Interesting stuff, though I have no doubt that many a lefty blogger will try to twist all of this into National Reviewโs nostlagia for Fascism. Since, that canโt be helped, I might as well join in. Iโm working on a book about Fascism, as some of you know, but I havenโt spent too much time on Mosley, largely because heโs pretty perepheral to the stuff Iโm interested and partly because he seems to have been a crank. But if youโre interested, hereโs a site dedicated to the man
Also, as I think was commented here before, thereโs another link between Wodehouse and Fascism. Wodehouse was hired to adapt the musical โAnything Goesโ for British audiences. The New York (1934) version of the song โYouโre the Topโ included this lyric:
โYouโre the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire
Youโre an OโNeill drama
Youโre Whistlerโs mama
Youโre Camembert.โ
Thereโs some debate on what exactly Wodehouse changed the lyrics to. But the most famous is:
Youโre The Top
Youโre The Great Houdini
Youโre The Top
Youโre Mussolini!โ
Another version includes, โYouโre A Mussolini/Youโre Mrs. Sweeney.
Mrs. Sweeney was the wife of a famous English amateur golfer by the name of Robert Sweeney. The relevance of the allusion is beyond me.






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