The Man with Two Left Feet, and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by British author P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the UK on 8 March 1917 by Methuen & Co., London, and in the US on 1 February 1933 by A. L. Burt and Co., New York.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 31–33, A21. All the stories had previously appeared in periodicals, usually The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and The Red Book Magazine or The Saturday Evening Post in the United States.
It is a miscellaneous collection and includes several stories that are more serious than Wodehouse's more well-known comic fiction. Wodehouse biographer Richard Usborne stated that the collection was "mostly sentimental apprentice work", though one light-hearted story, "Extricating Young Gussie", is notable for the first appearance in print of two of Wodehouse's best-known characters, Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster (although Bertie's surname is not given and Jeeves's role is very small), and Bertie's fearsome Aunt Agatha.
In the US version of the book, "Wilton's Holiday", "Crowned Heads", and the two-part "The Mixer" were omitted, and replaced with three Reggie Pepper stories that had appeared in the UK collection My Man Jeeves (1919). These stories were "Absent Treatment", "Rallying Round Old George" (later rewritten as the Mulliner story "George and Alfred"), and "Doing Clarence a Bit of Good" (later rewritten as the Jeeves story "Jeeves Makes an Omelette").
Contents "Bill the Bloodhound" US: The Century Magazine, February 1915 (as "Bill, the Bloodhound", US setting) UK: The Strand Magazine, April 1915 (UK setting, source for this book)
Plot Henry Pitfield Rice, a young man employed in a detective bureau, falls in love with chorus girl Alice Weston and proposes to her, but she refuses. She is fond of him but wants to marry someone in her profession. Henry tries to get a job on the stage but fails since he cannot sing or dance. Henry is sent by his employer to follow the touring company performing The Girl from Brighton, which Alice is part of, since a woman wants her husband shadowed and he is an actor in the show. Henry follows the company from town to town, using different disguises. Though it bothers Henry not to be able to talk to Alice, he enjoys travel and admires the company's performers, including Sidney Crane, who plays the hero, and the company's star actor, amiable comedian Walter Jelliffe. Henry chats with Jelliffe in multiple towns in different disguises.
Eventually, Jelliffe asks Henry who he is following. The company realized that Henry is a detective and call him Bill the Bloodhound. They are holding a sweepstake on who he is investigating. The show has been successful, so Jelliffe thinks Henry is lucky and asks him to join them as a mascot. Henry agrees, but refuses to reveal who he is following. During the next show, Henry proposes to Alice just before she goes on stage. He tries to follow her and trips onto the stage, delighting the crowd and interrupting a song by Clarice Weaver, who is unpopular in the company. Later, Jelliffe assures Henry that the company is glad about Henry's interruption, because it compelled Clarice Weaver to quit and Sidney Crane's wife will replace her as the show's heroine. Henry will soon have to go back to London (US version: New York), because he was hired by Mrs Crane. Jelliffe, who is glad he won the sweepstake, urges him to join the troupe. Jelliffe is certain that Henry will be a successful actor and mascot for the company because he is lucky. Henry gladly joins the company, and is now in the same profession as Alice.
"Extricating Young Gussie" US: The Saturday Evening Post, 18 September 1915 UK: The Strand Magazine, January 1916 (source for this book)
See "Extricating Young Gussie".
"Wilton's Holiday" UK: The Strand Magazine, July 1915 (source for this book, UK setting: Marvis Bay) US: Illustrated Sunday Magazine and Minneapolis Tribune Sunday Magazine, 19 March 1916 (as "Wilton's Vacation", US setting: Rockport)
Plot The story is narrated by a man from London (a man from New York in the US edition). Jack Wilton comes to Marois Bay to spend his holiday. There he invents a story about his fiancée, Amy, dying on their wedding day to prevent local people from confiding in him and from bothering him with their sad stories and problems. Then he falls in love with another holiday maker, Mary Campbell, and he proposes to her but is refused by her on the grounds that memories of Amy will always be between them. When he tells her that he invented Amy, she decides to break with him for good.
Upset about Mary, Jack goes for a walk on the seashore and ends up falling asleep against a rock in a secluded cove. When he wakes up, he finds that Mary is there, since she happened to do the same thing. When the tide rises, they are trapped and Mary fears they will drown. She confesses her love for Jack, but he tells her the tide won't get high enough to drown them, and she gets annoyed that he didn't tell her earlier. They sit apart from each other for a while waiting for the tide to recede. Eventually, Mary forgives him and they reconcile.
"The Mixer: He Meets a Shy Gentleman" UK: The Strand Magazine, November 1915 (as "The Mixer", source for this book, UK setting) US: The Red Book Magazine, June 1916 (as "A Very Shy Gentleman", US setting)
Plot The narrator, the Mixer, is a dog with the face of a bulldog and the body of a terrier. He lives in an East End pub with his mother and calls himself a Mixer because is sociable. He is not a pretty dog but does look fierce, so he is bought by a man looking for a guard dog. The restless dog is eager to see life and barks goodbye to his mother and others at the pub, including the friendly barman Fred. The furtive man who bought the dog keeps to himself, so the dog thinks he is shy and calls him the Shy Man. The man is only talkative on one occasion, when he tells an associate that the dog will help him enter unnoticed into a house that always keeps a guard dog. He is stern and hits the narrator when he barks, but rewards him when he learns not to bark. The dog thinks the man is too shy to stand being spoken to. Despite the times the man hit him, the dog grows attached to him and is sorry he is so shy.
Some time later, the Shy Man brings the dog to a vacated country house being looked after by a caretaker. The caretaker's old guard dog died earlier that day because it was poisoned. The Shy Man sells the narrator to the caretaker to be the new guard dog. The dog is pleased to see Fred, who visits the caretaker, his father. That night, the Shy Man breaks into the house, and the dog, trained not to bark, keeps quiet. However, he pities the man's shyness, and wakes Fred up so Fred can see him and help him not be shy. Fred hears the intruder's footsteps and, armed with a gun, has the intruder arrested. The dog is confused about why the Shy Man is taken away, but Fred and his father treat him very well after the incident, so he decides not to worry about it.
"The Mixer: He Moves in Society" UK: The Strand Magazine, December 1915 (as "The Mixer", source for this book, UK setting) US: The Red Book Magazine, July 1916 (as "Breaking into Society", US setting)
Plot The narrator, the sociable dog who calls himself the Mixer, runs across the street and is hit by a car, though the car was going slowly and he is not seriously hurt. The chauffeur, a boy named Peter, and the boy's nurse get out of the car to check on the dog. Peter wants to keep the dog and names him Fido. Fido does not like his new name much but he likes Peter. At Peter's large country house, his parents disapprove of Fido because they keep award-winning pedigree dogs, but they do not deny Peter anything and he gets to keep Fido. The other dogs act snobbish towards Fido. He is relieved to find a friendly terrier named Jack belonging to one of the servants. Jack used to belong to Peter, but Peter tired of him. Jack warns that Peter will tire of Fido, and suggests he do something to please the family so he can stay. Fido gets along well with Peter but worries Jack is right after Peter tires of a toy aeroplane.
Fido sees a rat in the drawing room and tries to help by attacking it. He only realizes it is actually a small toy dog named Toto after Toto barks at him. Fido apologizes, but Toto only barks that he could have beaten Fido. Peter's mother says Fido is dangerous and must be shot. Fido is brought to the stables and resigned to his fate, but then he is secretly rescued by Peter. Peter runs away with Fido into the woods. They walk for a long time and fall asleep. Eventually, a search party comes. Peter tells his father that he was kidnapped by brigands and rescued by Fido. His father says that from now on Fido shall be an honoured guest. Fido does not understand why Peter insists he was kidnapped by brigands, but once again he is treated well and decides not to worry.
"Crowned Heads" US: The Argosy, June 1914 UK: Pearson's Magazine, April 1915 (source for this book)
Plot A young but unattractive girl, Katie Bennett, who runs a small secondhand bookshop in New York, meets a young and attractive man, Ted Brady, who is a famous and respected athlete. Ted falls in love with her and proposes to her. Katie wants to marry him and initially accepts. However, her grandfather, Matthew Bennett, lives under the illusion that he is the King of England and objects to their marriage, claiming that Katie cannot marry a commoner. Katie is her grandfather's caretaker and is unwilling to upset him by marrying Ted.
Ted's friend, a boxer, offers to pretend to threaten Mr. Bennett so Ted can defend Mr. Bennett and win his favour. Ted approves of this plan but Katie rejects it, fearing it would be too much for her grandfather's nervous system. She forces herself to tell Ted that they should not see each other again for some time. Ted reluctantly goes and a few months pass. One day, Ted returns and asks to speak to Katie's grandfather. They talk, and Mr. Bennett excitedly calls Katie into the room. Mr. Bennett now approves of Ted marrying Katie, since Ted was elected King of Coney Island for Mardi Gras.
"At Geisenheimer's" US: The Saturday Evening Post, 21 August 1915 UK: The Strand Magazine, October 1915 (as "The Love-r-ly Silver Cup", source for this book)
Plot Miss Roxborough (the story's narrator) meets Charlie Ferris at a New York club called Geisenheimer's, where she is employed as a professional dancer. Charlie and his wife Mary are from Maine, and Charlie loves New York though Mary doesn't. Charlie thinks Mary is not a good enough dancer for New York and dances with others while Mary meekly sits to the side. In Maine, Mary knew a man named John Tyson, whose wife left him because she was captivated by New York, and she fears she will similarly lose Charlie to New York. Miss Roxborough feels sorry for Mary and wants to help. The club holds a dancing contest, which is actually arranged so that Miss Roxborough's ticket number will be announced the winner, so that the management do not really have to give away the prize, the Love-r-ly Silver Cup.
Miss Roxborough convinces Mary to enter the contest with a dance partner and gives Mary a ticket. Miss Roxborough dances with Charlie, who is focused on dancing and does not realize Mary is competing until the contest ends. Miss Roxborough's original number is announced the winner, but she gave her ticket to Mary, so Mary and her partner win. Charlie is stunned that Mary won. Miss Roxborough convinces him that Mary may become captivated by New York and leave him if they stay much longer, so he now wants to go back with Mary to Maine. The management is upset about Miss Roxborough giving her ticket to Mary. Miss Roxborough has decided to quit her job anyway and return to Maine, to reunite with her husband John Tyson.
"The Making of Mac's" UK: The Strand Magazine, May 1915 (source for this book, UK setting)