Young Men in Spats is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 3 April 1936 by Herbert Jenkins, London, then in the United States with a slightly different selection of stories on 24 July 1936 by Doubleday, Doran, New York.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 70–71, A55.
The collection, recounting the adventures of various members of the Drones Club (except for the last one), features many familiar characters from Wodehouse's other writings, including Freddie Widgeon and the irrepressible Mr Mulliner. One story, "Uncle Fred Flits By", features the first appearance of Pongo Twistleton and his Uncle Fred, who featured in four novels, including two appearances at Blandings Castle.
The US edition contains a slightly different selection of stories from the UK version. "Tried in the Furnace" and "Trouble Down At Tudsleigh" had not previously appeared in the US, and were held back so they could garner greater income from magazine sales. (Both stories eventually appeared in Cosmopolitan.) These two stories were accordingly replaced by three Oldest Member golf stories, "There's Always Golf", "The Letter of the Law", and "Farewell to Legs". These three Oldest Member stories had all appeared in US magazines in 1935 and early 1936; they all later appeared in the UK in Lord Emsworth and Others (1937). After their Cosmopolitan appearances, "Tried in the Furnace" was included in the US-only collection The Crime Wave at Blandings (1937),McIlvaine (1990), p. 73, B58. and "Trouble Down at Tudsleigh" was included in the US edition of Eggs, Beans and Crumpets (1940).McIlvaine (1990), pp. 77–78, A62.
Contents
"Fate" United Kingdom: Strand, May 1931 United States: Cosmopolitan, May 1931 (as "Compromised!")
The story is the first in the main Drones Club canon, and stars Freddie Widgeon, who would become one of the two most prominent characters in the Drones Club series, the other being Bingo Little.
The story takes place in New York, and was written and published while Prohibition was in effect in the United States. While it is not directly referenced in the story, it is hinted at when Freddie Widgeon drinks from a flask hidden in his hip pocket, and when Mrs. Silvers drinks liquor that her husband made in a still.
Freddie Widgeon tries to woo Mavis Peasemarch again in the 1939 short story "Bramley Is So Bracing".
Plot At the Drones Club, a Crumpet (a nondescript club member) says that Freddie Widgeon has returned from New York, where he lost the girl he loved. Freddie told the Crumpet that everything happened because of Fate, so there is no reason to worry about it. The Crumpet tells a Bean the following story about what happened.
In New York, Freddie is happily engaged to Mavis Peasemarch, an upstanding church-going girl and daughter of Lord Bodsham. One day, Freddie reads (and believes) scandal stories in a tabloid, and later sees a plain-looking girl struggling with a heavy suitcase. Freddie offers to help, and they go to her flat. Fatigued after carrying the suitcase, Freddie rests on a chair and talks to the girl, who is named Myra Jennings. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and three men enter. They remark that their case is open and shut now that they have discovered Mrs. Silvers with a man, and Freddie infers that they are private detectives. When Myra points out they are in the wrong flat, the detectives pay for the door and leave.
Freddie tells Mavis and her father what happened, and they become suspicious about Freddie seeing another girl. To clear himself of suspicion, Freddie plans to show Mavis that the girl he helped is plain-looking. He goes to Myra Jennings's flat, but she is out. Myra's neighbour, a beautiful woman wearing a negligee, complains that her room is too hot and persuades Freddie to help her open her window, which is stuck. Mrs. Silvers, as she turns out to be, tells Freddie how she is unhappy with her jealous husband. Freddie holds her hand sympathetically. At that moment, the door flies open, and the detectives appear again.
The detectives think Freddie is romantically involved with Mrs. Silvers, and say that Mrs. Silvers should be ashamed. Freddie, offended that they are aspersing a woman's name, injudiciously hits the head detective. He ends up in a prison cell. In the morning, he pays the court fifty dollars, and discovers the scandal of his being discovered with Mrs. Silvers in a newspaper. Deciding he could not convince Mavis or her father of the truth, he returns to England. As his boat docks at Southampton, he sees a very pretty girl drop her vanity bag. He ignores this, having given up on helping damsels in distress.
"Tried in the Furnace" UK: Strand, September 1935 US: Cosmopolitan, March 1937
The story introduces the recurring character Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps and features Pongo Twistleton. The character Angelica Briscoe would later appear in the Jeeves novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen (1974).
The titular phrase "tried in the furnace" means being purified or improved by an ordeal. With comedic exaggeration, the title refers to Barmy and Pongo emerging as purer and better after undergoing a difficult experience.The titular phrase is used at the end of the story, when the Crumpet describes Barmy and Pongo's reconciliation: "They clasped hands. Tried in the furnace, their friendship had emerged strong and true".
Plot After the annual smoking-concert at the Drones Club, the members praise the knockabout cross-talk act (a comedic slapstick double act) performed by Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps and Reginald "Pongo" Twistleton-Twistleton. A Crumpet remarks that Barmy and Pongo underwent an ordeal that nearly ended their friendship. The Crumpet, having heard about what happened from Barmy, narrates the following story.
Barmy and Pongo go to the seaside resort Bridmouth-on-Sea to practice their cross-talk act. They see Angelica Briscoe, daughter of the Rev. P. P. Briscoe. She lives in Maiden Eggesford, a nearby town. Both young men become smitten with her. Pongo tells Barmy that he is going to London for a day or two, and Barmy tells him not to hurry, planning to take the opportunity to go see Angelica. The next day, Saturday, Barmy books a room in a pub in Maiden Eggesford, and finds Pongo there. Pongo had lied and also wants to see Angelica. Barmy meets a man a few years older than him called Mr. Briscoe and concludes he is Angelica's brother. Mr. Briscoe introduces Barmy to Angelica, and Barmy agrees to help her run the annual village School Treat on Monday. Pongo learns about this and resents Barmy for coming between him and the girl he loves.
Sympathetic to Pongo, Barmy sends a note to Angelica saying Pongo will go in his stead. Pongo is surprised and grateful. However, Angelica asks Barmy to instead accompany the village mothers on their annual outing. Barmy thinks this is proof that she loves him. On Monday, Barmy joins the sixteen mature women in a bus. He is overwhelmed when the women let loose, singing ribald songs and throwing tomatoes at passers-by. They stir up trouble at an amusement park, and Barmy later has to row their sailing boat.
After a long day, Barmy returns to the pub. Pongo blames him for sending him to the School Treat, where he was smeared with chocolate and whacked with newspapers by children. They argue, until the barmaid tells them Angelica Briscoe is already engaged to Mr. Briscoe, who is actually her second cousin. Mr. Briscoe had kept this secret because he wanted to get someone else to chaperone the school fair. Barmy and Pongo decide that a girl who would inflict school fairs or troublemaking mothers on someone is not worth bothering about anyway. They clasp hands, their friendship restored.
"Trouble Down at Tudsleigh" UK: Strand, May 1935 US: Cosmopolitan, May 1939
Wodehouse's earlier story The Girl on the Boat (1922) features a character named Sam Marlowe who studies Tennyson's works to impress a girl. Wodehouse reused this plot point in "Trouble Down at Tudsleigh", in which Freddie Widgeon reads Tennyson's works to impress April.
Plot
At the Drones Club, a Crumpet tries to sell a book of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems, but nobody is interested. The book belongs to Freddie Widgeon, whom the Crumpet is trying to sell the book for. The other Drones are shocked that Freddie would buy such a book. Saying that Freddie bought it to impress a girl, the Crumpet narrates the following story.
Freddie goes to a town called Tudsleigh in Worcestershire to fish. He falls in love with April Carroway, the daughter of a family friend residing at Tudsleigh Court. April reads a book titled Collected Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson to her kid sister Prudence. Freddie acquires a copy. He meets Captain Bradbury, an intimidating man of the British Indian Army and a jealous rival for April's love. Freddie reads Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott", and impresses April by discussing the poet with her. She agrees to go rowing and then picnic with him. Bradbury threatens Freddie, but Freddie is undeterred.
Waiting in the boat the next day, Freddie sees Prudence, who tells him that April cannot come. April wants Freddie to take Prudence instead, and April will try to come later. Freddie and Prudence set off. Prudence feels that Tennyson's heroines are soppy, but Freddie disagrees and says she would do well to behave like any one of them. After lunch, Prudence mentions that she was expelled from school for playing William Tell and trying to shoot an apple off the head of a pig, and she had also set her dormitory on fire playing Florence Nightingale ("The Lady with the Lamp"). Freddie takes a nap, then finds Prudence gone. He thinks he sees her in the river so he swims in, but it is only her frock.
Looking for dry clothes, Freddie enters a nearby unoccupied house. He is changing when he sees Bradbury, clearly the owner of the house, coming to the front door. Alarmed, Freddie bolts the door shut. Bradbury glares at him through the window and goes around the house. Freddie exits through the front door, and realizes he has no trousers on. Driving off in Bradbury's car, Freddie covers his lap with a rug. He sees April Carroway, who found Prudence. Prudence stays in a bush since she lost some of her clothes in the river. Following Freddie's advice, she had tried to imitate Lady Godiva (as described in Tennyson's poem "Godiva"). April tells Freddie to let Prudence use the rug. Freddie remorsefully must refuse, and he drives off. To hide from Bradbury, he is now growing a beard. A letter from April has proven that the book of Tennyson's works is no longer of any use to him.
"The Amazing Hat Mystery" US: Cosmopolitan, August 1933 UK: Strand, June 1934
Along with the other Drones Club story "Uncle Fred Flits By", this story was based on ideas given to Wodehouse by his friend Bill Townend.
Unlike most of the protagonists of Wodehouse's Drones Club short stories, neither Percy Wimbolt nor Nelson Cork appear in any other stories. Nelson Cork is mentioned in one other story, the Drones Club short story "The Fat of the Land" (1958), and a club member with a name similar to Percy Wimbolt, Percy Wimbush, is also mentioned in that story.
Plot
A Bean (a nondescript Drones Club member) is recuperating from an injury in a nursing home. He is playing halma with a nurse when a Crumpet comes to visit and says that everyone is trying figure out "the great Hat mystery" involving Percy Wimbolt and Nelson Cork. The Crumpet explains by recounting the following story.
Percy, who is large, and Nelson, who is small, each want to buy a bespoke top hat from Bodmin, a hatter renowned for always making hats that fit. The two Drones meet at Bodmin's door. Percy is in love with a petite girl named Elizabeth Bottsworth, and wants a new top hat to impress her. Similarly, Nelson wants a new top hat to impress a tall girl named Diana Punter.