#jeeves and his master

[makiitabaki]

My idiot brain thought that it would be nice if I read some angsty 'Jeeves and Wooster' fanfics for a change, but now I'm sitting on a family gathering on the verge of a breakdown, because I read that one mercury poisoning fic.

[cfffrk]

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

Me smacking myself with a newspaper: You can’t know for sure that the gay subtext in the Jeeves books was intentional and it would be bad practice to declare intentionality on behalf of a dead author who can’t confirm or deny it. The fact that Jeeves and the Tie That Binds was the first Jeeves book to be published after the UK legalized homosexuality is probably just a coincidence. I’m sure he wasn’t even thinking about that.

P. G. Wodehouse:

[yumeka-sxf]

Today's new chapter was like the sequel to chapter 39 from way back when - "Damian and friends' day out, part 2" 😅 But rather than be accompanied by a teacher, they're accompanied by their butlers! Which means we finally get to see Jeeves in person after only ever hearing him on the phone. Endo even drew Jeeves for the chapter's special illustration.

As for the chapter itself, like I said, it was very similar to chapter 39, so not a ton of plot-relevant stuff to mention. However, we do get to see a bit of Damian's relationship with Jeeves and more about his feelings towards his family.

As we've seen before, despite feeling like his family is avoiding him (as he says in the above panel, "it's not like I'm the one who's avoiding them") Damian still feels a sense of pride about his family's name. He doesn't want to sully the Desmond name even though no one in the family gives him the recognition he yearns for. Which is another reason why he obsesses over getting stella.

As for Jeeves, he seems to have a similar relationship to Damian as Becky does with Martha, even down to being able to spring into action to save his master at any moment! Did Jeeves and Martha train at the same combat butler school? 😂

Jeeves also gives Damian the "I sympathize with you but I can't say anything look" that Loid often gives to people. Makes it seem like he understands Damian's internal struggle, probably more than anyone else in the Desmond family, but he can't openly express it.

I also want to mention that there was a mistake in the English translation where Ewen says that it's currently autumn, but in the original Japanese, he says "winter."

Nice to finally know what season we're currently in, but sucks that this was mistranslated. I'm hoping it gets fixed in the volume release.

I don't believe the giant flower that the boys find is a real species, but looks like it's based on the corpse flower.

I was hoping we'd get some kind of reference to Anya's big reveal to Damian at the dance, but apparently he really didn't take her words seriously, lol. But of course he's flustered at the thought of Melinda knowing about any contact he's had with her (plan C arc soon please 🤞)

[littlemelly]

jeeves here vividly imagining what kind of revolutionary "chums" he and his master are more likely to be perceived as

[idanit]

ok now i need to know about your niche country-specific jeeves AU

"Every valet takes great pride / in cooking what his husband likes" an edit of a makatka by @maidblues

(You've probably forgotten about sending this ask. I almost forgot I had a reply sitting in my drafts.)

This is incredibly niche and very hard to do for numerous reasons, but I've been thinking about a Polish Jeeves AU for a good while now. I'm not the best person to come up with the best way to cut almost all politics out from a story set in the 1920s in a country that has just become sovereign and is about to go through some further enormous transformations, so I'm not going to try very hard. Wodehouse's stories already take place in an idyllic sort of fantasy on the theme of interwar and postwar Britain, so I suppose a Polish AU would have to just lean into that even harder.

(Polish aristocracts lost their legal protections in 1921, but let's not think about it too much. Don't think about how you could possibly make "Comrade Bingo" work in a post-1920 Poland either. Etc., etc.)

So we've established that this would have to be some sort of barely recognisable fairytale Poland. But something in me is compelled by the idea of trying this out anyway because there are not a lot of wodehousian stories in Polish literature of the time. Not a lot of comedy without other genres mixed in in general. And one does wonder what it would look like.

Names are tricky. I want Bertram to be Bartłomiej or Bartosz (Bartek in the diminutive). @maidblues likes to give him the surname of Kogucik (rooster) and I toyed with the idea of giving him the Kur (another word for rooster) crest.

As for Jeeves's name, his case is more complicated because as far as I know servants in Poland were usually called by their masters by their first name, and the most common servant (as well as Polish in general) name would probably be Jan. So I'm tempted to make Reginald Jeeves a Jan Regulski or a Jan Reguła (reguła means "a rule").

This choice has the advantage of turning the "Jeeves?" / "Yes, sir?" exchange into "Janie?" / "Tak, jaśnie panie?". It rhymes. I find this amusing.

Servants at the time were overwhelmingly female, especially those who worked alone and for a single person/household, but we're going to ignore that.

Bertie is an aristocrat living in Warsaw, since it's the capital city, but his family is from some Mazovian dworek (manor house).

Aristocracy was not quite as much of an exclusive club as it was in Britain (some historians say it made up 10% of Polish society). Bertie probably says his ancestors fought at Grunwald, but he would likely bring up the Romanticism and the XVII century a lot as well, because they were as alive in the Polish public consciousness of the time as Middle Ages were in the mind of a certain kind of Englishman. Bertie could lean into something commonly called "the pride of the Sarmatians" (duma sarmacka).

Bertie's school is important. Everything depends on this, I think — Bertie's language, his friends, his club. Wealthy aristocrats did send their children abroad sometimes, so he could even have a typical British public school education even if he'd be unlikely to attend Eton and Oxford, specifically, but this feels like a cop-out, so I'm going to assume he was a student at some Polish university and not think about it too much lest I get caught up in the timelines of what university in what partition of Poland it would make sense for him to attend.

Bertie's way of speaking. My heart wants to make Bertie use some elements from the Warsaw subdialect because it's very fun and it would fit him, but regrettably, I think it's too working-class for him. I am fascinated by the idea of Bertie borrowing words from German and Russian in addition to French, though. He'd probably make use of some form of gwara uczniowska (student slang), too.

And Jeeves could know the Warsaw subdialect well, even if he would probably not use it while speaking to the members of the aristocracy (I'm pretty sure an early version of canon Jeeves spoke with a subtle Cockney accent, calling Bertie "guv’nor"). I wanted to make him a Warsaw local, perhaps with some family in the countryside, perhaps in the former Prussian partition, since I think the level of literacy was higher there and I need a way for Jeeves to have a chance of getting some education.

The Drones. There were no gentlemen's clubs, so I think the Drones would have to be a coffeehouse, a restaurant, or a szynk / pub called "Truteń"/"U Trutnia"/"Pod Trutniem". It's a significant change because they were not exclusive places, but it's the best I can think of. Coffeehouses in particular had a rich tradition as cultural places where people spent hours and hours on discussions. I think a Polish equivalent of a Drones Club could even serve as a tongue-in-cheek satire on artistic groups like Skamandryci. The Polish Drones would just have to take their gambling elsewhere. (@maidblues came up with another name for a Drones-like place that served food: Darmozjad. I love the pun — the word means someone useless, lit. someone who eats for free.)

As for the Junior Ganymede (Ganimedes), I think it would be a stowarzyszenie (club/society) without its own venue. Its members would probably meet at regular conventions. Here, I see an opportunity of some comedic nods to the tradition of "zjazdy", which in the centuries past were politically significant meetings of the aristocracy.

Bertie sings Mieczysław Fogg's songs.

Jeeves knows quotes from Mickiewicz and Słowacki (Polish Romantic poets) by heart.

Bertie is bi/multillingual enough to run off to Paris instead of New York City every now and then. Not quite putting an ocean between you and your aunt, but far enough for Ciotka Agata not to follow him.

I'm unlikely to ever finish writing anything for Jeeves in Polish, so, to finish things off, have this contextless excerpt from some draft of mine:

Mam na myśli tyle tylko, że podczas półtygodniowego pobytu, w którym jaśnie panowi udało się wpaść do sadzawki, zaręczyć, zostać pogryzionym, rozsierdzić Spodkowskiego i obrazić trzy stateczne matrony, choć nie dokładnie w tej kolejności, Jan ocalił mój ulubiony garnitur (bez krawata), zgrabnie mnie odręczył, opatrzył i odwiózł do Warszawy, a skroni jego nie zrosiła nawet mgiełka potu. Wspaniały człowiek. Obsypałem go, rzecz jasna, pewną ilością marek, ale wydawało mi się to zgoła niewystarczające. Dusza moja śpiewała, wolna jak ptak bez obrączki, a mój wybawca miał z tego tylko trochę świstków papieru, które i tak natychmiast wyśle rodzinie spoza stolicy — znałem go doskonale.

[cucumbermoon]

Two of my long-term obsessions have just collided in an odd way.

I was watching "Wooster With a Wife" for the first time in about a decade and when I got to this scene, I gasped.

Because that little painting behind Jeeves looks like nothing much, but it used to be famous. It's called "Between Two Fires," and it was painted by the American master, Francis Davis Millet, in 1892.

It depicts a 17th-Century man sitting between two standing women, beneath a sprig of mistletoe. The piece itself was extremely popular in its time. It was often hung in houses, it was printed onto cigarette cases and biscuit tins. That's probably how it came to be hanging there on the wall of a pub. Somebody hung it there in 1900 and never took it down.

The thing that is particularly interesting to me, personally, about this painting is the artist who painted it. Frank Millet, born in Massachusetts in 1843, was once one of the most famous American artists in the world. He did murals in great cities across Europe and America, painted a portrait of his friend Mark Twain, was a personal friend of President William Howard Taft and John Singer Sargent. He was married and had children, but he was also known for having rather public relationships with other men, most notably the writer Charles Warren Stoddard. Their love letters are still in existence and some have been published in a biography of Stoddard.

Francis Davis Millet:

These days, the most famous thing about him is that he died on the Titanic, and as such he is the only confirmed queer victim of the Titanic sinking (obviously there must have been many others, but he's the only one with existing documentation that proves it). He happened to be traveling with a close friend whom he lived with, one Major Archibald Butt, who is often theorized to have been his partner at the time. We don't know much about their lives together, but we do know (from a letter Butt once wrote to his sister-in-law) that Millet wall-papered the inside of their house while Butt was away on a business trip. The wallpaper he chose was roses – so many roses, Butt said that he felt he was suffocating beneath a giant pile of them. It's rare to get any insight at all into the lives of men who may have been partners at that time, and I always rather loved this particular little story.

Major Archibald Butt:

Both men died in the sinking and they share a joint memorial fountain in Washington, DC. It's just behind the White House and was erected by their friends, who remembered them as being devoted to each other. Here's a little bit of information about the fountain from the National Park Service:

[vintagetvstars]

Hugh Laurie Vs. Rik Mayall

Propaganda

Hugh Laurie - (Jeeves and Wooster, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Blackadder) - He's multi talented... he sings! And writes! And he's hysterically funny!

Rik Mayall - (The Young Ones, Bottom, The Comic Strip Presents...) - Rik played a lot of characters that were horrible people, but he was so charismatic that you couldn't help falling in love with him. I did when I saw The Young Ones when I was 15.

- No Negative Propaganda Please -

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

Hugh Laurie:

a hilarious, kind, and interesting man

he has the range!!

Rik Mayall:

His comedy partner Adrian Edmondson wrote this in his autobiography: "... when we're doing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival I watch a girl fall in love with him, right in front of me... a girl walks by close to the front of the stage. When she sees Rik she just stops in her tracks right in front of the stage, and stares at him. She never looks at me, only at him, but I'm there and I've got a ringside seat... I watch her fall for him, from very close quarters. Watch her gape in wonder. I see her smile grow into a beam. I see her eyes transfixed. It's like she's been injected with a wonder drug that makes her glow from within. This is his power."

[sad-trekkie-life]

Ok, I’m not sure, if it has been done before, but here’s the idea of a great crossover/AU:

Star Trek + Jeeves & Wooster (specifically the 1990s show adaptation with Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry). My family is rewatching it btw, that’s how I came up with it.

So, Kirk being a Wooster, and Spock being Jeeves. (The show is low key underrated I am afraid).

But anyway, here’s the reasons why this crossover would work:

The dynamic: Wooster is a golden retriever type of guy: friendly, exited, extroverted, Jeeves is the black cat type of guy: chill & calm. They balance each other out.

Wooster would always end up in trouble. Jeeves is there to save him. W/o Jeeves who knows where Wooster would be. Kirk is keen to get in trouble, but Spock is there.

Jeeves is much smarter then Wooster, but still wants to participate in Wooster’s shenanigans and would give amazing advice, and doesn’t judge (he only judges Wooster’s fashion choices). Wooster on the other hand is very openly in awe of Jeeves’ intellect and abilities. Although Kirk is a very smart (actually nerdy) man, he’s still in the constant awe of Spock and his intellect.

Jeeves literally knows everything, so does Spock usually.

Wooster can’t maintain a relationship. Also because he doesn’t want to lose Jeeves, who’s not only his valet, but actually a bestie, and he wants to live with him in his house forever. Kirk also can’t maintain romantic relationships, although unwillingly mostly and/or these relationships end up in tragedy. But hey, he’s there to risk it all for Spock. You can draw your own conclusions here.

Both, Jeeves and Wooster are kind and emphatic people. Wooster has a strong moral code, is respectful towards people of all classes and sexes. Well, Wooster would get himself in trouble, because he wants to help everybody who asks while Jeeves would act… Logically. Kirk would also find himself in a similar position and also has a strong moral code, sense of justice, is a feminist, antiracist etc.

Jeeves is introverted. He likes to spend time on books, studying something, and also is quite mysterious about his personal life (he was also randomly engaged and didn’t say a word about it. Then he broke up and never brought it up again. Spock also was quite randomly engaged and didn’t bother to mention it). It does remind you of Spock.

Jeeves is very well about fashion. Well, fashion is his obsession. He’ll judge you openly. Have you seen Spock’s outfits? Just give him a chance to not wear his uniform, and he’ll serve.

Both Jeeves & Spock showcase autistic traits.

Wooster is very enthusiastic about Jeeves immediately. Jeeves initially is there just to do his job. Wooster’s openness resulted in him and Jeeves becoming close. And still Jeeves calls Wooster “sir”. Although the master & servant dynamic ended up being almost non existent. Kirk’s willingness to be open with his sympathies towards Spock resulted in them becoming t’hy’la.

• Look at the height difference:

• All of the four characters actually don’t really care about personal space:

• If something is happening they will communicate with each other, but only with their eyes:

• 🤨

• Spending free time together in each other’s company:

Do you see the vision?

• BUT Kirk unlike Wooster is not naive and is highly intelligent (Wooster isn’t stupid but isn’t very smart either). Which in fanfics can create even more interesting and deep dynamic. But the concept is there, I think…

And, we already know how good Spock and Kirk look in 1920s/1930s clothes:

And McCoy could be the there as well, helping out and having stress. I love him too much to be left out.

[kanadraws]

An idle thought about Bertie and his wildflower collection.

Winning the prize for the best wildflower collection during the summer holidays must have been a monumental achievement for young Bertie, so memorable that he occasionally mentions it in his stories. But imagine if someone with methodical and pragmatic hands had helped him collect those flowers. And what if that someone had been the young Jeeves?

Picture this: young Bertie, enthusiastic but a bit haphazard in his approach, is determined to gather the finest wildflowers during a stay at his family friend’s manor. The manor, with its sprawling gardens, hidden nooks, and lush greenery, is a treasure trove for any budding botanist. Enter young Jeeves, employed at the estate, already showcasing his singular intellect and the feudal spirit to oblige. A chance meeting brings them together.

After observing the child’s clumsy attempts for a while, Jeeves steps in to assist Bertie.

(“Might I suggest, young sir, that the early morning is the best time to find the dew-kissed blooms?”)

Jeeves suggests the best times of day to collect certain flowers, the ideal locations to find rare varieties, and even the proper techniques to preserve their beauty.

(“If I may, young master, it is imperative to press flowers when they are at their freshest. However, one must exercise caution and refrain from pressing them when they are wet or damp, as this could lead to less than satisfactory results.” )

Bertie, true to his innocent, puppy-like nature, is in awe of Jeeves’ seemingly endless knowledge, eagerly following the guidance of this mysterious mentor. He might even try to impress Jeeves with his own finds, only to be gently guided to even better specimens.

Their collaboration results in a stunning collection of wildflowers, each specimen carefully selected and preserved. Bertie remembers not having said goodbye to Jeeves only after leaving the manor. Truth be told, he is foggy about the identity of Jeeves, mistaking him for a scholar or a priest of a fountain of wisdom.

As time passes, the memory of that summer encounter fades, with Bertie’s old medal as the only tangible reminder. Bertie forgets the face of the mysterious helper, not linking him to the Jeeves he knows today. Jeeves, ever discreet, refrains from mentioning the long-past encounter, thinking doing so would be taking a liberty. Yet, a fondness colors his face whenever he polishes the old medal, a silent nod to the bond they unknowingly shared.

[cfffrk]

fashion!au, sixties or fifties, thought up with @karabin4ik :з

Jeeves the famous fashion designer, one day was having coffee on the veranda at a cafe and reading a newspaper. In an instant this newspaper was snatched from his hands by a certain tall stranger. He hid his face in it, sat down opposite Jeeves at the table, and stood still. Reginald was about to be indignant, but a girl jumped out of the corner of the room, looking round with frantic eyes for this particular stranger. Without noticing him, she went on along the street, and the strange fellow awkwardly and apologetically returned the paper and fled. Jeeves remembered his hideous suit and tall, slender figure: he had long needed models of that build for his new men's collection. But everything happened so quickly that Jeeves didn't even have time to give him his business card.

The next day fate was favourable to Jeeves: walking along the seafront, he saw the couple again. They were talking in high tones, and the fellow with the long-suffering expression on his face was trying to get out of the conversation. Using all his charm and politeness, Jeeves stepped in and helped the stranger out of trouble. In return for the favour, Jeeves offered him a ride to his costume studio to try something on. So this is the moment:

(by the way, Jeeves' costumes won't be to Bertie's taste, so he leaves, but Aunt Dahlia finding a crumpled business card in his flat will make him come back)

DBH!au, thought up with @karabin4ik :]

In this au the Wooster family is in the business of manufacturing and selling high-end universal android servants all over England and the world. At some point their company invents a new model RJ0 - the ultimate android servant that can literally do everything and satisfy your every whim. It is perfect in everything, but because of the crude software it sometimes shows its character and acts not quite according to the master's expectations.

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

While we’re on the subj. of Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, this earlier scene drives me insane too, because speaking in just black and white, contractual terms, Bertie, you literally DO have the option? You’re the only one who has an option in this situation. You have the power to tell him he can’t go, you are literally his employer. And then he offers Jeeves use of the car to go to London, even though Jeeves never would’ve asked! Married behavior! Married behavior!!! This is the sort of negotiation spouses have with each other, we are fully out of the realm of master/servant now

[timetravellingtelepath]

I've missed this blushing mess. It's sweet seeing him punch his fist in the air and win.

Horrible Damian! You can't command her or anyone to leave just because you say so. Love Jeeves for telling him that because Damian made up those rules, so can he.

Poor Anya has lost at sports (again). Well done for trying your best 👏 and keep at it. Master Yor knows best.

Good ol' Jeeves! These butlers (esp. Martha) are just amazing. They are raising these kids right!

[themirokai]

“What do ties matter, Jeeves, at a time like this? Do you realize that Mr. Little’s domestic happiness is hanging in the scale?”

“There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter.”

Bertie desperately needs Bingo’s domestic happiness in tact so that he doesn’t have to hear about Bingo’s revolving door of love interests again.

Jeeves needs the young master to pay proper attention to his wardrobe goddamnit.

[bougiebutchbitch]

Hi Bougie! Hope it’s not too late to send a Batjokes prompt. Not sure if this might be something you’re into, but I was thinking maybe the Joker wearing a “my rich husband died under suspicious circumstances” robe and being all dramatic about it ? Maybe “dead” Bats/Bruce somewhere in sight? Not sure where I’m going with this one… Whatever you feel like drawing, I’m good with it <3

Joker: hey jeeves, check out this dressing gown! Grandmama it's me.... anastasia

Alfred: master bruce is bleeding out

Joker: this ain't about him

(I imagine this is post-J-agreeing-to-stop-with-the-mass-murders-if-Bruce-will-date-him - Bruce just came back from patrol all battered up and Joker was like. hmm yes. time to play dress up)

(...but I also love him stabbing Batsy for fun, so. Imagine what you will!)

[isfjmel-phleg]

@fictionadventurer asked:

It has occurred to me to be upset that we never got a line of Psmith short stories in the vein of Bertie Wooster or Uncle Fred. Psmith would be a perfect character to get tangled in all kinds of short silly scrapes. So maybe a discussion of what Psmith short stories would be? Or a comparison between Psmith and some of the characters that did get short stories.

I talked about this to some extent in my thesis! Wodehouse's long-running series can function the way that they do because they concentrate on comical plots that rely on the characters to have certain fixed traits, so that the stories can continue indefinitely, not unlike a sitcom. We don't read Jeeves or Blandings for character development; we read those series for amusement. And while Psmith has more in common with the better-known Wodehouse characters than he does the cast of the school stories, his series is not established in a particular status quo. Psmith's circumstances change a lot. Psmith himself changes--subtly, but he does experience character development. The format doesn't immediately lend itself to the typical Wodehouse short story, because Psmith, whether he likes it or not, is in a coming-of-age story.

But if there were Psmith short stories, I think they would have to be set either during his time at Cambridge, or in his uncle's fish business or after his marriage. Both would provide a stable setting and the potentiality for lots of minor characters who would bring out the plot (classmates, customers, clients once Psmith becomes a barrister, even Mike and/or Phyllis sometimes). They would likely involve Psmith having to get someone out of some scrape, usually if there's some pompous Downing or Bickersdyke type as antagonist. Or maybe he runs his "Leave it to Psmith" ad again. Stories set after his marriage would have the benefit of Eve as Psmith's equally competent partner; I know that it's more common in Wodehouse works for a wife to be an antagonist/an obstacle to get around, but I think these stories would be more fun with her working in conjunction with Psmith (clever, witty husband and wife team for the win!) and letting the conflict come from the problem needing to be solved. And there would have to still be some character development, slow and subtle, amid the plot of the week, because without it Psmith is rather one-note.

It's what distinguishes him from Uncle Fred. Uncle Fred is there to instigate and enable chaos before retreating back to the custody of his formidable wife. He's hilarious and clever and makes the plots happen, but the stories are not so interested in what's going on with him personally, internally. He's much older than Psmith, despite his youthful behavior, and thus is not in a position of life in which personal growth is supposed to be inherent. He's had decades to become what he is, and he arrives fully formed and complete. Nothing wrong with that--he just serves a completely different narrative purpose.

And Psmith would be much the same if we only ever saw him during the shoenanigans or the umbrella incident or the haunting of Bickersdyke in which he's a smooth-talking, flippant puppet-master in control of every situation thanks to his wits and money. But he doesn't exist in a narrative of isolated comedic incident; he's in novels in which we get to see him in a variety of situations and states of mind, which requires him to be a more fleshed-out character.