"Ukridge's Accident Syndicate" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeev ...

, which first appeared in the United States in the May 1923 issue of ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'', and in the United Kingdom in ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' in June 1923, under the title "Ukridge, Teddy Weeks and the Tomato". It features the irrepressible

Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge ( ) is a fictional character in comedic stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. Ukridge appears in one novel and nineteen short stories. Ukridge is a charismatic opportunist who will do anything to increase his capita ...

, and was included in the collection '' Ukridge'', published in 1924.

Plot

The story is told in flashback as Ukridge and his friend

James Corcoran James Corcoran (c.1780 – 1804) was an Irish rebel leader who following the suppression of the United Irish insurrection of 1798, maintained a guerrilla resistance to the British Crown forces in counties Wexford and Kilkenny until his final ...

stand outside the wedding of one Teddy Weeks, a successful movie star. The tale begins some years earlier, when Weeks was a struggling actor who believed all he needed to get his breakthrough role was a decent wardrobe. Ukridge, Corcoran, Weeks and others are dining at their regular haunt when one of their number reveals he has acquired accident insurance as a bonus for subscribing to a magazine, and has subsequently received five pounds after a minor cycling accident. Ukridge is inspired by this, and persuades his comrades to form a

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...

, subscribing to all magazines offering this free insurance, arranging an "accident" and splitting the insurance monies. Lots are drawn, and Weeks is selected as the one to be insured and to suffer the accident. Time passes and Weeks shows no sign of taking any damage. Despite much cajoling, pointing out of appropriate taxi cabs and even the placing of dangerous dogs in his rooms, he remains unhurt. Finally, he agrees that he will do the honourable thing, on condition that he is first primed with a fine dinner and champagne. The syndicate scrape together the necessary funds, and watch glumly as Weeks dines and guzzles the pricey drink, abusing his friends roundly as he grows inebriated. After the feast, he laughs at his friends, tells them he had no intention of having his accident despite their generosity, and promptly slips in front of a passing truck. Visiting Weeks in hospital, he claims to have no memory of events, stymieing any attempt to retrieve the funds. Instead he spends the cash on fine clothes, and kick-starts his career in the movies. Returning to the present, Ukridge bribes a passing vagrant (with a shilling borrowed from Corky) to throw a tomato at Weeks as he leaves the church to face the waiting throng of photographers; the good man's aim is true, and justice is restored.

Main characters

, the irrepressible entrepreneur * Jimmy Corcoran, Ukridge's writer friend * Teddy Weeks, a syndicate member, later a movie star * Victor Beamish, a struggling artist, and syndicate member * Bertram Fox, a struggling writer of screenplays, and syndicate member * Robert Dunhill, an employee of the New Asiatic Bank, and syndicate member * Freddie Lunt, another toiler, a keen cyclist and syndicate member

Style

Christopher Holcomb analyzes "Ukridge's Accident Syndicate" in an article comparing the story to

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

's comedic short story "Journalism in Tennessee". Drawing upon

Victor Raskin Victor Raskin (born April 17, 1944) is a distinguished professor of linguistics at Purdue University. He is the author of ''Semantic Mechanisms of Humor'' and ''Ontological Semantics'' and founding editor (now editor-at-large) of ''Humor'', the jo ...

's script-based theory of humour, Holcomb writes that both authors create humour by using "script oppositions", or concepts that normally have opposing associations. Connected instances of these opposing scripts are seen in different "nodes", or certain passages in different parts of the text. For example, in "Ukridge's Accident Syndicate", Ukridge comes up with a "plan" to acquire money from an "accident", which creates humour because the idea of a "plan" is normally opposed to the concept of an "accident". Furthermore, the accident in Ukridge's plan involves what Holcomb terms the "gain by injury" script, which is opposed to the "loss by injury" which would be the typical result of an accident. Wodehouse first establishes the ordinary meaning of the opposing concepts, and later links these concepts in unexpected ways. For example, early in the story, Freddie Lunt explains why he has recently been absent from the dinners of Ukridge's group of friends:

"I had an accident ... fell off my bicycle and sprained my ankle."
"Tough luck," was our verdict.
"Oh, I don't know," said Freddie. "It wasn't bad fun getting a rest. And of course there was the fiver."
"What fiver?"
"I got a fiver from the ''Weekly Cyclist'' for getting my ankle sprained."
"You–what?" cried Ukridge, profoundly stirred – as ever – by a tale of easy money. "Do you mean to sit there and tell me that some dashed paper paid you five quid simply because you sprained your ankle? Pull yourself together, old horse. Things like that don't happen."
"It's quite true."

This passage initially evokes the idea that an "accident" entails a "loss by injury", since Freddie sprained his ankle. The opposing "gain by injury" is at first weakly introduced with the phrase "It wasn't bad fun getting a rest", and is then more explicitly established by the phrase "I got a fiver ... for getting my ankle sprained". Ukridge is inspired by Lunt's story and later proposes his plan:

"Here's the scheme. We take out subscriptions for all these papers, then we draw lots, and the fellow who gets the fatal card or whatever it is goes out and breaks his leg and draws the loot, and we split it up between us and live on it in luxury."

In this quote, there is a comedic incongruity between the phrase "breaks his leg", which again recalls the connected ideas of "accident" and "loss by injury", and the phrase "draws the loot", which has the opposing meaning of a "gain by injury". Additionally, the phrase "breaks his leg" becomes more significant when it is decided that Teddy Weeks, an aspiring actor, will be the victim. "Break a leg" is a phrase used to wish an actor good luck with a performance, and essentially involves a wish for harm and an opposing wish for success. According to Holcomb, Wodehouse often uses "pseudo-epigrams", or isolated comedic comments that depend on the context of the story for their humour. For example, after Teddy Weeks remains uninjured for a while, the narrator laments, "In a crippled world, it seemed, Teddy Weeks walked alone, whole and glowing with health." Also, after Beamish and not Weeks is bitten by a dog, the narrator comments, "A dog-bitten Victor Beamish had no market value whatever." These quotes create humour by evoking the opposing scripts already present in the story.

Publication history

In ''Cosmopolitan'', the story was illustrated by T. D. Skidmore.McIlvaine (1990), p. 148, D17.27. It was illustrated by

Reginald Cleaver Reginald Thomas Cleaver (died 1954) was a British cartoonist notable for his work for ''Punch'' and ''The Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was ...

in the ''Strand''.McIlvaine (1990), p. 184, D133.98. "Ukridge's Accident Syndicate" was included in the 1932 collection ''Nothing But Wodehouse'', edited by

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's best ...

and published by Doubleday, Doran & Company, New York. It was included in the 1939 collection ''Week-end Wodehouse'' (UK edition), published by Herbert Jenkins Limited, London. The 1960 collection ''The Most of P. G. Wodehouse'', published by Simon and Schuster, New York, included the story. Along with the other Ukridge stories, it was collected in the 1975 omnibus ''The World of Ukridge'', published by Barrie & Jenkins. The story was also included in the 1978 collection ''Vintage Wodehouse'', edited by

Richard Usborne Richard Alexander Usborne (16 May 1910 – 21 March 2006) was a journalist, advertising executive, schoolmaster and author. After the publication of his book ''Wodehouse at Work'' in 1961 he became regarded as the leading authority on the works ...

and published by Barrie & Jenkins, in ''Wodehouse on Crime'', a 1981 collection edited by D. R. Bensen with a foreword by

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, published by Ticknor & Fields, New York, and in ''Short Stories'', a collection of stories by Wodehouse published by the Folio Society in 1983 with drawings by

George Adamson George Alexander Graham Adamson MBE (3 February 1906 – 20 August 1989), also known as the ''Baba ya Simba'' ("Father of Lions" in Swahili), was a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and author. He and his wife, Joy, were depicted in the film ''B ...

. It was featured in ''The Second Century of Humour'', an anthology with illustrations by Fougasse published by Hutchinson, London, in 1936. "Ukridge's Accident Syndicate" was also included in the anthology ''The Best of Humor'', edited by

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...

, published in 1983 by Knopf in 1983 and Penguin in 1984.

Adaptations

The story was adapted for radio in 1940 and broadcast on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

, under the title "Accident Syndicate". It was one of four Ukridge episodes produced by Peter Creswell and adapted by Helmar Fernback. The radio drama featured Malcolm Graeme as Ukridge, William Hutchison as Corky,

Alan Wheatley Alan Wheatley (19 April 1907 – 30 August 1991) was an English actor. He was a well known stage actor in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, appeared in forty films between 1931 and 1965 and was a frequent broadcaster on radio from the 1930s to the ...

as Teddy Weeks, and Charles Mason as Victor Beamish. In 1968, the story was adapted for television as "The Accident Syndicate", the fourth episode of the second series of ''

The World of Wodehouse ''The World of Wodehouse'' is a comedy television series, based on the Blandings Castle and Ukridge stories written by P. G. Wodehouse. The series, which followed the television series ''The World of Wooster'', was shown on BBC Television. It c ...

''. The first episode of ''The Adventures of Ukridge'' (1992–93), a radio series that first aired on BBC Radio 4, was based on the story. Adapted by

Julian Dutton Julian Dutton is an English comedy writer and performer, principally for television and radio, whose work has won a British Comedy Award, a BAFTA, and a Radio Academy Gold Award for Best Comedy. He is the author of five books. He is the co-cr ...

, the episode featured

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

as Ukridge,

Robert Bathurst Robert Guy Bathurst (born 22 February 1957) is an English actor. Bathurst was born in The Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. In 1959 his family moved to Ballybrack, Dublin, Ireland and Bath ...

as Corky,

Adam Godley Adam Godley (born 22 July 1964) is a British-American actor. He has been nominated for two Tony Awards and four Laurence Olivier Awards for his performances on the New York and London stages which include, ''Private Lives'' in 2001, ''The Pillo ...

as Tupper, Simon Godley as Beamish, Julian Dutton as Teddy, and

Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for ''The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...

as Madeline.

References