OT: Bolton & Wodehouse & Kern

[juliacarmen.livejournal.com]

I'm almost done reading the 420 page tome by Lee Davis. And thought I'd share a few bits:

Trendsetting

In one of B & W & K's musicals the high comedy was "mostly personified by Jim Marvin, smiling winningly  through thin and thin [sic], and charming audiences and chorus girls with his peculiar, contagious way with words. Asked to go away and leave George alone, Jim replies, 'Oh, don't be redic. Come and join the party and be our little ray of sunsh.' Asked by Jacky, 'Why do you always abbreviate your words?' Jim answers jauntily, 'Oh, just a hab.'
"Within weeks, theatre-going swains in cafe society were dropping syllables to impress their dates." (p. 123)

Looks like Wodehouse invented the trend he satirized with Bertie.

"Some ... money went into maintaining the unique, sartorial splendour of Jerry [Kern]. Like [Flo] Ziegfeld and Guy [Bolton], Jerry had become noted for his elegance in dressing and particularly for the wide scarves from Crawford's of London, which he transformed into grand cravats, knotting them neatly around his neck in lieu of more ordinary ties." (p. 309)

So, the use of scarves as cravats is a new fashion in the 1920s? I wonder what Jeeves would have thought of it...

Idle Spec.

"Plum and Ethel never had children of their own. The reasons are cloudy. Plum, being the taciturn fellow he was, never let on, and so all sorts of theories evolved -- that he was disinclined, disinterested, or frightened of the opposite sex; that Ethel was too busy for anything but parties and gambling; that he had been rendered impotent by a case of the mumps. The real reason is interred with him." (p. 190)

Puns

Guy Bolton used puns to name his chorus girls. I thought some of these might be useful in fanfic writing :-p

Gertie Gavotte, Trilby Tango, Madge Fandango, Chrystal Poole, Lilly Pond, Flo Tide, Always Innit, Funnie Rekkod, Munnie Duzzyt, Gay Ann Giddy, E. Z. Morrels, Rhoda Byke, Sheila Ryve, Inna Ford, Wanda Farr, Billie Dew, Annie Old-Knight, B. Ava Little, Lettice Romayne, Lotta Pommery, Della Catessen, Hallie Butt, Sal Munn, Marie Schino, Mollie Getawney, Marion Etta Herring, Clarette Cupp, May Anne Ayes, Cassie Roll, Virginia Hamm... and a favorite, Polly Andrews (polyandrous).

Cue the Mournful Violins

Jerry had the confidence of a well-loved, well-brought-up genius. But:
"Neither Guy nor Plum had that kind of self-confidence. Perhaps it was the loneliness and disarray of both of their boyhoods, the common thread of adolescent insecurity, the absence of love when they were young and needed it most, that allowed each to let the other into their deepest, most secret selves. Associates, wives, children would never see, much less walk through those inner doors, or tread the precious and particular pathways between Plum and Guy that had their beginnings on the December evening they met in 1915. Their connection would remain as rock solid as Jerome Kern's self-confidence for the rest of their long, long lives." (p. 96)

One More?

B & W & K's musical Oh, My Dear! was originally titled Ask Dad. The name was dropped during the tryout tour. (p. 192)

Comments

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

I recently read the McCrum biography of Wodehouse, so this is all interesting stuff, what! It was said in that account that the syllable dropping business was actually something Wodehouse noted in one of the Hollywoodites, I believe (can't remember who though), and not in fact a concept he came up with on his own. It was, however, incorporated into his lyrics and stories outside of just the Wooster universe.

McCrum also has some very interesting theories on the subject of Wodehouse's sexuality. Although it's a long book, I highly recommend it. :)