OT - Wodehouse Golf Books

[Mike Hendren]

I own copies of The Clicking of Cuthbert and The Heart of a Goof and enjoy them immensely.  Is there not a third book by Wodehouse on golf?  

I'm trying to avoid any recent compilation of his stories that might include tales from the two books mentioned above.

Thanks.

Mike

[Paul Payne]

I own a compilation of his writing on golf called simply.... "Golf". It is great! It contains both of those stories as well as many involving "The Oldest Member" and others. I am a real fan of Wodehouse. I have read many of his other works but this one seems to contain most of the golf stories except those involving Bertie Wooster.

Good luck and might I also recommend "Young Men in Spats"

[Tony_Muldoon]

Bogey, if you wish to be a completist a you must steal the  following Suggestion Book.

From memory his entry  is

"In future please address all correspondance to :-
P G Wodehouse esq.
c/o The 6th Bunker
The Addington".

[Paul Payne]

Sorry,

In my excitement I got the title wrong. It is "Fore". You can find it on Amazon.

[Bill_McBride]

One of the stories has the most memorable excuse for lousy play in the literature of golf:

As I recall, the golfer "was distracted by the fluttering of butterfly wings in an adjoining meadow."   Concentration is fragile indeed.

[ed_getka]

Bogey,
   I am pretty sure there are more than three. Look for Wodehouse on Golf (a US compilation) or the PG Wodehouse Omnibus (anthology). I don't know how much overlap there is, but you can never have too much Wodehouse.
   And if you REALLY like Wodehouse there is a biography that was done by Herbert Warren Wind. I haven't read it, but Wodehouse was one of Herb's favorites, and not just the golf.

[ed_getka]

BTW, does anybody know where I can find the story about golfing in your house? I'm pretty sure it is Wodehouse. It is hilarious, but I can't remember where I saw it.

[Tony_Muldoon]

   And if you REALLY like Wodehouse there is a biography that was done by Herbert Warren Wind. I haven't read it, but Wodehouse was one of Herb's favorites, and not just the golf.

Ed I have it and it's excellent although I would guess HWW had a tin ear.

How many here know that among his many talents Wodehouse virtually invented the modern song lyric. With music by Jerome Kern (Iggy who?) they changed the face of music with a series of shows for the Princes Theatre in New York in the first two decades of the last Century.

This song became popular when it was revived for Showboat in the 1930’s but it was revolutionary in 1917.  Note how natural, colloquial and self depreciating it is.  It perfectly expresses why she loves him. “because he’s (pause) I don’t know...”  No moon June or clichés of any kind. A modern classic.



I used to dream that I would discover
The perfect lover someday,
I knew I'd recognize him if ever
He came 'round my way.
I always used to fancy then
He'd be one of the God-like kind of men
With a giant brain and a noble head
Like the heroes bold
In the books I've read.

But along came Bill
Who's quite the opposite of all
The men in storybooks
In grace and looks
I know that Apollo
Would beat him
All hollow

And I can't explain,
It's surely not his brain
That makes me thrill --
I love him because he's wonderful,
Because he's just my Bill.

He can't play golf or tennis or polo,
Or sing a solo, or row.
He isn't half as handsome
As dozens of men that I know.
He isn't tall or straight or slim
And he dresses far worse than Ted or Jim.
And I can't explain why he should be
Just the one, one man in the world for me.

He's just my Bill, an ordinary man,
He hasn't got a thing that I can brag about.
And yet to be
Upon his knee
So comfy and roomy
Seems natural to me.
Oh, I can't explain,
It's surely not his brain
That makes me thrill --
I love him because he's -- I don't know...
Because he's just my Bill.

[Steven_Biehl]

The book you need is "The Golf Omnibus" (ISBN 0-517-05794-8).  There will be overlapping stories with the book you already have, but, the Omnibus only cost $13 or $14 dollars.  You may be able to find a used one cheaper.  It is one of my favorite books on golf.  I don't read much fiction, but this book is my favorite by far.

[Mark Bourgeois]

One of the English dailies had a great piece not so long ago where the author played a round of golf at The Addington with Wodehouse's grandson, who if I recall is the force behind all the new Wodehouse editions you see in bookstores.

What made the piece so much fun was how the two related their shots and play back to aphorisms / quotes from Wodehouse.

[Jason McNamara]

The book you need is "The Golf Omnibus" (ISBN 0-517-05794-8).  There will be overlapping stories with the book you already have, but, the Omnibus only cost $13 or $14 dollars.

Second this.  Rather a good deal at that price.

[Dan Boerger]

Some people drink. Some read science fiction. But, when I want escape from reality as it exists, I read PG Wodehouse short stories. "Unlce Fred Flits By" may be my favorite of all time.

[wsmorrison]

I've read the Golf Omnibus several times and think it some of the very best period comedies perhaps better than the Jeeves and Wooster stories.  Many of the stories in the Omnibus would make excellent dramatizations.  I wrote the Golf Channel about filming some of them (it would be magnitudes better than that stupid Big Break series) and never heard back.  The oldest member characters are priceless.

[Andy Hughes]

"The least thing upset him on the links. He missed short putts because of the uproar of butterflies in the adjoining meadows."
Bill, always loved that one as well.

[Bill_McBride]

"The Oldest Living Member" does get a bit tedious and perhaps a bit obtuse at times.

[Tony_Muldoon]

As an example of how important these stories are in the golf lexicon...

Several GCA'ers have recommended last years short book on golf by a Sunningdale and Rye member "My Baby Got the Yips".  In it the author Richard Russell says he can't remember who told him the best story about golf he ever heard.

To paraphrase. It concerns a chap who works odd shifts but decides to fill in his spare time by taking up Golf - always by himself.  After about a year someone invites him to play in a club medal round and he finishes on level par.  He is astounded that people make a big thing of it as he believed that is what you were supposed to do. They explain how difficult it really is and what a feat he's accomplished.  By the time he's handed in 3 scorecards he's playing off 18.

We can now inform him that even if someone did tell him this as a true story, it's straight out of Wodehouse.

[Bill_McBride]

As an example of how important these stories are in the golf lexicon...

Several GCA'ers have recommended last years short book on golf by a Sunningdale and Rye member "My Baby Got the Yips".  In it the author Richard Russell says he can't remember who told him the best story about golf he ever heard.

To paraphrase. It concerns a chap who works odd shifts but decides to fill in his spare time by taking up Golf - always by himself.  After about a year someone invites him to play in a club medal round and he finishes on level par.  He is astounded that people make a big thing of it as he believed that is what you were supposed to do. They explain how difficult it really is and what a feat he's accomplished.  By the time he's handed in 3 scorecards he's playing off 18.

We can now inform him that even if someone did tell him this as a true story, it's straight out of Wodehouse.

Who was it that said golf is a game played in a space about 6" wide - the space between your ears?

 

[BCrosby]

Tony -

I had never heard before that Wodehouse wrote lyrics for Jerome Kern. Amazing.

What is the name of Wind's biography? I've got to get it.

Bob

[Tony_Muldoon]

Bob I can't find it - we had a big tidy up at christmas.  I think it's just called Wodehouse?  I will IM you when it turns up.

Plum and Guy Bolton wrote a memoir of their time in the theatre called Bring on the Girls.  I had lusted after a copy for years (this was before the internet) and no bookshop could find me a copy , which was surprising as everything else had been reprinted.  Then one birthday my wife presented me with a first edition! To this day she won't say where it came from or how much it cost.

This is Alan J Lerner writing about the team.

 " As Kern had become the first modern composer in the musical theatre, Wodehouse was the forerunner of lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin and all who toiled therafter inthe lyrical vineyards. He was indeed, in his own way... the descendant of Gilbert, and brought charm, literacy and rhyming ingenuity to the theatre."

[BCrosby]

Any chance you have a list of Wodehouse's song credits?

The world would be too perfect a place if Wodehouse wrote the lyrics to A Foggy Day in London Town.

Bob

[Tony_Muldoon]

Bob A Foggy Day is George and Ira Gershwin but Wodehouse and Bolton did work with them as writers of the 'book' on one of their biggest successes, Oh Kay. They also worked with Cole Porter on Anyting goes.

PG wrote lyrics for hundreds of songs but they are in a style which is  a large step away from Operetta but not quite in the form of the 'Standard American Songbook' so they have not been recorded much since.  After 'Bill' the best known would be 'Till the clouds roll by - which was lso the title of the Kern biopic.

I have a cassette of  a BBC radio programme that plays some of their songs and I'd be happy to send a copy to anyone who'd like to hear it.  Im me with your address.

[Tony_Muldoon]

BTW, does anybody know where I can find the story about golfing in your house? I'm pretty sure it is Wodehouse. It is hilarious, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Ed isn't there a Darwin essay on indoor practicing, would that be it?

[Doug Ralston]

Dan Boerger;

I do all three .... and quite well, at that!  

Doug

[Peter Pallotta]

Bob C, Tony M

A flashback, to Sinatra coming to the end of "A Foggy Day in London Town", maybe the Nelson Riddle orchestra swinging away hard and his arrangement terrific, as:

But the age of miracles,
It hadn't past
And suddenly
I saw you standing right there
And in foggy London town,
The sun was shining....everywhere

Great stuff, even if Wodehouse didn't have a role

Peter

[Andy Levett]

BTW, does anybody know where I can find the story about golfing in your house? I'm pretty sure it is Wodehouse. It is hilarious, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Ed isn't there a Darwin essay on indoor practicing, would that be it?

There was a superb post way back in the day about indoor golf. I think it was by one of the Dans or one of the Dougs, very funny whoever.