Jeeves and Wooster
2.2: A
Plan for Gussie
(aka The Bassetts’ Fancy Dress Ball)
The cow creamer
business dispatched, the second part of this The Code of the Woosters adaptation preoccupies itself with further
Gussie scrapes, and the continuing machinations of Stiffy. Fortunately, Spode
is still about to make things extra unpleasant.
Sir Roderick delivers
more of his winning policies (“the Right
to be issued with a British bicycle and an honest, British-made umbrella”) and
some remarkably plausible-sounding nonsense political soundbites (“Nothing stands between us and victory except
our defeat!”, “Tomorrow is a new day;
the future lies ahead!”) while Jeeves curtly dismisses Spode trying to tag
him as one of the working masses. It’s in Spode’s ability to crush skulls that
we’re interested, though, and it looks as if his powers have deserted him at the
start.
Jeeves has given
Gussie a pep-talk in how to get over his terror of Spode (“We don’t fear those we despise… fill one’s mind with scornful thoughts”)
but Bertie’s quite right to be sceptical about its efficacy (it doesn’t make
Gussie any good at cricket, for starters), particularly since it leads the newt
fancier to write all his insults down in a book so he won’t forget them. Which
falls into Stiffy’s hands (she is still set on her plan to curry favour with Sir
Watkyn; Stinker must steal Oates’ helmet and “If you can’t, you’ll never be bishop!”).
Her light-fingered
approach naturally leads to scrapes for Bertie, most dynamically when, during
their hunt for the notebook in her room, he and Jeeves leap from a roused and
yapping Bartholomew to the safety of the top of a chest of drawers (querying
Jeeves’ cowardice, the valet draws his master’s attention to “the number and size of teeth”). Compounding
this, Stiffy then gives Spode the notebook and lays the finger on Bertie when
the theft of Oates’ helmet comes to light.
Bertie Wooster: Have
you ever thought about love, Sir Watkyn?
With Bertie under threat
of marital damnation from Madeline (“I
will be your wife, Bertie”), the idea of announcing to Spode he will be wedding
Stiffy (such that Stinker will seem like a good choice) doesn’t exactly elicit
the expected response (Jeeves must be off the fish this week), since Sir Watykn
is only relieved she isn’t Madeline, who told him earlier Bertie was due to
become his son-in-law (“Oh, well, in that
case. I’m delighted”).
Gussie Fink-Nottle: You
silly old ass! You unmitigated, pudding-headed old jobbernow!
The juggling of
elements is particularly deft in this episode, and the scenes with Spode are as
delightful as ever. Come the fancy dress party climax, with Spode as centurion,
Bertie as T E Lawrence and Gussie as the devil, it’s time for more farcical
chasing, mostly of the variety of Spode pursuing Gussie (“Come out, you putrid little earthworm!”) or Sir Watkyn doing
likewise (Gussie unwisely insults him, handing him his notebook to read after
Sir Watkyn pulls the plug on his newts).
Bertie Wooster: You
can’t be a successful dictator and design women’s underclothing.
The Eulalie ruse is
such a good one, it’s only right that Plum chose to dismantle if after this. As
Bertie notes before the climax, having the word alone is rather like holding up
a bank and not knowing if your gun is loaded or not. He essentially admits it’s
a masterful deus ex machina (“Isn’t
anyone else I can use it on, is there?”) It’s interesting that Exton chose
to alter the novel’s ending, in which Jeeves reveals that Spode is a designer
of women’s undergarments of his own accord. Perhaps he considered it a little
too indiscreet, as here, Bertie (very conveniently) happens to see Spode with a
slip through a shop window.
Bertie Wooster: Are
these the actions of rational human beings?
Jeeves: Difficult to say, sir.
Bertie Wooster: Is it
for this we dragged ourselves from the primeval ooze, to stir up the notions of
simple honest people to a frenzy, and then to go around playing tennis and
gigging?
Jeeves: An interesting question, sir.
On the Bertie front,
he’s given to opine on the mysteries of the female of the species as a source
of incipient pain and disaster for his truly. It’s been said that Wodehouse’s
female characters aren’t very fully formed, and that may be true, but I’m not
sure the charge is really any more the case than any of his other broad-stroke
supporting characters. The real point is his (comparative) lack of female lead
characters. It feels idle to single out the author on this area.
Bertie Wooster: Jeeves,
you may get rid of those handkerchiefs. I owe it to you. Thank you, sir. I did
it last night.
Also on the put-upon
Bertie side, he upheld a rare non-capitulation to Jeeves with regard to the
latter’s pulling for a world cruise in the previous episode (accusing his
gentleman’s gentleman of a Viking strain, and a desire to witness the dancing
girls of Bali; Bertie refuses to be decanted in some ocean-going liner and
lugged off round the world). He’s less resilient this week, as Jeeves is
wonderfully belittling over his latest fashion faux pas: “novelty” handkerchiefs. Initially, Jeeves is reluctant even to
label these monogrammed monstrosities as such (“I think not, sir. They appear to have writing on them”), his
masterstroke being the suggestion that anyone needing them must be “in danger of forgetting their name”.
With The Code of the Woosters completed,
there would be equal parts picking and choosing and proper adaptations for the
rest of the season. Certainly, the four-episode run from 1.4 might rank as the
most consistently high quality of the entire run, but the mix and match of the
rest, which includes the brief tenure of valet Brinkley, ensure there’s still a
high standard of material for the picking.
Sources:
The Code of the Woosters
Recurring characters:
Sir Watkyn Bassett
(1.1, 2.1, 2.2)
Sir Roderick Spode
(2.1, 2.2)
Madeline Basset (1.4,
1.5, 2.1, 2.2)
Gussie Fink-Nottle
(1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2)
Rev H P “Stinker”
Pinker (2.1, 2.2)
Stephanie “Stiffy”
Byng (2.1, 2.2)
Constable Oates (2.1,
2.2)
“Barmy”
Fotheringay-Phipps (1.1, 1,2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2)
“Oofy” Prosser (1.1,
1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.2)
Agree? Disagree? Mildly or vehemently? Let me know in the comments below.