Plum Pie is a collection of nine short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 22 September 1966 by Barrie & Jenkins (under the Herbert Jenkins imprint), and in the United States on 1 December 1967 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 99–100, A89. The collection's title is derived from P. G. Wodehouse's nickname, Plum.
All stories except one belong to a large bag of P. G. Wodehouse regular series: one Jeeves, one golf story, one Blandings, one Ukridge, one Mr Mulliner, one longer Freddie Threepwood story, and two Drones Club members Bingo Little and Freddie Widgeon. Most of the stories had previously appeared in Argosy in the UK and in Playboy or The Saturday Evening Post in the US. The UK version included some extra items between the stories, mostly "Our Man in America" anecdotes originally appearing in Punch.
Contents
"Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" US: Playboy, December 1965 UK: Argosy, January 1967
See "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird".
"Sleepy Time" US: The Saturday Evening Post, 5 June 1965 (as "The Battle of Squashy Hollow") UK: Argosy, October 1965 (as "The Battle of Squashy Hollow")
Two of the characters in "Sleepy Time", the couple Agnes Flack and Sidney McMurdo, previously appeared in four other Wodehouse golf stories: "Those in Peril on the Tee", "Feet of Clay", "Tangled Hearts", and "Scratch Man". Cyril Grooly, and the publishing firm Popgood & Grooly, are mentioned in other stories including Uncle Dynamite and Ice in the Bedroom.
Plot Cyril Grooly is the junior partner of the New York book publishing firm Popgood and Grooly. He is engaged to Popgood's secretary Patricia Binstead and has a twenty-four handicap. The firm is going to publish a book about hypnotism by Professor Pepperidge Farmer. Popgood is going to change the long title of the book to Sleepy Time. Cyril is supposed to negotiate with Farmer for his advance payment and not give Farmer more than two hundred dollars. Cyril meets Farmer, who has a gaunt and sinister appearance. Cyril tells Farmer he is about to go to Paradise Valley for a golfing holiday and wants to improve at golf. Cyril offers Farmer a hundred dollars. Farmer starts waving his hands and Cyril gets sleepy. He wakes later to find Farmer gone, and assumes Farmer simply left. In Paradise Valley, Cyril enters a handicap contest at the Squashy Hollow golf course. He tries to avoid Agnes Flack, a skilled golfer who discovered he is a publisher and talks to him about a book she wrote. Professor Farmer comes to help Cyril improve at golf. He says he feels he owes Cyril, but does not explain why.
In the contest, Cyril is paired with Sidney McMurdo, the club champion, but is afraid Sidney will scorn him for his poor golfing. Cyril gets a telephone call from Popgood, who is annoyed. Cyril was hypnotized into signing a five thousand dollar advance for Farmer. Farmer claims this was an ordinary business precaution, and diverts Cyril's attention by talking about golf. Cyril has read many golfing books but lacks confidence. Farmer volunteers to hypnotize him to be as confident as Arnold Palmer. At the golf course, Sidney is in a bad mood. Agnes, his fiancée, broke their engagement because he insulted her novel. Cyril plays extremely well, scoring sixty-two, and given his high handicap, will certainly win the contest. He thinks he should marry a good golfer and gets engaged to Agnes, who agrees because he is a publisher. Sidney is jealous and confronts Cyril. Farmer hypnotizes Sidney into being friendly, then de-hypnotizes Cyril, who immediately regrets proposing to Agnes. Farmer agrees to hypnotize Agnes so that she dislikes Cyril. She reunites with Sidney, and will get Simon and Schuster to publish her book instead. Cyril is grateful and believes Farmer has a heart of gold despite his sinister appearance. Farmer offers Cyril a lemon squash, and realizes he can hypnotize the waiter to avoid paying.
"Sticky Wicket at Blandings" US: Playboy, October 1966 (as "First Aid for Freddie") UK: Argosy, April 1967 (as "First Aid for Freddie")
See "Sticky Wicket at Blandings".
"Ukridge Starts a Bank Account" US: Playboy, July 1967 US: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, June 1982McIlvaine (1990), p. 149, D21.7.
Plot Ukridge, who looks unusually well-dressed, invites Corky to an expensive lunch. After Corky asks where he got his money, Ukridge tells the following story.
Ukridge sees Aunt Julia's butler, Horace Stout, in a pub and learns he was dismissed. This does not surprise Ukridge since his aunt often changes butlers. He chats with Stout and then goes to borrow money from his friend George Tupper. Later, Stout's brother, silver ring bookmaker Percy Stout, visits Ukridge. Percy received a lot of antique furniture in payment of a gambling debt. He needs a persuasive salesman to help sell the furniture. Horace recommended Ukridge. Percy agrees to pay Ukridge ten pounds a week. They sell their wares in a cottage called Rosemary Cottage, in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. They have a sign advertising genuine antique furniture to attract passing motorists. Ukridge sells a few pieces, but thinks he can do better. He decides to borrow books about furniture from Aunt Julia, who is interested in antique furniture. Aunt Julia, who has a cold, is glad he has a job and wants to see his stock herself. Ukridge explains that he is working with Stout, which surprises her. Before she can say anything, the doctor comes and Ukridge leaves. He telephones Horace and says his aunt will come see their stock soon.
Ukridge gives George Tupper his two quid back and takes him out to lunch. He then goes back to Rosemary Cottage. Nobody else is there and only one piecrust table is left. A policeman comes, on behalf of Julia Ukridge. She had fired Stout because her furniture was stolen while he was looking after the house. Ukridge realizes that Horace and Percy stole the furniture and thinks they have now fled, still owing Ukridge six weeks' salary. The policeman does not see any of Aunt Julia's furniture, so he leaves. A customer comes looking for genuine antique furniture, and Ukridge sells him the table for sixty pounds. The customer gives him a check and expects Ukridge to send him the table. Ten minutes later, Percy returns. He explains they had to remove the furniture before Aunt Julia arrived and pays Ukridge sixty pounds. Percy congratulates Ukridge for selling the table for sixty pounds, having sold the piecrust table himself earlier for only forty pounds to somebody else. Another potential customer comes, but says the table is a forgery. They could be in legal trouble because they have sold the table, twice, saying it is genuine. Percy borrows some matches from Ukridge, and sets the cottage on fire, destroying the table.
Ukridge finishes telling his story. Aunt Julia is fine because her furniture was insured. Ukridge supposes the two fellows who bought the table, who never got their money back, are very wealthy and have forgotten about it by now. However, the man who bought the table from Ukridge appears. He takes all the money in Ukridge's wallet, around fifty-eight pounds, so Corky has to pay for their lunch.
"Bingo Bans the Bomb" US: Playboy, January 1965 UK: Argosy, August 1965
Plot Bingo, the editor of a weekly magazine for children called Wee Tots, asks his boss Henry Cuthbert Purkiss for a raise after losing his month's wages on a horse race, though Purkiss refuses. Heading home, Bingo sees Mabel Murgatroyd, a beautiful red-headed girl he met in "The Word in Season". Mabel mentions her involvement in protests to ban "the bomb" (she does not really elaborate further). Seeing a policeman, she decides to protest so that her arrest will appear in the papers and further her cause. She sits in the middle of Trafalgar Square, pulling Bingo down with her, though Bingo is not pleased about it. They block traffic, angering many drivers. The policeman arrests Bingo and Mabel.
In the morning, the magistrate lets them go with a reprimand. Mabel realizes that her father, Lord Ippleton, will be angry about her arrest. Bingo is glad that his wife Rosie is away on a trip and will not learn about what happened. At the office of Wee Tots, Bertie gets a call from Rosie, who curtly tells him to see page eight of the Mirror. Bingo is alarmed to see a photograph of the policeman with Mabel in one hand and Bingo in the other.
Bingo goes to the Drones Club for a drink, and talks to Freddie Widgeon, who suggests that Bingo claim he has a double who looks just like him. Bingo decides to ask Mabel to claim that she was with this fictitious double instead of Bingo. Back at the office, Bingo looks up Lord Ippleton in the telephone book and calls him, asking to speak to Mabel. Lord Ippleton, distraught about Mabel's arrest, tells him she is unavailable, as she has been sent away to her aunt in Edinburgh.
Purkiss appears with a hangover. He spent the night playing poker at a friend's house, and he is now in trouble because his wife, who is away with Rosie, discovered that Purkiss was not home all night. Purkiss asks Bingo to say that they were working all night at Bingo's house. Bingo agrees, getting Purkiss to give him a raise in exchange. When Rosie calls again, Bingo tells her he was with Purkiss all night, and that the man in the Mirror photograph must have been his double. Bingo hands Purkiss the telephone so he can confirm Bingo's story.
"Stylish Stouts" US: Playboy, April 1965 (as "Stylish Stout") UK: London Evening Standard, 24 December 1965 (as "The Great Fat Uncle Contest")
In "Stylish Stouts", Rosie mentions contributing to Algy's bank account a year prior, which occurred in the 1940 short story, "The Word in Season". The Fat Uncles sweepstakes featured in the story was first introduced in the 1958 short story, "The Fat of the Land".
Plot In a flashforward, Purkiss, owner of the magazine Wee Tots that Bingo works for, asks Bingo if he has dinner plans. The story then truly starts when the actor Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright gives Bingo two tickets to his next show. Bingo's wife Rosie and their infant son Algy are away on a trip, so Bingo decides to ask his aunt, the widow Myrtle Beenstock, to join him. Her butler Wilberforce (also called Willoughby) says that Mrs. Beenstock is away but will return soon. Wilberforce recommends betting on the horse Whistler's Mother. After Rosie sends him ten pounds to put in Algy's bank account, Bingo bets it on Whistler's Mother. The horse loses its race.
Dejected, Bingo goes to the Drones Club. Catsmeat explains that the members are entering their uncles in the Fat Uncles Sweep, in which members buy tickets and are each randomly assigned an uncle. The person who draws the fattest uncle wins the jackpot, minus fifty pounds awarded to the winning uncle's nephew as prize money. Bingo wants to enter his stout Aunt Myrtle and sell the future prize money to the club millionaire Oofy Prosser for a smaller immediate payment, but only uncles are eligible. Later, Purkiss asks Bingo if he has dinner plans.
Purkiss wants the American author Kirk Rockaway, who is in London, to contribute to Wee Tots. Since Rockaway admires the novelist Rosie M. Banks, Bingo's wife, Purkiss provides Bingo ten pounds to give Rockaway dinner, and mentions that Rockaway is a teetotaler. Bingo dines with Rockaway, who is so stout that Bingo wishes Rockaway were his uncle. Since he enjoys Mrs. Little's books so much, Rockaway offers to pay for dinner. Bingo learns that Rockaway came all the way from Oakland, San Francisco hoping to marry Bingo's Aunt Myrtle, and advises Rockaway to gather the courage to propose by drinking champagne and stout.