Where Did Service With A Smile Origin

1961 novel by P.G. Wodehouse

Service with a Smiling
First edition (United states of america)
Author	P. G. Wodehouse
Cover artist	Paul Bacon
Country	United states
Language	English language
Genre	Comic novel
Publisher	Simon & Schuster (US) Herbert Jenkins (UK)
Publication appointment	15 October 1961 (Us) 17 August 1962 (United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland)
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Preceded past	Pigs Accept Wings (Blandings), Cocktail Time (Uncle Fred)
Followed by	Galahad at Blandings

Service with a Smile is a novel by P. K. Wodehouse, showtime published in the United states on 15 October 1961 past Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 17 August 1962 by Herbert Jenkins, London.^[one] A condensed version of the story had previously been published in two parts in the Toronto Star Weekly, on 26 August and ii September 1961.^[2]

It is the eighth full-length novel prepare at Blandings Castle, and features the unstoppable Uncle Fred in his fourth and final novel appearance.

Plot summary [edit]

Myra Schoonmaker is staying at Blandings Castle, her London season having been cut curt by Connie. Connie is not happy that Myra wants to marry the impoverished E Finish curate Nib Bailey. Lord Emsworth is non happy with his sister, with his latest secretary Lavender Briggs and with the houseguest Duke of Dunstable. Adding to the unpleasantness, Lady Constance invites a party of Church Lads to camp out at the lake, young boys who savor taunting Emsworth.

When Connie says she will be away for a day having her hair done in Shrewsbury, Myra contacts Bailey, arranging to meet in a registry role and get married. Bailey, with his friend Pongo Twistleton and Pongo'south Uncle Fred, waits at the selected spot, only Myra does not announced. Uncle Fred is an old friend of Myra and her father, and he likes Bailey. Fred then meets Emsworth, who is in London to attend the Opening of Parliament), and invites himself to Blandings to help Emsworth, the unhappy earl. He brings Bailey nether the name of "Cuthbert Meriweather", an old friend returned from Brazil.

At the castle, Bailey and Myra are reunited, after learning each was waiting at a different registry function. The Church Lads fox Emsworth into diving into the lake to rescue i of their number, which turns out to be a log. This leads the Knuckles of Dunstable to over again question Emsworth's sanity, ever manifest in Emsworth'due south amore for his sus scrofa. Emsworth, at Fred's suggestion, takes his revenge on the Church Lads past cutting the ropes of their tent in the minor hours.

Dunstable plans to steal the pig and sell it to Lord Tilbury for £2000. Lavender Briggs proposes to do the piece of work of stealing the pig for £500; Dunstable will not sign a contract, so she insists he make a articulate exact understanding. Briggs enlists the grunter human being Wellbeloved to help and she has a 2nd assistant bachelor. She goes to London to eolith the bank check.

Myra tells Uncle Fred that Briggs is blackmailing her beloved Bailey, every bit she has recognised him, into helping with the squealer scheme. Before Fred can come up upwards with a plan, Bailey confesses all to Lord Emsworth, who in his wrath fires both Briggs and Wellbeloved. Emsworth then relates all of this to his sister, including Meriweather's true identity. Connie orders Fred and Bailey out of the castle; they stay, equally Fred threatens to reveal to the canton that Beach cut the tent ropes, which would lead to embarrassment and the loss of a superlative butler. Upset at her failure in finding a good friction match for Myra, Connie cables James Schoonmaker to come to her assistance from his home in New York.

When George Threepwood tells Dunstable that he has photographed his grandfather in the human action of cut the tent ropes, Dunstable realises that Briggs is no longer needed, as he tin can blackmail Emsworth into parting with the pig with the photos. He meets up with Tilbury at The Emsworth Arms, where Lavender Briggs, returned from her twenty-four hour period in London and unaware she has been fired, overhears him telling Tilbury he has cancelled her cheque; Dunstable raises the price for Tilbury to £3000 for the pig, which Tilbury will consider. After Dunstable leaves, Briggs approaches Tilbury, her former employer, with her offer to steal the hog for Tilbury at a lower price; he accepts and pays her. On leaving the inn, Briggs meets Uncle Fred, who tells her that Emsworth has fired her; he advises her to head back to London to eolith Tilbury's cheque. She wants this coin to open her own secretarial service.

Schoonmaker arrives, answering Connie's request. Fred intercepts him at the railway station and takes him to the Emsworth Artillery, where they catch up on old times. Fred informs his one-time friend of Myra's date to Archie Gilpin, which she did afterwards breaking off with Bailey for his rash confession). Schoonmaker reveals he loves Connie, but lacks the courage to propose. Fred tells him that she has feelings for him, encourages Schoonmaker to propose to her. Later Gilpin tells Fred he has in one case again go engaged to Millicent Rigby, with whom he had had a modest falling out, and at present finds himself engaged to 2 girls at once; he needs £k, to buy into his cousin Ricky's onion-soup business and support his future married woman. Fred encourages Archie to break it off with Myra.

Uncle Fred tricks Dunstable into thinking Schoonmaker is broke, and persuades him to pay out £chiliad to get his nephew Archie out of his engagement to Myra. Fred persuades him that Bill Bailey is a more suitable match for Myra. Connie is in tears on hearing Myra is engaged to Bailey, which gives Schoonmaker the nerve to advise to Connie. With aid from Lavender Briggs, Fred plays for Dunstable the record-recording of him scheming to steal the pig. In render for Fred keeping that serenity, Dunstable turns over the photos of Lord Emsworth to Fred. Fred keeps the tape and so Dunstable will not stop the bank check to his nephew Archie.

With Pecker and Myra off to a registry office, Archie dorsum with Millicent and fix in concern, Connie and Schoonmaker engaged and Dunstable well and truly scuppered, Fred smiles at the services he has washed for ane and all.

Characters [edit]

Lord Emsworth, absent-minded master of Blandings Castle
- Lady Constance Keeble, Emsworth's domineering sister
- George Threepwood, Emsworth'south grandson
- Lavander Briggs, Emsworth's latest efficient secretary
- Empress of Blandings, Emsworth's cherished prize hog
  - George Cyril Wellbeloved, the Empress' keeper
Frederick Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham, Uncle Fred, Emsworth'southward friend and protector
- Pongo Twistleton, Fred'due south put-upon nephew
James Schoonmaker, an American millionaire, friends with both Fred and Connie
- Myra Schoonmaker, James' pretty daughter
  - The Reverend Cuthbert "Bill" Bailey, a curate friend of Pongo'south, engaged to Myra
Alaric, Knuckles of Dunstable, a cantankerous peer
- Archie Gilpin, Dunstable's handsome artist nephew
George Alexander Pyke, Lord Tilbury, publishing magnate and sus scrofa lover
- Millicent Rigby, Tilbury's secretarial assistant, romantically entwined with Archie
Beach, butler at the castle

Publication history [edit]

The first U.s.a. edition dust jacket analogy was drawn by Paul Bacon.^[one]

An excerpt from the volume was included in the 1984 collection The World of Wodehouse Clergy, published past Hutchinson, London.^[3]

References [edit]

Notes

^ ^a ^b McIlvaine (1990), pp. 96–97, A85.
^ Mordue, Terry (iv September 2019). "Wodehouse'due south Books: A Detailed Bibliography, with Notes". Madame Eulalie . Retrieved 4 September 2019.
^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 128–129, B31a.

Sources

McIlvaine, Eileen; Sherby, Louise South.; Heineman, James H. (1990). P. G. Wodehouse: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist. New York: James H. Heineman Inc. ISBN978-0-87008-125-5.

External links [edit]

The Russian Wodehouse Society's page, with a list of characters
Fantastic Fiction's page, with details of published editions, photos of volume covers and links to used copies