PLUM PUDDING

by Steve Steinbock

I’ve been on a “Plum” kick lately. Not the purple fruit with all the juice inside, although I like that kind of plum, too. I refer to Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, known to his readers as P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced “wood-house”), and to his friends as “Plum” (which is how you would pronounce “Pelham” if you’ve had too much gin or brandy).

Wodehouse was best known for eleven novels and forty-or-so short stories featuring the inimitable valet Jeeves, and his employer Bertie Wooster. If there are any readers out there who are unfamiliar with Jeeves and Wooster, stop reading this and find yourself a copy of The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) or Carry On, Jeeves (1925) OR rent, borrow, or purchase the British television series “Jeeves and Wooster” starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. (Yes, Hugh Laurie the star of “House”). The books I named are two of the earlier and best collections of “Jeeves” short stories, and the program was a brilliant adaptation of many of those stories.

Up until six months ago my entire knowledge of Wodehouse was restricted to the three or four “Jeeves” books I’d read and the “Jeeves and Wooster” television show. Then I received an audiobook adaptation of Summer Lightning (1929), a madcap comedy novel set at the fictional “Blandings Castle.” I laughed till it hurt at the antics of Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, Galahad Threepwood, Ronnie Fish, and the smarmy private detective Percy Pilbeam. It is a story involving a star-crossed love-quadrangle, false identities, an embarrassing memoir, and a series of pig-nappings. The audiobook was read by actor Martin Jarvis, who is well known in England from the BBC radio adaptation of the “Just William” stories.

We try to avoid plugs and promotion here at Criminal Brief. But CSA Word, which published this adaptation of Summer Lightning, is a new name for me, and they are an incredible source of quality fiction – including a huge catalog of short stories – on audio. In addition to the various novels (six) and short story collections (two) by Wodehouse, all read by Martin Jarvis, they publish readings of Joyce’s The Dubliners, some of Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” stories (read by Edward Hardwicke, who played Watson to Jeremy Brett’s Holmes), tales by Kipling, Henry James, and multiple author collections of women’s stories, ghost stories, crime stories, and humor.

When I’m not in my car listening (and laughing), or at my desk writing Bandersnatches, I’m in an easy chair reading Code of the Woosters or Wodehouse’s 1966 short story collection Plum Pie. I assume that my affair with the works of Wodehouse may burn itself out, but in the meanwhile, I’m having a bally good time.

Spiritus Comicus

The other night my younger son and I watched the recent film adaptation of The Spirit, based on Will Eisner’s classic comic series. I was skeptical at first. I wasn’t sure how successfully Frank Miller (“Sin City” and “300”) would adapt his violent noir style to the brilliantly goofy, tongue-in-cheek spoof on “The Shadow” and the whole masked vigilante subgenre. It wasn’t a great movie, but I thought Miller actually pulled it off, stayed more-or-less faithful to Eisner’s vision.

What made the original “Spirit” comics so memorable were Eisner’s unique layout style and his ability to tell a clever and often poignant story in seven or so pages of words and pictures. Each weekly syndicated comic book (they were seven page Sunday newspaper inserts) told a unique story. Part O Henry, Part Alfred Hitchcock Presents, part super-hero comic book and part Mad Magazine, I can’t think of anything quite like it. It’s hard to translate that to film, and as I said, Miller didn’t entirely pull it off. But as an example of concise storytelling, you could do a lot worse than reading “The Spirit.”