Bachelors Anonymous

P.G. Wodehouse was born in 1881 and is probably best known for his Jeeves and Wooster books. "Bachelors Anonymous" was first published in 1973, only two years before he died, and is one of his standalone novels. Ivor Llewellyn is the exceptionally rich and internationally famous head of the Superba Llewellyn Film Studio, based in Hollywood. Unfortunately, and rather tellingly, one of his closest personal friends is his divorce lawyer, Ephraim Trout. Having just come through their fifth divorce together, Trout - perhaps surprisingly, for a lawyer - now views the movie mogul as more than just a steady meal ticket. Llewellyn is now moving to London for a spell, officially to smarten up the London operation - however, it is a move that meets with Trout's approval. He feels that London's comparatively lousy climate will suppress Llewellyn's tendency to propose. Trout, unlike Llewellyn, has never married : he's been a longstanding member of Bachelors Anonymous, an organisation dedicated to the single life. Any member who feels like they may be falling off the wagon - and, say, inviting a young lady to dinner or to the theatre - can contact his fellow members for help. "Calm succeeds turmoil", says Mr Trout, "and the madness passes". However, while Trout feels London's climate will be a help, he's a little uncomfortable that there's no London chapter of Bachelors Anonymous. To this end, he's advised Llewellyn to get in touch with Nichols, Erridge and Trubshaw - a firm of lawyers based in the English city. Still, following a discussion with the members of the LA Chapter of his noble organisation, he decides to tidy up his affairs at work so he can travel to London and give Llewellyn his undivided attention. Unfortunately, Llewellyn has barely arrived in London before he has forgotten all about Nichols, Erridge and Trubshaw...and falls in with an actress called Vera Dalrymple. Ms Dalrymple, when Ivor first meets her, is starring in a play called "Cousin Angela". The play was written by Joe Pickering who - right up until he met his bossy, bad-tempered leading lady - had been a light-hearted and cheerful soul. Joe spends his days working in a solicitor's office, and - having recently won the middleweight amateur championship - is a fairly useful boxer. On the play's closing night, Joe actually throws a drunken Llewellyn out of the theatre - the mogul was going to thump Mac, the doorman, believing he had insulted a friend called Jack Warner. (In fact, Mac been warning Joe that Sir Jaklyn Warner, a broke Baronet, was looking to borrow some money). Joe had also met Sally Fitch for the first time at the theatre - a journalist, Sally was interviewing him for a women's magazine. (Joe, in typical Wodehousian fashion, is immediately impressed with his interviewer - luckily enough, as they spend the rest of the book unable to avoid each other). Sally is a clergyman's daughter, and was once employed by Letitia Carberry - a keen supporter of the Anti-Tobacco League

PGW's books rarely fail to amuse and entertain, and certainly "Bachelors" is no exception. Big-time Hollywood producer Ivor Llewellyn, a five-time divorcee (due to a compulsion to propose over dinner) is off to London where his California divorce lawyer, Ephraim Trout, fears he might fall to the wiles of yet another woman. Trout belongs to "B.A.", patterned after AA, which helps men prevent getting married off. He suggests Llewellyn look up a lawyer while in England to help fill the gap. Sure enough, Llewellyn hires Joe Pickering, a young attorney and fledgling playwright, who has just been smitten by a fledgling reporter, Sally Fitch. Meanwhile, Trout decides to come to London himself in case the "big gun" is needed, and, while interfering in the budding Fitch/Pickering romance, falls for a "comfortable" neighbor lady, Amelia Bingham. Llewellyn spends the whole time avoiding being trapped by Vera Dalrymple, star of Pickering's now closed first play. There's a few more players in this comical farce, but you get the drift... And will they all live happily ever after ?!?! As with his Bertie and Jeeves books, Wodehouse's storyline is little more than an excuse to parade his silly characters and their antics, revealing all too common human foibles at which we can share a low-cost laugh or two. His short novels tend to fly by, with rarely a serious thought or puzzling intrigue to slow us down, just sheer frivolity for a couple of hours. Reading with a smile all the while - this is a good thing, right?

You may remember Ivor Llewellyn from The Plot That Thickened. He is the tough-minded movie mogul who turns into putty whenever he's around a woman. What's even more surprising, he is inclined to propose marriage to even the most unsuitable female . . . just to fill in gaps in the conversation. He's been through five marriages so far. His awful marriage to Grayce ended in The Plot That Thickened.Now, Llewellyn is a single again, and his divorce lawyer is trying to help him avoid another disaster. Mr. Ephraim Trout of Trout, Wapshott and Edelstein tells Llewellyn that Trout has avoided matrimony by relying on a little circle of friends that call themselves Bachelors Anonymous, an organization inspired by the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. They dissuade their fellows from proposing when the urge strikes and sometimes even take stronger action. But Llewellyn is about to go to London where there is no such organization. Trout proposes that he introduce Llewellyn to a law firm there in order to find a lawyer to play that role. Llewellyn agrees. At the same time, the imperious Vera Dalrymple is in the process of ruining a new play, Cousin Angela, for its playwright, Joe Pickering. Inadvertently, Joe makes a good impression on Llewellyn by tossing him from the stage door when he arrives ready to propose to Vera. So through his lawyer friend, Joe gets the job of protecting Llewellyn from proposals.But there's a complication, Joe has become smitten with a remarkable young woman, Miss Sally Fitch. Her life has taken a turn for the better when she inherits some money and a great apartment from a former employer . . . conditioned on not smoking for two years. A female private detective comes to live with her to make sure that she isn't smoking.Will Llewellyn avoid Vera's clutches? Will Joe and Sally find each other? Will Sally get her money?You'll have to read the book to find out, but the trail is a twisted and hilarious one. Anyone who liked The Plot That Thickened will be delighted with this book. The premises are extreme, but if you can swallow them they take you into some fun territory.P.G. Wodehouse once said that you could write about life as it is or as musical comedy without the music. He preferred the latter, and perhaps none of his books better captures that wonderful comic perspective as Bachelors Anonymous does.I would have rated the book higher, but I think that those who haven't read other P.G. Wodehouse books might find this one a little extreme in its characters and plots . . . and that might make suspending disbelief harder. For me, though, this is a five-star laugh!!After you finish, think about where you could accomplish more if your friends helped you. Then, ask for that help!