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Nom de Plum

English author Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, called "Plum" by his friends, was born on this day in 1881.

Author of some hundred books, Wodehouse is perhaps best known for his Jeeves and Wooster tales, which were made into a television series, as well as his Blandings Castle stories.

His lighthearted, gentle satire was decidedly British in flavor. Nevertheless, Wodehouse had ties with U.S. culture, too. He loved New York and Hollywood, and is considered one of the fathers of American musical. He wrote "the book" for such musicals as Oh Kay! and Anything Goes. Perhaps the pinnacle of his lyric fame is his collaboration with Jerome Kern for Showboat—a haunting song about a man so ordinary that the girl can't explain why she loves "(Just My) Bill." However, Wodehouse's success in the theater was not immediate. Earlier, he had cut his teeth in vaudeville!

Pictured: Stuart Davis, 1894–1964, Babe La Tour, 1912, watercolor and pencil on paper, 14 15/16 x 11 1/16 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Henry H. Ploch.