Bring on the Girls: Wodehouse, Bolton

Despite an enormous solo output, P. G. Wodehouse often co-operated with other writers, especially in the early stages of his career, exchanging or sharing plots, advising on problems and even writing books and stage-works together. Bring on the Girls is a characteristically mordan account of his work with Guy Bolton in musical comedy, which occupied much of Wodehouse’s energy from his arrival in America and effectively made his reputation. To be entertaining was the paramount concern of the authors, who had no compunction about embellishing autobiographical material or borrowing anecdotes from friends. This is a tactful book - there are no shocking revelations – but an extremely amusing one, with vivid portraits of such stars as Gertrude Lawrence and insights into febrile life behind the scenes.