Step Lively, Jeeves! *** (1937, Arthur Treacher, Patricia Ellis, Robert Kent, Alan Dinehart, George Givot, Helen Flint) – Classic Movie Review 11,993

Director Eugene Forde’s 1937 comedy Step Lively, Jeeves! stars Arthur Treacher, Patricia Ellis, Robert Kent, Alan Dinehart, George Givot and Helen Flint. The film is based on P G Wodehouse’s characters but not on any of his Jeeves stories, and portrays Jeeves as a naive bumbler, which is not how he is portrayed by Wodehouse in the books. The other half of the unique double act, Jeeves’s master Bertie Wooster, does not appear at all.

P G Wodehouse’s character Jeeves turned out to be a series of only two films, ending abruptly after Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937) in which English film and stage actor Arthur Treacher again plays Jeeves, but there is no Bertie Wooster as original co-star David Niven was then under contract to Samuel Goldwyn. Wodehouse was unhappy how his work had been adapted and refused to allow further Jeeves movies. That might have been bad news for Treacher, but he played a valet, manservant or butler in several other movies, including Personal Maid’s Secret, Mister Cinderella, Heidi (1937) and Bordertown (1935).

Step Lively, Jeeves! is the welcome sequel to 1936’s Thank You, Jeeves!, alas abruptly ending the series, in which Arthur Treacher again scores winningly as P G Wodehouse’s splendidly supercilious British butler, who here is conned by two swindlers and goes to New York to claim a supposed fortune and finds bank thieves and organised criminals.

Alas, there is no David Niven (who was Bertie Wooster, and worse still there is no one playing him!) or Arthur Wontner this time, but there are the inimitable Franklin Pangborn and George Givot instead, as a waiter and a prince.

It was released by 20th Century Fox on 1 April 1937.

Arthur Treacher lent his name to the Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips chain of restaurants.

The cast are Arthur Treacher as Jeeves, Patricia Ellis as Patricia Westley, Robert Kent as Gerry Townsend, Alan Dinehart as Hon Cedric B Cromwell, George Givot as Prince Boris Caminov, Helen Flint as Babe, John Harrington as Barney Ross, George Cooper as Slug, Arthur Housman as Max, Max Wagner as Joey, Franklin Pangborn as Gaston, and Phyllis Barry as Mrs Tremaine.

According to Bertie Wooster, Jeeves ‘can buttle with the best of them’. Jeeves had a six decade run from Extricating Young Gussie in 1915 to Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen in 1974, the last novel fully completed by Wodehouse before his death.

The last remaining Arthur Treacher’s, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Treacher lent his name to Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips fast food seafood restaurant chain in America. In the late 1970s, it had more than 800 locations but by June 2021, only one remained, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He was a spokesman for the restaurant chain in its early years of the early Seventies, underscoring the British character of its food, and would sometimes visit the restaurants in a red double-decker bus. Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters designated 30 June 2021 Arthur Treacher’s Day.

Treacher and Merv Griffin on Griffin’s CBS talk show, 1969.

Arthur Veary Treacher (23 July 1894 – 14 December 1975 is remembered for his many butler roles, as the 1960s sidekick to talk show host Merv Griffin, and as Constable Jones in Mary Poppins.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,993

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