Wodehouse and my hometown

Posted on January 25th, 2008 by Jackie Danicki

You really have to know what a small, unassuming place Chillicothe is to appreciate how special I find this:

P. G. Wodehouse, the incomparable English humorist, in “Laughing Gas” (1936) recounts the experiences of 12-year-old movie star Joey Cooley, who was kept on a strict diet in Hollywood while dreaming all the while of the fried chicken his mother used to cook for him in Chillicothe, Ohio, his hometown, “where hearts are pure and men are men” and he was taught “the difference between right and wrong.” Wodehouse cites Chillicothe no fewer than 11 times in this short novel.

Wodehouse later in “The Return of Jeeves” (1954), published in England a year earlier as “Ring for Jeeves,” introduced readers to “Rosalinda Banks of the Chillicothe, Ohio, Bankses, with no assets beyond a lovely face, a superb figure and a mild talent for vers libre, [who had] come to Greenwich Village to seek her fortune and had found it first crack out of the box.” Wodehouse scholar Norman Murphy could not suggest a specific reason why Wodehouse selected Chillicothe as Joey’s and Rosalinda’s hometown. (A Wodehouse Handbook, 2006)

That’s way cooler than the recent reference to Chillicothe on Deadwood!

Filed under: Life

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3 Responses to “Wodehouse and my hometown”

  1. Gerry, on January 25th, 2008 at 8:14 pm Said:

    I am from Dublin. Lots of books written about my hometown. My own memories are more special. And cooler. Don’t put yourself down- yr town is important because its your home! People read your blog because of what you write about yrself not anything about Wodehouse!!.

    But it is cool and weird from yr point of view that Wodehouse picked on yr hometown.

    I once lived in a street that was mentioned in Ulysses. We all had a great time having a Ulysses festival on our street. ( We had kidney burgers because fried kidneys are mentioned in Ulysses- yecch! -as well as a lot of fun !) So why dont you organise a Wodehouse festival in your home town??

    And thanks for your blog, thanks for being so open about yrself.

    Gerry

  2. Jackie Danicki, on January 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm Said:

    Thanks, Gerry. I wasn’t putting myself down, just saying that Chillicothe is about the last place I’d imagine ending up in a Wodehouse work. Princess Diana’s great great grandfather was from Chillicothe, but I didn’t know of any other English connections. I don’t live in Chillicothe anymore, but still love to visit.

  3. Alice Bachini-Smith, on January 25th, 2008 at 9:32 pm Said:

    wow, and weird. There is nothing cooler than Wodehouse, so congratulations to the whole town seem to be in order!

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