[Show Intro] Jala Hey, thanks for coming! I'm glad you're here. Come on in! Everyone's out on the patio right now. Looks like a couple of people are in the garden. I can't wait to introduce you! Can I get you anything? [turned away] Hey folks, our new guest is here! [Intro music] 01:06.81 Jala Hello world and welcome to Jala-chan's Place I'm your host Jala Prendes and today I'm joined by Dave Cox (he/him) and Alex Krieger (he/him). So Alex, how are you doing today? 01:17.30 Alex I am doing great, thank you. Having a nice relaxing weekend. I'm working on my farmer's tan by going kayaking as often as possible and now a down day of podcasting, apparently. 01:25.10 Jala That sounds awesome! Now make me mad, tell me what the temperature was like for you yesterday because I'm in a hot, hot, terrible place. 01:36.17 Alex Oh it was like a 100° but if you are directly on a body of water, it tends not to matter that much if you get someone slopping a bunch of water into your kayak it will still feel cold, you know. 01:42.99 Jala Oh was it? Okay, okay, so I'm not mad then that's fine. You can you can you can have a 100° up there and that's fine. Yeah, it was, ah, super bad heat advisory here until 9pm yesterday. Um, we're talking heat index of what, 107? something like that with the humidity and everything so pretty rough all around. 02:04.82 Alex Yeah, it was just dry here. You just don't want to get out in the sun being microwaved is a thing take a large hat. That's what I do and if it were as humid as it were in Houston I probably couldn't do it. Ah. 02:16.72 Jala Oh yeah. And then too if you're out on the water, all that reflection would be like you probably had to lather up some sunscreen. Yeah yeah. 02:27.49 Alex Oh yes, absolutely and I'll have tan lines anyway that after like 3 hours out there. You're not going to avoid it. You can use SPF 70 and you're still getting it. 02:35.80 Jala Yeah, for sure. So Dave how are you doing today? Dave Not doing too bad. It's good to be the weekend or at least the end of the weekend. It's been a long week so this is much appreciated, a little bit of a break. Jala Yeah, absolutely understand that, it has been a week but today we are going to be talking about P.G. Wodhouse and Jeeves! So the way that I want to go through this is to start by just asking everyone how they came across it. 02:57.51 Alex Yeah, certainly. 03:13.90 Jala Jeeves is a set of stories from a particular dude from a particular era. So we will start with you Alex, tell us how you came across Jeeves. 03:22.60 Alex Yeah, you know I've been racking my brain and I can't exactly pin down what I was thinking at the time but I do remember the first time I came across it was in a short story for him. In the 90s my pastime was to invade the bookstore for a few hours and just look at whatever captured your fancy and there was an omnibus of all the short stories called The World of Jeeves which is out of print and finding this stuff is becoming just a huge hassle because some of it is out of copyright and some of it is you know redos and all kinds of publication statuses ensue. But um I have no idea what happened to that either, it vanished during a move a long time ago. But I read the whole thing. And for a while I didn't know that there were novels too or maybe I found like 1 or 2 of them. I didn't know there were like ten or eleven until I went back and and made a concerted effort to read them all this year but um I read them all and it became just like one of those things that I would just return to every couple of years just because they're so delightful to read and after the you know Kindle time came around, so probably let's say 2010, I started thinking like I would love to have some of these to travel with and I've just found a couple additions that were you know a dollar or whatever out there on the Kindle store or wherever and I would just kind of like you know, it's break glass in case of emergency. You just want to envelop your brain in something that feels good and so I read 1 or 2 year at least, every year between then and now. So that's how I got into reading the the fiction and then I remember there was a period of time maybe fifteen years ago where I was going around picking up on UK television that I hadn't seen before and I was like oh, you know, this is a series. And I think I had maybe seen like an episode on PBS at some point just randomly and I said I'm going to get all of these and I made sure to ah to watch them all and I've watched them a couple times. The most recent time was at the beginning of the pandemic I went through all of them because they were just soothing to watch rich people be harmless. 05:42.60 Jala Yeah for sure. Definitely. Jeeves is refreshing in that it's harmlessly silly. Well-intentioned. Rich people that just have a lot of time and a lot of money and not a lot of sense except for Jeeves. 05:57.20 Alex Yeah, it's a series that has captivated me ever since I read the first one. It was just kind of like they really just have some quality in their writing that just makes the turns of phrases kind of both. It becomes both familiar and yet there's always something unexpected there too, you know, and that's why they're such a pleasure to reread you know. 06:25.39 Jala Yeah, and I feel like every time you read them you kind of pick up on some more subtleties that maybe you didn't pick up on the last time and so that's what's really charming about Wodhouse's style. He is very...his phrasing is extremely apt and also just the word choices. There are so many times where reading it I would just stop and just turn to Dave or turn to whoever was around. Pull it up and type a tweet about it or something, and just be like this is such a great turn of phrase this is the perfect phrasing and it's very rare that I find that consistently with any particular author. So it's really great to have so many hits when there's so many misses out there. 07:03.00 Alex Yeah. 07:22.18 fireheartmedia Um, and it's just really, really fun and easy and light and it's relaxing to read in a way that a lot of things just don't achieve you know at least that's in my opinion. 07:34.78 Alex Yeah, it's never taxing in the way that you know my my dad was visiting and he's reading a mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon which is a thorny prose that tends to go in several directions per sentence. You know it's it's not you can never take your attention off of it. 07:53.65 Alex You know what? I mean it's it's difficult in that way and and I was kind of thinking about that and comparing it because I'm trying to read it to um, reread it rather and it's that takes all your concentration just to kind of get the drift of what's happening and this takes no effort whatsoever. 08:12.12 Alex It's all about this surface pleasure of the way he's constructing his you know the the actual prose and then kind of the way the plots kind of fit together in this pleasing fashion. 08:16.60 fireheartmedia Um, for sure for sure. So Dave what was your introduction to jeeves. Yeah, mine would have been like as ah I remember as a child I was overseas. So. Bbc was the only channel we had that was in english aside from a channel coming out of the nelands and the Stephen fry and Hugh Laurie version was. 08:47.74 Alex Yeah. 08:50.66 fireheartmedia None that I remember watching not for any particular details but the opening animation like struck a chord and so when I went to go revisit that for this podcast research I was like oh no I do remember this not the particulars but I have seen this at some point in time and. Yeah, so just having the contrast of that and then what's actually going on in the original short stories is ah is ah a bit of a shakeup I think that the comedy lands it's in that dry zone at least as far as the. Um Tv series adaptation went they they were very loose adaptations and that was less of a draw than the sort of comfort that comes from reading the short stories so when did you get the reading form the original book form was it. Audio book because I sent I made you listen to it. Yeah, so that was the none time that I got engage with this was through audiobook and the the phenomenal reading of it B J harrison yeah just really sells it and I think that just. The act of reading through these can still be comforting but it unless you've listened to that first like I don't get the right voices in my head for it. Um, but having listened to the audiobook now that's just forever the voice of all the characters. Yeah I will I will say that the Audiobook version of B J Harrison 10:17.69 Alex And. 10:23.53 fireheartmedia Was my None introduction to jeeves like I had known jeeves was out there in the universe in the uvra somewhere you know, um, but other than ask jeeves hey I know that's an old-timey book thing from a long time ago and I don't know anything about it. Um. 10:36.18 Alex Yeah. 10:41.40 fireheartmedia You know like I wasn't really exposed to british humor type stuff for a very very long time like I didn't grow up with british humor that came later in my life and so sometimes british humor is like hit or miss for me. But that's why I I didn't immediately jump into woodhouse when I worked at a bookstore and. It took a long time and it was like much much later when I was listening to audiobooks and I'm like ah let's go ahead and give this a listen because I know everybody that I has ever been aware of what house says that whathouse is very funny I'm in the mood for something funny. So I pick that up and I listen to that Audiobook and I relisten to that. Very regularly like it stays constantly on my devices and I listen to the audio book all the time Vija Harrison does a very very good job with it. Um I have not actually listened to any other audio version other than his because it just um is kind of like my canon in my head of of this is how the voices. For me. Um I have of course gotten the prose versions of it and just sat and read them as well. Also on Kindle and yeah I like having them in that kind of portable form where I can pull it up on my phone I can pull it up on my actual Kindle just. Read a story and kind of hang out from there personally I feel that okay I haven't read every single jeeb story I've read a large number of them. But I feel that what house's work really shines in the short form. 12:11.70 Alex And. 12:13.45 fireheartmedia Ah, the novel length I feel like he just pad stuff out trying to um, keep like a certain level of. 12:21.60 Alex Ah, it's kind of a dance that has to keep going. You know. 12:26.40 fireheartmedia It's a dance that has to keep going but also you can't have just constant hilarity every moment and because of that he's trying to consciously build up without any super humor like the beginning of for example, Wright Hojeeves which is one of my favorite stories. 12:30.19 Alex A. 12:42.76 fireheartmedia The beginning is just takes a while to get ramped up and it's not particularly funny at the beginning of it and it gets there and then it becomes absolutely hilarious. Um, the telegrams back and forth between Birdie and Dalia Aunt Dalia those are 12:52.38 Alex Um, ah yep. 13:01.33 fireheartmedia Absolutely uproariously, funny to me and will always be probably my favorite thing probably of any jeeves just that part because Aunt Dalia is not having Birdie's crap and birdie is just completely clue. Yes. 13:13.60 Alex And and he gets ah he gets he. He has one of Jee's ah pick me ups is part of the action too after he he you know he's Goingnna wear these in a fortunate outfit gets gu comes back in four the morning 13:25.86 fireheartmedia Um, oh yes, oh yes. 13:30.80 Alex And then you know jeeves brings him the ah whatever that concoction is that the d hangovers you which I think is the None scene of the None episode of ah of the tv show pretty much. 13:33.36 fireheartmedia Um, yes. Yeah there's there's a Youtube channel that does a majority like fiction. Its it's a bartender. Oh can oh oh can you hear us hey Dave can you see. 13:47.37 Alex Hello Oh I don't know if I'm having trouble. 13:56.98 fireheartmedia And are you hearing us right now Lost Oh Oh no, can you type something to him and let him know that he needs to probably disconnect and reconnect but don't close the browser. Why don't you. Take your other hand and type. 14:25.81 Alex 2 14:26.39 fireheartmedia Oh No I can hear you there but you probably can't hear us your internet's probably futzing. Let him know what's going on sure. Yeah,, here's some water for you. You just smacked yourself in the face or. 14:52.99 fireheartmedia Okay, it's it's back now. Oh are you back? Hi are you back? Yay! You're back. Okay, we can hear you now. Okay, so um, let's see we were talking about the concoction. The drink concoction and Dave yeah Dave was. 15:09.54 fireheartmedia About to start a little bit so Dave if you can take it over again from like the Youtube whatever you were trying to say yeah, there's a Youtube channel put your face in the mic. There's a Youtube channel that does a to bar tending channel and he takes drinks from fictional. Things and like makes the drink and so this was the the restorative tonic was one of the ones that he addressed and it works. He said it it it opened his eyes. Yes, yes, so and it works you know the the reconstruction of this drink actually is literally thing. So. I think for the sake of listeners who don't know what Jeeves is I should at this point stop and explain jeeves in very simple terms. So the main characters of the jeeves books and short stories. Are birdtie worcester who is a very rich, very empty headed man who understands that he is both very rich and very empty headed and his valet jeeves and jeeves is very intelligent and he basically gets up to some high jinks trying to help out friends of his and. Otherwise just be left alone to go do birdie things and you know people come to him with their problems and then jeeves ends up trying to solve it and there are some times in which those things go very well and there are other times in which they go very wrong and. We are all just along for the ride and it's very very funny. The way that Jeeves and birdie interact with one another they are almost always fighting about some kind of outfit that birdie wants to wear that is loud and offensive to jeeves' sense of aesthetics and so um. They will usually have some kind of a conflict where birdie's trying to exert his authority as the man of the house in the the employer and and wear this ungodly bright pink outfit or whatever and then um Jeeves is just like I accidentally gave that away to the. You know mail man or whatever taxicab driver he does it. He burns it he burns it with the iron. Unfortunately I accidentally left the iron on it sir you know and like there it goes. It's just torched the the white mess jacket was burned. 17:19.13 Alex And he does it at the end of right hoe he doesn't even do it. He he just burns it he straight up burns it? yep. 17:34.66 Alex What what pleased me so much look reading this one was that I remember that one. It's always something different. There's like a pink tie I think that there's like Spats that are some unsuitable color but like the the novel before this one is the one where birdie grows a mustache. 17:35.53 fireheartmedia Yeah. 17:53.57 Alex And but it's even more egregious because everyone he meets tells him that he looks terrible. Why do you have that and he talks to dalia and she says she even says to him. You don't imagine Jeeves is going to let you keep that do you and Birdie's ah you know, offended the way that he always gets you know his his rebellious streak is ah underway so and of course he winds. Ah, he has to at the end admit the justice of I will please jeeves by getting rid of it. But it's no, it's always a. 18:27.55 Alex You don't know whether Jeeves is going to take it upon himself or whether birdie is going to you know acquiesce openly you know or will be a fate acompy for him. Ah. 18:33.63 fireheartmedia Yeah, for sure. so so yeah my my introduction to jeeves was as mentioned just in the audiobook version. We've already covered that. So let's talk a little bit about what house himself. He lived from 1881 to 1975. He was 93 when he died finally but he also published work from 1914 to 1975 so he was actively riding until the day he died and he was more or less a hermit. 19:05.49 fireheartmedia He claimed that he only ever learned anything about what was going on in society from newspapers. Actually he was married to a woman named Ethel who was very fond of dinner parties and things and so he was. Subjected to dinner parties that were forced upon him by his wife and that's the way that he interacted with people he had like None friend and that was his buddy and he didn't really want to see anybody else and he just wanted to be left alone. He basically wanted to be birdie more or less and ah. 19:33.48 Alex Um, where do you think he gets the the bits about the the table manners of the drones because Birdie's club they always describe he goes there and then it's all just people throwing bread and causing the ultimate amount of ruckus and everything and I have to I always wonder like how much of that is. 19:52.67 Alex He was a young you know a young man wearing spats going to London Club you know up a ruckus or is this all just stuff that he heard from some you know some social friend of his and decided to ah you know make this the universal background of the sympathetic characters. 20:07.80 fireheartmedia Yeah, for sure and he also he was really really active with musical theater so he was an avid fan in every single book and short story that he wrote he wrote parts as if he were writing for the stage for a musical piece. 20:10.55 Alex And these books. 20:24.26 fireheartmedia And so he wrote in parts for people basically for the house actors who were employed to just play all the random characters in the background of everything so that was an aspect of his work that was. Peculiar to him. It wasn't something that every single prose writer was doing and he also actually very quickly and easily would translate his written prose stories into musical theater and back again he did write musical comedies. At different points in his career and he worked with Mgm for a while I want to say it was he was in Hollywood briefly and he hated every minute of it and was just like the parties and stuff are okay and the climate's nice. But I I don't I don't feel like you know he didn't like the collaborative style of. Writing pieces for Hollywood and so ultimately, but yeah and he in being given something that somebody else wrote and then trying to rewrite it or edit it or something to make it funnier like that was weird to him and he's just like no just let me do my thing over there in the corner. 21:18.35 Alex But to people sitting around a table shouting at each other instead of. 21:32.33 fireheartmedia I will pop it out and give it to you at the appropriate time and. 21:35.65 Alex Um, a lot of his stories or have this is like a setting to there's so like so many of them have you know? ah the chorus girl or someone you know I think there's I think one of them actually has a ah. 21:51.34 fireheartmedia Um, yes, the yeah the E yeah. 21:52.35 Alex Ah, ah, someone trying to impress someone who's in the theater by going like this upper class friend of his I'm going to I think it was one of the very early ones I'm trying to remember which one it was. It'll probably pop back into my brain at some point but it's like a common thread throughout them all you know. 22:05.76 fireheartmedia Yeah, well like there was ah 1 scenario I think it was wasn't it Gussie one of his friends Gussie not like orb what no is it was his cousin Gussie because he's got his friend. Yeah, the other Gussie there's 2 gussys. Um, one of whom is a childhood friend of his that's in right hojeebs, the other one is his cousin and cousin Gussie. 22:14.47 Alex Yes, the other gussy but. 22:24.38 fireheartmedia Was trying to marry a girl from the vaudeville stage and he ended up running off and becoming an actor by the end of it and so his aunt was very mad at him for you know because he was supposed to stop Gussie from marrying the vaudeville lady and that's not what happened instead they just went off. Yeah, the relative. 22:25.00 Alex That's right. 22:33.24 Alex That's right. 22:40.86 Alex The the relatives can't handle. It is the is the plot. Ah. 22:43.20 fireheartmedia Yeah, yeah, relatives can't handle it and that's that was the situation going on there. But um, yeah, so okay, more about what house though he was more or less completely disinterested in money. He had a lot of it and he didn't really care. He got into a bunch of stuff with the government about taxes. Ah, different points but more or less it was just he's anti-authoritarian he doesn't like any government anybody any authority figure and so he got into a fuss with them not because he couldn't spare the money but because on principle he just didn't want to give money to these people and so he got into the whole bunch of tax. Both in Britain as well as in the us about you know, having to pay the government and he was just very grumpy about that he didn't want to do it. He hired a lawyer to fight it and all this other stuff. But again, it's not because he was you know unable to pay. He just didn't want to pay. Um. 23:38.16 Alex That's like a um Recx Stout Ne wolf trope near a wolf complains about his taxes and every history that he does see why am I Even bothering to make money. The government's just going to take it all and this from ah an author that you would you know clearly recognize as a liberal guy. 23:54.53 Alex Yeah, in terms of his political viewpoints. Ah well, that's how that's writers for you? Yeah, especially of the of the first half of the None century white guy writers. 24:03.21 fireheartmedia Um, So what house himself was pretty much noted as having like a complete disinterest in Sex. He has no libido Whatsoever. He tries in some of his works like particularly for stage and things like that to try to have some kind of romantic thing going on and he never really pulls it off the same way he does when he's got his birdie who just wants to be left alone over there and has no interest and yeah. 24:17.80 Alex And. 24:32.13 Alex He he there's a couple. There's a couple stories where he has a love interest and they are not convincing is the way I put it. 24:37.24 fireheartmedia Yeah, well and he ended up his his wife Ethel was older than he was and already had a daughter and so he just adopted that daughter completely doted on that stepdaughter. And was completely happy to let Ethel run everything in the house deal with all of his affairs. He just wanted to be over there left alone with his typewriter and his drink and that's it. That's all he wanted and ah so in most of his stories. It's pretty reflective of his life because. 25:00.48 Alex If. 25:09.25 fireheartmedia Most of his protags are trying to extricate themselves from whatever situation they're in and they just want to go over there and be left alone. They just want to get out of the situation that is all they want. They just want to be left alone and that is basically what house in a nutshell that's him so it was to the point that when I was. Reading about his life during World War Ii when the Germans were invading he was put in a camp and like the biggest issue that he had when he was in camp is that he didn't have sheets on his bed. And that was it because he was given a mattress and all this other stuff and he was completely content to let the Germans do whatever and he was one of the things that he had said actually was if the Germans want to rule the world. Why don't We just let them because he could care less about the outside World. He just wanted to be left alone. That's it. To the point that he was completely indifferent to what was going on for World War Ii now granted at that timeframe people in England did not know what exactly was going on in concentration camps and things like that. They just thought that the Germans wanted to rule and they didn't They didn't all that stuff came out later. 26:19.67 Alex He was. He was correct me if I'm wrong, but he was already kind of an expat wasn't he living in France during the war already like he was kind of not even connected to the domestic political situation in the None place. 26:22.26 fireheartmedia So. 26:27.80 fireheartmedia Um, he had yeah he had he had roamed he had gone to um, France for a bit he was in us for a bit like he he didn't really have any kind of sense of. Patriotism if you would if any um, yeah, yeah, yeah. 26:44.58 Alex Kind of a preworld war one style view of of nations right? like I can just wander around in would whatever what they'll they'll all take me right? I'm from Britain. 26:55.73 fireheartmedia Much So you know I had to stop reading about him after about that point though because I mean even if I can understand that he had no idea what actually was going on and didn't care to keep up with world events and things like that like I just did the stress levels trying to read that part were like okay. I'm checked out now I can't I can't read anymore about this because it is gonna make me upset you know like it's it's too much having compassion and seeing it with None vision from you know the future time looking back at it. It just couldn't continue reading about that I'm like I am satisfied that I understand enough about his character. As a person So anyway about his literary technique though. Like I mentioned he wrote parts for the house cast of extras and Archetypal Archetypal characters things like that. 27:47.68 fireheartmedia Ah, when he wrote his stories. He started by writing lots and lots of copious notes about the plot he wrote the plot out None and then inserted the jokes he said more or less that once he wrote the plot. 28:02.13 fireheartmedia The story wrote itself. The jokes wrote themselves everything just kind of clicked from there. The plot was the hard part for him and his plots are very like you know they're typical kind of you know after a while they have ah a kind of typical air to them because he has a formula right? But at the same time. They're still fresh because of all of the stuff that he spends more time on once he's got the plot ironed out. You know it's not so much about what's happening so much as it is the interactions between the characters that is the funny part that is the real. Thrust of what's going on is just what the characters are doing how they react to each other and all of that and that spending the time on that to flesh that out after he's got the plotline is really like the core of the Jee story. It's not what happens ever. It's just all of the the. 28:55.71 fireheartmedia Set dressing all the fluff into everything that goes into it so well and then too he conceived of his characters as actors and he wrote his characters in. 28:55.95 Alex Ah, yeah, is in inconsequential the actual events always always. 29:12.29 fireheartmedia Like actors who have preferences for roles and things like that and so he wrote them as if they were actual people playing part and you can kind of see that in just like there are parts in some of the stories where birdie or somebody is like well that's not like That's not my role. That's not how things go for me I mean like even in right? Ho jeeves. There's a point where he just he can't wrap his head around why his aunt Dalia wants him to come to visit her visit her because they had just spent two months together in France and he's like the average dose. Of Bertram for any given adult an average human adult is like two days and we had just seen each other for two months it is unseasonable and uncalled for being you know summoned again this soon. She should have had a dosage enough for several years at this point she shouldn't want to you know see. Me again because most people can't handle me for more than that and jeeves is in the background like I appreciate your points sir. However, yeah, so and but um, well he can so. 30:15.94 Alex Um, yeah, Jes Cont stand it stand in though somehow it's it's interesting too because um, he's also immediately suspicious right? He knows that something is up. 30:33.35 Alex Even that this early part of his you know that the story is it's fairly early on he knows that daily is going to going to try to get into do something and so yeah, it's a delaying tactic from the starts. But but. 30:36.77 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, oh for sure for Sure. So ah, he is considered to be a low brow writer because The. Again, The plots are unimportant and they are just a vehicle for the acting of the characters and the comedy that comes from those interactions. It definitely has that kind of this is a serialized style of writing element to it where Dave can talk about it in more detail but and Dave. 33:36.80 Alex Now. 33:42.28 fireheartmedia And I were talking about it in the green room and it was more or less it. It feels in some ways like a pulp. Yeah so other larger authors are similar contemporary authors of the time would have been doing. Like weird fiction or science fiction. So you have Sherlock Holmes or conan or these other archetypes that their stories follow like a beat and you get kind of the same thing each time. But they're usually put in serial publications or magazines. So you're not getting like anthologies of these books. That's that's something that's more contemporary to us and that would be the case with like the old house collections they're over you know, 20 years or 30 years of him putting them out. 34:36.18 Alex Yeah. 34:37.96 fireheartmedia So while they may be formulaing and may hit these certain beats at the time you're not just getting a whole influx of oh here's a bunch of jeev stories. It's like they're doled out over time and that lends itself to engaging with them like as they came out versus. Ah. Ah, can Netflix binging like binge reading these and just kind of going. Okay, it's a lot but go ahead. 35:00.40 Alex Um, yeah, but it's it's it's totally true and I like that it you know there's like 50 years worth of these. It's also true that they all have the share in actual continuity and. 35:17.69 Alex I feel like you even at times like birdie will comment on. Oh it's happening again right once again Madeline wants to marry me and I can't I can't possibly stand it like that it happens 4 or 5 and he's he's like yeah, he's just in in the in the path of this train whenever it happens to be running. 35:36.46 Alex Is almost how you feel for whenever the aunt goes on the warpath or you know one of his previous fiances. You know focuses their eye on him again. 35:42.13 fireheartmedia Well and you know the thing is is that that is kind of just breathing life into the characters and the situations in the story because how often is it in your own life that that ant goes on that war path and you were in the the line of fire or. Whatever your Ex calls you up and you're like okay no with this didn't work the last time you know yeah and not only that the stories aren't written in chronological Order. So There's things that birdie will reference and they haven't actually happened yet for the reader. 35:58.86 Alex Yep here we go again. 36:17.29 fireheartmedia I guess an example would be how he gets to America that doesn't happen until quite a bit later and then it it did like back fills in what happened so he's ah yeah. 36:30.33 Alex Yeah, oh you were hanging out in America for like a year we didn't know about that at all. 36:36.72 fireheartmedia And and woehouse kind of does that to I think just do little plot seeds that he might may or may not come back to later and then decides to but it's already kind of built in so he gives himself those little tidbits that he can build a little story off of and still like be self-referential. 36:54.47 Alex Yeah. 36:56.62 fireheartmedia Well so let me circle back a little bit to that lowbrow thing that I was saying a minute ago. Um, so whathouse is considered lowbrow in terms of the fact that woehouse himself and his protagonists more or less just specifically lack. Intellectual curiosity. They just don't have any interest in knowing the whys and wherefores of what's going on. They are dealing with the surface level in the moment situations about literature of the time woehouse wrote. What bilge they are producing now I can't get beyond the none page of Lolita is just like I have no interest in the cerebral stuff I don't care I want to be entertained. That's it and that's that's that's what it was no no. 37:38.75 Alex And. 37:48.33 Alex He he would not be reading Thomas Pynchon but it's it's interesting to me but that that I you know like people like you know Stephen fry right? Who is you know? intellectual. So and so you know they all they they love this guy and I feel that way too right? like it's. 38:07.83 Alex It's just something that that even though his has like very little actual intellectual engagement. Even if you are you know you you seek that out from your fiction right? the. 38:09.67 fireheartmedia Um. Um, yeah, what will these sit in that space where maybe not as much drama but they kind of sit in Telenovela Soap Opera land where it's an idealized. 38:27.50 Alex Yeah. 38:32.78 fireheartmedia Like socialite reality like that's not what was actually happening like it's it's pulling. From example I think but it's it's painting like a broader brush like there's there's not these doofy harmless rich guys. Yeah, well, it's it's ah basically it is. And absurdist like a little bit of an absurdist fantasy reality where there's larger than life characters that are benign and being poked at for the entertainment of the reader for the general masses. Um, just to relax and unwind after dealing with all of the stresses and the. Stuff happening in the world which is why it has such great longevity and such you know familiarity and ease of rereading and you know like why you come back to it time and again is because it's just relaxing to read. It's it. You know you can't always be reading like I read a lot of nonfiction. A lot of nonfiction. But I take breaks and when I take breaks I want to have something like Jeeves where it just I can just relax and and enjoy it and you know, ah let myself breathe in in kind of hang. 39:44.47 Alex It It has it has this quality of um, you know, even though it never gets overtly political. There's this quality of of mocking authority to that you get a lot right? like there's an actual fascist character. 39:52.92 fireheartmedia Um, yes. 40:02.18 Alex Who he comes up against ah who's modeled off for Oswald Mosley the actual british fascist guy. What's his name ah spoed and he's all he's just the comic villain in all of these. He just blusters like Mussolini and given no respect whatsoever and. 40:02.60 fireheartmedia Are. 40:21.92 Alex And the actual threat of this guy is not at all at any time a factor birdie just sees him as this ridiculous figure that likes to March around and and give speeches you know, but but someone who's actually there at the time experiencing that would not have had that kind of take on a guy like that. 40:22.12 fireheartmedia Um, and. 40:27.80 fireheartmedia Um, and you know, um. 40:35.98 fireheartmedia Well and that's something that's really peculiar to wahas as well. He was a very big fan of kipling Rudyard Kipling's work and he specifically if you pay attention you notice that he doesn't moralize about anything that's going on in these stories at all. It's completely free of moralizing. 40:39.19 Alex And all I don't think. Yeah. 40:55.23 fireheartmedia Any of it I mean he definitely is poking fun at the you know certain characters. He's poking fun at these super intellectuals. He's poking fun at the people who want to control everything and you know ah Authority figures. 40:57.78 Alex Yeah. 41:06.77 Alex Even even as protagonists just want to drink and gamble on horses pretty much. Ah. 41:09.93 fireheartmedia That's all they wanted. They just want to go over there and do their inoffensive things and be left alone and that's it like that's that's it. But you know like there's no judgment passed on the drinking and if anybody does pass judgment on those characters. It's to no effect. There's no, there's no force behind it. There's no moral lesson that you're learning. 41:15.60 Alex Ah, yeah. 41:24.89 Alex Yeah, yeah. 41:29.10 fireheartmedia In any of this at all, you know so and that mean that's something directly in the the collection we were listening to I believe that's like the None story in there's there's a a character that's like a young. 41:32.24 Alex Yeah, yeah. 41:48.59 fireheartmedia Same same kind of not trust fund kid but it comes from money and he's just on vacation with his mother who's touring the American Prison system and his he's been cloistered in his like little home for his whole life and he's early twenty s. 42:00.75 Alex Yeah, yeah. 42:08.49 fireheartmedia And now this is his excuse to be like free and um, go carousing and he's going to live it up and he's going to he I think he even says to birdie like if you see me and I'm not drunk. Something's wrong and give me like a drink. Give me a drink and also rebuke me for my oversight. Yeah that I've that I've messed up and I'm not just living it up every second so he has come up and says he gets kicked out of a couple bars and then he eventually gets sent to prison. But it's still a lark because they play it off as oh he was in the prison doing research for his mother. Yeah, So there's not like. Yeah yeah, yeah, but but there's no I mean yes, he is incarcerated but it's not.. It's played for laughs. Yeah, and so it's not. 42:49.66 Alex Well, you actually because he assaulted a policeman. 42:58.20 Alex Yeah, there's there's a lot of later plots where where they have um one character's like a magistrate or something and he's always itching to put birdie in jail for stealing. You know the cow creamer or whatever the the Mcguffin of the of the book is. 42:59.76 fireheartmedia Like a real indictment. 43:17.31 Alex You know and it's never never given the slight like to no no, they can hardly even consider anything that happens in actual crime at any points you know I think that birdie's cottage gets burned down at one point by ah by. 43:34.29 Alex By Bingley the ah the butler he gets to replace Steve's because jees cannot brook him playing the banja lely that that was one of his other you know horrific offenses but like even like the guy chases him around with a knife I think at one point and like they there's very nonchalant about it right? like. 43:53.88 Alex No no effects whatsoever just kind of like get me away from that guy. You know he has it out for me I guess is as far as they go. 43:57.00 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, yeah, and in just the manner in which what house writes is it's very effusive in the use of the adjectives and adverbs. But like everything is just so aptly phrased. You know the turns of phrase are so specific and so good that you know even if it's fluffy stuff that's funny and inoffensive and you can just like read it and it and you're not being enlightened in any way shape or form reading it like you can appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into it and that's. Again, that's another reason why it's unique in that the best way to absorb this in my opinion at least is to read the original scripts the original words or listen to the original words and. You know something like None of the audiobook versions or something like that. But yes, they're dialogue heavy but you have to also hear the way that birdie says things in his head because that's very important to a lot of the humor and a lot of how it's carried is in this presentation through Birdie's eyes 44:58.81 Alex They're very dialogue heavy. 45:12.70 fireheartmedia And if you are watching a video version of it. You know like the tv show or something like the humor in that is automatically different than the humor of the what house original stories because it isn't wonder year style where you can hear inside. Birdie's head and he's narrating so the by default. 45:29.17 Alex So now. 45:31.90 fireheartmedia That style of comedy is going to be different now I think that something like a play version would be a little bit easier and lend itself a little bit more to what house's style a play or a musical comedy which is you know again, something that was part and parcel of how he wrote. Ah, those kinds of things I think would work a little bit better because it has a little bit more space for that actor talking directly to the audience that's going on in what house's prose. Yes, um. 46:01.42 Alex There's kind of a difference between the short stories and the novels too is what I've noticed right like the short story is very much and kind of more interior to birdie like what he thinks about the plot and and what's going on whereas the the novels kind of really tend to give. 46:05.56 fireheartmedia Are. 46:16.43 Alex Whatever 2 characters or 3 characters in there kind of some room to stretch out and actually you know bat it back and forth a few times and they whereas the short stories is really just these snappy kind of 1 ne-liner you know exchanges that happen a few times and that's kind of where the humor is. 46:32.96 Alex Is it. It's more of an it like ah a so you know an extended kind of ah a duo. You know they're having a duet of you know, birdie and an ant or birdie and the guy that the latest person that wants to kill him for. 46:41.92 fireheartmedia Yeah, or or the latest person asking birdie for help or asking jeeves for help trying to circumbert circum circumbert birdie circumvent Birdie and then birdie inserts himself for that kind of situation. Yeah, for sure. 46:58.00 fireheartmedia So um, ah, something else that I want to talk about what house's style before we actually talk a a little bit more in depth about a couple of the stories is that woodhouse. Was a prolific reader himself. He he would read constantly and was aware of what was out at the time and what came before him and a lot of other things like that which is again probably why he has such very apt turns of phrase and things like that he lifted a lot of. His inspirations for Jeeves from Harry Leon Wilson who was an american humorist who was super influential overall during his timeframe and if you study just american humor. Overall that name comes up. Ah, his book ruggles of red gap is a book wherein marbadu ruggles a mans servantvant like chiefs was gambled away by his employer. The Earl of bernstead to a pair of Novo Riche americans who take him back to their home in Red Gap Washington and and a lot of ways like that like his mans servantvant guy this ruggles character is a jeeves. He's a proper english man servantvant and he's in America stuffed in with these people who are novo rich americans who you know have their particular foibles and characteristics that are being pok fun at. And so ah in a lot of ways that kind of echoes some of the stuff that goes on with jeeves of course a certain amount of influence of sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Watson comes into. Play with just like the pairing of these characters and None of them is the one who knows everything that's going on and the other one is the foil for the reader or what have you except in the case of Jeeves and Birdie Birdie is not just a foil for the reader. He is also a hilarious. Buffoon in his own right? that it has his own voice that contributes to the goings on in a way that makes it funnier. So I know Marmaduke is such a great name. 49:05.32 Alex Got of like the Marba Duke too what a great name all the names and these are great. We should talk about before but you could just read them and enjoy them. They're like dickens names you know, but. 49:12.77 fireheartmedia Oh for sure. So yeah, like um, gussy fink noddle from ah right ho jeeves his actual name is augustus fink no but he's called gussy by Birdie and then there's ah. 49:21.57 Alex Yeah, yep. 49:30.95 fireheartmedia Ah, quirky Corcoran but his actual name is like ah I don't know Benedict or something like that his name is Benedict but he gets called corrky by birdie because you know and he's ah, is there a. 49:41.37 Alex Um I I think there I think ah I think ah, there's a Marma duke too I Think that's tuppy. 49:46.96 fireheartmedia Oh great marma duke. Okay, yeah, there's alexander warpool you know, okay, that's a name tuppy glossup yeah tuppy glossup and yeah, something like that but all the names too like Madeleline Bassett who is ah another character in Wright Hojees and 49:54.80 Alex Yep, ah. 50:06.26 fireheartmedia The thing about that name is that Madeline Bassett sounds pretty me and then like Bassett kind of makes me think like why did you pick that name except Bassett Hound because that character Madeline Bassett is like this dreamy droopy kind of character who just is is kind of. Following people around like ah a pupper so it's like you know, ah the names do a lot and like Tuppy. There's a point where they are. They're making fun of tuppy for tuppy eating a lot and so there was a point where birdie is talking to tuppy and says tummy I mean tuppy. You know and just flat out does that number because they they use names that kind of sound like glossop like that's ah, a full mouth kind of name when you pronounce it so even just like the anunciation of the names does something. So. So yeah. 50:55.20 Alex Yeah, there's ah, what's ah cats meet Potter perbright is one of his other he shows up as a character and I think I think his name is Caterley or something like that. So they just call him cats meat and there's one called um, ah Darcy. 51:02.60 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, cats meet. Um, ah. 51:14.80 fireheartmedia Are. 51:14.94 Alex Cheese rights so is his name Stilton and a and birdie thinks that he is very large and florid. He's like a pumpkin he calls if he calls stilton cheese right? like I love it. There are all these like ah upper class you know names. But. 51:34.72 Alex But always the ones where you could not possibly take that person. Seriously, you know if you like you know someone called muffy or or Buffy or something and would be the equivalent I guess in America but even even the um, it's kind of also a sign if someone has a nickname like that that birdie will is is on their side. Usually. 51:48.58 fireheartmedia Yeah, yeah, so and um, just the style of how birdie and Jeeves speak also is very very markedly different. So a little bit about from um, leave it to Jeeves which is. 51:54.51 Alex You know. 52:05.48 fireheartmedia Ah, really, really funny story and the None story that Dave ever heard of this writing large body of work. Ah so Birdie was talking about his friend quirky who came up to him and that was the person of the day that needed assistance and said his principal. 52:18.28 Alex Yep. 52:24.48 fireheartmedia Source of income however was derived from biting the ear of a rich uncle 1 Alexander Warpole who was in the juke business I'm a bit foggy as to what juke is but it's apparently something the populace is pretty keen on for Mr. Warpole had made quite an indecently large stack out of it and so he mixes slang with. Regular speaking style so he he interplays some of that slang and some of the little you know those chappies you know down at the pub. What? what? you know? he says a bunch of nonsense. Um, ah, yeah, and it's it's. 52:59.36 Alex It's very much like he just cornered you at the bar and he's going to tell you a story and here we go and and very well yeah, very loose and slangy but all at the same time he's trying to you know make it captivating for you. 53:03.45 fireheartmedia And. 53:08.00 fireheartmedia Yeah, for sure and and meanwhile Jeeves speaks in this very formal manner. Very lofty uses larger words and a lot more you know longer sentences. Overall so. The scheme I would suggest cannot fail of success but it has what may seem to you a drawback sir and that it requires a certain financial outlay. He means I translated to corrky that he has got a pippin of an idea but it's going to cost a bit. So. That's right, there. There's the difference between how the 2 of them talk and he has to translate there the translations happen rather regularly where he's just like okay, what Jeeves is saying to you is and then he just says the thing and it's very very good. It's very funny every time I read it. 53:57.23 Alex Not only not only does birdie have to translate for None sometimes Jeeves has to translate for jeeves when he's talking to birdie and like what did you be I don't understand what you're saying to me. 54:00.82 fireheartmedia Um, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah for sure for sure so I will say okay so I feel that the jeeb stories you just have to hear some of it to understand how funny it is so Birdie. 54:19.44 Alex Yeah. 54:20.12 fireheartmedia Here's here's a little quote from ah, leave it to jeeves where birdie is talking about how he knows that he's just not smart after this I said not another step for me without your advice from now on consider yourself the brains of the establishment. Very good sir. 54:28.95 Alex I Go what. 54:37.58 fireheartmedia I shall endeavor to give satisfaction and he has by Jove I'm a bit short on brain myself the old being appears to have been constructed more for ornament than for use. Don't you know, but give me 5 minutes to talk the thing over with Jeeves and I'm game to advise anyone about anything and that's why when Bruce Corcoran his name was Bruce actually. Ah, came to me with his troubles. My none act was to ring the bell and pull it up to the lad with the bulging forehead leave it to jeeves I said so i. 55:08.35 Alex He says he he one of he says yeah I've got about half the amount of brain as a chap ought to have I think that's the line that he has and he always accuses Jeeve of eating too much fish. That's what makes him smart. Apparently. 55:12.00 fireheartmedia Um, well. Yeah, he Yeah, he says well in this one he was talking about how he's got a bulging forehead because his brain's so Big. So It's got to you know it's got to go somewhere. Yeah well and not only that he attributes like so. 55:31.33 fireheartmedia Natural abilities to jeeves where jeeves just disappears into the shadow he warps in and out of existence. He flat out says that he warps in he just appears. Well he he says that it's like the yogis in India who can just like appear and reappear in places whenever they want to and like he's. 55:36.42 Alex Oh yeah, yep yep, he shimmers? yeah. 55:50.90 fireheartmedia He's this preternatural force that just kind of you know, ah imp appears and disappears at will and just you know at his convenience so he he he talks about Jeeves more as a force than as a person. So yeah. 56:06.87 Alex Often? yeah. 56:09.27 fireheartmedia Yeah, so um, leave it to jeeves that story is about his friend corrky who as we talked about a minute ago gets money from an uncle and he wants to marry this girl but doesn't think that his uncle is going to let her um you know into the family and so On. So no, That's not the stage. This one is the one where he's an artist. So. 56:30.00 Alex She's she's on the stage right? isn't she a oh that's right? No no is isn't isn't the the girl he's gonna marry like a performer like a no. 56:36.98 fireheartmedia Um, no, no, she's a school teacherach. She's a school teacheracher. No she she works its she write Children's books. No, she does not write. Children's books and she's not a school teacherach. She works at like ah ah like she's a waitress or something. Oh um, she ends up that the scheme that jeeves. 56:44.61 Alex Oh okay I got the wrong one? No no. 56:56.69 fireheartmedia Comes up for him for her to ingratiate herself to the uncles so that the uncle will be amenable to the marriage of quirky to this woman was that she write a children's book use a ghost writer to write a children's book about birds because the uncle wrote a book. Called like american birds or something like that and birds I think something like that and so she would have a ghost writer write a book. Children's book of american birds and then put in there. A thank you note to Mr Warpoll for you know his contribution writing the original book that she ripped you know, basically riffed off of. And then she would present a copy. Go see him and present a copy now what happens in the story is that she ends up doing all of this the ghost writer gets ah hired by Birdie's money via birdie's money and then instead of getting to know the uncle and the marion quirky. She falls for the uncle and then when. Birdie comes back from a trip to go visit friends in the country. She's married to the uncle and quirky's like out you know out and about like okay now what and then they end up having a kid and the um and. 58:03.20 Alex Um, and they have a kid I mean it's It's interesting. How long this span of time it takes place over because a couple he's like well I just gave it all amis for a couple months I couldn't handle the situation it. Yeah. 58:12.35 fireheartmedia It was now he was gone for like a year or something well well because then the they had a kid and then the uncle con commissioned corrky to do a painting of the kid of the woman he had wanted to marry and his uncle like. And then not only that but that painting turned out to be absolutely god-awful ugly and then it was so hilarious. The way that that whole section was presented. Um I'll read so I will read some of that I will read some of that in a minute. But so the the painting is super ugly. 58:40.34 Alex Ah, yeah, it's wonderful. Yeah. 58:46.53 fireheartmedia The uncle is so angry that he cuts quirky off and quirky's like it can't get any worse and then jeeves is like hey how about you write a comic you use this and you make a comic off of this ugly baby character that you just created and you can make money off that and that's what ends up happening quirky ends up to become a successful comic artist. Which is a real left field. But that's that's how that ends up resolving itself. But yes for sure. Did you want to say something Dave oh no. Okay, so all right I'm going to read a little bit about quirky's painting. 59:11.23 Alex It's it's Jeeves has a plan b is as always. 59:23.49 fireheartmedia Stand right? where you are Birdie. He said without mooting moving now tell me honestly how does it strike you the light from the big window fell right on the picture I took a good look at it then I shifted a bit nearer and took another look then I went back to where I had been at first because it hadn't seen quite. So bad from there well said quirky anxiously I hesitated a bit of course old man I only saw the kid once and then only for a moment but but it was an ugly sort of kid wasn't it if I remember rightly as ugly as that. 01:00:01.70 Alex So. 01:00:01.54 fireheartmedia I looked again and honestly and honesty compelled me to be Frank I don't see how it could have been old chap poor cory ran his fingers through his hair in a temperamental sort of way he groaned you're right? Bertie something's gone wrong with the damned thing. My private impression is that without knowing it. I've worked that stunt that sergegen and those others fellows pull painting the soul of the sitter I got through the mere outward appearance and had put the child's soul on canvas but could a child at that age have a soul like that I don't think Davis's but busting his busting is so. He's trying very very hard not to laugh I don't see how he could have managed it in that time. What do you think? Chiefs I doubt it's sir it. It's sort of lees at you doesn't it. You've noticed that too said quirky I don't see how one could help. Notice soon. All I tried to do was give the little brute a cheerful expression but as it worked out. He looks positively dissipated just what I was going to suggest old man. He looks as if he were in the middle of a colossal spree and enjoying every moment of it. Don't you think so Jeeves. He has a decidedly inebriated air sir da is is trying you are doing so good, not laughing. You are wiping tears out of your eyes I am not the best reader for this? Um Bj Harrison is so much better listen to that you can find it on Youtube if you want ah. I managed to get through that without hitting the mute button. So yeah, accomplishment on my part. 01:01:42.85 Alex Ah I I love that that's what a great exchange. It is little 3 way colloquy on just how bad is it and he knows it's bad. He wants someone to confirm it for him. 01:01:49.44 fireheartmedia Yeah, he knows it's bad and I I Love how he's just like I think I've painted the soul of the critter and then they're like. How could he be that bad this Soon. He's a little baby.. There's no way he could have let's just step a little farther away from it. It's oh no, it didn't get any better the farther away you get. 01:02:11.63 Alex Yeah, ah, well the the uncle's reaction to it. He he has this great little monologue not another sense not in another sense Bush there storms out and and you know you can practically hear him stamp his foot and it it definitely almost reads more like a. 01:02:17.70 fireheartmedia Um, there isnt. 01:02:31.29 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, like a business tycoon of. 01:02:31.39 Alex You know like a British uncle to me then it does like an American one. But yeah yeah tycoon style that so he put it. Yeah blustery perfect. 01:02:37.67 fireheartmedia Super blustery and it's very blas fantastics because that whole entire exchange when the uncle shows up Jeeves is just vanished. Yeah, not there. Yeah, he does he just warps out like he does and then reappears after the danger zone is ah is bast. So. 01:02:47.88 Alex Ah, just like. 01:02:56.66 fireheartmedia And then talking about earlier the fights that birdie and Jeeves have over clothing. They're also from that same story at the very very end. Birdie is congratulating jeeves at having a resolution having quirky decide that he's going to do comics and go from there and so he says you know. Jeeves. You're a genius you ought to be drawing a commission on these things I have nothing to complain of in that respect sir Mr. Corcoran has been most generous I am putting out the brown suit sir no I think I'll wear the blue with the faint red stripe not the blue with the faint red stripes sir but I rather have been. See myself in it. Not the blue with the faint red stripes sir oh all, right? have it your own way. Very good sir. Thank you sir. So it's very good because Jeeves is just like. Treating him like a small child and just like no no, we're not doing this. We're not doing this same tone same everything just I'm gonna repeat myself and you're gonna understand through repetition that I mean no so. Um, that that was a very very fun short story and that one it starts out very very funny and it just kind of continues to be funny. There's points where it's not as funny and you're just going oh my god she married the uncle. Okay and and stuff like that and it's it's really good because the way that they. 01:04:16.60 Alex Yeah, yeah. 01:04:28.24 fireheartmedia The way that whathouse presents that particular piece of information is that he comes across her at a club or something and only sees her doesn't see quirky or anything and so he's like oh hey so you hitched yet Yada Yada All this other stuff and she's like oh yes and then oh well, where is quirky. What do you. I had I don't know and he's like well what do you mean?? you don't know you should be attached to the hip or whatever and then out comes the uncle and he's like oh and and. 01:04:56.63 Alex Can never never resist putting birdie in a situation for him to comically Misunderstand what's going on and get and feel embarrassed afterwards. It's like exact like oh it's just the consistent thing with him right? He's always going to. 01:05:00.80 fireheartmedia Um, um, absolutely. 01:05:14.32 Alex Make the wrong assumption and then fumble over himself as he attempts to right? The ship not quite manage. Its. 01:05:17.50 fireheartmedia Um, yeah I mean he's not the man of action stuff happens to him but not because he's doing something. He's trying to not do anything and it's like well things just drop at his doorstep which happens all the time. Usually if he's when he's out. He's out at the. Club or out of town and comes back to the trash fire that's on his doorstep. Yeah, and he's just like what now and jeeves just comes in after he's had a night out and he's drunk you know recovering with a hangover or. He's like I can't until I have my tea I can't function. Please give me my cup and then we will we will address whatever is going on at the moment. so yeah so in right ho jeeves that is a novel version and and that one um, we already kind of talked a little bit about it. Birdie returns to London after having spent several weeks in can spent in the company of his aunt dalia as well as Angela which is Dalia's daughter in Birdie's absence jeeves has been trying to help. Gussie's or Gussie who is an old friend of Birdie's from childhood Gussie is in love with a girl named Madeleine Bassett and Gussie is from the country and he is a complete tee totaler. He is in love with newts he is fascinated by them and just you know. Has nothing to do with society parties any of that business but he has come to London to look up Madeleine Bassett who he met when she was out in the country and so he has fallen madly in love with her and wants to meet her and you know, um, try to propose. 01:07:00.79 Alex And Bertie knows her already because she was in cairns with Angela. 01:07:03.56 fireheartmedia Um, she was not and in kind can now. Um well ah birdie knows Madeline because Madeline has been longtime friends with Angela. 01:07:10.12 Alex Wasn't wasn't she I did I think I feel like he he knows her from somewhere birdie. 01:07:19.93 fireheartmedia Ah, from some previous thing she wasn't on that trip but they they do know each other from some time back. It's a friend of Angela's so happens to be in the circle somewhere to where birdie knows Madeleine Bassett 01:07:22.67 Alex Um, oh okay, but they they are they do know each other. Okay, it. 01:07:36.76 fireheartmedia Knows you know is familiar with the situation and it's like oh that girl? Oh who I was I was worried that he was going to pick somebody you know above his station but Madeine Bassett yeah he's like ohath. 01:07:40.70 Alex He he. 01:07:45.74 Alex Um, he thinks that they'll be great for each other. That's his whole thing. He's like oh these freaks like they'll they'll love they. It'll be great that they're perfect and neither and what yeah, that's exactly his attitude in the actual thing like as I recall in the actual continuity. 01:07:50.79 fireheartmedia Um, they're both. Yeah, they're both oddballs. 01:08:04.75 Alex Neither of them. They both go and get hits to somebody else later on ah like it's a continuous that it's continuous that that Angela or Madeline is going to break up with gussy and that that that birdie like feels he like he's going to be subject to her attentions and eventually they do. 01:08:17.60 fireheartmedia Um, person. 01:08:23.56 Alex They never do what they never do make it to to you know some of the characters do get married but they never do they both? Ah I think I think ah Madeline goes off with Spoud I think which is crazy and and gussy eventually gets hooks up with ah. 01:08:42.45 Alex Someone who's pretending to be like a kitchen maid who cooks really well ah like he he he has to have a more mama's boy style you know finish Madeline is not going to do it for him. Ah, actually I think it's actually more appropriate who they wound up with than than each other. 01:08:47.91 fireheartmedia Um, no and Madeline's are um. 01:09:00.70 Alex In the in the continuity of it. But of course birddy just wants he wants gus you to be happy but more than that he wants Madeline to leavea him alone right. 01:09:05.87 fireheartmedia Yeah, because Bee's she mistakenly thinks that birdie's like disdain of her is like attraction because there's a whole he goes on a whole monologue of how being around her like makes him lose his mind like he just zones out and she thinks that's. 01:09:22.94 Alex Ah, yes. 01:09:25.99 fireheartmedia Infatuation. He just is trying to not be there. Yeah ah ah absolutely I think I I might have pulled out a quote from that. Let me see did to did to do? um. 01:09:32.28 Alex He's thinking that she's such a total sap that he can't stand it. 01:09:41.69 fireheartmedia Oh yeah, so actually that the thing that I wanted to mention is that birdie always refers to Madeline as the bassett so he separates both Gussie and madeline from himself as if they are both some other kind of species. There is um. Ah, point where he's talking about Gussie and he says I am inclined to think that there must be some mistake and that this bird who has been calling here is some different variety of fink nole the chap I know wears hornedrimmed spectacles and has a face like a fish. How does that check up with your data. The gentleman who came to the flat wore horned-rimmed spectacles sir and looked something and looked like something on a slab possibly There was a certain suggestion of the his picene sir. So and then of course he's a fish dude and like you know, always calling Madeline. 01:10:35.40 Alex He's a fishman. 01:10:37.82 fireheartmedia They'll bass it and um, there's just like ah there was even a point where Gussie is referring to himself and madeline as if they're both nuts. 01:10:39.53 Alex Yeah. 01:10:50.37 Alex Um, he he he thinks their sensibilities are so alien that he can't he doesn't understand our motivations at all, you know, like what? why would this guy want to hang out with Newts all day. It's apparently his newts are cute. You know, but apparently that's his soul stuff. In fact, he talks about. 01:11:09.66 Alex Gussie is if he's addicted to nutz. There's like a section where he says he he found that he got to the dolfhood and found that he couldn't leave them alone. It's always the way. Yeah, you know it it was too late before he realized what his fate was but. 01:11:19.46 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, and a chronic newt fancier or something like that is one of he a reverse to him. Oh it was perfectly fine in in boy boy school but now it's like he should have gotten out of the Newt phase and gotten gone to the club. But no yeah, so in this one part. 01:11:38.68 fireheartmedia Ah, Gussie's talking and he says and you can't get ah, get away from it that fundamentally jeeves's idea is sound in a striking costume like mephistophiles I might quite easily pull off something pretty impressive color does make a difference look at newts. During the courting seasonson the male newt is brilliantly coloured. It helps him a lot but you aren't a male Newt I wish I were do. You know how a male renewt proposes Bertie he just stands in front of the female Newt vibrating his tail and bending his body in a seicircle I could do that on my head. Oh you wouldn't find me grousing if I were a male newt. But if you were a male Newt Madeline Bassett wouldn't look at you not with the eye of love I mean she would if she were a female newt but she isn't a female newt. No but suppose she was well if she was you wouldn't be in love with her. Yes, I would if I were a male newt a slight slight throbbing around the temples told me that this discussion had reached saturation point. 01:12:44.11 Alex The the only thing better than the conversation between Jeeves and birdie where birdie is not picking up on what's going. What's happening is the one where birdie has to deal with someone who is getting it even less than he does you know like Jeeves is the you know. 01:12:54.26 fireheartmedia Um, no. Um, listen. 01:13:02.57 Alex Bernie's the 1 eyed leadinged the blind I guess or however, you like he's he's like he's almost there. But even he has to deal with this guy who does not get it at all. Ah. 01:13:08.60 fireheartmedia Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so I found it I found the part ah birdie when he's trying to tell Madeline about Gussie being in love with her which she ends up mistaking as birdie loving her a fairy must have been crying. 01:13:23.51 Alex Yeah, ah. 01:13:26.50 fireheartmedia E don't you remember every time a fairy sheds a tear a wee bit. Star is born in the milky way have you ever thought of that Mr Worcester I never had most improbable I considered and it didn't seem to me to check up with her statement that the stars were god's Daisy chain I mean. You can't have it both ways. However I was in no mood to dissect and criticize I saw that I had been wrong in supposing that the stars were not germane to the issue quite a decent cue. They had provided and I leapt on it promptly talking of shedding tears. But she was now on the subject of rabbits several of which were messing about in the park to our right? Oh look the little bunnies talking of shedding tears. Don't you love this time of the evening. Mr. Worcester when the sun has gone to bed and all the bunnies come out and have their little suppers when I was. Child I used to think that rabbits were gnomes and that if I held my breath and stayed quite still I should see the fairy queen indicating with a reserve gesture that this was just the sort of loony thing I should have expected her to think of as a child I returned to the point talking of shedding tears I said firmly. It may interest you to know that there is an aching heart in Brinkley court and of course she ends up expecting that that must be Birdie. No. 01:14:52.65 Alex Birdie can't express himself in the in the in the classic way of you know any of these farce farcical english you know, upper class english twits in the countryside. So naturally he has to be extricated late. Oh man. 01:14:59.85 fireheartmedia Um, oh for sure. Well yeah I mean remember that? Yeah, absolutely. 01:15:09.61 Alex I love I just love his total disdain for the kind of stuff that she likes to do say he brings up the that the the stars are god's Daisy chain that is like his summary of of Madeine Bassett to everybody like I can't I can't brook a girl that says stuff like that. Basically. 01:15:17.30 fireheartmedia Um, her of Madeline. Yes. I she she's she's got some of this poet in her and you know like just not that she's ever written poetry that I know of but None suspects when she goes about talking about god's Daisy chain. Yeah yeah, that kind of thing. So so the the kind of setup here. 01:15:28.45 Alex His attitude. Yeah. 01:15:38.90 Alex Yeah, yeah. 01:15:42.42 fireheartmedia The plot for right? Ho Jeeves is that gussy's in love with Madeline comes to jeeves to ask jeeves for help jeeves dresses him up in a costume as mephisopphies for some kind of party that's going on in London. Where Gussie is supposed to go and be emboldened by his bright red mephisopphies costume to go talk to Meline Bassett and give her the whole rundown of how he wants to marry her and all that except what happens is that Gussie forgets his ah money and his key and ends up like having to run from the taxi. Because he doesn't have money to pay the the driver and he's like dodging through alleys and dressed up like the devil all night long waiting until he can get home or get anywhere because it's the middle of the night and there's nowhere for him to go because this is way back in the day and so birdie's like that was a. Monumental failure jeeves I'm going to do it the right way and he takes the case on himself and that's where everything goes even worse. You thought it was bad before oh no, oh no, let birdie try to handle it so the next part of the thing that happens is that. His Aunt Dalia asks Birdie via telegram and this is a very hilarious section of this book. Ah to come to Brinkley court where she lives to go distribute distribute prizes for market snodsbury grammar school which what a name is that market snodsberry like. Boy that's a great great name and yes, um. 01:17:16.99 Alex He has great place names too right? like there's one called like toutley towers is 1 of them landings castle it has like a very like just a hint of the kind of you know nonsense that you're going to encounter there. 01:17:27.51 fireheartmedia Um, absolutely and so birdie thinks I'm gonna send because ah he knows that Madeline is visiting his cousin Angela at Brinkley court at that time. So his idea is that he's going to send gussy to go do the. Prize distribution at marketsnodsbury and that by delivering a great speech in his oratory skills. He will come to madeline bassett's um, you know awareness and then he yes he is also plotting to get out of it. He's like I've got this guy and he needs help and this is a great. 01:17:57.72 Alex He he he is plotting to get out of it. Ah. 01:18:06.17 fireheartmedia Way for me to just not have to go and do that thing and then also I can help Gussie too and he thinks he's what he's going to do for Gussie is he's going to give him some alcohol. He's a tee totaler but he's going to give Gussie some alcohol to give him liquid courage to go and you know he's going to spike his orange juice and send him out on stage and he does. 01:18:09.40 Alex But yeah, yeah. 01:18:26.24 fireheartmedia It's absolutely hilarious because he is drunk off his butt and he is just gripping everybody a new butthole like everybody ah his uncle Birdie's uncle and birdie himself and all the little kids you know all this other stuff and he is just making fun of. Everybody and actually his aunt Dalia thinks this is absolutely hilarious. All of it. He she thinks it's absolutely hilarious. It's all of the it's all the stuff that happens after that that ends up you know, being ah, weird hijinks because in his drunken state. He ends up proposing to ah. 01:18:51.15 Alex Yes, she loves it. 01:19:04.68 fireheartmedia Birdie's cousin Angela who's trying to make her fiancee tuppy jealous and ends up saying yes I'll marry this Gussie Fink Nole guy meanwhile Birdie botches telling Madeline what Gussie feels and then Madeline thinks that she's now engaged to birdie. 01:19:15.70 Alex Yeah, yep. 01:19:22.85 fireheartmedia And then tuppy is literally running around everywhere after gussy who's st drunk off his ass and ah is trying to murder trying to murder trying to murder Gussie and. 01:19:34.93 Alex It it like you you just you just describing the intricacy of this plot and it it. It is all just a setup for this nonsense to happen. You know I'm saying like there's totally irrelevant the ins and outs of it Other than that everyone gets to swap partners just so that we can have another go around with. 01:19:38.55 fireheartmedia Um, yeah. 01:19:52.92 fireheartmedia Um, and then well and then two it gets even more complicated because Birdie's uncle Tom has digestive issues and has a very specific cook named annatoll who is like ah from France and is very very sensitive and so and. 01:19:54.90 Alex With Tuppy angry at birdie this time. That's so amazing. Oh court. Yep. 01:20:12.72 fireheartmedia Toll is like almost okay, 1 of None of Birdie's schemes is everybody stop eating food. So that way you seem like your love Lauren and that you can't eat because you can't go on because you're missing your partner. And he advises everybody to do that so anatole makes this big meal and nobody eats it and then when nobody eats it. He's offended and upset and he's about to turn in his notice and leave dalia the aunt talks him down and then that night gussy drunk off his ass is on the roof and he's up at the sky. Light above anatoll's bed and then is knocking on the window trying to get the guy to let him in because he's just he's stuck on the roof and he can't get down but anatolls like he's make it those faces on my roof. Do you think I like this and you know he's talking in this mishmash of like. You know proper british english I am on I am unfortunately unable, but you have the notes I want you? yes. 01:21:06.99 Alex You have to go full full French Chef from the little mermaid is the way that I read this with let a you I not finish I see this type on my window making a few faces but what then does he buzz off when I shout and cry. 01:21:22.51 fireheartmedia Yes, and yeah ho and because like they he birdie takes a second to explain that this guy knows very good english although sometimes a little bit you know conjugation issues or something but then also spent some time in America or something so he also uses like huh. 01:21:25.51 Alex Not on your life and like just on and on just like. 01:21:41.72 fireheartmedia Dog you'd think I like yeah you know and whatever and and they do this whole thing where it's just like this mishmash of british english and french like he's spouting french at times and he's got american turns of phrase in there too and it's just so silly because you're just imagining you know this this guy on the roof. But the face like a fish you know and it's just it's so funny and and you know an atoll turns in his notice and leaves and then like it's all ah at the point crisis point where everything is gone all to hell they are all eating like some cold food that's laid out on a sideboard by like None of the maids. 01:22:21.49 fireheartmedia And then Dalia turns to birdie and is like Attila you are like Attila the hun you just bring ruin and devastation everywhere that you go you are Attila and then she's at what at that point, she's just like you know what? everything is so screwed carry on. And birdie keep going. Let's see what else you can break and she just she is so done. Go ahead. Yeah, and she's like go ahead I'm I'm curious to see how you're going to manage to make it worse I have confidence that you will and she is just like go ahead. Birdie. 01:22:47.20 Alex But you'll make it 10 times worse is literally what he says to him at it at the start of the book. 01:23:00.93 fireheartmedia We'll just see how it goes from here you know and she just you know, ah, lets him have it and it's at that point when everything seems irreparable that birdie goes to Jeeves and says Jeeves I admit it I bungled this can you fix it and so. It's great because the way that what house handles this is by sending birdie away on a task to go get like a key like has everybody locked out of the house. He engineers it to where birdie is going on a task that doesn't actually need to happen. 01:23:28.59 Alex He he engineers it too. 01:23:35.41 fireheartmedia So that he's just off out of the picture. He's away biking nine miles down the road to go try to find the the servants to see if they can find a spare key or something but there actually is a key that jeeves knows about handy. He just wants birdie. He. 01:23:49.39 Alex Of course he had it all along. Yeah. 01:23:50.55 fireheartmedia Wanted birdie to go away and while Birdie's trying to do this thing to help everybody so he thinks in his own head Jeeves fixes it and by the time birdie gets back. Everybody's back in place and atoll is back on staff and everybody's with the right person or whatever and everything is handled. And also yeah and they were all laughing at Birdie and also birdie's white mess jacket which he and jeeves were having a fight about happens to have conveniently been burned by the iron at the end and birdie just lets it go because he's like I've been rebuked. Yeah. 01:24:09.83 Alex And they can all enjoy birdie having had to cycle in the dark for twenty miles 01:24:27.26 Alex Birdie Birdie is not unscathed. Yeah, but he also does not have to marry Madeline Bassett so and he will marry anybody who says they want to marry him is the other thing right? like it's so strange that like that's his fear throughout this whole book. 01:24:43.66 Alex But there's no I mean like he's just I Well if someone expresses an interest in marrying me I gotta have got to go through with it's okay I guess so like why is this an idea of yours I don't get it. 01:24:45.10 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, so I was saying I think is g's plan hinged or not hinged but it just consisted of making everybody mad at birdie. Yeah, but then. Kind of going oh well, he's had to do like an eighteen mile bike in the dark in the rain or something. Yeah, he sees. That's his penance for sure. So. 01:25:07.33 Alex He he got his comeuppance. He could be forgiven. Ah. 01:25:15.60 Alex I Love it's It's such a great one because it has all the all the elements of all of the novels were there right? like all all the good stuff right? like the madeline threatens to marry birdie. There's yeah mistaken identity a couple times. There's anatolls cooking which is what. 01:25:35.42 fireheartmedia Um, so it's It's very good. So so the very very end of the story and the matter of your mess Jacket Sir a nameless fear shot through me causing me to swallow a mouthful of omelette the wrong way. 01:25:35.49 Alex Daily ah blackmails birdie with every single time She can't get him to do what he puts he wants. Ah. 01:25:53.82 fireheartmedia I am sorry to say sir that while I was ironing it this afternoon I was careless enough to leave the hot instrument upon it I very much fear that it will be impossible for you to wear it again. Sir 1 of those old pregnant silences filled the room I am extremely sorry sir. For a moment I confess that generous wrath of mind came bounding back hitching up its muscles and snorting a bit through the nose. But as we say on the riviera ah quo sir you there was nothing to be gained by now we woosters can bite the bullet. I nodded moodily and speared another slab of omelet right? Ho jeeves very good. So so and and there's so many different quotes in here where it's just so fun like the the whole part on the stage when Gussie's on the stage and he's drunk and he's talking about stuff. Is so good because he's like you p k purvis sir yes, sir it's a beautiful world. PKPurvis sir yes, sir. Ah, you've noticed it have you good you married by any chance this is like a little kid in grammar school sir no sir. Get married p k purvis said Gussie Earnestly it's the only life. Well here's your book looks rather bilge to me from a glance at the title page but such as it is here. You are you just like insulting that insulting you know Tom Travers um well g g simmons. sir yes sir what do you mean? Sir yes, sir dashed silly thing to say so you've won the scripture knowledge prize have you sir? Yes, sir yes, said Gussie you look just the sort of little tick who would and yet he said pausing and eyeing the child. Keenly how are we. To know that this has all been open and above board. Let me test you g G Simmons what was what's his name. The chap who got thingay can you answer me that simmons sir no sir gussy turned to the bearded bloke fishy. He said very fishy. Boy appears to be totally lacking in scripture knowledge the bearded look passed a hand across his forehead I can assure you Mr. Finknonel that every care was taken to insure a correct marking and that Simmons outdistanced his competitors by a wide margin. Well if you say so said Gussie doubtfully. All right? G g simmons take your prize sir. Thank you sir but let me tell you that there is nothing to stick on side about winning in a prize for scripture knowledge bertie worcester I don't know when I've had a nastier shock. 01:28:37.81 fireheartmedia I had been going on the assumption that now that they had stopped him making his speech Gussie's fangs had been drawn as you might say to duck my head down and resume my edging toward the door was with me the work of a moment Bertie Wooster won the scripture knowledge prize at a kid's school. We were at together. And you know what he's like but of course Bertie frankly cheated he succeeded in scrounging that scripture-nowledge trophy over the heads of better men by means of some of the rawest and most brazen swindling methods ever witnessed at even a school where such things were common. If that man's pockets as he entered the examination room were not stuck burstting point with lists of Kings of Judah I heard no more a moment later I was out in god's air fumbling with a fevered foot at the self-starter of the old car the engine raced the clutch slid into position I tuted and drove off. My ganglans were still vibrating as I rend the car into the stables of Brinkley court and it was a much-sh shaken Bertram who tottered up to his room to change into something loose having donned flannels I lay down on the bed for a bit. And I suppose I must have dozed off for the next thing I remember is finding jeeves at my side we need to nap. He's got to go change. Yeah, his ganglans are vibrating. That's very very good. So. 01:29:56.47 Alex He's so stressed he needs a nap just goes right to sleep. But ah. 01:30:03.56 Alex I Love the I Love the part where he gets to pick me up I would love to read that that chunk earlier in the book because I I was I came across it when I was looking at it this morning and I was like I I Love how birdie just kind of just shifts into eloquence mode because he's. 01:30:23.20 Alex Talking about something that's so meaningful to him which is having his hangover cured is so he says ah ah, you's gonna meet with Gussie and he says bring me one of those pick the ups of yours. Very good sir and presently he returned with the vital essence I've had occasion I fancy. 01:30:42.97 Alex Speak before now of these pick-me-ups subjeeves and their effect on o fellowllo who is hanging to life by a thread on the morning after what they consist of I couldn't tell you he says some kind of sauce the yoke of a raw egg and a dash of red pepper but nothing will convince me that the thing doesn't go much deeper than that. Be that as it may. However, the results of swallowing one are amazing for perhaps the split part of a None nothing happens. It is as though all nature. Waited breathless then suddenly it is as if the last trumpet sounded in judgment day set in with unusual severity bonfires burst out. In all parts of the frame. The abdomen becomes heavily charged with molten lava a great wind seems to blow through the world and the subject is aware of something resembling a steam hammer striking the back of the head during this phase the ears ring loudly the eyeballs rotate and there is a tingling about the brow. And then just as you are feeling that you ought to ring up your lawyer and see that your affairs are in order before it is too late. The whole situation seems to clarify the wind drops the ears cease to ring birds Twitter brass bands start playing the sun comes up over the horizon with a jerk and a moment later. All you are conscious of is a great peace as I drain the glass now new life seemed to bururgeon within me I remember Jeeves who however much he may go off the rails at times in the manner of dress clothes and his in it advice to those in love has always had a neat turn of phrase once speaking of someone rising. On stepping stones of his dead self to higher things. It was that way with me now I felt that the Bertram Worcester who laid propped up against the pillows had become a better stronger finer Bertram. Thank you chiefs I said not at all sir. 01:32:35.51 fireheartmedia Um, that's very good because he does. 01:32:38.85 Alex Like look that description so much that touched the exact spot I am now able to cope with life's problems. Ah. 01:32:42.99 fireheartmedia That is very good because he does in that 1 brief moment just become super eloquent and atypical of his his normal speaking style. So um. 01:32:53.20 Alex This is like this. The None thing that happens in the Tv series and it's I just every time I you read that and you think of Hugh Laurie like acting that that sequence of events out and he actually kind of does it if you if like you know I'm talking like astonished. 01:33:13.16 Alex In pain you know like eyes rolling they like and you wonder like really Jeeves is kind of attributing hidden like some kind of healing power or you know potion making ability to Jeeves I don't know exactly what. 01:33:24.39 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, and that that drink is it's specifically just like a jeeb's version of the Prairie oyster and they're horrendous. You know it'll do something. It's just. 01:33:37.39 Alex I'm sure I can but like the way he describes it? yeah. 01:33:43.17 fireheartmedia It's so good and I don't know like there's just so many. There are so many good jeeves stories and jeeves moments that I when it comes to somebody who's listening to this who might not have read a jeeves story before it's kind of hard for me to say oh this one in particular is like the best example I mean like they're all. Funny in different ways and they all have that same kind of cantor and humor and delivery I would say probably though the best way to get into a jeeves story would be None of the short stories first because the novels sometimes can be a little bit of a slow burn before you get to the really hilarious stuff. So. 01:34:08.68 Alex And. 01:34:20.54 fireheartmedia To figure out whether or not this is your speed your style your interest it would probably behoove you to do one of the shorter form stories to begin with. 01:34:32.81 Alex I'm glad I came across that that omnibus of the short stories First I really feel like that's a great way to get the gist across. 01:34:35.31 fireheartmedia Well because with the shorter form and the limited number of words and pages that he has for a publication and something like the Saturday evening post which was one of his regulars. Ah, it really means that he has to be economical with his words and hook the reader. Immediately from the start so you get a little bit snappier of a read when you have one of those short stories versus None of the longer form podcasts or in a podcast looking at the I'm looking at Dave looking at the mixer one of those short short form. Um. Stories I lost my mind I did however want um for you Alex and also for Dave to kind of talk a little bit about the show I don't know much about the show. So um I would like to hear more about like what your thoughts are in so far as. 01:35:31.53 fireheartmedia Difference in delivery difference in style and what aspects of the show are draws for you that kind of thing. 01:35:42.91 Alex Yeah, well sure. Well I mean like kind of the appeal to me. Well I mean None of all part of the appeal was just that is just liking Hugh Lari and Stephen fry. You know that they they were like a comic duo in the 90 s is my understanding. 01:36:01.76 Alex Is kind of like a double act they you had like a sketch show and they did a bunch of other stuff and it's so it's kind of like you know and I really think of them like these are the roles that I kind of consider them to be in when I think of those guys like I know Hugh or is is way more famous because of ah house MD and Stephen fry is done. 01:36:20.60 Alex You know so many like reality travel shows and movies and stuff but like that this is kind of how I I think of them and the the appealing thing about them is that the Tv shows don't really adhere to the plots of any of the novels. Or stories in the sense of you know now it's time to do right hojeeves they kind of just take the elements of whatever it happens to be and just kind of get as many together that are kind of thematically appropriate or could be like a a plot be plotted together. So like they don't really correspond right? So like there's a period where he's in America. So like a bunch of those short stories that take place in America that's like a couple episodes that happen and then the then they like exit from America and he goes back to. So it's kind of like you get all the cool you get that you get gussy pining after newts you get Madeline saying don't you think this stars are god's Daisy Chain you get all the all the. 01:37:17.77 Alex Funny exchanges and dialogue moments are preserved as much as they could possibly do it and that's kind of what makes it so appealing at None level is that all of that that interplay is is there when they could get it and the other thing and I think probably you know I know Dave has like an interest in like genre stuff that. That level was like it's really the other kind of appealing part of it is it really feels like it's going for a specific place in time whereas the actual fiction is kind of spread over a number of years and like you can you know he writes as if stuff is is changing a little in the 50 s and 60 s. 01:37:56.20 Alex Excuse me but like in the in the show. It's very much like interwar period in Britain like very identifiably that and and so kind of like it's the appeal of like you know the jazz age in America and this kind of like particular time and fashion right? like all the. 01:38:14.25 Alex The stuff that he wears is is you know period appropriate too like that's kind of the other part that is is very enjoyable is the ah like oh he's going to go for a ride in a twoseater and he's gonna go to you know they're go be filming at some mansion somewhere like all the all the stuff. Really feels like they gave it the trappings of like a period drama that you would get except it's in the service of these plots that don't matter what do you think? Dave I'm sorry to. 01:38:33.57 fireheartmedia Um, no, that's fine. Yeah, and in in the way that they're adapting everything they're kind of taking some of the sense of humor and. Replicating what was going on contemporary in the late eight mid mid the late eighty s early None s so as far as british sitcoms were going and it's it's similar to those other shows. Ah while dialing it back a little bit. It's not but. 01:39:11.11 fireheartmedia British humor is generally dry anyway, but some of it's a little bit more slap sticky and this isn't like it it. It took a lot of that out. No no, no it. So it's it's a little more serious while still being lighthearted So it. 01:39:19.51 Alex It's not ah it doesn't have like a laugh track or something. Yeah. 01:39:31.10 fireheartmedia Yeah, and it's um, they're not as you mentioned they're not direct adaptations. They're loose adaptations. So I think if you come from reading the books and then going to watch that you're probably better served watching ah that None and then reading the books. 01:39:32.57 Alex It's very lighthearted. 01:39:51.80 fireheartmedia Because I think that there can be some disappointment going from books to the adaptations. If you're looking for something that's a straightforward adaptation. You can't pick a story and go oh I wanted to see that them do those specific things. It's like kind of sprinkled through multiple episodes. 01:40:06.40 Alex Yeah, it's kind of its own thing in a way. Yeah. 01:40:09.23 fireheartmedia They're taking the spirit of it and kind of just running with it and trying to play toward. Um, ah Stephen f fried Hugh Laurie's like strengths. Yeah. 01:40:20.65 Alex Chemistry and and and the other kind of thing that I like about it is that um, Hugh Laurie you know all the times when when Birdie is portrayed as is singing or playing an instrument like he'll do that in the in the show. So he there's there's a great scene in it where he plays the piano and he's playing some. Tin pan alley musical number from when he's in America and he's like coaxing jeeves to like sing the chorus he doesn't want to but you worry I know can play the piano and do all that stuff. He's like a singer and performer of that style and so it's kind of fun to see him revisit these like yeah. 01:40:42.71 fireheartmedia Um, this isn't. 01:40:49.30 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, it's that is that try the triple threat act. 01:40:58.22 Alex Like a time when when you wanted to hear music. You had to play it yourself. 01:40:59.80 fireheartmedia Yeah that's really really cool. Um, for me I'm interested I have not seen but I am interested in taking a look at some kind of a music theater adaptation or like a play form of some kind of jeeve story I think that that would be fun. Feel that it would lend itself to a closer rendition of the pros than the like Tv version would be just for the again for the sheer fact that unless they do something like a wonder years style narrative where you know the The main character is telling you the stuff that's going on like you're not going to get the exact feel you're going to get the kind of spirit the kind of just the maybe the mechanical elements of how the stories function and how the interplay functions but you're not going to get the exact. Um. 01:41:45.23 Alex And. 01:41:54.79 fireheartmedia You know style the same way. But I feel like a theater version would lend itself to more adaptation of the direct style. So I don't know that's my my conjecture I would like to verify? Yeah, um. 01:42:03.40 Alex Um, it's It's a really I I think I agree like it's a really specific setting. You know like I feel like the the novel sometimes just kind of like leave the setting and and the fashion and all that just it's background right. 01:42:22.76 Alex But like in actual adaptation you you really get. It's really upfront you know Birdie is always im macly dressed jeeves is always dressed like ah valets they ah you know they're going to dinner and you know it's the what you would see in one of those period dramas right? and you don't really get that you. 01:42:32.76 fireheartmedia Um, yeah. 01:42:40.45 Alex You don't really get that feeling from this short stories or the or the or the books because it's really more about that dialogue and about you know, Birdie's kind of internal monologue than it is about you know and he has those poetic descriptions but it's not meant to give you a sense of the setting. It's meant to amuse you with. 01:42:57.37 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, the settings are set dressing. They're not. They're not a um, ah main attraction. Yeah yeah. 01:42:59.27 Alex You know the dry wits of the way that he likes to put things. Yeah, but it's it's fun to see the set dressing. You know it's very much historical fiction at this point even though like he didn't write it that way right? It was just kind of you know this? This is a thing that. It's real to you know it's like not like it's not a realistic setting but you recognize the kind of social thing that's happening there whereas these days nobody is asking their valet to go get them ready for dinner you know. 01:43:22.64 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, yeah, and that's that's one of the interesting things about just adding a little bit of extra charm to it these days. You know it's it's. 01:43:37.91 Alex And. 01:43:39.83 fireheartmedia Even more charm for us because we're taking a look through this lens into a very harmless and funny portrayal of of this this kind of um era. 01:43:53.97 Alex These rich idiots. Ah. 01:43:54.35 fireheartmedia You know and these rich this rich these rich idiots and all of that and the thing about it is that the characters of Jeeves and birdie themselves intrinsically have a lot of Charisma and I think the thing that makes like the birdie and jeeves show. Ah. 01:44:07.10 Alex Yeah. 01:44:13.76 fireheartmedia Also its own thing in its own right? but also still true to the source materials to a degree is because of the same charisma there's charisma there is that strong interplay those 2 are a duo like you said and they are a duo like Birdie and Jeeves are a duo. 01:44:21.17 Alex He he. 01:44:29.27 Alex Um, they're they're portrayed as as good people right? like and and and kind of and is like the other people that birdie is friends with or ah like the problem is all you know they're they're selfish right? They want birdie to do something do something for me. 01:44:48.50 Alex Or you know I'm going to marry you or you know I'm going to knock your block off or whatever like it whereas Birdie is more just like I just want to be off the loan and Jeeves is I'm going to manage my employer but like the other thing about birdie though is that he always helps his friends out. 01:45:05.51 Alex He never wants to hurt. Anyone's feelings if he can possibly help it like he's not a you know he's not like a defender of of anybody you I'm saying but he's also not a person that would leave his friends in the warch if he could help it. You know like. 01:45:09.14 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, Oh yeah, and that's a lot most of the most of the stories are about like okay somebody puts upon him this situation Or. He feels obligated to insert himself into the situation when he's told about it because he's in a position to help those friends. He has the money he has Jeeves. He's got whatever you know to to assist them with whatever their current crisis is and he makes. Not like he doesn't even think twice about however much money it's going to cost or any of that other mess he doesn't care. That's Fine. He just wants to help his friends out and then go back to doing his thing and just be over there doing his thing Again. So. 01:45:54.79 Alex Um, and and I think Jeeves's attitude has to be I can I could be as manipulative as I want with these idiots because they have so much money it will never matter. Ah, ah is kind of the the feeling that comes off of him sometimes like there's there's nothing that he won't propose you know. 01:46:13.39 Alex In order to in order to manage the situation to come out just the way that he wants not that he ever does anything like super. You know gruesome or immoral. It's just like he he gives it the amount of seriousness that it deserves which is not much you know he's kind of the viewpoint character in that way, you know he's able to he. 01:46:33.11 Alex We we don't We never know exactly what he's thinking, but we always know that he's thinking the same kind of thoughts about these characters that we are right? they're they're they're selfish idiots that don't can't get anything right right? They always will make things worse than for themselves. But you know you just. 01:46:51.84 Alex Can't help but be amused by the way that they bounce off of each other and they're they're strange foibles in eccentricities you know like it's It's so common for these characters. You know like they're keep Newts right? or they say things like. 01:47:08.82 Alex Stars are god's Daisy chain or there's characters later in the series like the explorer character who can never remember anybody's name and every sentence out of his mouth is you know some kind of colonialist adventure that he was on that through very ridiculous like he's they're they're a subject of mockery and yet. 01:47:26.89 Alex You can't kind of help but appreciate their presence Anyway, right? they they liven up the place. 01:47:27.99 fireheartmedia Um, and it's kind of like a lot of times. Birdie will even go I have no idea why jeeves is with me and. 01:47:39.94 fireheartmedia And you can only imagine because you don't ever get inside. Jeeve's head enough to know for a fact but you know he's sometimes is kind of paternal but also he's a little bit like sometimes he has fun letting birdie be uncomfortable. You know oh is there. 01:47:56.66 Alex There's one. There's one story that's written from his point of view. Yeah, and it's the one where ah birdie has to address a girl school kind of like how Gussie has to do with the grammar school and jeeve's. 01:47:58.69 fireheartmedia Me. 01:48:10.80 Alex Contrives to like leave his car broken until the his birdie's source. You know moment of of highest desperation. Oh I fixed it. Let's get out of here and he does it because Birdie is interested in in ah a woman I think one of the troublesome females of as he would put it. Ah. 01:48:29.17 Alex and and Jee's kind of like convinces Birdie that she's going to. She's mischievous enough to you know his desire to be left alone will not be honored. Ah and you jeeve's kind of like it's like gently at arms went right? but he's still but he's very much managing birding and knows it's. 01:48:33.13 fireheartmedia Um, well that that's ah um. 01:48:49.11 Alex You know and and kind of the other the implication later in the series too. There's a recurring plot element where Jeeves also belongs to a club the way that birdie belongs to the drones. The the Junior ganymede club which I love it is like a club for valots and all of them have to contribute like. 01:49:06.98 Alex You know like blackmail details to the club like annals and this comes up over and over again like who's who's got the dirt from this thing and Jeeves attempts to keep it from being used in the various plots. Ah. 01:49:16.44 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, yeah I've I've read some of the stories where the enemye club is mentioned for sure. Ah, no, and yeah, yeah, and that's the thing is is that it's kind of funny because jeevis' position is such that he's. 01:49:26.82 Alex They're not. They're not taking their emfoliers very seriously the servants are in on it. 01:49:36.24 fireheartmedia Having fun at the expense of birdie sometimes but not to the point where birdie is ever super endangered or anything like that and he is having fun because sometimes like some of the stuff that he comes up with is so off the wall that you know he's doing it for his own amusement like dressing up gussy. And a meistopphies costume to go to some kind of fancy dress ball like you know he's just doing that because it's Funny. You know like he's just like oh that it'll work because of color therapy or whatever just wanted to say you would do it Ya, he probably just wanted to see if gussy would actually do it and what what in the world would this you know. 01:49:57.21 Alex Ah, ah. 01:50:12.23 fireheartmedia Idiot character. Do you know. 01:50:14.21 Alex The there's It's definitely the case in the later ones that you know there's like a bunch of mcguffins of like you know the Silver Cow creamer or whatever they come into play and it's definitely the case that later on in the books Jeeves has played the. 01:50:33.18 Alex I'm going to make my employer look like an idiot card. So many times that everyone thinks that birdie goes around stealing things. They think that he's a klepto maniac and he's like I'm not Jeeve just keeps you know, getting me out of things by saying he can't help himself. But. 01:50:42.86 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, so that and then that's like fun too because the fact that you don't really by and large see through Jeeves's eyes. Means that he is this mystery character who is attributed to having like this alleeing All-k knowing kind of of you know Q type character. You know, ah from Star Trek You know, like the kind of I can do anything I Want you know, kind of thing but he's. 01:51:16.78 fireheartmedia Just this valid guy who's just sitting over there with the other valets Cohen is just bored. Yeah, he's just bored and he's he's like he stays with birdie because Birdie is entertaining. That's why he's there and like you know, Birdie's not actually a fundamentally a bad guy so you know he doesn't take you know it. 01:51:20.20 Alex In. 01:51:34.41 Alex It doesn't want birdie to get married. No yep you he just wants birdie to go to Monaco every once in a while so he can play baccarat or whatever he does let him go on his annual fishing vacation. 01:51:35.21 fireheartmedia He doesn't want birdie to get married but he also you know Birdie doesn't want to get married so it's fine I mean it works out for him. You know. 01:51:49.25 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, ah yeah, what it it just occurred to me that another contemporary version of of Jeeves and Birdie. 01:51:54.25 Alex And the guy's a stable source of income so just needs rescuing once in a while. 01:52:06.90 fireheartmedia Would be Jeffrey and Carlton from fresh friends. Yeah, yeah, that is its own version of that same thing. Yeah. 01:52:15.59 Alex Ah, yeah, the the more competent you know in theory the sidekick in in narratively. But the the main character. 01:52:21.70 fireheartmedia Yeah. 01:52:28.27 fireheartmedia Um, yeah I mean Carlton's a doof and he's fairly well off so it's that it's that same kind of harmless goofball. But Jeffrey is like with it and very cool and not having anybody's crap. You know, very much very very fun ah interplay between those characters. Definitely Jeffrey was influenced by the existence of jeeves. Yeah I think that's just that happened to any any butler in popular media that they're just jeeves is the archetype for all of that I mean he even got his own search engine for a little while. Yeah, it's so weird because I don't know exactly what happened that Jeeves went from being a valet or you know like a man servant not a butler. He wasn't a butler but everybody thinks of him as a butler in America I think it's just because in America people just people you know that maybe the attire maybe is the fact. 01:53:17.80 Alex In. 01:53:23.35 Alex The distinctions between servants are not as clear as they. 01:53:25.14 fireheartmedia Yeah, the distinction in America we don't know enough about that kind of a thing so we can't distinguish between them I guess and then he just ended up being a butler because we knew what butlers were I guess I don't know yeah and even in other media. A lot of times. It's like a major domo but they're just a butler they're called the butler even though their functions are like. 01:53:35.97 Alex Yeah, okay. 01:53:44.77 fireheartmedia Far more vast. So um. 01:53:50.97 Alex There's a couple where jeeves does do he is a butler he like steps in for another butler character in a couple of the novels. So he's like how he can he can do it if he wants but what he really wants to do is follow Birdie around. Ah. 01:53:57.92 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, oh yeah I mean like that's the where all the fun is to be had if he were stuck in the house having to take care of the house all the time that'd be boring because Birdie's not really in the house except when he's hung over so he's just an advisor. 01:54:06.61 Alex Absolutely. 01:54:13.49 Alex Um, but these are all they're also like stock characters in in Uk fiction right? You have the you know the housemaid the chambermaid the parlor maidid the butler the valet the major domo the huntsman groundskeeper the you know the vicar. 01:54:25.22 fireheartmedia Yeah, you got it, you got ah a manor house. You got a lot of stuff to manage. So the people around to do that. Yeah for sure. But that's that's the fun is just like it's it's kind of what I like to about Jeeves and the jeeves stories over all as well is because. 01:54:32.90 Alex Yep. 01:54:45.20 fireheartmedia Birdie goes to America just like woodhouse went to America for a bit. Um Birdie also goes to America and it pokes fun at american stuff and it also pokes fun at british stuff and you know nobody is safe. Nobody is safe from being poked out. So. 01:55:01.50 Alex In. 01:55:01.58 fireheartmedia It's very very entertaining and you know like every character that comes into play is is going to be like there's not one character that's left at peace. So I think that that pretty much wraps up a general summary of ah the jeeves work. Overall I know what house did lots of other stuff like his Smith stories and things like that. He also wrote various other works and i've. 01:55:30.61 fireheartmedia Read some of those and I didn't really read any Smith but I did read some of the not serialized stuff and none of it really caught my eye very much like I really think that what house shines most when he's got his consistent characters that he's using. 01:55:47.42 Alex Yeah I mean he there. It's interesting. How much interplay there is between. It's really like a shared universe for for all these characters to kind of play around in but it's absolutely the case that like that the the ones that kind of really. 01:56:05.61 Alex Take hold our jeeves and and Worcester you know I've read I've read some of those other ones but I have not I've not I didn't go I'm goingnna read all of them the way that I did with the jeeves and worster ones like I'm just going of I just love I'm just going to read all of these and see what happens. Ah. 01:56:15.72 fireheartmedia Um, yeah, well I mean like once you get enough of these characters then you kind of can't get enough of these characters and it's like you want to see what other hijinks are going to happen and what new twists are going to come up in the next hairbrain scheme. 01:56:24.88 Alex Yeah, yeah. 01:56:33.86 Alex It's not. It's not suspenseful, but you still kind of want to know you know? ah. 01:56:34.72 fireheartmedia Um, and you just kind of like to play around in that space with those same familiar faces in those familiar voices. So. 01:56:47.64 Alex It's always fun to hear to hear aunt da is your voice sounding like she's going to she always is described as like she's going to call call the dogs to the Fox hunt. You know like you could hear three acres away and and across things like yes I know you know perfect look. 01:56:53.88 fireheartmedia Yeah, yeah, and she's. 01:57:05.48 Alex And everything that she says is exactly like that you can just imagine her yelling at birdie at the top of her lungs every time she sees him in some drawing room or parlor right. 01:57:08.73 fireheartmedia Well and not only that but her character is so direct and she's not having any of Birdie's nonsense at any point and she just yeah, she's just not having it and it's great and it's great because that aunt is Birdie's favorite Aunt he loves her. He thinks that she's great. 01:57:16.36 Alex Yeah, she throws books at him she she? yeah. 01:57:28.54 fireheartmedia And that's his favorite aunt. So yeah, so so yeah, yeah, I mean she's he's doing his like rolling his eyes and trying to go back to sleep and she's just. 01:57:29.47 Alex Yep, she calls him you young blot. Usually you know old flesh and blood is what he calls her. Ah. 01:57:48.40 fireheartmedia Don't you blow eyes of me that your stuff if I'm going to consult with a lawyer about whether or not throwing you into my pond and letting you drowned would be considered murder or whatever like you know, just. 01:57:49.22 Alex Ah, wake up you miserable young. So yeah, ah. 01:58:00.51 Alex Who yep. 01:58:03.70 fireheartmedia Whatever, she's saying now because she's just like birdie you old ass you know, just all the time is so just not having it It's very good but um, yeah, so I think that that kind of wraps us up for like an overall okay here's jeeves here's here's what house in general. Kind of thing we might revisit the subject at some later time just because I do want to look and see if I can find like a play version or you know like a musical drama or something like that and kind of see what that looks like read some more of the stories and stuff and kind of see where it goes from there. But. And ear case is there anything else Dave that you would like to add about what house Jeeves in general. No I think we covered it pretty well for an overview and a little bit of a deep dive into a couple of the stories. So I'm I'm happy with ah where we stand on that cool. 01:58:55.65 Alex Now I mean I I it's just going to be comfort reading par Excellence Forever You know that's that's it and I was delighted to be able to to kind of talk about it and to and to read all of them back to back the way I did earlier this year was a. 01:58:55.68 fireheartmedia Alex do you have any other final thoughts about Jeeves Woodhouse um yeah yeah, 01:59:15.90 Alex Interesting experience I Have to say like it's It's strange to read like ah a dozen novels and you just know you just like I don't need to know about this plot at all like I'm just going to soak in it. You know it's not like you. It's not like reading sci-fi series where you need to string the the beads together and figure out what's going on you just kind of like just it's like a bath. 01:59:34.75 Alex You know, read read your most challenging nonfiction and then have side be be jeeves and Worcester and it's always a good time. 01:59:37.60 fireheartmedia Oh yeah, absolutely absolutely. So for any of the readers who are readers. Hah yeah, that too I guess but for any of the listeners out there who would like to read what housework Highly recommend it. There are several stories that are. Currently available on like project gutenberg for absolutely free. You can pull those up there is at least 1 or 2 of the stories read by B J Harrison whom I highly recommend out on Youtube. 02:00:00.55 Alex And. 02:00:09.99 fireheartmedia And also of course you can purchase the audiobook please support the people who make it. But if you want to just get a taste First you can do that you can listen to a sample on your oh yes, Yes, and um. 02:00:19.50 Alex And his early stuff is good like he found his voice early on so you're not getting the early bad stuff with gutenberg. It's It's a fairly representative taste of how he kind of tended to do things further on too. 02:00:28.10 fireheartmedia Um, oh yeah, because he what house found his style and he stuck to it and that's it like he didn't have you. You can't with what houses work ah pick a story and go that must have been from his earlier work because it's not the case like it's all consistent. So um, for sure. So in any case where in the world can people find you dave on the internet they can find me primarily on Twitter at Sentionaut_plus well also anywhere else I guess if you just Google that yeah and also on Monster Dear Monster and a few other podcasts. So those are all kind of networked together. But um, monsterdear.monster would be the other place to find me. So Alex, where can people find you if they wish to consult you for your jeeves knowledge, sir? 02:01:28.27 Alex Ah I mean you can I'm on Twitter at at picklefactory is 1 word but I don't like Twitter that much so who knows if I'll see that or I guess that's pretty much its Jala's Discord. 02:01:32.98 fireheartmedia So I am found everywhere I am to be found at jalachan. You can also follow along of course at jalachan.place! That is all for now, so until next time take care of yourself and remember to smile. [Show Outro] Jala Jala-chan's Place is brought to you by Fireheart Media. If you enjoyed the show, please share this and all of our episodes with friends and remember to rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice. Word of mouth is the only way we grow. If you like, you can also kick us a few bucks to help us keep the lights on at ko-fi.com/fireheartmedia. Check out our other show Monster Dear Monster: A Monster Exploration Podcast at monsterdear.monster. Music composed and produced by Jake Lionhart with additional guitars and mixed by Spencer Smith. Follow along with my adventures via jalachan.place or find me at jalachan in places on the net! [Outro Music] [End Chat] Jala The first of the telegrams arrived shortly after noon, and Jeeves brought it in with the before-luncheon snifter. It was from my Aunt Dahlia, operating from Market Snodsbury, a small town of sorts a mile or two along the main road as you leave her country seat. It ran as follows: Come at once. Travers. And when I say it puzzled me like the dickens, I am understating it; if anything. As mysterious a communication, I considered, as was ever flashed over the wires. I studied it in a profound reverie for the best part of two dry Martinis and a dividend. I read it backwards. I read it forwards. As a matter of fact, I have a sort of recollection of even smelling it. But it still baffled me. Consider the facts, I mean. It was only a few hours since this aunt and I had parted, after being in constant association for nearly two months. And yet here she was—with my farewell kiss still lingering on her cheek, so to speak—pleading for another reunion. Bertram Wooster is not accustomed to this gluttonous appetite for his society. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that after two months of my company, what the normal person feels is that that will about do for the present. Indeed, I have known people who couldn't stick it out for more than a few days. Before sitting down to the well-cooked, therefore, I sent this reply: Perplexed. Explain. Bertie. To this I received an answer during the after-luncheon sleep: What on earth is there to be perplexed about, ass? Come at once. Travers. Three cigarettes and a couple of turns about the room, and I had my response ready: How do you mean come at once? Regards. Bertie. I append the comeback: I mean come at once, you maddening half-wit. What did you think I meant? Come at once or expect an aunt's curse first post tomorrow. Love. Travers. I then dispatched the following message, wishing to get everything quite clear: When you say "Come" do you mean "Come to Brinkley Court"? And when you say "At once" do you mean "At once"? Fogged. At a loss. All the best. Bertie. I sent this one off on my way to the Drones, where I spent a restful afternoon throwing cards into a top-hat with some of the better element. Returning in the evening hush, I found the answer waiting for me: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It doesn't matter whether you understand or not. You just come at once, as I tell you, and for heaven's sake stop this back-chat. Do you think I am made of money that I can afford to send you telegrams every ten minutes. Stop being a fathead and come immediately. Love. Travers. It was at this point that I felt the need of getting a second opinion. I pressed the bell. "Jeeves," I said, "a V-shaped rumminess has manifested itself from the direction of Worcestershire. Read these," I said, handing him the papers in the case. He scanned them. "What do you make of it, Jeeves?" "I think Mrs. Travers wishes you to come at once, sir." "You gather that too, do you?" "Yes, sir." "I put the same construction on the thing. But why, Jeeves? Dash it all, she's just had nearly two months of me." "Yes, sir." "And many people consider the medium dose for an adult two days." "Yes, sir. I appreciate the point you raise. Nevertheless, Mrs. Travers appears very insistent. I think it would be well to acquiesce in her wishes." "Pop down, you mean?" "Yes, sir."