Thu 15 Jan 2015
Reviewed by Dan Stumpf: P. .G. WODEHOUSE – A Damsel in Distress (Book and Film).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[12] Comments
P. G. WODEHOUSE – A Damsel in Distress. Herbert Jenkins, UK, hardcover, 1919. George H. Doran Company, US, hardcover, 1919. Reprinted many times in both hardcover and soft.
A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS. RKO, 1937. Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Reginald Gardiner, Montagu Love, Ray Noble. Written by Wodehouse, Ernest Pagano, S.K. Lauren, William J. Burns and P.J. Wolfson. Music by George Gershwin. Dance Director: Hermes Pan . Directed by George Stevens.
A tale that finds the author at the top of his form, A Damsel in Distress was adapted as a silent film the year it was published, then as a play in 1928, and finally as a lush RKO musical in 1937. The book itself mines all the usual rich veins of Wodehouse: the stately castle presided over by an Earl (Emsworth in all but name — this Earl nurses roses instead of a prize pig.) the standard iron-clad Aunt, cunning servants, young lovers, dithering relations, and a young demi-lord who could stand as Bertie Wooster’s twin brother.
The amazing thing is that Wodehouse could return to the same plots, themes, characters and motifs time and again without ever getting stale. In this case, he takes for his hero a composer of popular musicals, one George Bevan (who coincidentally has the same occupation and initials as Wodehouse’s long-time collaborator, the incurably romantic Guy Bolton), whose life is agreeably upset one day on a London street when a desperate young lady (the Damsel in Distress) jumps in his taxi and begs him to hide her.
From there on, things go as one expects them to: He falls in love; she does too but doesn’t realize it; identities are mistaken, plans laid, plots hatched, things go awry and then get wryed back up again. No surprises here, just laugh-out-loud humor as Wodehouse weaves the tale with his customary understated hyperbole and stream-of-non-sequiturs narration.
I was struck though by how astute and likable our hero turned out to be — characters in Wodehouse tend to be either one or the other, but seldom both to this degree — and I found myself wondering if this were a mark of the author’s affection for his life-long friend, Bevan’s character model.
Be that as it may, I read a biography of Wodehouse once that deplored the RKO film of Damsel in Distress, and Wodehouse himself said he contributed remarkably little to it, but I find it a hard film to deplore or even dislike.
This Damsel is a charming thing, faithful in its fashion to the novel, and where it departs from the text it does so with admirable aplomb; for example, a meeting between the plot-crossed lovers set in a smelly barn in the book is relocated to a fun-fair for splendidly cinematic results. Joan Fontaine seems a pluperfect romantic heroine, and even Burns & Allen enter into the Wodehousian spirit admirably.
I was struck also by the inspiration in re-shaping the romantic Bevan. Someone at RKO must have noticed that they had cast Fred Astaire in the part (rechristened Jerry Halliday for some reason) and hit upon the happy notion to make him not a musical composer but a musical star! One applauds the cutting-edge creativity involved, as this lets them slip in several highly enjoyable dance numbers, including a fine bit with Burns & Allen, who turn out to be talented hoofers themselves.
I don’t know which of the phalanx of writers came up with this idea, but I’m glad whoever it was took the concept by the horns and talked the others around to his way of thinking — just imagine how otherwise this might have turned out had they missed this boat and the character remained a composer; the notion of scenes with Astaire sitting at his desk trying to find a rhyme for “Lady Alyce Marshmorton†simply doesn’t bear thinking about.
Oh, and I wanted to say something about the music by George Gershwin, but once you’ve said “Music by George Gershwin†what more is there?
January 15th, 2015 at 2:24 pm
Be sure to watch the video clip provided. In one word, Spectacular!
As Fred Astaire always was.
January 15th, 2015 at 2:38 pm
Bravo! What a wonderful item by which to start this part of my day! Dan, last summer I think you were still looking for a copy of the original novel. It sounds as if you found it.
January 15th, 2015 at 7:18 pm
Wodehouse at his best, Gershwin, Astaire, Burns and Allen, a young Joan Fontaine, Hermes Pan choreography, and George Stevens directing. I’d have to be a heck of curmudgeon to complain about book or film
Whether Wodehouse liked the final result or not we can rest assured he liked the paycheck and no doubt renewed sales of the book.
Wodehouse should be terribly dated, but instead like Sherlock Holmes he exists in his own little timeless world that is never the real Twenties, but a sort of happily skewered version of it.
Sounds as if I’ll be digging out my Frye and Laurie Jeeves and Wooster again, and if I can find it the Niven/Treacher version of the pair.
January 15th, 2015 at 7:56 pm
David,
I hope you know the episodes in Jeeves and Wooster are sometimes based on the originals (where two or more short stories may be fitted into one episode) and sometimes not. The Niven/Treacher film is very entertaining, but not quite like the original book. For me there is nothing like reading the original books where the language stimulates the humor. As for the timeless world, the later books find room for references to current events, like the cold war, but still do not disturb the reader.
January 15th, 2015 at 9:27 pm
The films are just a dessert for reading Wodehouse again, a clever shadow of the real thing. Nothing can quite substitute for reading Wodehouse, though at his best Yates is not that far behind him and has his own following still in England.
But Wodehouse is one of the few writers to ever make me laugh out loud and not just smile, and that’s an accomplishment.
January 15th, 2015 at 11:06 pm
A very apt phrase, that!
January 16th, 2015 at 12:15 am
I wonder how many people recognize that you are referring to Dornford Yates? I was introduced to his works in a book by Richard Usborne called CLUBLAND HEROES and assembled a set of his books. I then learned that Usborne was a leading authority on P. G. Wodehouse. One thing led to another and I began corresponding with Usborne and that led to a meeting with Usborne in London. I also wrote a few fan letters to Wodehouse and he always replied. I understand he made a point of replying to all his fan mail.
January 16th, 2015 at 5:24 am
I have a shelf in my upstairs book closet where all of my Wodehouse paperbacks are kept. I never made a point of trying to “collect them all,” but there are quite a few.
I don’t know, but I suddenly have the urge to pick out out at random to read. It’s been a while, way too long, in fact.
If I were younger, I’d be tempted to put together a collection of Wodehouse in hardcover. Enticing me on is the cover image I included at the top of Dan’s review. It’s a later printing of the English hardcover, but still an early one. I think it’s quite handsome looking, and as I recall, one such as this is only in the $75 range.
I can dream, can’t I?
January 16th, 2015 at 12:28 pm
Steve, That is a noble goal, to collect PGW in hardcover. The trouble is, there are so many of them! I got an early start by writing Blackwells to send me “everything” and then worked on filling in the gaps. After that I just bought each new title until his death in 1975. I have read most of them. In Columbus last Summer I went to the Acorn Bookshop and bought a carton of variant editions and secondary sources. That’s where I heard Dan mention looking for a copy of the book DAMSEL IN DISTRESS. As for reading what you have, I would suggest you shut your eyes and reach out and choose whichever comes to hand. You cannot go wrong.
January 16th, 2015 at 4:34 pm
I agree, just pick one. You can’t go wrong. From the beginning to the end he was much the same, and just as delightful. It’s a unique achievement since most writers have a learning curve and decline.
January 19th, 2015 at 4:18 am
I think I might have a copy of this movie somewhere. It sounds like fun, although the presence of George Burns and Gracie Allen puts me off a little. I haven’t read the book but I must, being a major Wodehouse fan.
Wodehouse hasn’t always been done well on the screen. The worst ever attempt was the truly awful JEEVES AND WOOSTER TV series with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The best attempts were the 1960s THE WORLD OF WOOSTER TV series, and the 1970s WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE series.
January 19th, 2015 at 5:07 pm
This just shows how tastes change and differ. There are those (see above) who would disagree with you about the JEEVES AND WOOSTER TV series and who might never have seen THE WORLD OF WOOSTER or THE WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE. At least one episode of the first can be found on YouTube and the entire second series is available on DVD.