indeedsir_backup | Classic Wodehouse Illustrations, Part 5: The Delayed Exit of Clause and Eustace

Oh, it's going to be hard to follow up Henry Raleigh's Right Ho, Jeeves illustrations! In the meantime, here's something a little more low-key, but also highly entertaining: "The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace", illustrated by our friends A. W. Mills and T. D. Skidmore.

Let's start with some Mills:

You wound me, sir.

Look, it's the old Etonian spats! I'm sorry, Bertie, but I'm going to have to side with grumpy Jeeves on this one. You look like you have a couple of wasps strapped to your feet. You're looking pretty sharp otherwise, though!

Meanwhile, Skidmore decides to kick things off by introducing Claude and Eustace (and poor long-suffering Marion):

Marion contemplates a restraining order.

Marion contemplates a restraining order.

(The "one Britisher who sees the humor in his own countrymen", eh? I think Ronald Frankau might have something to say about that.)

I'm always fascinated by which particular scenes these guys choose to illustrate. When the same story is illustrated by two different people, there's generally at least a little overlap, but I don't think there's a single scene in common in this case.

Dang, there are a lot of pictures of Bertie in bed in these stories:

Poor Bertie can never get any rest.

Bertie is ridiculously adorable in this drawing. Claude and Eustace aren't bad either. *waggles eyebrows*

Claude and Eustace get themselves expelled:

I like the hat flying off.

Opportunity of a lifetime indeed! Meanwhile, back in The Strand, Marion complains to Bertie about his creepy cousins:

Nor should she have!

And that's all from Mills. Let's have our first look at Aunt Agatha:

I think I've finally realized what bothers me most about Skidmore's Bertie. It's not his age or even his mustache. It's the fact that he always looks so dour and world-weary. I mean, he has reason to here, of course. But he always looks that way. Mills's Bertie radiates a sweet, wide-eyed energy; Raleigh's Bertie exudes a kind of lanky, insouciant elegance; even Leete's goony-looking Bertie has a certain goofy spunk about him. But Skidmore's Bertie just looks depressed all the time.

Party time with Claude and Eustace:

Bertie, you old stick-in-the-mud.