I am totally thrown by the "guv'nor" thing. O___O It just . . . does not seem like something Jeeves would say.
I love Mills' illustrations! In the second picture from the bottom Bertie looks completely panicked and Jeeves-holding-wrench looks like he's wishing for a Snidely Whiplash mustache, so that he could twirl it and cackle "Mwahahaaaa!"
The gov´nor thing is quite strange. Maybe we can witness how the author changed his perception of Jeeves after some time and rewrote it? Is gov´nor some sort of old slang (I am Czech so I must rely on what my dictionary is saying). Maybe it was an attempt of lower-class speech (he´s a servant afterall), but after some time the author decided it didn´t suit Jeeves (or Jeeves decided it wouldn´t suit him, thank you very much)? Anyway, the pictures are so lovely! Jeeves in a driving cap is a nice change.
I'm American myself, but I definitely associate "guv'nor" with old school lower class British slang. It's an interesting touch, but it does seem at odds with Jeeves's speech patterns in general. I guess Wodehouse eventually decided it was a little too jarring.
I remember in the Blandings books the ne'er-do-well younger son of the family (Freddie, I think) refers to his father as "guv'nor" and I thought it was supposed to indicate just how "unsuitable" he was in the family.
Come to think of it, I remember that, too. It certainly seems to indicate Freddie's goofiness in some way, but I'm not sure exactly what the implication is. Probably these nuances of language would have been more obvious to readers back then . . .
I really like that last illustration of Jeeves. <3 Not keen on mustachioed Bertie, though. And it's strange that he appears to be older than Jeeves - isn't he only supposed to be in his 20s?
The guv'nor thing is definitely weird.
It's funny you mentioned having never seen Jeeves in a flat cap before, because I just finished drawing him in one (but I'm really ambivalent about the picture and not sure I want to post it). And the scene with the little girl kissing him on the cheek was one I've considered doing. :)
Sure! I'm just glad I have a group of similarly obsessed folks to share them with! :D
Yeah, I do like Skidmore's Jeeves, especially in this story. I much prefer Mills's Bertie, though. You're right, Bertie was only supposed to be in his early to mid '20s (I think he was canonically 23 when he hired Jeeves).
Ooh, I would love to see that drawing, and I do hope you'll draw (and post) the other one as well!
(I think he was canonically 23 when he hired Jeeves).
Yes, 23 or 24.
Unfortunately, I just realized not half an hour ago that I'd inadvertently left out a very important element of the picture. After I'd already spent hours coloring the whole damn thing. >:( I could go back and add it, but at this point I don't want to bother with that extra work. I'm determined to do Jeeves in a flat cap again in some future picture, though.
alarmingly mustachioed Bertie cracked me up, the governor thing is weird, made me think of Dick Van Dyke in Marry Poppins and his 'British' accent. But my main question is this. In the first picture of the little girl, what is she wearing? The white straps over her clothes just seems to be dangling into space? What is that supposed to be?
I wondered about that, too! I assume it was some kind of weird fashion trend of the day. I'll have to poke around and see if I can find other examples.
It's very Goth, you know, to have straps and buckles hanging in random places. And, come to think of it, those huge pants look a lot like the oxford bags discussed on indeedsir not too long ago...
Being extraordinarily geeky, I did a word-by-word comparison of the two. In the rewrite Jeeves' voice throughout was made less casual and less Bertie-like -- in the magazine version he even begins in media res and then doubles back -- but the search-and-replace he did on "the guv'nor" stands out most.
Since the rewrite was overall an improvement, and since it's jarring to hearing the Jeeves we have always known to be so proper using such an informal term as "guv'nor", I trust Wodehouse's judgment in making the change, but... Ever since I read it, I've been wondering if that is how Jeeves privately thinks of Bertie, or how he might refer to his employer when chatting with others of his own social class.
Because what do we really know about what Jeeves this Reggie fellow is like when he lets his hair down? He dances; he reads Spinoza but also "has an aunt" who reads mushy romance novels; he gambles and somehow manages always to have the best intel on racehorses... (This is an honest question, actually, not just rhetorical, seeing as
( ... )
That is interesting! At some point I'll have to read through all the magazine versions of these stories and see just how much was ultimately changed. I only skimmed a bit when I was going through and pulling out the pictures.
Yeah, Jeeves is always a bit mysterious, although various details do come out in the books and stories. If you haven't read The Mating Season yet, I recommend it -- you'll get to meet his remarkable Uncle Charlie. I also know he likes to smoke cigars and judge an occasional bathing suit contest.
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I love Mills' illustrations! In the second picture from the bottom Bertie looks completely panicked and Jeeves-holding-wrench looks like he's wishing for a Snidely Whiplash mustache, so that he could twirl it and cackle "Mwahahaaaa!"
"A roundabout! I'll say it's broken down!"
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(Also, why did I write roundabout instead of runabout? Duuur!)
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(Aw, I knew what you meant. ;))
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Anyway, the pictures are so lovely! Jeeves in a driving cap is a nice change.
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I remember in the Blandings books the ne'er-do-well younger son of the family (Freddie, I think) refers to his father as "guv'nor" and I thought it was supposed to indicate just how "unsuitable" he was in the family.
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I really like that last illustration of Jeeves. <3 Not keen on mustachioed Bertie, though. And it's strange that he appears to be older than Jeeves - isn't he only supposed to be in his 20s?
The guv'nor thing is definitely weird.
It's funny you mentioned having never seen Jeeves in a flat cap before, because I just finished drawing him in one (but I'm really ambivalent about the picture and not sure I want to post it). And the scene with the little girl kissing him on the cheek was one I've considered doing. :)
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Yeah, I do like Skidmore's Jeeves, especially in this story. I much prefer Mills's Bertie, though. You're right, Bertie was only supposed to be in his early to mid '20s (I think he was canonically 23 when he hired Jeeves).
Ooh, I would love to see that drawing, and I do hope you'll draw (and post) the other one as well!
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Yes, 23 or 24.
Unfortunately, I just realized not half an hour ago that I'd inadvertently left out a very important element of the picture. After I'd already spent hours coloring the whole damn thing. >:( I could go back and add it, but at this point I don't want to bother with that extra work. I'm determined to do Jeeves in a flat cap again in some future picture, though.
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In the first picture of the little girl, what is she wearing? The white straps over her clothes just seems to be dangling into space? What is that supposed to be?
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Since the rewrite was overall an improvement, and since it's jarring to hearing the Jeeves we have always known to be so proper using such an informal term as "guv'nor", I trust Wodehouse's judgment in making the change, but... Ever since I read it, I've been wondering if that is how Jeeves privately thinks of Bertie, or how he might refer to his employer when chatting with others of his own social class.
Because what do we really know about what Jeeves this Reggie fellow is like when he lets his hair down? He dances; he reads Spinoza but also "has an aunt" who reads mushy romance novels; he gambles and somehow manages always to have the best intel on racehorses... (This is an honest question, actually, not just rhetorical, seeing as ( ... )
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Yeah, Jeeves is always a bit mysterious, although various details do come out in the books and stories. If you haven't read The Mating Season yet, I recommend it -- you'll get to meet his remarkable Uncle Charlie. I also know he likes to smoke cigars and judge an occasional bathing suit contest.
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