung vermittelst des tragbaren Durchgangsinstruments im Verticale des Polarsterns, but USTSB gets it right. It’s about finding what time it is by celestial observation of stars with portable telescopes. Minor planet 7449 Döllen is named for him.

DOUGLAS, James (1870–1958), on the Cambridge eleven in 1892–94 as a brilliant bat and outfielder; played for Middlesex 1893–99; a master at Dulwich College (dates not specified in ESPN CricInfo). Cambridge alumni database has him as assistant master at Dulwich 1894–1905, so he overlapped Wodehouse’s time there. Mentioned under Rev. Joseph Dacre. See the errata for Volume 3 for another link with pictures of both Johnny and Jimmy Douglas.

DREEVER, 12th Earl of: I cannot find any reference to Katie being in the chorus, or even remotely connected with the stage. The reference to Harcourt may be a mistake for Hargate.

DREISER, Theodore (1871–1945): American journalist and novelist; indeed a friend and advocate of Charles Fort, they met in 1905.

DROITWICH, 4th Earl of: the punctuation isn’t clear, but it was the 4th Earl who wanted to marry a barmaid.

DUKE OF YORK: Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor (1895–1952) was Prince Albert, Duke of York 1920–36, then King George VI until his death. He did not have a moustache of any kind in any picture I can find.

DURANTE, Schnozzle: James Francis “Jimmy” Durante (1893–1980), American entertainer (singer, pianist, comedian, actor). His prominent nose led to nicknames; in the 1932 film The Phantom President he sang the song “Schnozzola” (Lorenz Hart/Arthur Johnston/Durante) about himself, and that became the most usual spelling of his sobriquet.

EASTMAN, Edward “Monk” (1875–1920): New York gangster

EDGREN, Robert W. (1874–1939): See the notes to “How Kid Brady Fought for His Eyes” for an example of a boxing article about Kid McCoy written and illustrated by Robert Edgren in the New York Evening World.

EGBERT2: Add cross-references to Volume 5 for his appearance in COT, and to Percy3 in this volume.

ELISHA: 2 Kings 2:23–24.

ENGELS, Jeanne: Misprint in Vol. 7; both BIW and ANC have it correctly as Jeanne Eagels (1890–1929), American stage and film actress.

ETNA: a small camping stove fueled by denatured alcohol (methylated spirits)

EVANS, Maurice (1901–1989) English-born Shakespearean actor, active in England and America

EVERYBODY’S MAGAZINE: published in New York City, 1899–1929. The Frenzied Finance series began in July 1904 and boosted the circulation from 150,000 the previous year to over 500,000.

EVERY MAN HIS OWN LAWYER: by Giles Jacob (1686–1744), a self-help guide for non-lawyers, first published c.1735, but continually revised and reissued for over a century.

FAUBERGE, Carl: printed thus in CFH and TPP, but no doubt a slip of the typewriter for Peter Carl Fabergé (1846–1920), Russian jeweller best known for his Easter eggs and other jeweled gold-and-enamel treasures.

FEDERAL DYE: in full Federal Dyestuff and Chemical Corporation, chartered 1915 in reaction to the difficulty of importing German dyes during the World War. It went public in 1916, but went into receivership in October 1917, and the manufacturing plant was sold in 1918.

FENDALL, Lady Angelica: add citation of Cosmo-MAS

FENDALL, Lord Bertie: add citation of Cosmo-MAS

FENDALL, Desmond: add cross-references to Clarence van Puyster and Clarence Tresillian, both in Volume 8.

FENDALL, Mr.: add cross-references to Lord Runnymede and Vansuyther Van Puyster, both in Volume 8.

FERRIS, Rupert Anthony: By all evidence the butler of CFH/TPP is the same man as in TSB, but in both editions of the later book his given name is Andrew.

FISHER, Cyclone Dick (not Al); cross-reference Cyclone Al Wolmann in PSJ, later in this volume.

FITCH, Sarah “Sally”: change “some” to “two” years as secretary

FLANNERY, ex-Sergeant-Major: He tells John in ch 11 that his given name is Egbert.

FORDE, Florrie (Flora May Augusta Flannagan, 1875–1940): Australian-born singer in British music halls

FOTHERINGAY-PHIPPS, Cyril “Barmy”: change “maternal grandmother” to “maternal grandfather”; add cross-reference to Volume 8 as well for citations to LAG

FOY, Eddie (1856–1928): American vaudeville comedian and dancer

FRISBY, Josephine: She is Josephine Moon, wife of Thomas L. Moon, from the beginning to the end of the book, so why she should be listed under her maiden name is not clear to me.

FROLICS IN THE AIR, The: Probably a disguised reference to the Ziegfeld “Midnight Frolics” at the rooftop garden of the New Amsterdam Theatre, 1915–22. Ziegfeld wanted his patrons to stay after the conclusion of the regular Follies rather than going out to other nightclubs, so he staged a lavish revue, even more risqué than the Follies, with intermissions for dining, drinking, and dancing.

FUDGE: Indeed, US candy recipe books from the 1920s have vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, maple, fruit, and nut fudges in addition to chocolate. We aren’t told what ingredients Kitchie would add once her sugar and butter were mixed, but nearly all recipes call for cream as well as flavorings.

GALLOWAY’S, general manager of: In Cosmo-RHT he is the son of Andrew Galloway.

GARVIN, Jimmy: It is probably not a coincidence that his initials match those of Joe Gans (1874–1910), lightweight champion 1902–04 and 1906–08. Wodehouse mentions Gans in The Adventures of Sally and in “Thanks for the Memory” (Punch, 1954/09/15; America, I Like You, and Over Seventy, ch. 1 §2).

GATES: Norman Murphy identified him as a stand-in for the real-life Norman Thwaites, a journalist on the New York World who had a flat at the same address; Wodehouse stayed with him at various times during 1909–14.

GILLETTE, King C. (1855–1932): American inventor of the disposable-blade safety razor

GOLDEN, John (1874–1955): American theatrical producer, actor, author, songwriter

GOOCH, Mr: In TPB he collects rents on Broster Street, supposedly for Mr. Qem; Betty Silver recognizes him as one of Scobell’s secretaries. In PSJ he supposely works for Mr. Jones but divulges Stewart Waring’s name. He is W. Gooch in A Prince for Hire, see Volume 8, Series Note 1.

GRAHAM, James, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650): Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier

GREELEY, Horace (1811–1872): founder and editor of the New-York Tribune

GREEN, Hetty (1834–1916): American investor nicknamed “the Witch of Wall Street”; known as the richest woman in America during the Gilded Age

GRETNA GREEN: just over the border into Scotland, where the laws regarding marriage and parental consent were different from England. At the time of TLB, no parental consent was required, and any couple aged over 16 could marry by making a mutual public promise in front of a Scottish citizen—the local blacksmiths witnessed thousands of marriages.

GREY, Zane (1872–1939): best-selling American author of dozens of Western novels

GRIFFITH, D W (1875–1948): American actor, director, film producer; his name did not have a final “s” except when meaning “a group of directors”; the Finer and Better Motion Picture Company wasn’t paying salaries to “any of these D. W. Griffiths and Gloria Swansons.”

GUISEPPE: Correctly spelled Giuseppe in the Italian manner in Liberty-TSB.

HAMMER, Mike: fictional detective in novels by Mickey Spillane (Frank Morrison Spillane, 1918–2006) beginning with I, the Jury (1947).

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN: 1929 song by Jack Yellen and Milton Ager for the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows; adopted as a theme song for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign and made even more popular with the 1933 repeal of Prohibition.

HARGATE, the Hon. Louis: In The Gem Collector his role is played by the Hon. Louis Wesson.

HARVEY, Willie: change “manager” to “second”

HENGIST: change “her” to “his”; Hengist and Horsa were brothers, leaders of the first Anglo-Saxons in Britain in the fifth century, according to Bede and other early chroniclers.

HENRY, Patrick (1736–1799): Virginia planter, attorney, politician, orator

HODDESDON, 6th Earl of: I can find no reference to Eton, only one to Lord Biskerton being at Oxford, and the Brigade of Guards tie is being worn by T. Paterson Frisby (ch 4).

HORACE2: Same as HORACE (Quintus Horatius Flaccus). Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt: They who rush across the sea change their sky, not their soul. (Epistles I, xi)

HOTCHKISS, Gregory: does not appear in SatEvePost-RGB

HOTCHKISS, Mrs.: does not appear in SatEvePost-RGB

HOTCHKISS, Percival Alexander: does not appear at all in SatEvePost-RGB; in LEO-MAT and CWB-MAT and Strand-MAT, he relieves Freddie Widgeon of the obligation of marrying Dora Pinfold.

HUMBY, Reginald: add cross-reference to Archibald Mealing in Volume 1, where TMU-ARB is a golfing revision of Pearsons-RRK.

INTOSH, Burr: Yes, this is a transparent pseudonym for Burr McIntosh (1862–1942), American publisher, photographer, actor. See longer note to the Kid Brady story where he is thus mentioned.

JACKSON, Joe: initials given as J.W. in MIK ch 7.

JAMES2: There seems every reason to assume that this James and the James of Stage-SAP are both James Innes, and no reason not to do so.

JARVIS, Bat: Add cross-ref to his listing in Volume 8.

JELLICOE: Add cross-ref to his listing in Volume 3 as Tom G. Jellicoe.

JERVIS, Mr.: delete “great-”

JERVIS, Mrs.: delete “great-”; she is referred to as Berry’s aunt throughout the volume.

JIMMY: could not play because he had influenza.

JOHNSON, Walter (1887–1946): American baseball pitcher for the Washington Senators, 1907–27.

KAPLAN, Hyman: immigrant English-as-a-second-language learner, protagonist of stories and books by Leo Rosten (1908–1997); his elaborate blackboard signature was in red chalk letters outlined in blue, with asterisks between each letter.

KATIE: Norman Murphy explained (A Wodehouse Handbook) that “the House” in Oxford jargon refers to Christ Church College.

KEEN: change to KEENE

KEGGS, Harold: Also in magazines, Harold Keggs looks exactly as he did a quarter-century ago, whereas the Augustus Keggs in books is now stouter.

KEITH, Elsa: Only in PAB does Elsa describe the telegram as looking like the scenario of a four-act play. In TPB Marvin Rossiter makes this comment about the cablegram. Add citation of Cosmo-MAS.

KEITH, Mrs: She is not mentioned in TPB. Add citation of Cosmo-MAS. Is she the first of the female culture vultures in Wodehouse? Notable others are Nesta Ford Pett in Piccadilly Jim, Lady Constance Keeble in Leave It to Psmith, Mrs. Willoughby Smethurst in “The Clicking of Cuthbert,” Adelaide Brewster Moggs in “Aubrey’s Arrested Individuality,” and Mrs. Waddesleigh Peagrim in The Little Warrior.

KEITH, Tom: add citation of PAB ch 1 and Cosmo-MAS; after “even for the King” add “(or for the President, in Cosmo-MAS)”

KETCHEL, Stanley: born Stanislaw Kiecal in a Polish-American family (1886–1910), world middleweight champion boxer 1908–10.

KIDD, Captain William (1645–1701): Scottish pirate

KING OF DENMARK: unjustly thought to be gullible, as news reports falsely suggested that he had given Arctic explorer Dr. Frederick Cook a medal for reaching the North Pole, as Dr. Cook had claimed but not proved. See notes to “Archibald’s Benefit”.

KRUSCHEFF: spelled correctly as Khrushchev in BMI and Play-BMI

LANGLEY & FIELDING’S: In Cosmo-MAS their product is baked beans; in all versions there is an apostrophe in Fielding’s.

LAWSON, Thomas W. (1857–1925), one of the founders of Amalgamated Copper, who broke away from other investors and exposed the trust in the Frenzied Finance series in Everybody’s Magazine.

LEGREE, Simon: slave-owning character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

LLEWELLYN, Ivor: add cross-reference to Volume 8.

LOBB, John Ltd.: bootmakers in London since 1866, at 9 St. James’s Street. Founded by John Lobb (1829–1895).

LOOSE CHIPPINGS: Norman Murphy (A Wodehouse Handbook) points out that this is a joke; a road sign saying “Loose Chippings” is not directional, but a warning of loose gravel on the surface of a recently resurfaced road.

LUNTS, the: Alfred Lunt (1892–1977) American stage actor and director, and his wife Lynn Fontanne (1887–1983) British-born actress active in America; both were important figures on Broadway stages from the 1920s onward.

LUPIN, Arsène: fictional gentleman thief in stories beginning in 1905 by Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) and in sequels by others.

LUSITANIA: Cunard ocean liner, in service from 1907 until sunk by a German submarine in 1915. (Later editions of AGL replace the name with that of her sister ship, the Mauretania.) Four-time winner (1907–09) of the Blue Riband for fastest average speed in Atlantic crossings; briefly the largest liner in the world.

McCOLL, Mr: not present in JohnBull-SFI or Colliers-SFI

McEACHERN, Molly: For the Volume 4 reference, she is mentioned only in LAC and LAC21, not USLAC or Circle-LAC, where it is Dolly Strange who gives Garnet’s book to Phyllis Derrick.

MAIDEN EGGESFORD: the grocer’s shop, Thorpe and Widgery, is actually in Bridmouth-on-Sea, six miles away, not in Maiden Eggesford itself.

MARIANA: poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published 1830; suggested by a phrase in Measure for Measure.

MARIE CELESTE: American mercantile sailing ship, discovered floating off the Azores but mysteriously abandoned by its crew in 1872.

MARLENE1: not present in JohnBull-SFI or Colliers-SFI

MARSHALL FIELD (1834–1906), American entrepreneur, founder of a large and high-quality department store in Chicago, which later expanded into a major retailing chain until being acquired by the owners of Macy’s and rebranded in 2005.

MARTYN, Jane: change “brother of Algy” to “sister of Algy”

MASON, Perry: criminal defense lawyer, the lead character in dozens of best-selling novels and short stories (published 1933–73) by Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970).

MATTY: Christy Mathewson (1880–1925), pitcher for the New York Giants baseball team 1900–16

MAUDE, John2: True, we never actually see the wedding to Betty take place, but she is with him holding hands on the porch a year later on John’s Western ranch in ch 30, so given the mores of the time and genre, we have to assume they are married.

MAY, Edna (Edna May Pettie, 1878–1948), American star of musical comedies in New York and London

MECHANIC’S PAVILION: see the end notes to this story at Madame Eulalie’s Rare Plums for a picture and more history.

MELVILLE, Brewster: add cross-ref to Stuyvesant Milsom in Volume 1

MELVILLE, Margaret: add cross-ref to Margaret Milsom in Volume 1

MEREDITH, Billy (William Henry Meredith, 1874–1958), Welsh-born soccer outside forward; played for Wales 1895–1920 and Manchester United 1906–21, among other clubs.

MIFFLIN, Arthur: In IOJ and Colliers-DEW, Mifflin seems to be an American, at least having been at college with George Callender and at Yale with Jimmy Pitt.

MON REPOS2: at Marvis Bay, Devonshire, that is.

MONTGOMERY, Bob: Robert Montgomery (1904–1981), American film and television actor/director/producer

MONTROSE, Sid: add cross-reference to Jos. Waterbury of YMS-MAT.

MORRISON, Della: Ainslee-PAB differs from PAB in that Westley is American and Della works in his Jersey City office until her father inherits money, when she goes to London with her parents.

MORRISON, Richard: Ainslee-PAB differs from PAB in that Della was working in Jersey City, so all the family travel to Paris and then London together after Della quits her job.

MOSLEY, Sir Oswald (1896–1980), 6th Baronet of Ancoats, British politician who left the Labour Party in 1931 to form the New Party, which merged with other groups into the British Union of Fascists (including enforcers called the “Blackshirts”) in 1932. Inspiration for Roderick Spode in The Code of the Woosters.

MULDOON, William A. (1852–1933): American wrestling champion, later physical-training instructor at his health institute at Purchase, New York. The Muldoon of CFH was modeled after him in general terms, but the background of the character in the book is fictional.

MURPHREY, Ruth: a better explanation is that she is the same as Angela Murphrey, just given a different name in the magazine versions of the story.

MURPHY, Joe: In addition, Pilbeam hires him to get Biff Christopher drunk and arrested.

MURPHY, Spike: add cross-reference to Spike Delaney.

MURRAY, Arthur (1895–1991): American ballroom dancer and founder of dancing schools

OLD MONKEY BRAND: a household cleaning soap bar containing pumice for scouring, introduced 1880s, bought by Lever Brothers 1899.

ORLONI, Guiseppe: correctly spelled Giuseppe, in the Italian manner, in PSJ; misspelled “Guiseppe” in Captain-PSJ.

PARADENE, Cooley Jr: The term Jr is not used in ch 2; he is “young Cooley” or “little Cooley”, and John is his middle name, so change to PARADENE, Cooley John.

PARKER, Marguerite: In Colliers-AOS she acts at the Longacre Theatre, New York, and is from Mechanicsville, Minnesota.

PARSONS, P. C. Thomas: in Cosmo-RHT his role is taken by Officer Michael Corrigan of the NYPD.

PAWLE, Mrs Mathilda: actually the nom de plume used by Judson Coker in one of his begging letters.

PEACEFUL MOMENTS: change J Filliken Renshaw to J Brabazon Renshaw.

PERCY3: add cross-reference to Egbert2 in this volume.

PHILPOTTS, Rev Edwin T: add citation to TPB ch 12

PITT, James Willoughby “Jimmy”: In IOJ he seems to be American along with his college friend Arthur Mifflin; studied law at Yale.

POIROT, Hercule: fictional Belgian detective in novels and short stories by Agatha Christie, from The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) to Curtain (1975).

POLYANNA: correctly spelled Pollyanna in Star-IIB and TIB. From the 1913 children’s novel Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, whose title character is an eternal optimist through trying situations, having learned “The Glad Game” from her father, a way to look at the good side of things.

POOH-BAH: Lord High Everything Else of Japan in W. S. Gilbert’s libretto for The Mikado (1885).

POST, Emily (1872–1960): author of Etiquette (original edition 1922, 18th edition currently in print revised by members of her family)

PROSSER, Alexander Charles “Oofy”: add middle name; add citations to IIB and FQO-OFB.

PRUNIER’S: opened 1924, still in business at 16, Avenue Victor Hugo.

PSMITH: He told Mike Jackson that his first name was Rupert in MIK; his father addresses him as Rupert in PSC ch 28 and 29. His given name is not used in PSJ, but his American alter ego in TPB is called Rupert Smith. Not until LIP is he renamed Ronald Eustace, presumably to avoid confusion with Rupert Baxter. So for the stories cited in this volume, his listing should be PSMITH, Rupert. Also, correct the “See also” reference to Volumes 3 and 5.

RAYMOND: change Tales to Talks

RENSHAW, J Brabazon: add cross-reference to J Fillken Wilberfloss in PAB.

RIDDELL, Edith: add citation of Windsor-LGP

RITCHALL, Mr: an echo of real-life deaf stage director Julian P. Mitchell (1854–1926)

ROBINSON: Omitted in Cosmo-AHM

ROMNEY: George Romney (1734–1802), fashionable English portrait painter

ROOSEVELT, Theodore: advocate of spelling reform, alluded to in TMU-RHT

ROSSITER, Martin: add “or beans” after “sardines”, and add citation to Cosmo-MAS.

ROUGH ON RATS: a real product, to be mixed with any food that rats and mice eat. US manufacturer was E. S. Wells, Chemist, of Jersey City, NJ. Advertisement from Collier’s, 1921.

RUSSELL, Lillian (Helen Louise Leonard, 1860–1922): beautiful American singing actress in musical comedies, active 1890–1912.

SCHWAB, Charley (Charles M. Schwab, 1862–1939): American steel tycoon who built Bethlehem Steel into a major corporation; unrelated to the Charles Schwab who founded today’s investment firm.

SCOBELL, Benjamin2: Add citation to Ainslee-PAB

SCOTT, Cyril (1866–1945): Irish-born American stage and film actor (unrelated to the British composer of the same name)

SENIOR CONSERVATIVE CLUB: add cross-reference to Volume 5, where Lord Emsworth is a member

SHARKEY, Tom (1871–1953): Irish-born heavyweight boxer, active 1893–1904 in America; 5′8″ tall.

SHARPLES: In Strand-LBO his initials are given as J. B.

SHAY, Dorothy (1921–1978): American comic singer and recording artist, billed as “The Park Avenue Hillbilly”; her 1947 record “Mountain Gal” can be heard at YouTube.

SHOESMITH, SHOESMITH etc.: add cross-reference to Volume 5, where the firm are Lord Emsworth’s solicitors.

SHUBERT, Jacob J (c.1879–1963): Born in what is now Lithuania, brought as a child with his family to America; with his brothers Sam and Lee built a theatrical empire, beginning in upstate New York but eventually breaking the Klaw–Erlanger monopoly; by 1924 they owned 86 theatres across the US.

SHUBERT, Lee (1871–1953): Brother of Jacob J.; see above.

SIR BEDIVERE: One of King Arthur’s knights; returns the sword Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake.

SMITH1: probably identical to Reeve-Smith.

SMITH2: Troy Gregory, in his annotations to this story at Madame Eulalie, argues that this is the first hint we get of the Psmith of Psmith, Journalist. A simpler explanation is that the article was unsigned in Candor, written by Tom Garth, and that he blurts out the name Smith in front of Julie Weyder to deflect the blame of having written it onto a fictitious other person. Note the quick substitution earlier, in Garth’s third speech to Miss Weyder: “When I—when my contributor wrote that article....”

SMITH, Mr R E: I believe the initials to be a conjecture by Jaggard on the basis of “senior”; I cannot find evidence for them in Wodehouse. Change “Ilsworth House” to “Ilsworth Hall.”

SOMETHING, Drusilla: Given the rarity of the name Drusilla, and that in IB61 Oofy Prosser tells Sally Foster of Freddie Widgeon’s former entanglement with a Drusilla Wix, this might be a clue to identify the “SOMETHING.”

SPENDER: Mervyn Potter’s understudy, who goes on for him on the opening night of Sacrifice in Syracuse.

STANDISH, Miles or Myles (1584–1656): English military officer, adviser to the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and at Plymouth Colony; made famous in Longfellow’s 1858 poem about his courtship.

STAYLING: a mispronunciation of Joseph Stalin

STEENA: no doubt a shortened form of “Christina”, a common name in Sweden

STIFFHAM, Adolphus: called “Stiffy” by his Drones Club friends throughout the story

STONE, Marcus (1840–1921): English painter and illustrator

SWAN & EDGAR: London department store, begun as a partnership in the early 19th century, later a company, with premises on Piccadilly Circus until 1982.

TAD: Thomas Aloysius “Tad” Dorgan (1877–1929): American newspaper cartoonist, working at the New York Journal from 1905 as a sports writer and cartoonist. Jack Dempsey called him “the greatest authority on boxing.” Also a popularizer of American slang terms and phrases.

TALLENTYRE, Bruce: a character in Leila Yorke’s Heather o’ the Hills.

TERRY’S THEATRE: in the Strand, London; built 1887 for actor Edward Terry (1844–1912); converted to a cinema 1910 and demolished 1923.

THEATRE GUILD: prominent theatrical producing organization, founded 1918, active until 1996; famed for top-quality plays and musicals by such writers as Shaw, O’Neill, Philip Barry, William Saroyan, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder, and many more.

TILBURY, Lord: add cross-reference to Volume 5.

TRESSIDER: change to TRESIDDER as spelled in all versions of STS.

TRUEFITT: real-life barbershop, established 1805 by William Francis Truefitt; received a Royal warrant from King George III. Merged in 1935 to create Truefitt & Hill, still in business today.

TULIP: add cross-reference to two Tulips in Volume 2.

TURNBULL, James McLachlan “Jimmy” (1884–?): Scottish soccer player, with Manchester United 1907–10.

TURNBULL, Alexander “Sandy” (1884–1917): Scottish soccer player, with Manchester United 1906–15; killed in World War I.

UFFENHAM, 4th Viscount: I can see no evidence that George’s father was titled; it fits the facts better that he was Gregory’s younger brother, but predeceased him. We know that Gregory, the 5th Viscount, was sonless at his death, otherwise the title would not have gone to his nephew George, the present 6th Viscount. If Gregory had been the younger brother of George’s father, the title would have skipped Gregory and gone directly to George.

UNDELIABLE: “indelible” is the actual term

VAN RITTER: change to VAN RITER

von MOLTKE: Helmuth von Moltke (1800–1891): German field marshal, quoted in Bartlett: Erst wägen, dann wagen (First ponder, then dare).

WALLACE, Edgar (1875–1932): prolific British author, journalist, playwright, “King of Thrillers” in the 1920s.

WARNER, Jack L: Not a Hollywood star, but a studio boss, Chief of Productions at Warner Bros. studio; the youngest of the Warner Brothers.

WATT-WATSON, Hildegarde: Probably an inside joke for PGW’s agent A. P. Watt and lawyer Watson Washburn.

WEBWE & FIELD’S: misprint here in Volume 7; change to Weber & Fields’. Vaudevillians Joe Weber (1867–1942) and Lew Fields (1867–1941) were a knockabout “Dutch” (German-dialect) comedy team in American vaudeville from 1885 until breaking up the act in 1904, though they continued to manage theatres together and reunited from time to time on stage. USPears-KBL has the apostrophe as printed in Vol. 7, but contemporary posters and programs had it as Fields’ or with no apostrophe.

WESTAWAY: add cross-reference to McCay in TMU-ARB in Volume 1.

WESTLEY, Miss: Her given name was Maude, which her brother Andrew bestowed as a new surname for her son John to erase all memory of his father, the late Prince Charles of Mervo.

WHITMAN, Walt (1819–1892): American poet, essayist, journalist

WIDGEON, Frederick Fotheringay: The only time Fortescue is given as his middle name is spoken by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright in FQO-FOL, talking to Oofy Prosser; it is never cited in Wodehouse’s narration. Add citations to NSE-BSB in this volume and cross-references to Volume 2 (for Strand-QUE) and Volume 6, for stories in which he is offstage but recalled by Bertie Wooster.

WILBURFLOSS, J Filliken: change reference to Appendix 5. For an explanation, see the notes to Psmith, Journalist, episode 4 at Madame Eulalie; apparently it was an inadvertent borrowing of a character name from a newspaper cartoon by Clare Victor Dwiggins.

WILLARD, Jess (1881–1968): American boxer, world heavyweight champion 1915–19.

WILLOUGHBY, Miss: In Star-UKK her name is given as Miss Wimbush, aunt of Percy Wimbush.

WILSON, Jim: In Colliers-AOS he is from Mechanicsville, Minnesota before coming to New York.

WIMSEY, Lord Peter: fictional detective in novels and stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957)

WIX-BIFFEN, Dudley: add cross-reference to Dudley Biffen, this volume.

WOLFE, Nero: fictional detective in novels and stories by Rex Stout (1886–1975); weighs one-seventh of a ton (286 lb.)

WOLMANN, Cyclone Al: add cross-reference to Cyclone Dick Fisher, this volume.

WOOD, Daisy (1877–1961): English music hall singer, younger sister of “Marie Lloyd” (Mathilda Alice Victoria Wood)

WOOLLCOTT, Alexander (1887–1943): American author and critic, one of the Algonquin Round Table group. On a 1933 radio program, he popularized a line attributed to Frank Rand of St. Louis: “anything I like is either illegal or immoral or fattening.”; Dame Flora Faye in The Girl in Blue quotes a variant of this nifty. [Thanks to Ian Michaud for making the connection.]

YOU’RE THE TOP: Cole Porter wrote the music and the original Broadway lyrics for this song in Anything Goes (1934); he asked Wodehouse to amend some of the topical references for London audiences when the show played in the West End in 1935. Wodehouse also revised some lyrics for the show’s 1962 revival.

ZAM-BUK: a real-life ointment for the skin, introduced 1902 by the Zam-Buk company of Leeds, England, and widely advertised.

ZAMPA: comic opera (1831) by French composer Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833)

 

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Compiled by Neil Midkiff; last updated 2020-06-15
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