Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright

Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright
Jeeves, Drones Club character
First appearance "The Masked Troubadour" (1936)
Last appearance "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" (1965)
Created by P. G. Wodehouse
Portrayed by John Elmes
Kenneth Fortescue
Information
Full name Claude Cattermole Potter-Pirbright
Nickname(s) Catsmeat
Aliases Meadowes
Gender Male
Occupation Actor
Family Cora "Corky" Potter-Pirbright (sister)
Nationality British

Claude Cattermole "Catsmeat" Potter-Pirbright is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves and Drones Club stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a longtime school friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club. An actor known as "Claude Cattermole" on stage, he is known to his friends by the nickname "Catsmeat".

Inspiration

The character was inspired by the real life actor and county cricketer, Basil Foster, who played against Wodehouse in the Actors against Authors game at Lord's in 1907.[1]

Life and character

The son of a theatrical music writer and a New York actress named Elsie Cattermole, Claude Cattermole "Catsmeat" Potter-Pirbright is the brother of actress Cora "Corky" Pirbright, who is also known by her stage name, Cora Starr. Catsmeat is engaged to Gertrude Winkworth, the daughter of Dame Daphne Winkworth. Himself a West End actor, Catsmeat generally plays the role of the hero's light-hearted friend carrying the second love interest in comedies. Catsmeat and Bertie Wooster went together to Malvern House Preparatory School, where Catsmeat was described in a report by the headmaster Aubrey Upjohn as "brilliant but unsound". He was also with Bertie at secondary school at Eton, and at the University of Oxford.[2]

Catsmeat's nickname is probably derived at least in part from the similarity of "Cattermole" to "cat's meat" (meaning meat prepared for cats).

In The Code of the Woosters, he attends the pre-wedding dinner for Gussie Fink-Nottle, where Bertie Wooster keeps Catsmeat from giving his imitation of Beatrice Lillie. Catsmeat is responsible for a mix-up involving a "Borstal Rovers" football jersey in Joy in the Morning.[3]

His main role is in the Jeeves novel The Mating Season, during which he gets Gussie Fink-Nottle to climb fully clothed into the Trafalgar Square fountain.[3] In that novel, he pretends to be Bertie's valet, calling himself Meadowes, and inadvertently becomes temporarily engaged to Queenie Silversmith.[3] He also appears in "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird", in which he and Bertie discuss the theatrical agent, Jas Waterbury.

He collaborates with Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps to write an article titled "Some Little-Known Cocktails" for Wee Tots. Ultimately, he plans to go to Hollywood.[4]

Appearances

Catsmeat is featured in:

Catsmeat is mentioned in:

Adaptations

Television
  • John Elmes portrayed Catsmeat in the 1990-1993 television series Jeeves and Wooster in series 3, episode 4.[5]
Radio
  • Kenneth Fortescue voiced Catsmeat in an adaptation of The Mating Season in the 1973-1981 series, What Ho! Jeeves.[6]

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Murray Hedgcock (2011), "Extras", Wodehouse at the Wicket, Random House, p. 197
  2. ↑ Garrison (1991), p. 152-153.
  3. 1 2 3 Ring & Jaggard (1999), pp. 203-4.
  4. ↑ Cawthorne (2013), p. 217.
  5. ↑ "Jeeves and Wooster Series 3, Episode 4". British Comedy Guide. BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "What Ho, Jeeves!: 1: Deverill Hall". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
Bibliography
  • Cawthorne, Nigel (2013). A Brief Guide to Jeeves and Wooster. Constable & Robinson. ISBN 978-1-78033-824-8.
  • Garrison, Daniel H. (1991) [1989]. Who's Who in Wodehouse (Revised ed.). Constable & Robinson. ISBN 1-55882-087-6.
  • Reggie (16 March 2007). "Wodehouse Who's Who: Claude Pirbright". Blandings, a Companion to the Works of P. G. Wodehouse. Archived from the original on 22 July 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
  • Ring, Tony; Jaggard, Geoffrey (1999). Wodehouse in Woostershire. Porpoise Books. ISBN 1-870-304-19-5.
  • Hutchinson, Kyle. "Wodehouse Characters: Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright". The P. G. Wodehouse Story Index [database]. (last updated 2006-05-11)

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