Classic Wodehouse Illustrations 16: Jeeves and the Boston Globe Mystery!
I am so excited! I found a treasure trove of historic newspapers with illustrated Jeeves and Bertie stories dating to the mid '20s and early '30s. A whole slew of these stories were published in the Boston Daily Globe in 1925, and again in its later incarnation, the Daily Boston Globe, between 1929 and 1932. Today, we're going to look at the latter group.
Tragically, the person did these illustrations is uncredited, and the bounder did not sign their name. It is assuredly not cartoonist Gene Mack, who did Wodehouse illustration duty for the Boston Globe in 1925. But whoever they might be, this person created a Jeeves of such surpassing loveliness that he gives Henry Raleigh's dishy Right Ho-era Jeeves a run for his money.
Yes, that's Jeeves.
These Boston Globe stories are all published with only a single illustration each, so I'm bundling them all together into one big post instead of grouping them by story.
The teaser pic is from "Jeeves and the Dog McIntosh," the one where Bobbie Wickham gives Aunt Agatha's dog to Blumenfeld Jr. It appeared in the November 8, 1931 edition of the DBG.
The "vamp" mentioned in the caption is Bobbie Wickham, of course. Here she is with Bertie and Jeeves, and all three of them are looking like Leyendecker models. I hate to complain, but they're almost . . . too pretty, you know? Or at least too generic in their prettiness.
But I've gotten ahead of myself. Let's look at our mystery illustrator's first attempt at the lads:
This one is sadly damaged, so I'm not sure quite what's going on with Bertie's face. From what I can see, both Bertie and Jeeves look a little different from the forms they would settle into a couple years later. This is from "Jeeves and the Yuletide Spirit," published in Dec. 1929. Here, again, we have the dreaded Bobbie Wickhem, along with her parents. They've only just arrived, and Jeeves already looks pretty concerned.
Here is an illustration from one of my absolute favorite stories, "Jeeves and the Impending Doom" (Oct. 11, 1931). This is the one where Jeeves rescues Bertie from an enraged swan, a scene which our mystery illustrator mysteriously did not illustrate. >:( Instead, we get our very pretty Bertie stuck on the roof with Mr. Filmer:
Next up is "Jeeves and the Song of Songs" (Oct. 25, 1931), the one where everyone and their uncle sings Sonny Boy. Ooh, look, it's Aunt Dahlia! And a very nice take on her, in my opinion:
Aaaah, nooo, not another monocle! And maybe a mustache too, unless that's just excessive lip shading? In any case, Jeeves and Bertie look a little more individualized than they do in "McIntosh." Interestingly, this Jeeves seems to be both shorter and blonder than Bertie, which is an interesting variant on the more typical representation of our boys.
Skipping over the Dog McIntosh, here is a rather odd entry from "Jeeves and the Love that Purifies" (Nov. 1, 1931). This is the one where Aunt Dahlia has a bet on with a friend about whether her son Bonzo (what is with that name?!) or Aunt Agatha's son Thomas will be the first to crack and do something horrible, as is their wont. Anatole is at stake in this bet, of course. The greatest challenge that both boys must face is resisting the urge to beat the snot out of young Sebastian Moon, whose goodie-two-shoesness and golden curls make him almost irresistable to any hot-blooded Wodehousian tyke. Here he is, being carted around by Thomas while Bertie and an elderly house-guest look on:
Well, the monocle is back yet again. But I'm far more concerned by young Master Moon. I mean, golden curls, yeah yeah, but I wasn't expecting full-on Little Lord Fauntleroy. Dang.
In "Jeeves and the Spot of Art" (Nov. 15, 1931), Bertie butts heads with a cranky soup magnate, and through various Jeevesian machinations, Bertie's portrait ends up providing the new face of Slingsby's Superb Soups. Now, this story is particularly interesting for one fleetingly mentioned detail, from Bertie's description of the ghastly Slingsby's Soup billboard:
"There I sat, absolutely slavering through a monocle about six inches in circumference at a plateful of soup . . ."
THE MONOCLE IS CANON. REPEAT, THE MONOCLE IS CANON. *alarm klaxons*
Still, I have to wonder: did Wodehouse always picture Bertie thus, or was this his concession to the endless parade of monocle-wearing Woosters that his illustrators foisted on him? Or is the monocle in this case just an affectation for the portrait? I guess we'll never know, because as far as I know it's never mentioned again.
Anyway, here's another pretty!Bertie, with no monocle in sight, looking on as Mr. Slingsby takes a terrible purler over a golf ball.
In "Jeeves and the Old School Chum" (Nov. 29, 1931), our old friend Bingo Little struggles with marital troubles in the form of Rosie's old school friend Laura Pyke. La Pyke convinces Rosie to put herself and Bingo on a highly restricted diet, resulting in much anguish. Jeeves finally breaks Ms. Pyke's spell over Rosie by stranding the two women together without food and, even worse, WITHOUT TEA, resulting in a friendship-ending bout of hangryness and caffiene deprivation. Harsh, Jeeves!
Anyway, here are Laura Pyke, Rosie Little, and . . . I'm pretty sure this is Bertie, Bingo and Jeeves, from left to right. Bingo and Bertie are way too similar in their design, I fear, but I do very much like this Jeeves. His hair looks a bit darker than it did in earlier illustrations, so it seems like Mystery Artist was still struggling with their character designs.
Oh, say, I just noticed Bertie's arm around Bingo. Slash goggles . . . ENGAGE!
"Indian Summer of an Uncle" (Dec. 6, 1931) is the tale of Bertie's uncle George and his beloved barmaid Maudie. I've always liked this story in part because we get to see here just how much of a hopeless romantic Jeeves really is. He gives absolutely no fucks about helping Bertie comply with Aunt Agatha's wishes, and even gently chides Bertie for his classist attitudes toward Maudie. He just wants to see George and Maudie get back together. <33
Here's the big reunion scene:
Aww. Again, the character designs seem to be wandering a bit, but I'm pretty sure that's Jeeves at far right, enjoying the results of his handiwork.
I will wrap this up with "Tuppy Changes His Mind" (Jan 3, 1932), in which Tuppy's girlfriend du jour really wants an Irish Water Spaniel and Tuppy gets the crap kicked out of him playing rugby.
What an utterly unremarkable-looking Tuppy! :/
And that's all I have from Mystery Illustrator for now. All in all quite nicely done, but lacking a certain spark. Next time, I will show you the work of their predecessor, Gene Mack.
Previous entries:
"Bingo and the Little Woman" and "The Metropolitan Touch"
"Comrade Bingo"
"Bertie Changes His Mind"
"Leave It to Jeeves"
Right Ho, Jeeves
"The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace"
"Aunt Agatha Takes the Count"
"Jeeves in the Springtime"
"Scoring Off Jeeves" and "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch"
"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"
"The Great Sermon Handicap"
"The Purity of the Turf"
"Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg"
"Jeeves and the Chump Cyril" and "Extricating Young Gussie"
Joy in the Morning
Tragically, the person did these illustrations is uncredited, and the bounder did not sign their name. It is assuredly not cartoonist Gene Mack, who did Wodehouse illustration duty for the Boston Globe in 1925. But whoever they might be, this person created a Jeeves of such surpassing loveliness that he gives Henry Raleigh's dishy Right Ho-era Jeeves a run for his money.
Yes, that's Jeeves.
These Boston Globe stories are all published with only a single illustration each, so I'm bundling them all together into one big post instead of grouping them by story.
The teaser pic is from "Jeeves and the Dog McIntosh," the one where Bobbie Wickham gives Aunt Agatha's dog to Blumenfeld Jr. It appeared in the November 8, 1931 edition of the DBG.
The "vamp" mentioned in the caption is Bobbie Wickham, of course. Here she is with Bertie and Jeeves, and all three of them are looking like Leyendecker models. I hate to complain, but they're almost . . . too pretty, you know? Or at least too generic in their prettiness.
But I've gotten ahead of myself. Let's look at our mystery illustrator's first attempt at the lads:
This one is sadly damaged, so I'm not sure quite what's going on with Bertie's face. From what I can see, both Bertie and Jeeves look a little different from the forms they would settle into a couple years later. This is from "Jeeves and the Yuletide Spirit," published in Dec. 1929. Here, again, we have the dreaded Bobbie Wickhem, along with her parents. They've only just arrived, and Jeeves already looks pretty concerned.
Here is an illustration from one of my absolute favorite stories, "Jeeves and the Impending Doom" (Oct. 11, 1931). This is the one where Jeeves rescues Bertie from an enraged swan, a scene which our mystery illustrator mysteriously did not illustrate. >:( Instead, we get our very pretty Bertie stuck on the roof with Mr. Filmer:
Next up is "Jeeves and the Song of Songs" (Oct. 25, 1931), the one where everyone and their uncle sings Sonny Boy. Ooh, look, it's Aunt Dahlia! And a very nice take on her, in my opinion:
Aaaah, nooo, not another monocle! And maybe a mustache too, unless that's just excessive lip shading? In any case, Jeeves and Bertie look a little more individualized than they do in "McIntosh." Interestingly, this Jeeves seems to be both shorter and blonder than Bertie, which is an interesting variant on the more typical representation of our boys.
Skipping over the Dog McIntosh, here is a rather odd entry from "Jeeves and the Love that Purifies" (Nov. 1, 1931). This is the one where Aunt Dahlia has a bet on with a friend about whether her son Bonzo (what is with that name?!) or Aunt Agatha's son Thomas will be the first to crack and do something horrible, as is their wont. Anatole is at stake in this bet, of course. The greatest challenge that both boys must face is resisting the urge to beat the snot out of young Sebastian Moon, whose goodie-two-shoesness and golden curls make him almost irresistable to any hot-blooded Wodehousian tyke. Here he is, being carted around by Thomas while Bertie and an elderly house-guest look on:
Well, the monocle is back yet again. But I'm far more concerned by young Master Moon. I mean, golden curls, yeah yeah, but I wasn't expecting full-on Little Lord Fauntleroy. Dang.
In "Jeeves and the Spot of Art" (Nov. 15, 1931), Bertie butts heads with a cranky soup magnate, and through various Jeevesian machinations, Bertie's portrait ends up providing the new face of Slingsby's Superb Soups. Now, this story is particularly interesting for one fleetingly mentioned detail, from Bertie's description of the ghastly Slingsby's Soup billboard:
"There I sat, absolutely slavering through a monocle about six inches in circumference at a plateful of soup . . ."
THE MONOCLE IS CANON. REPEAT, THE MONOCLE IS CANON. *alarm klaxons*
Still, I have to wonder: did Wodehouse always picture Bertie thus, or was this his concession to the endless parade of monocle-wearing Woosters that his illustrators foisted on him? Or is the monocle in this case just an affectation for the portrait? I guess we'll never know, because as far as I know it's never mentioned again.
Anyway, here's another pretty!Bertie, with no monocle in sight, looking on as Mr. Slingsby takes a terrible purler over a golf ball.
In "Jeeves and the Old School Chum" (Nov. 29, 1931), our old friend Bingo Little struggles with marital troubles in the form of Rosie's old school friend Laura Pyke. La Pyke convinces Rosie to put herself and Bingo on a highly restricted diet, resulting in much anguish. Jeeves finally breaks Ms. Pyke's spell over Rosie by stranding the two women together without food and, even worse, WITHOUT TEA, resulting in a friendship-ending bout of hangryness and caffiene deprivation. Harsh, Jeeves!
Anyway, here are Laura Pyke, Rosie Little, and . . . I'm pretty sure this is Bertie, Bingo and Jeeves, from left to right. Bingo and Bertie are way too similar in their design, I fear, but I do very much like this Jeeves. His hair looks a bit darker than it did in earlier illustrations, so it seems like Mystery Artist was still struggling with their character designs.
Oh, say, I just noticed Bertie's arm around Bingo. Slash goggles . . . ENGAGE!
"Indian Summer of an Uncle" (Dec. 6, 1931) is the tale of Bertie's uncle George and his beloved barmaid Maudie. I've always liked this story in part because we get to see here just how much of a hopeless romantic Jeeves really is. He gives absolutely no fucks about helping Bertie comply with Aunt Agatha's wishes, and even gently chides Bertie for his classist attitudes toward Maudie. He just wants to see George and Maudie get back together. <33
Here's the big reunion scene:
Aww. Again, the character designs seem to be wandering a bit, but I'm pretty sure that's Jeeves at far right, enjoying the results of his handiwork.
I will wrap this up with "Tuppy Changes His Mind" (Jan 3, 1932), in which Tuppy's girlfriend du jour really wants an Irish Water Spaniel and Tuppy gets the crap kicked out of him playing rugby.
What an utterly unremarkable-looking Tuppy! :/
And that's all I have from Mystery Illustrator for now. All in all quite nicely done, but lacking a certain spark. Next time, I will show you the work of their predecessor, Gene Mack.
Previous entries:
"Bingo and the Little Woman" and "The Metropolitan Touch"
"Comrade Bingo"
"Bertie Changes His Mind"
"Leave It to Jeeves"
Right Ho, Jeeves
"The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace"
"Aunt Agatha Takes the Count"
"Jeeves in the Springtime"
"Scoring Off Jeeves" and "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch"
"Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"
"The Great Sermon Handicap"
"The Purity of the Turf"
"Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg"
"Jeeves and the Chump Cyril" and "Extricating Young Gussie"
Joy in the Morning