Editing P. G. Wodehouse (section)

===Reluctant banker; budding writer: 1900–1908===
[[File:ThePothunters.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=book cover illustration showing two male athletes running competitively|Cover of Wodehouse's first published novel, 1902]]
Wodehouse expected to follow Armine to the [[University of Oxford]], but the family's finances took a turn for the worse at the crucial moment. Ernest Wodehouse had retired in 1895, and his pension was paid in [[rupee]]s; fluctuation against the [[Pound sterling|pound]] reduced its value in Britain. Wodehouse recalled, "The wolf was not actually whining at the door and there was always a little something in the kitty for the butcher and the grocer, but the finances would not run to anything in the nature of a splash".<ref>Wodehouse, ''Over Seventy'', p. 19</ref>{{refn|McCrum finds Ernest Wodehouse's decision inconsistent with the financial facts: he calculates that Ernest's income, currency fluctuations notwithstanding, would comfortably have allowed him to send two sons to Oxford. Wodehouse later reflected that had he gone to Oxford he probably would have become a teacher like his brother Armine, and not made a career as a writer.<ref>McCrum, p. 37</ref>|group= n}} Instead of a university career, in September 1900 Wodehouse was engaged in a junior position in the London office of the [[The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation|Hongkong and Shanghai Bank]]. He was unsuited to it and found the work baffling and uncongenial. He later wrote a humorous account of his experiences at the bank,<ref>Wodehouse, ''Over Seventy'', pp. 19–21, and 24–27</ref> but at the time he longed for the end of each working day, when he could return to his rented lodgings in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] and write.<ref>Donaldson, p. 57</ref> At first he concentrated, with some success, on serious articles about school sports for ''[[Public School Magazine]]''. In November 1900 his first comic piece, "Men Who Missed Their Own Weddings", was accepted by ''[[Tit-Bits]]''.<ref>Jasen, pp. 22–23</ref> A new magazine for boys, ''[[The Captain (magazine)|The Captain]]'', provided further well-paid opportunities, and during his two years at the bank, Wodehouse had eighty pieces published in a total of nine magazines.<ref>Jasen, p. 25</ref>

[[File:PGWodehouse.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Black and white photograph of Wodehouse's head and shoulders. He is wearing a suit and looking at the camera|Wodehouse in 1904, aged 23]]
In 1901, with the help of a former Dulwich master, [[William Beach Thomas]], Wodehouse secured an appointment—at first temporary and later permanent—writing for ''[[The Globe (London newspaper)|The Globe]]''{{'}}s popular "By the Way" column. He held the post until 1909.<ref name=j45>Jasen, p. 45</ref> At around the same time his first novel was published – a school story called ''[[The Pothunters]]'', serialised incomplete in ''Public School Magazine'' in early 1902, and issued in full in hardback in September.<ref>McCrum, pp. 52–53</ref> He resigned from the bank that month to devote himself to writing full-time.<ref>McCrum, p. 47</ref>{{refn|Wodehouse primarily wrote under the name P. G. Wodehouse, but occasionally used other names, including P. Brooke-Haven, Melrose Grainger, Pelham Grenville, J. Plum, J. Walker Williams, C.P. West, Henry William-Jones and Basil Windham.<ref name="Gage CA">[http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=2&locID=wes_ttda&secondary=false&u=CA&t=KW&s=2&NA=wodehouse "P(elham) G(renville) Wodehouse"], [[Contemporary Authors]], [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]], retrieved 6 May 2015 {{subscription required}}</ref>|group= n}}

Between the publication of ''The Pothunters'' 1902 and that of ''[[Mike (novel)|Mike]]'' in 1909, Wodehouse wrote eight novels and co-wrote another two. The critic R. D. B. French writes that, of Wodehouse's work from this period, almost all that deserves to survive is the school fiction.<ref>French, p. 18</ref> Looking back in the 1950s Wodehouse viewed these as his apprentice years: "I was practically in swaddling clothes and it is extremely creditable to me that I was able to write at all."<ref>Wodehouse, ''Performing Flea'', Letter of 27 August 1946, p. 138</ref>

From his boyhood Wodehouse had been fascinated by America, which he conceived of as "a land of romance"; he "yearned" to visit the country, and by 1904 he had earned enough to do so.<ref>McCrum, p. 68</ref> In April he sailed to New York, which he found greatly to his liking. He noted in his diary: "In New York gathering experience. Worth many guineas in the future but none for the moment."<ref>''Quoted'' in Jasen, p. 32</ref> This prediction proved correct: few British writers had first-hand experience of the US, and his articles about life in New York brought him higher than usual fees.<ref>Jasen, pp. 32–33</ref> He later recalled that "in 1904 anyone in the London writing world who had been to America was regarded with awe and looked upon as an authority on that ''terra incognita''.{{space}}... After that trip to New York I was a man who counted.{{space}}... My income rose like a rocketing pheasant."<ref>Wodehouse, ''Over Seventy'', p. 38</ref>

{{Quote box|width=40%|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=left| quote=<poem>
There are pleasant little spots my heart is fixed on,
Down at Parkhurst or at Portland on the sea,
And some put up at Holloway and Brixton,
But Pentonville is good enough for me.</poem>|source= — From Wodehouse's first lyric for a stage show, 1904.<ref>McIlvaine, p. 267</ref>}}

Wodehouse's other new venture in 1904 was writing for the stage. Towards the end of the year the librettist [[Owen Hall]] invited him to contribute an additional lyric for a [[Edwardian musical comedy|musical comedy]] ''Sergeant Brue''.<ref>Jason, p. 34; Green (1981), p. 98; and McCrum, p. 70</ref>{{refn|The piece had been running at the [[Royal Strand Theatre|Strand Theatre]] since June;<ref>Gaye, p. 1538; and "Strand Theatre", ''The Times'', 15 June 1904, p. 7</ref> it was common practice for musical comedies to be refreshed with new material during their runs.<ref>Napper, p. 38</ref>|group= n}} Wodehouse had loved theatre since his first visit, aged thirteen, when [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[Patience (opera)|Patience]]'' had made him "drunk with ecstasy".<ref>McCrum, p. 30</ref> His lyric for Hall, "Put Me in My Little Cell", was a [[W. S. Gilbert|Gilbertian]] number for a trio of comic crooks, with music by [[Frederick Rosse]];<ref>McCrum, p. 70; and Wodehouse and Ratcliffe, p. 55</ref> it was well received and launched Wodehouse on a career as a theatre writer that spanned three decades.<ref>Jasen, p. 36; and Green (1981), p. 247</ref>

Although it made little impact on its first publication, the 1906 novel ''[[Love Among the Chickens]]'' contained what French calls the author's first original comic creation: [[Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge]].<ref>French, p. 31</ref> The character, an amoral, bungling opportunist, is partly based on Wodehouse's ''Globe'' colleague [[Herbert Westbrook]]. The two collaborated between 1907 and 1913 on two books, two [[music hall]] sketches, and a play, ''Brother Alfred''.<ref>French, p. 32; Jasen, pp. 42–43, 274 and 278; and "Savoy Theatre", ''The Times'', 9 April 1913, p. 10</ref>{{refn|The two books were ''[[Not George Washington]]'' (1907) and ''[[The Globe By the Way Book]]'' (1908).<ref name=m504/>|group= n}} Wodehouse would return to the character in short stories over the next six decades.<ref>Usborne, p. 96</ref>

In early 1906 the actor-manager [[Seymour Hicks]] invited Wodehouse to become resident lyricist at the [[Aldwych Theatre]], to add topical verses to newly imported or long-running shows. Hicks had already recruited the young [[Jerome Kern]] to write the music for such songs. The first Kern-Wodehouse collaboration, a comic number for ''[[The Beauty of Bath]]'' titled "Mr <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Joseph Chamberlain|Joseph]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> Chamberlain", was a show-stopper and was briefly the most popular song in London.<ref>Jasen, p. 36</ref>