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Blandings - the logo of www.blandings.org.uk, the Companion to the works of P G Wodehouse

French Leave

A novel

The Trent girls, Jo, Terry and Kate use a small windfall to get away from their chicken farm and visit France. Their plan to make the money last comes back to haunt Terry when she encounters a Marquis, a Comte (who was in the Maquis), a millionaire, his ambitious aunt, a Commissaire of police and a man without his trousers.

Lucky she didn't meet the axe-wielding clerk ...

Publishing Information

UK:1956 Herbert Jenkins
1974 Barrie & Jenkins with new preface
1992 Penguin (used here)
US:1956 Simon & Schuster

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'Parlay frongsay?' as Mr Clutterback says. Mais pas nécessaire to enjoy this farce based on the plot of a play by Guy Bolton, PG's friend and partner from his Broadway days, and which had already been made into three films. According to Frances Donaldson in her book P.G. Wodehouse: A Biography, the play was Three Blind Mice and the films Three Blind Mice, Moon over Miami and Three Little Girls in Blue. IMDb.com gives the play's author as Stephen Powys - a pen-name later used by PGW, presumably used here by Bolton. The film dates are 1938, 1941 and 1946 respectively.

The 'laissez-faire' attitude of the 20s - 40s has been replaced by the hypocritical prudishness of the 50s, as depicted by the conclusion jumping Sir Percy, no doubt influenced by PG's time in the US.