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

[wotwotleigh.livejournal.com]

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.



I have no idea how much truth there is to the direct Grossmith-Wooster connection . . . I need to dig up Murphy's book and read more about it. But I thought it was an interesting idea all the same. Anyway, I found some footage of Grossmith from a movie that he made in 1933, shortly before his death -- I wish I could find something earlier!

I enjoyed this song he recorded in 1915 even more. Not very Bertie-like sentiments ("I muuuuuurdered her last Tuesday, but I thought it would be best . . ."), but it's a ton of fun. Incidentally, the image used for the video is a photo of Grossmith playing a character called Bertie Boyd.

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.



I've found a snippet of some lyrics from the 1880s from a song called "Bertie the Masher" (a "masher" was a well-dressed chap who "mashed" the girls with his style and charm) -- unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the whole thing anywhere. More famous is Burlington Bertie, a swanky cove who was played by the male impersonator Vesta Tilley in the very early 1900s. Sadly, like "Bertie the Masher," the original "Burlington Bertie" song has proven very difficult to find. I'm still searching for a recording or even the complete lyrics.

The fame of the original Burlington Bertie was completely overshadowed by a parody written in 1915, "Burlington Bertie from Bow." This more famous Bertie was a lower-class fellow who put on airs and pretended to be a toff. B. B. from B. was also performed by a male impersonator, Ella Shields. I am delighted to say that I found some footage of Ella performing the song, as well as a sound recording with more of the lyrics:

I think she's rather corking.

Comments

[wotwotleigh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Bertie did a fair bit of singing in the books (although he couldn't play piano as far as I can tell, and was terrified of acting!), and both he and Jeeves had friends and family on the stage. Jeeves and Bertie in the music hall business would be interesting indeed.