Jeeves and Wooster: Right Ho, Jeeves

Jeeves and Wooster: Right Ho, Jeeves
ITV
19 April 1992
Historical Comedy
DVD
B

Despite the title, this is actually based on a different novel, The Mating Season, which I'm not sure if I've read.  It's better than I remembered, although the recasting of Gussie and Madeline does take some getting used to.  I still prefer Richard Garnett to Richard Braine (who seemed more suited to Rupert Steggles in the first series), but Braine isn't bad.  As for Madeline #3, Elizabeth Morton is a more cartoony version of the character, but I have to admit that, while Francesca Folan and Diana Blackburn have more attractive personalities, the programme really does need someone as saucer-eyed, lisping, and soupy as Morton's Madeline, especially in the "He did it for love" courtroom scene, where nearly everyone is in happy tears and Bertie looks steamrollered.

The Catsmeat & Gertie romance works well as a subplot, and this is in fact one of the better episodes set at a country house, including the denizens of said house.  I'm also getting used to Fairfax's use of over the top humour, as with the billowing smoke when Bertie drives too quickly.  There's still some genuine wit, some of it direct quotes from Wodehouse, so it's not all a cartoon.  Best of all, we get music not only from Bertie but from Gussie!

Jeeves and Wooster: Introduction on Broadway

Greg Charles and Dena Davis

Jeeves and Wooster: Introduction on Broadway
ITV
12 April 1992
Historical Comedy
DVD
B

I almost went with a B+ on this, since it might be the second-best episode of the programme*, but it is marred by a scene where Aunt Agatha (Mary Wimbush) is treated like Margaret Dumont was in Animal Crackers and At the Circus, and these stuffy dowager types should be humiliated verbally, not physically.  That aside, this episode, which well blends two of the New York short stories (and frankly, uses the gap in the "Corky" chronology better than Wodehouse did), includes the following:

• Dena Davis as Muriel giving a wonderful period performance, with hints of her scheming even before the twist;
• Solid casting all around, including a fish-faced Cyril;
• Also very period-appropriate, the look of the poster for Ask Dad! and the children's bird book;
• And yummy glimpses of Ask Dad!, with its catchy early '30s musical numbers, including a Busby Berkeley tribute;
• Little sight gags, like Jeeves giving the Liftman (Ricco Ross, his last appearance) Bertie's cowboy hat as Bertie talks in the foreground;
• Ominous, horror-like shots for the Worple Mansion;
• Bertie bluffing his way as a jute salesman (from the story, but with Laurie's delivery selling it);
• And of course the modern art satire, with the shot of the cubist baby portrait at the end.

On a programme where recasting is common, it's a nice touch having Billy J. Mitchell and Anatol Yusef back as Mr. Blumenfeld and his son Sidney (or Sydney), even if no mention is made of them having met Bertie before.  Sam Douglas returns as Corrigan the cop.  Domini Winter would also play a Choreographer the next series (and was a choreographer in real life), while Kim Barrand, Di Cooke, and Nola Haynes would again be Chorus Girls.  John Cassady, who's Prysock here, did a Josie episode.


*"Brinkley Manor" is of course the best.

Jeeves and Wooster: Pearls Mean Tears

Jeeves and Wooster: Pearls Mean Tears
ITV
28 April 1991
Historical Comedy
DVD
B-

This episode blends two short stories, the less interesting one with Aunt Agatha trying to matchmake Bertie again, this time with what turns out to be half of a team of swindlers.  In the other plot, Bertie's forgetful friend Biffy has literally lost his love and Jeeves, for reasons of his own,  isn't helpful.  Biffy accidentally gets engaged to Honoria (Liz Kettle again), and so Bertie tries to get him to offend Sir Roderick and Lady Glossop (Roger Brierley and Jane Downs as before).  Bertie gets to sing and, while it's not one of his classics, it's a welcome return.  And Martin Clunes, Richard Dixon, and John Pirkis are back as Barmy, Oofy, and Freddie respectively.

Jeeves and Wooster: The Purity of the Turf

Jeeves and Wooster: The Purity of the Turf
ITV
6 May 1990
Historical Comedy
DVD
B-

This is based on two short stories, one of them called (I believe) "The Purity of the Turf."  For a change, the stories aren't interwoven and pretty much stand alone, although Bertie's Uncle George and his refound lost love Maudie do show up at the country fete.  As for the "turf," various bets are made before and during the fete, with Rupert Steggles (played by Richard Braine, who would return a couple years later in the totally different role of Gussie Fink-Nottle #2) as the bookie.  Bingo (Michael Siberry) "falls in love again," twice, and Bertie claims it's only been a week and a half since Daphne, who followed Honoria, although maybe Bertie is exaggerating for effect.

Richard Dixon, John Pirkis, Michael Ripper, and Richard Stirling return as respectively Oofy Prosser, Freddie Chalk-Marshall, the Drones Porter, and Boko Fittleworth.  I should note that I don't feel like most of the characters are that memorable, but the George/Maudie thing is cute and I would've been happy with a whole hour about them.

Jeeves and Wooster: Tuppy and the Terrier

Jeeves and Wooster: Tuppy and the Terrier
ITV
29 April 1990
Historical Comedy
DVD
B-

This story combines three in one, with Bertie following Bobbie Wickham's scheme to get vengeance on Barmy Fotheringay Phipps (Adam Blackwood again); Bertie letting her use his flat to host Broadway producer Mr. Blumenfield and his eight-year-old son (Billy J. Mitchell and Anatol Yusef in their first of two appearances); and Tuppy courting an opera singer.  Aunt Dahlia (Brenda Bruce, my favorite in the role) wants to break up that romance, since Tuppy was courting her daughter Angela.  We'll find out more about Tuppy/Angela later.  Bertie's song this episode, not counting his dreadful "Sonny Boy," is the very catchy "Forty-Seven Ginger-Headed Sailors."  The beginning of the episode, all that golf, is slow, but Mackintosh is a cute little dog.

Michael Ripper returns as the Drones Porter.

Jeeves and Wooster: Jeeves Takes Charge

Only Jeeves can get Bertie out of this predicament.

Jeeves and Wooster: Jeeves Takes Charge
ITV
Historical Comedy
22 April 1990
DVD
B-

Clive Exton adapted this and I think all the other episodes of the four series of the programme, basing this episode on two of the early short stories.  It's a reasonably faithful adaptation, although understandably a lot of time is spent introducing characters, including ones who have little to do with the present tale.  This, combined by the slow-paced direction, by Robert Young (not that Robert Young) as it would be for the other episodes of Series One, gives a feeling that it takes awhile to get going.  The liveliest moments are due to the music, that is, the jaunty theme tune (with perfect animation), the incidental music, and of course the duet for "Minnie the Moocher."  As with the books, it's difficult to say when exactly this is set, other than "between the World Wars," although there is a reference to a wine from '27.

The first scene is set in a courtroom, as a hungover and incoherent Bertram Wilberforce Wooster (the marvelous Hugh Laurie) is sentenced five pounds by the judge, Sir Watkyn Bassett (John Woodnutt, who would be featured more prominently in his five later appearances), for stealing a policeman's helmet.  He returns home and just wants to collapse in bed but is woken by the arrival of the new valet that the agency sent over.  This valet is Jeeves (the understated but splendid Stephen Fry) and he's about to change Bertie's life, for the better.  I'll note here that at 30 and 32 respectively, Laurie is a bit too old for the 25-ish Wooster and Fry is definitely too young for the middle-aged Jeeves, but they're so perfectly cast, and of course have long-standing chemistry, that the viewer can soon overlook that.

Bertie's stern Aunt Agatha (Mary Wimbush) thinks he's wasting his life and she wants him to marry Honoria Glossop (Liz Kettle) as a steadying influence.  So he reluctantly goes down to the estate of her parents, Sir Roderick and Lady Glossop (Roger Brierly and Jane Downs), where he meets his old pal Bingo Little (Michael Siberry).  Complications, including cats stolen by his cousins Claude and Eustace, ensue.

Adam Blackwood makes his first of four appearances as Barmy Fothingay (pronounced "Fungy") Phipps, Richard Dixon his first of eight as Oofy Prosser, John Pirkis his first of three as Freddie Chalk-Marshall, Michael Ripper his first of six as the Drones Porter, and Richard Stirling his first of two as Boko Fittleworth.  Yet it is Robert Daws who'll be the main familiar face throughout the series, getting more to do in his seven later appearances as Tuppy Glossop (yes, related to these Glossops), while those around him are recast and/or underused.