In a nostalgic mood tonight. P.G. Wodehouse only wrote about 94 novels and twice that many short stories. He taught the greatest satirist of the twentieth century how to write dialogue. Why, in this age when satire can’t work anymore because life has become a bigger joke than literature can mock, I felt compelled to return to the Wodehouse roots. Just for fun.

Jeeves and the Song of Songs

Tuppy is on the verge of becoming betrothed to Cora Bellinger and describes his plan to win her heart. He will sing at a concert where Cora will also be singing.

Aunt Dahlia tells Bertie that Tuppy is breaking her daughter Angela’s heart with his dalliance with Cora Bellinger. Jeeves outlines his plan to discredit Tuppy in the eyes of Cora Bellinger. The gist of the plan is that Bertie will also sing at the concert, just before Tuppy, and he will sing the same song, “Sonny Boy.” The audience will be completely bored with the same song being sung twice and Tuppy’s performance will be a flop. .

Jeeves persuades Tuppy to prepare for his performance by going to a neighboring pub so that Tuppy won’t know how many people have already sung “Sonny Boy.”