#kid brady

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Rounds two and three were a repetition of round one. The Cyclone raged almost unchecked about the ring. In one lightning rally in the third he brought his right across squarely on to the Kid’s jaw. It was a blow which should have knocked any boxer out. The Kid merely staggered slightly and returned to business, still smiling. ‘See!’ roared Billy enthusiastically in Psmith’s ear, above the uproar. ‘He doesn’t mind it! He likes it! He comes from Wyoming!’

Psmith, Journalist, P. G. Wodehouse

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Highlights from the Drones and other recurring characters volume of the Millennium Wodehouse Concordance

Ring is of the opinion that regarding the conflicting backgrounds of Kid Brady in the short stories and Psmith, Journalist, “Our conclusion can only be that his life encompassed all these aspects, and the different narrators of each account were selective in their different ways to ensure that their readers could not accuse them of over-egging the pudding.” That still doesn’t account for the inconsistencies, and I maintain my view that there were two Bradys.

It also doesn’t seem to occur to him that Charteris of A Gentleman of Leisure might be the Charteris of the St. Austin’s stories (though he may address it in the school stories volume, which I haven’t read yet).

“ILSWORTH HALL: the location of this country house, which had been taken by Mr. Smith for the simple reason that he was concerned about the poor record at cricket of Shropshire, where he had been living until then, is difficult to identify, at least without the help of Sherlock Holmes and a good atlas. We are first told that it was in a neighbouring county to Shropshire, and that Mike Jackson had a birth qualification to play cricket for it, from which we deduce that it was one of the seventeen first-class (for cricketing purposes) counties which until the 1990s made up the county championship, and the finger is pointed firmly at Worcestershire. But we are then told, quite specifically, that the county for which Mike had his birth qualification is Surrey.”

Ring thinks that Bob Jackson got his degree more quickly than the chronology should allow. His full discussion is in the school story volume, so I’ll have to wait to see his reasoning, but it seems to me to fit fine. Assuming Mike at Wrykyn took place in the summer of 1904, and Bob left Wrykyn after that, he then attended Oxford in 1904/05, 1905/06, and 1906/07, meaning that he came down from Oxford around the time Mike left Sedleigh, as seen in Psmith in the City.

Psmith’s name is given as Ronald Eustace, just as it is in the Blandings volume. This volume, however, covers City and Journalist, in neither of which does he use those names. His own father quite explicitly calls him Rupert in the former. Ring does not attempt to explain the name confusion.

There is a Kid Twist referred to among the gangsters in Psmith, Journalist, and Ring proposes that this might be an early appearance of Chimp Twist, con-man who appears in a number of later Wodehouse novels.

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"How Kid Brady Joined the Press" - Pearson's Magazine (US), May 1906

As addressed in the annotations, much of Psmith, Journalist (serialized 1909-10) was reworked into the American edition of The Prince and Betty (1912). But it turns out that that story has even earlier roots.

I’ve been reading Wodehouse’s Kid Brady stories, serialized in Pearson’s Magazine 1905-07. Not to be confused with the Wyoming native of the same name in Psmith, Journalist, this English-born orphan uses Kid Brady as a fighting name, preferring to be Edward Darrell in private. His career unfolds much differently than Wyoming-Brady’s, and the stories read like an alternate universe. But the fifth of these, “How Kid Brady Joined the Press,” published May 1906, nearly two years before the serialization of The Lost Lambs (Mike and Psmith), contains some suspiciously familiar elements.

A rich, bored Englishman who invests in a paper in order to amuse himself with the apparent lack of libel laws in America. The Kid being roped in as fighting editor. “Then give your editor, when he arrives, the compliments of Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Aubrey Bodkin of the National Theater, and tell him that Mr. Bodkin does not lightly forget.” A passing reference to some (possibly invented) member of the staff called Smith, who’s always turning out “bitter” stuff–”he thinks the proprietor likes it.”

Knowing Wodehouse’s habit of reusing material, these similarities can hardly be coincidental. The story’s worth looking over, as are the notes the editors of Madame Eulalie provide, in which it is suggested that the Smith mention might mean that Wodehouse was already developing Psmith material as early as 1906.

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Illustration from Wodehouse’s Psmith, Journalist, The Captain, Chapter Fifteen, December 1909, by T. M. R. Whitwell.

The sign in the back has some lettering on it; as far as I can tell it seems to be “P Cryen,” which holds no message for me or Google.

Note the caricatured features of the gangsters. Even Billy’s face has hardened into its eagle-like form. Meanwhile Psmith, who doesn’t realize what they’re in for, maintains his usual monocled profile pose. The cigarette, not mentioned in the text, is perhaps a sign of his nonchalance. But after this eye-opening episode, we don’t see him with it in the illustrations again until he’s back in England.

also the coat with upturned collar is very Sherlock and he’s not even trying--ladies and gentlemen, Psmith was cosplaying Sherlock before the program even existed