2012-06-28

The real life Bertie Wooster? Plus some other cool stuff.

I imagine a lot of you probably know about this already, but a few years ago a Wodehouse scholar named Norman Murphy came out with the theory that Bertie Wooster was modeled on an actor/singer/producer/playwright/songwriter/all-around-talented guy named George Grossmith Jr. Grossmith played a lot of "dudes" and "mashers" on the musical comedy stage in the 1910s, and this was certainly the kind of character that Bertie was based on in his earliest form.


ExpandI muuuurdered her one morning, it was very kindly meant . . . )


I happened upon Grossmith while I was looking around for other possible Bertie Wooster inspirations. It seems that the name Bertie was already associated with dapper, upper-class gents well before Bertie Wooster was born, and I'm sure that Wodehouse was influenced, directly or otherwise, by earlier uses of the name.


ExpandI'm Burlington Bertie, I rise at 10:30 . . . )