Searching for a girl he saw at Cannes, poet Lancelot Mulliner finds her in London at a night-club. She is impressed by his dancing but he will have to get hold of some money to beat the competition and impress her father, Lord Biddlecombe.
Lancelot goes to his uncle, Jeremiah Briggs of Briggs' Breakfast Pickles, with what he thinks is a commercial verse, hoping to win a job as chief poetry [advertising] writer. But his efforts are not appreciated ...
| Mr Mulliner | narrator |
| Lancelot Bassington Mulliner | a poet |
| Jeremiah Briggs | his uncle, proprietor of Briggs's Breakfast Pickles |
| Lord Biddlecombe | an Earl |
| Lady Angela | his daughter |
| Bewstridge | butler to Mr Briggs |
| Fotheringay | butler to Lord B. |
| Margerison | hall-porter at the Junior Lipstick club |
| Isadore Zinzinheimer | representative of the Bigger, Better and Brighter Motion Picture Company of Hollywood |
First published 11 June 1927 in Liberty magazine (US).
Also published July 1927 in the Strand magazine.
'Come down from Oxford'
- graduated from the University of that name.
Cowes
- a port on the Isle of Wight known for its annual yacht regatta known as Cowes Week and, at that time, as the centre of sailing by the 'upper classes'.
'Confronted with this girl, Cleopatra would have looked like Nellie Wallace ...'
- Cleopatra was the Queen of ancient Egypt renowned for her beauty. Nellie Wallace (1882-1948) was a Scottish comedienne, singer and one of the few women to act as a pantomime dame; she was something of a 'plain Jane' in appearance.
Gimp
- has several meanings, including lame or stupid. In this context, it is the more obscure meaning of pep or spirit that is intended.
Captain Coe
- as far as I can tell, a generic pen-name for racing tipsters. A Captain Coe contributed a series entitled The World of Sport to the Sketch magazine around 1899-1907 (possibly longer) and there are many other individuals of this name before and since.
Threnody
- a song of lamentation.
Shove ha'penny
- a game played with old coins on a slate board marked with parallel lines forming rows or 'beds'. The aim (roughly) is to propel the coins with the heel of the hand to slide them into the beds without any part touching the lines. It requires a surprising amount of skill.
'Yes, love indeed is light from heaven ... from earth our low desire.'
- Lord Byron, The Giaour.
'Give me to live with Love alone ... 'Tis Love in Idleness.'
- Laman Blanchard, Dolce far Niente, Stanza 4.
'When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind!'
- John Dryden, Cymon and Iphigenia.
St. Georges, Hanover Square
- a church in Mayfair, London, a favourite for society weddings.
'Tempests may lower ... life and happiness.'
- not a quote but PG mocking the overblown language used in the silent films (shown on the screen) that were still being produced.