A Gentleman of Leisure
Encyclopedia
A Gentleman of Leisure is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse
. The basic plot first appeared in a novella, The Gem Collector, in the December 1909 issue of Ainslee's Magazine
. It was substantially revised and expanded for publication as a book, under the title The Intrusion of Jimmy, by W.J. Watt and Co., New York
, on 11 May 1910. It was serialised under that title in the British weekly magazine Titbits, between 11 June and 10 September, before being published, as A Gentleman of Leisure, by Alston Rivers Ltd
, London
, on 15 November 1910. There are minor textual differences between the American and British editions of the book.
A Gentleman of Leisure was adapted for the stage in 1911 and has twice been filmed, in 1915 and 1923.
Jimmy Pitt in New York; having fallen in love on a transatlantic liner
, he befriends a small-time burglar and breaks into a police
captain's house as a result of a bet. The cast of characters head to England
, and from there on it is a typically Wodehousean romantic farce
, set at the stately Dreever Castle
, overflowing with imposters, detectives, crooks, scheming lovers and conniving aunts.
and has since inherited wealth, is in London and bored with life. Seeing a stranger in need in a restaurant, he comes to his aid, and so befriends Spennie Blunt. He later encounters Spike Mullins, a former American criminal associate, who has fled to England and fallen on hard times. Pitt takes him in.
Spennie invites Jimmy to his home, Corven Abbey in Shropshire (Dreever Castle in the later version), and he decides to take Spike with him as his valet.
While there, Jimmy encounters Molly McEachern, with whom he was romantically linked (at least by Spike) while in New York. Molly is the daughter of John McEachern, formerly a corrupt New York police officer, now prominent in English society and married to Spennie's mother.
The broad outline of the plot then continues as in A Gentleman of Leisure, though the tone is substantially different: in The Gem Collector, Jimmy had been a jewel thief; in A Gentleman of Leisure he merely pretends to be one.
They pick a house recommended to Mullins by a friend, and break in, only to be caught by John McEachern, whom they convince that Pitt is a prominent London jewel thief. He arranges to be paid off, but his daughter Molly enters, and she and Jimmy recognise each other from their boat-trip. To keep his secret graft a secret, McEachern pretends to Molly that Pitt is a friendly passer-by.
After a year wandering the globe, unable to find or forget Molly, Pitt is in London once more. Seeing a stranger in need in a restaurant, he comes to his aid, and so befriends Lord Dreever, known to all as Spennie. Wandering the streets with his new friend, they run into Spike Mullins, Jimmy's only link to Molly, who has fallen on hard times. Pitt takes him in.
Next day, Spennie invites Jimmy to Dreever Castle, and he decides to take Spike with him as his valet. Spennie's Aunt Julia, we learn, owns a valuable necklace, and her husband Sir Thomas has hired a detective to protect it.
Arriving at Dreever, there is no space in the car, so Jimmy volunteers to walk. He catches a riderless horse, and when he finds the rider, it is none other than Molly, who is also staying at Dreever. Her father is highly suspicious of Jimmy, even more so when he sees Spike also on the premises, but is unable to denounce them for fear of his own secret coming out, so he hires a detective to keep an eye.
The house party prepares for some amateur theatricals, and it becomes clear to Jimmy that a plot is afoot to bring Molly and Spennie together. They are soon bullied into an engagement, although Spennie loves another and Molly sees Spennie as a little boy. Pitt makes an enemy of Hargate, a hustler he recognises trying to fleece Spennie, while Spike spots the detectives hired by McEachern and Blunt around the house.
Jimmy dodges them, and drags Molly out onto the lake, where he declares his love; she returns it, but happiness is scuppered by her fear of upsetting her father. Meanwhile, Spennie is once more sharped by the hustler, who asks him to drive Pitt from the castle, and Spike, after observing Sir Thomas' detective arrest Galer, the man hired by McEachern, takes advantage of the lull in vigilance to swipe the precious necklace.
Spennie, desperate to repay his debts, is reduce to stealing from his uncle, but is caught and stopped by Molly. Hearing a noise, they hide in Sir Thomas' dressing-room, and see Pitt enter, to return the jewels stolen by Spike. They confront him, and he explains about the bet that led him to Molly's house, and his dubious man Mullins; he also unveils Hargate as a card sharp
. Spennie hides just in time as his uncle enters, catching Pitt with the jewels.
Pitt reveals the necklace is a fake, and Spennie uses the power of his uncle's secret to regain his independence. The young lord then tells McEachern of his daughter's affection for Pitt, just before the big ex-policeman is arrested by Blunt's detective, for being in league with Galer. Pitt helps him clear his name, and explains to McEachern the background to the similar mix-up that chilled relations between the two of them, offering Arthur Mifflin, now in London with a new play, as witness to the bet which started it all. McEachern is persuaded to come clean to his daughter.
Pitt and Molly marry, and Spike returns to America, disappointed that his idol turned down the gems - until he learns they were fake...
The rewriting process shows complexities not easily explained. For example, the later version has new features more appropriate for, but not included in, the original version, e.g., Jimmy’s habitual carrying of a flashlight suitable for burglary and detailed knowledge of white jargoon
.
It also contains some apparent self-criticism of its own implausibilities, e.g., "a series of the most workmanlike miracles". These implausibilities, e.g., impostors as guests at a castle, mistaken identities which could be easily explained but are not, and unlikely encounters with old acquaintances, become common in Wodehouse’s later works set in English castes, most notable Blandings Castle
.
collaborated in adapting A Gentleman of Leisure as a stage play. Starring Douglas Fairbanks
and Ruth Shepley
as Jimmy and Molly, the play opened on 24 August 1911 at New York's Playhouse Theatre. The play was revived at Chicago
's McVicker's Theatre on 30 March 1913, under the title A Thief for a Night, with John Barrymore
and Alice Brady
in the lead roles.
When the UK edition of A Gentleman of Leisure was reissued in March 1921, Wodehouse replaced an earlier dedication with one to Douglas Fairbanks "who many years ago played 'Jimmy' in the dramatised version of this novel".
In 1915, the stage play was the first of Wodehouse's works to made into a silent
film. It starred Wallace Eddinger in the title role and Carol Holloway
as Molly; Cecil B. DeMille
was credited as the third scriptwriter, behind Stapleton and Wodehouse.
A Gentleman of Leisure was remade in 1923, in an adaptation by Anthony Coldeway
and Jack Cunningham
, with Jack Holt
as the lead; the film was directed by Joseph Henabery
.
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
. The basic plot first appeared in a novella, The Gem Collector, in the December 1909 issue of Ainslee's Magazine
Ainslee's Magazine
Ainslee's Magazine was an American literary periodical published from 1897 to 1926. It was originally published as a humor magazine called The Yellow Kid, based on the popular comic strip character. It was renamed Ainslee's, the following year....
. It was substantially revised and expanded for publication as a book, under the title The Intrusion of Jimmy, by W.J. Watt and Co., New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, on 11 May 1910. It was serialised under that title in the British weekly magazine Titbits, between 11 June and 10 September, before being published, as A Gentleman of Leisure, by Alston Rivers Ltd
Alston Rivers
Alston Rivers Ltd. was a London publishing firm. The firm originally consisted of the Hon L.J. Bathurst and R.B. Byles and had brought out the novels of Whyte Melville and the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In 1904 it was reconstituted, with Bathurst and Archibald Marshall putting up the money and...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on 15 November 1910. There are minor textual differences between the American and British editions of the book.
A Gentleman of Leisure was adapted for the stage in 1911 and has twice been filmed, in 1915 and 1923.
Plot summary (A Gentleman of Leisure)
The action begins with playboy bachelorBachelor
A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married . Unlike his female counterpart, the spinster, a bachelor may have had children...
Jimmy Pitt in New York; having fallen in love on a transatlantic liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
, he befriends a small-time burglar and breaks into a police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
captain's house as a result of a bet. The cast of characters head to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and from there on it is a typically Wodehousean romantic farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, set at the stately Dreever Castle
P. G. Wodehouse locations
The following is an incomplete compendium of the fictional locations featured in the stories of P. G. Wodehouse, in alphabetical order by place name.-The Angler's Rest:...
, overflowing with imposters, detectives, crooks, scheming lovers and conniving aunts.
Main characters
- Sir James Willoughby Pitt, baronet, a well-off young man and former jewel thief
- Spike Mullins, a thief, who becomes Pitt's valet
- Molly McEachern, a pretty girl Pitt saw on a boat
- John McEachern, Molly's father, a policeman
- "Spennie", Earl of Dreever, an impecunious young Earl
- Lady Julia Blunt, Spennie's imperious aunt
- Sir Thomas Blunt, her wealthy husband
- Charteris, a keen organiser of amateur theatre
- Hargate, a card-sharp who preys on Lord Dreever
Full plot (The Gem Collector)
Sir James Willoughby Pitt, baronet, a former jewel thief who was expelled from EtonEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and has since inherited wealth, is in London and bored with life. Seeing a stranger in need in a restaurant, he comes to his aid, and so befriends Spennie Blunt. He later encounters Spike Mullins, a former American criminal associate, who has fled to England and fallen on hard times. Pitt takes him in.
Spennie invites Jimmy to his home, Corven Abbey in Shropshire (Dreever Castle in the later version), and he decides to take Spike with him as his valet.
While there, Jimmy encounters Molly McEachern, with whom he was romantically linked (at least by Spike) while in New York. Molly is the daughter of John McEachern, formerly a corrupt New York police officer, now prominent in English society and married to Spennie's mother.
The broad outline of the plot then continues as in A Gentleman of Leisure, though the tone is substantially different: in The Gem Collector, Jimmy had been a jewel thief; in A Gentleman of Leisure he merely pretends to be one.
Full plot (A Gentleman of Leisure)
Wealthy playboy Jimmy Pitt falls for a girl on the boat back from England. In New York he finds his old cronies excited by The Cracksman, a new play in the Raffles vein. He makes a bet with his friend Arthur Mifflin, star of the play - he will break into a house that very night. Brooding on how to accomplish such a feat, his house is broken into by Spike Mullins, whom he persuades to accompany him on his mission.They pick a house recommended to Mullins by a friend, and break in, only to be caught by John McEachern, whom they convince that Pitt is a prominent London jewel thief. He arranges to be paid off, but his daughter Molly enters, and she and Jimmy recognise each other from their boat-trip. To keep his secret graft a secret, McEachern pretends to Molly that Pitt is a friendly passer-by.
After a year wandering the globe, unable to find or forget Molly, Pitt is in London once more. Seeing a stranger in need in a restaurant, he comes to his aid, and so befriends Lord Dreever, known to all as Spennie. Wandering the streets with his new friend, they run into Spike Mullins, Jimmy's only link to Molly, who has fallen on hard times. Pitt takes him in.
Next day, Spennie invites Jimmy to Dreever Castle, and he decides to take Spike with him as his valet. Spennie's Aunt Julia, we learn, owns a valuable necklace, and her husband Sir Thomas has hired a detective to protect it.
Arriving at Dreever, there is no space in the car, so Jimmy volunteers to walk. He catches a riderless horse, and when he finds the rider, it is none other than Molly, who is also staying at Dreever. Her father is highly suspicious of Jimmy, even more so when he sees Spike also on the premises, but is unable to denounce them for fear of his own secret coming out, so he hires a detective to keep an eye.
The house party prepares for some amateur theatricals, and it becomes clear to Jimmy that a plot is afoot to bring Molly and Spennie together. They are soon bullied into an engagement, although Spennie loves another and Molly sees Spennie as a little boy. Pitt makes an enemy of Hargate, a hustler he recognises trying to fleece Spennie, while Spike spots the detectives hired by McEachern and Blunt around the house.
Jimmy dodges them, and drags Molly out onto the lake, where he declares his love; she returns it, but happiness is scuppered by her fear of upsetting her father. Meanwhile, Spennie is once more sharped by the hustler, who asks him to drive Pitt from the castle, and Spike, after observing Sir Thomas' detective arrest Galer, the man hired by McEachern, takes advantage of the lull in vigilance to swipe the precious necklace.
Spennie, desperate to repay his debts, is reduce to stealing from his uncle, but is caught and stopped by Molly. Hearing a noise, they hide in Sir Thomas' dressing-room, and see Pitt enter, to return the jewels stolen by Spike. They confront him, and he explains about the bet that led him to Molly's house, and his dubious man Mullins; he also unveils Hargate as a card sharp
Card sharp
A card sharp is a person who uses skill and deception to win at poker or other card games...
. Spennie hides just in time as his uncle enters, catching Pitt with the jewels.
Pitt reveals the necklace is a fake, and Spennie uses the power of his uncle's secret to regain his independence. The young lord then tells McEachern of his daughter's affection for Pitt, just before the big ex-policeman is arrested by Blunt's detective, for being in league with Galer. Pitt helps him clear his name, and explains to McEachern the background to the similar mix-up that chilled relations between the two of them, offering Arthur Mifflin, now in London with a new play, as witness to the bet which started it all. McEachern is persuaded to come clean to his daughter.
Pitt and Molly marry, and Spike returns to America, disappointed that his idol turned down the gems - until he learns they were fake...
The rewriting process shows complexities not easily explained. For example, the later version has new features more appropriate for, but not included in, the original version, e.g., Jimmy’s habitual carrying of a flashlight suitable for burglary and detailed knowledge of white jargoon
Jargoon
Jargoon or jargon is name applied by gemologists to those zircons which are fine enough to be cut as gemstones, but are not of the red color which characterizes the hyacinth or jacinth. The word is related to Arab zargun...
.
It also contains some apparent self-criticism of its own implausibilities, e.g., "a series of the most workmanlike miracles". These implausibilities, e.g., impostors as guests at a castle, mistaken identities which could be easily explained but are not, and unlikely encounters with old acquaintances, become common in Wodehouse’s later works set in English castes, most notable Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle
Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth , home to many of his family, and setting for numerous tales and adventures, written between 1915 and 1975.The series of stories which take place at the castle,...
.
Adaptations
In 1911, Wodehouse and playwright John StapletonJohn Stapleton
John Martin Stapleton is an English journalist and presenter. He is currently working as a freelancer with various media outlets.-Television career:...
collaborated in adapting A Gentleman of Leisure as a stage play. Starring Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
and Ruth Shepley
Ruth Shepley
Ruth Shepley was a stage actress from Providence, Rhode Island who appeared in comedies such as It Pays To Advertise . A Broadway performer, she was trim, with blonde hair, and medium height. She was educated in Paris, France...
as Jimmy and Molly, the play opened on 24 August 1911 at New York's Playhouse Theatre. The play was revived at Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's McVicker's Theatre on 30 March 1913, under the title A Thief for a Night, with John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
and Alice Brady
Alice Brady
Alice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked up until six months before her death from cancer in 1939...
in the lead roles.
When the UK edition of A Gentleman of Leisure was reissued in March 1921, Wodehouse replaced an earlier dedication with one to Douglas Fairbanks "who many years ago played 'Jimmy' in the dramatised version of this novel".
In 1915, the stage play was the first of Wodehouse's works to made into a silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
film. It starred Wallace Eddinger in the title role and Carol Holloway
Carol Holloway
Carol Holloway was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 117 films between 1914 and 1941.She was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts and died in California.-Selected filmography:...
as Molly; Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
was credited as the third scriptwriter, behind Stapleton and Wodehouse.
A Gentleman of Leisure was remade in 1923, in an adaptation by Anthony Coldeway
Anthony Coldeway
Anthony W. Coldeway was a screenwriter who had an extensive career from 1910 through 1954. Although most of his work was on films, he did some writing for television and also was the director of a silent film, entitled Her Great Dilemma, in 1917...
and Jack Cunningham
Jack Cunningham (screenwriter)
Jack Cunningham was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 132 motion pictures between 1913 and 1939.He was born in Ionia, Iowa, and died from a cerebral hemorrhage in Santa Monica, California.-Selected filmography:...
, with Jack Holt
Jack Holt (actor)
Jack Holt was an American motion picture actor. He was a leading man of silent and sound films, and was known for his many roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
as the lead; the film was directed by Joseph Henabery
Joseph Henabery
Joseph Henabery Omaha, Nebraska, was a US film actor, screenplay writer, and director.-Career:Henabery's acting career began in The Joke on Yellentown . Henabery appeared in the D. W. Griffith silent film Birth of a Nation as Abraham Lincoln...
.
External links
- The Russian Wodehouse Society's page, with photos of book covers and a list of characters
- Fantastic Fiction's page, with details of published editions, photos of book covers and links to used copies