Indiscretions of Archie is a novel byP. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 14 February 1921 byHerbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 15 July 1921 byGeorge H. Doran, New York.[1]
The book was adapted from a series of short stories, originally serialised in theStrand in the United Kingdom between March 1920 and February 1921, and, all except one, inCosmopolitan in the United States between May 1920 and February 1921. The stories were rewritten and reorganised to create a more flowing novel form.
The novel tells the story of impoverished, embarrassment-prone Archibald "Archie" Moffam (pronounced "Moom") and his difficult relationship with his art-collecting, hotel-owning, millionaire father-in-law Daniel Brewster, who is the father of Archie's new bride Lucille. Archie's attempts to ingratiate himself with Brewster only get him further into trouble. The story takes place in New York City.
The original story titles and publication dates were as follows:
Archie Moffam is an Englishman in New York. LikeBertie Wooster he's kind hearted but mentally limited, if not negligible. Unlike Bertie he has no private income. He's a veteran of the First World War.
During a stay in New York he bitterly criticises the service at the Cosmopolis Hotel, thus making an enemy of its owner, Daniel Brewster. On a subsequent trip to Miami he meets, falls in love with and marries Brewster's daughter Lucille. Brewster is not delighted. Archie's attempts to make amends by finding employment and by purchasing a valuable objet d’art for Brewster end in disaster. Further indiscretions follow for Archie: he upsets Lucille by apparently paying too much attention to an actress; he bets $1000 on the Giants (then a New York baseball team), but gets into a fight with their star pitcher and injures his arm. He advises Lucille's brother, Bill, who has a habit of getting into relationships with girls of whom his father disapproves, and lends a hand to an old comrade from the war, “The Sausage Chappie”, who's lost his memory and forgotten his own name. He upsets Mrs Cora Bates McCall, a vegetarian and healthy food campaigner, by persuading her son to take part in a pie-eating contest. Then there's an incident with a painting which further upsets Brewster. Eventually he pacifies the old curmudgeon by telling him he's about to become a grandfather.
The Archie short stories published in theStrand between March 1920 and February 1921 were all illustrated byA. Wallis Mills.[2] The stories published inCosmopolitan between May 1920 and February 1921 were illustrated by T. D. Skidmore.[3] In theStrand, none of the Archie stories were published in December 1920. A different Wodehouse story, "Sundered Hearts" (later collected inThe Clicking of Cuthbert), was published in that issue.[4]
"Dear Old Squiffy" was also published inThe Golden Book Magazine (US), illustrated byH. M. Bateman, in January 1933.[5]
The one story that was not published inCosmopolitan, "Strange Experience of an Artist's Model", was collected inWodehouse on Crime under the title "Indiscretions of Archie".Wodehouse on Crime was published on 14 September 1981 by Ticknor & Fields, New York, edited byD. R. Bensen with a foreword byIsaac Asimov.[6]
The novel has a long dedication to "B. W. King-Hall".[1] Baldwin King-Hall was a friend of Wodehouse who ran a school called Emsworth House inEmsworth.[7]
A BBC radio play titled "An Indiscretion of Archie" was broadcast in June 1931. It was performed by Pauline Bedford, Reg Palmer,Ernest Sefton, andPeter Haddon.[8]
The book was adapted under the titleThe Indiscretions of Archie for BBC radio by Douglas Hoare in 1935, and again featured Peter Haddon. It was produced byJohn Watt and aired in six parts from April to June in 1935.[9][10]
Indiscretions of Archie public domain audiobook atLibriVox