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

The Old Reliable

A novel

Wilhemina (Bill) Shannon and Joe Davenport are ex-Hollywood writers hoping to become literary agents; Phipps the butler is an ex-safe-blower; Adela Cork is an ex-actress and Smedley, her brother-in-law, is an ex-theatrical financier. So what has the diary of the very ex-actress Carmen Flores, killed in a plane crash, got to do with their future happiness? And will the local cops make it into the movies?

Publishing Information

UK:1951 Herbert Jenkins
1992 Vintage (used here)
US:1951 Doubleday

Films / TV

The Old Reliable (1988) TV Movie. (No further information)

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Plenty of ex's but not x-rated, unlike Carmen Flores's diary is reputed to be. The 'Old Reliable' is Bill, an unusual heroine for PG, being a woman of certain age, a sort of female Galahad or Uncle Fred.

The part of the plot involving the ex-safeblower should be familiar from Spring Fever. This is not surprising as, according to Wodehouse expert David Jasen, this book was based on a play written by Wodehouse's friend Guy Bolton which he based on Spring Fever, and with PG retaining some of Bolton's changes.