Plum Pie

Jeeves #13.5

by P.G. Wodehouse

"First published in the U.S by Simon and Schuster, 1966"--T.p. verso.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, British Literature, Comedy, Historical Fiction

319 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 1966

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of P.G Wodehouse stories featuring the Emsworths of Blandings Castle, Bertie Wooster and the indomitable Jeeves, The Drones Club, Mr. Mulliner, and golf.

Jeeves and the Greasy Bird In this story Bertie Wooster tries to help out his pal Roderick Glossup (yes, that one) who is having love troubles. Bertie comes up with a plan which is not half bad. Usually I find him really stupid and irritating, but this time he was at least on the right track.

Sleepy Time, a story about a publisher who refuses a huge advance to a hypnotist for his book about hypnotism. They meet again at a golf tournament and surprises are in store. This story is rather boring and goes on too long with the same gag.

Sticky Wicket at Blandings A new-to-me Blandings Castle story. Freddie is visiting dear old England on a mission to sell Donaldson's Dog Joy. He has one particular client in mind but must do something his beloved wife may not like. Meanwhile, Constance wants to sack Beach because he is getting old and slow! Say it ain't so! It's up to Galahad to save the day. This is a mildly amusing though predictable story. I loved meeting up with the dear Emsworths again. The Empress is absent from this story so I would drop my rating down a bit. I do love Gally, though he is crazy! Freddie isn't nearly as stupid as everyone thinks he is. I like him better than Bertie Wooster. I was astonished Constance wanted to sack Beach. I can't imagine Blandings without him! He deserves a large raise and a generous pension plan.

Ukridge Starts a Bank Account A Drones Club story in which Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukbridge, in need of money, gets a job! I had no idea it was even possible to be more stupid than Bertie Wooster but apparently it is. The plot is super predictable and anyone with sense can see through the scheme. However, I found him rather endearing and felt sorry for him at the end.

Bingo Bans the Bomb Bingo Little gets into trouble while his wife is away. This story was boring and not very relevant to the rest of the series. It was silly and pointless. I didn't care for the abrupt ending.

Stylish Stouts Another Bingo Little story. His wife, Rosie, is away with Baby Algie and Bingo is strapped for cash-again. He comes up with several wacky plans to get money. This one was mildly funny with some zany moments.

George and Alfred A Mr. Mulliner story about his two identical nephews. One wants to get out of Hollywood, the other wants to get in. This story is a little complicated and not all that interesting.

A Good Cigar is Smoke An up-and-coming artist Lancelot Bingley wants to marry the "poetess" Gladys Weatherly, but naturally money and family troubles plague them. Gladys comes up with the perfect plan to win over her uncle and get him to loosen the purse strings. If only Lancelot doesn't blow it. (Literally...) I wasn't crazy about Lancelot. He is a few brain cells above the level of Bertie Wooster and Freddie Threepwood but barely. I did like Gladys. She is strong, intelligent and capable without being one of Wodehouse's stereotypical "Amazon" females. This is a cute story and one of my favorites in the collection.

Life with Freddie A previously unpublished Blandings Castle spin-off novella. Freddie Threepwood is still trying to spread the Donaldson's Dog Joy love. His latest target, Arnold Pinkney, a merchant who flat out refuses to listen to Freddie's sales pitch. When Freddie discovers his target will be on the same TransAtlantic voyage as some of his friends who need his advice and assistance, he decides to return to New York early and kill two birds with one stone. This is a sequel of sorts to The Luck of the Bodkins

This story is full of new characters that were hard to keep track of. There's Joe Cardinal, a friend of Freddie's who works in a bank. Joe is very shy around women and of course romantic complications ensue. Then there's Dinah Biddle, secretary of Arnold Pinkney and possibly Freddie's "in"; Mrs. Cheever, a jewellery lover and Arnold Pinkney's fiance, otherwise known as Grayce, in The Luck of the Bodkins; Mrs. Cheever's brother, Judson Phipps, another friend of Freddie's; Arlene Pinkney, the strong, capable, daughter of Arnold. There are many romantic complications and hi-jinks before the abrupt ending. This story is amusing and typical Wodehouse.

I find it funny that most of the stories were originally published in Playboy in the 1960s! However, the one story NOT published in Playboy is the one to mention sex. This is a good collection for devoted Wodehousians or those looking to try him out and see which series they prefer.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the book jacket, the publisher's blurb says:

	"Pelham Grenville Wodehouse -- 
		known to his friends as Plum! 
	No funnier writer has ever lived
		 - nor will in the eons to come. 
	His every story herein is a glory; 
		he beautifully interweaves 
	Freddy Threepwood, Bingo Little, 
		"The Oldest Member" and Jeeves, 
	and the dear old dears from Blandings Castle 
		and the young blighters from Drones, 
	and machinations and muffins at tea, 
		and lovers' intrigues and scones. 
	Oh bliss! This is manna -- this Wodehousiana -- 
		new, fresh, delicious! In sum, 
	you may well decry our calling it Pie,
		but you've certainly pulled out a
		  Plum!"

This collection of short stories from the mid-1960s (most of which were first published in Playboy magazine!) has at least one short story from all of Wodehouse's continuing characters except Psmith. I enjoyed them all! One thing I noticed (and appreciated) is that his characters haven't aged. Bingo Little & Bertie & Freddy Threepwood are still all young men (well, Bingo & Freddie are married so maybe they are 30 instead of 25) despite the fact that Wodehouse had created them 40-odd years before. It would have been so depressing in "Bingo Bans the Bomb", for instance, to find Bingo Little middle-aged and (gasp) responsible.

[Erika Pensaert · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 ✨
Such a pleasure to read Wodehouse stories I hadn't read before.

[Shreyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Plum Pie' by P.G. Wodehouse.

I was sorry to be informed by Horace's successor on my arrival that she was in bed with a nasty cold, but he took my name up and came back to say that she could give me five minutes—not longer, because she was expecting the doctor. So I went up and found her sniffing eucalyptus and sneezing a good deal, plainly in rather poor shape. But her sufferings had not impaired her spirit, for the first thing she said to me was that she wouldn't give me a penny, and I was pained to see that that matter of the ormulu clock still rankled. What ormulu clock? Oh, just one which, needing a bit of capital at the time, I pinched from one of the spare rooms, little thinking that its absence would ever be noticed.

Rating:
First Read [27th May 2024]: Rating: 4.0/5. I have merely read the only short story involving Ukridge contained within this collection. I shall update the rating of the entire collection once I get acquainted with the other Wodehouse characters and decide to revisit this collection.





Review:
I had no intention of picking up another P.G Wodehouse book immediately after finishing his Ukridge collection – not because I didn't like his writing, but because I simply wanted to read something else and return to Wodehouse's works as a comfort read. But, as it turns out, I couldn't get enough of Ukridge's devious schemes! After learning that there were other short stories featuring Ukridge in Wodehouse's other books, the completionist within me wanted to devour them all at the earliest. And, thus, after diving through a host of other short story collections, I finally landed up on Plum Pie.

'Ukridge Starts a Bank Account' is the only Ukridge short story that is featured in this collection. It is one of the shortest Ukridge stories, and I was able to finish it within a few minutes. In this short story, Ukridge narrates the events leading up to his rise of fortune to his friend, James "Corky" Corcoran. Unlike previous incidences, Ukridge tries to earn money in the most honest way possible ‐ by selling valuable antiques to interested parties. But, unfortunately, it seems that the valuable antiques he is selling turn out to be the ones stolen by his Aunt Julia's former butler. Poor Ukridge gets thrown in a rollercoaster ride but succeeds in making some profit by the end of his narration. It was a thoroughly engaging read with a comical turn of events at regular instances. And, as poor Corky's luck may have it, he ends up suffering losses by the end of this story at Ukridge's expense.

'Ukridge Starts a Bank Account', the only Ukridge short story featured in this collection was a decent addition to the plethora of Ukridge stories. It was the last short story featuring Ukridge that was left to be read, and now I have just the only Ukridge novel left to finish all things Ukridge. I also finish this book with a heavy heart because I have been told that this is the last I shall come across the character of Corky ‐ a character whom I had come to love through the course of these stories – since he doesn't feature at all in the Ukridge novel, Love Among the Chickens. I do plan to get back to the rest of the stories contained within this collection once I get acquainted with the other Wodehouse characters.

[Mela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The longest story, "Life with Freddie", was the best, whereas "Sleepy Time" was almost a waste of time. To me, it was uneven bunch of short stories. I agree with most of QNPoohBear's opinions.

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Plum's best-ever collection, but it includes a nice variety of stories featuring Wodehouse's favorite characters, and the best parts really sparkle. You get Jeeves and Bertie, a Blandings Castle story, one of the best Ukridge stories, Bingo Little, and more. This is one of Wodehouse's later books, and he recycles some plots, but you don't read Wodehouse primarily for the plots, anyway; the real pleasure comes from the language. Here's my favorite bit from the first story, "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird." Bertie is asking Jeeves for advice on how to handle a delicate situation, and is referring to the parties involved as "A" and "B."

"...B has got it into her nut that A's in love with her. But he isn't. Still following?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now until recently, B was engaged to - "

"Shall we call him C, sir?"

"Caesar's as good a name as any, I suppose. Well, as I was saying, until recently B was engaged to Caesar...."

Moments like that are why I read Wodehouse.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories, all charming!

Several contain valuable information about hangovers. One outlines various activities to amuse oneself while staying at a week-long house party in the country. Another tells of scheme-swapping during an ocean-liner journey across the Atlantic. We see BOTH a Jeeves & Wooster short story and a Blandings Castle short story.

As the enviable Freddie Threepwood says: "It's a bit of all right!" (Highest praise)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Plum at his best, but still better than 90 percent of the humor writing out there. No Bertie or Jeeves in this book, but Freddie Threepwood and Lord Emsworth make appearances. There is a butler, named Beach, and one story concerns his imminent demise at the hands of Emsworth's sister. It's good Wodehouse fun, and some of the lines are just sparkling.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading short stories. It is so difficult to say something, and it is even more difficulter to say something succinctly. It was an enjoyable for sure. I loved the bits and pieces of news from newspapers strewn around in the book. Pasting my favourite one here.

QUOTE ==
“ 
The impression left on the mind when one reads in the papers of the local rules and regulations in force all over the country is that life in America can be very difficult. Almost every avenue to wholesome fun seems to be barred. In Rumford, Maine, for instance, it is illegal for a tenant to bite his landlord, while in Youngstown, Ohio, stiff sentences are passed on those who tie giraffes to light standards. In Nogales, Arizona, there is an ordinance prohibiting the wearing of braces; in San Francisco one which won't let you shoot jack rabbits from cable cars; and in Dunn, South Carolina, unless you have the permission of the headmistress, a permission very sparingly granted, it is unlawful to 'act in an obnoxious manner on the campus of a girls' school'.
You hardly know where to live in America these days, especially if you are a woman. Go to Owensboro, Kentucky, and you get arrested for buying a new hat without having your husband try it on first, while if you decide on Carmel, California, you find you are not allowed to take a bath in a business office, the one thing all women want to do on settling down in a new community. For men probably the spot to be avoided with the greatest care is Norton, Virginia, where 'it is illegal to tickle a girl'.
UNQUOTE ==

One of the stories reads is similar to the "Comedy of Errors" is the only meh part of the book.

And I picked this up because of a facebook hindi song contest that my friend is running everyday. And it had been ages since I read anything by Wodehouse. (I've read only one other book of his to be honest😅)

[S. Suresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plum Pie is a delightful collection of short stories, giving a glimpse into the vast world of humor created by Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, affectionately called “Plum” by his friends. In it, we get a chance to meet Bertie Wooster, his inimitable butler, Jeeves, and his indomitable Aunt, Dahlia in Jeeves and the Greasy Bird, Bingo Little in Bingo Bans the Bomb and Stylish Stouts, Freddie Threepwood in Life with Freddie and Sticky Wicket at Blandings, the Mulliner brothers, and an early character of his, Ukridge. We get to visit the Drones Club, Blandings Castle and journey across the pond by S.S.Atlantic.

Having explored only the world of Bertie Wooster & Jeeves, I now am intrigued enough to expand my horizons into Blandings Castle and more Wodehouse has to offer.

[Amy Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

To quote Wodehouse from his A Note on Humour at the end of this collection of short stories, ‘I am all for incest and tortured souls in moderation, but a good laugh from time to time never hurt anybody.’
The Our Man in America pages in between the stories are particular good.

[Ian Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

P G Wodehouse managed to gain the nickname ‘Plum’ at some point in his career and so this collection of short stories, sequenced with what would have been topical asides in 1966, was christened ‘Plum Pie’ and a more tart collection we couldn’t hope for.

The pedigree of the collection is stated on page one with a rare anthology outing for Jeeves and Wooster in ‘Jeeves and the Greasy Bird’, a Yuletide tale of cheer in which Bertie tries to help along Roderick Glossop’s love life only to find himself facing a case of breach of promise, only Jeeves can save the day, again.

As ever we have a tale of Agnes Flack and Sidney McMurdo featuring a publisher reluctantly coming between them, unusually the story is not narrated by the oldest member whom we can only assume is dozing in the bar. Mr Mulliner tells us a yarn concerning his relations and a further story highlights the perils of smoking.

‘Ukridge Starts a Bank Account’ is more dramatic than the title would suggest and the two stories to feature Drone Bingo Little (one featuring Freddie Widgeon recently married in the novel ‘Ice in the Bedroom’) are the highlights of the collection.

Blandings is also featured here with a story featuring all the regulars in a tale not dissimilar from some of the greatest Blanding novels and also with Freddie Threepwood taking centre stage in his own novella in which he travels on the Atlantic liner called, somewhat predictably, the Atlantic, spreading good news of love and Donaldson’s Dog Biscuits.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plum Pie is a particularly good Wodehouse collection. There's a Jeeves and Wooster story, a couple of Blandings stories, two about Bertie's friend Bingo Little, and other assorted tales. The standout is probably "Life with Freddie", a long story about Freddie Threepwood (son of Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle) and zany goings-on aboard a ship from England to New York. Interspersed with the stories are selections from Wodehouse's column (for Punch, I think) "Our Man in America", which are very funny bits of odd news, told in the inimitable Wodehouse style.

[Anna Kļaviņa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of funny, sunny and feel-good nine stories and Wodehouse's comments on American news, two poems and an essay.

I'm adding an extra star to this collection as I really liked Life With Freddie.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the last of the short story collections published during PGW's lifetime. It is a bit of a hodge-podge of various universes such as Jeeves and Wooster, Blandings, Ukridge, Golf and others. The lengths are also variable with the last story weighing in at novella length and with enough plot to have been a novel. Most were originally published in Playboy and at the risk of overstating the case, I suspect that they were placed there because they weren't of use to the Saturday Evening Post.

For my money, if any, the first story, Jeeves and Greasy Bird, is the strongest as Bertie gets into lots of trouble and Jeeves saves him in a comic way. Ok so not original but lots of fun and a solid plot. After this the collection mostly becomes slice of life narratives that often don't rise to the level of an actual story as the plots don't always make sense. The just sort of jolly themselves along with some pleasant chuckles until the word count was fulfilled and there they stop.

The final long story might be the oddest in that it feels for all the world like what Wodehouse used to do before he came up with his actual novels. As I understand it, he would write a very extensive outline in something like the intended form of the novel and then bung in all the funny business. This feels like the plot of a Wodehouse without the aforementioned funny business. It feels like a condensed version of Luck of the Bodkins in many ways.

When reading the J&W chronicles, one should read the Greasy Bird, and when reading the Blandings saga, one should read Sticky Wicket. Beyond that it is hard to recommend the rest of the book.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been known to laugh out loud, to giggle, and to chuckle when reading Wodehouse, but I only laughed twice while reading this. All the usual characters were there: Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, Lord Emsworth and his nephews and sons (but not his pigs), Bingo Little, the Drones Club and a number of assorted others. Between the stories, however, were little pseudo news items from the USA, items which were as dated as the stories but without their humour. Wodehouse lost much of his ability to amuse with the Second War. The style of writing which was so funny in the thirties (as long as you didn't think too much about the life style) just disappeared after the war changed everything.
The novella Life With Freddy which ends the book is entertaining in the twisted, mistaken motives, mistaken identities way that are so familiar, but not uproariously funny the way the earlier ones were. Of course, he says himself that he is 80 years old so one can scarcely be surprised at a reduction in the hilarity.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Legal minutiae were not in his line. His genius lay in selling dog biscuits.

This is a good taster selection for anyone trying to find their feet in the PG Wodehouse world. It's not accurate to imply this is part of the Jeeves and Wooster series as noted in the title as there's just one Jeeves story here, delightful as it is. The collection also features a Blandings tale and a couple of spin-offs starring Freddie Threepwood now 'an ambassador for Donaldson's Dog Joy'! Bingo Little, my favourite hapless Drone, has a couple of outings including one where, astonishingly, he's arrested after inadvertently taking part in a demonstration against nuclear weapons at Aldermaston - PGW is usually so apolitical that this surprised me hugely. With additional reporting from America, some standalone stories and a final charming essay 'A Note on Humour' this can feel a bit like a bits and bobs collection. Still, no-one does farce like Wodehouse and his sentences are always things of stylish and hilarious delight: 3.5 stars.

[LaShana Claude]

One of the greatest English comic writers of our time, P.G. Wodehouse represents an antic high point in the world of farce and social satire. His characters and settings have entered our language and our mythology. Best known for the creation of two fictional worlds based on Blandings Castle and the Wooster-Jeeves duo, Wodehouse is appreciated the world over for his exceedingly clever and comically savvy send-ups of the idle rich in twentieth - century England. Overlook is proud to have embarked on a program of handsomely packaged full-cloth editions, arguably the finest editions of the master ever published.

"P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century."


"A master, a genius of inventiveness and versatility, brilliant in his use of language, more adroit than almost any novelist since Dickens at working out a complex package of plot, sub-plot and sub-sub-plot." -Daily Telegraph

[Zeltzamer]

As I suspected, Wodehouse works much better in short story format than in novels. I plunged headfirst into the Code of the Woosters, sank further under the muck with every twee simile, trudged through self-conscious ironic fillip after fillip, and emerged desperately on the other side, swearing to never be taken in again by the candy-coated bog. But I did read these, and the patented soufflé style is much less enervating as an appetizer than it is as a 200-page meal.
This was published smack in the tumult of the sixties, and even though it’s mostly as light as you’d expect, there’s something a tad ominous peeking over the margins. Idioms referencing Latin American revolutions, student demos, Lenny Bruce. See Plum recant his travels through mid-century America, tee-tottering on the edge of chaos. I wouldn’t call it a dark cloud hanging over head, more like a faint breaking news broadcast that occasionally creeps in from the background.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good late-career stuff for PGW (whose nickname was Plum). Jeeves and Blandings--what more could you want? I realized just how much I missed the Bertie Wooster narration when reading the first story. The two "Blandings" stories are hardly set at Blandings, but are still pretty good, especially the novella-length story that ends the book, as Lord Emsworth's previously worthless son shows how much he's changed since moving to America and become, by marriage, vice-president of the Donaldson Dog-Biscuit Company. Most of these short stories were originally published in Playboy; thankfully I could read them here instead!

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a late career collection (1966) and, although Jeeves and Wooster, Ukridge, Freddie Threepwood, Bingo Little and other favourite characters are little changed by the passage of the decades since they first appeared in print, it does bring the reader up short to find mention of The Beatles, Lenny Bruce and Ban the Bomb marches in Wodehouse's stories. Jeeves and the Greasy Bird, while not in the first rank of Jeeves and Wooster stories, is probably the best piece in the collection, while Ukridge Starts a Bank Account and A Good Cigar is a Smoke are also classy pieces.

[Davidg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse in his 80’s still manages to pull together this collection of short stories, the last of which is almost at novella length. Bandings, Jeeves and Mr Mulliner all manage to make an appearance. Between the stories are little notes about life in America. These are perhaps the funniest parts of the book.

Not Wodehouse at his finest perhaps, but full of the turns of phrase and playing with language which are why we love his work. There are delights to be found in every story, even if they don’t all have the convoluted plotting that Plum would have managed in his prime.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may never understand why I find Wodehouse's world so appealing, so charming, and so darn funny, but I doubt I will ever give it up! This collection focuses on the "other" characters -- the supporting cast of the Wooster & Jeeves stories -- but the fleshing out that they get are spot-on. The final story, "Life with Freddie" (starring the ridiculously named Freddie Threepwood), is especially satisfying. Five stars for that story alone, but 4.5 for the collection overall.

[S. Suresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-reading Plum Pie, the short story collection that pushed me to move beyond the world of Jeeves and Wooster, was as much fun as the first time.

I stand by my previous review of Plum Pie. But would add that the two longish short stories, Jeeves and the Greasy Bird and Life with Freddie stand out best in this anthology.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plum Pie, P.G. Wodehouse, 1966, 319 pages.

If this was not the best of all possible worlds, it would do till another came along. p. 139, "Bingo Bans the Bomb."

All engaged girls have the poorest opinion of the intelligence of the men they are engaged to. p. 216, "A Good Cigar Is a Smoke."

He tottered blindly towards the bar like a camel making for an oasis after a hard day at the office. p. 273, "Life with Freddie."

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, as usual. The Jeeves is the best, and the second and third stories approaching it, and the rest are quite pleasant enough if you like the Drones and its inhabitants. Plus, two poems, dispatches from America, and an essay on humor. “I am all for incest and tortured souls in moderation, but a good laugh from time to time never hurt anybody.”

[Chet Makoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nine short stories in the following order: One about Jeeves. One golf. One Blandings Castle with Freddie Threepwood. One Ukridge. Two Drones Club with Bingo Little. One Mr. Mulliner. One Lancelot Bingley and Gladys Wetherby. One Freddie Threepwood and Donaldson’s Dog Joy.

[Robert Walrod · Rating 2 out of 5]

Subpar Wodehouse.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A satisfactory collection of stories -- nothing that really grabbed me but certainly entertaining.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of gems