A visual annotation for the Wimsey novels

[truepenny]

If you've ever wondered what Ralph Lynn looked like, and why Peter always gets compared to him, check out these pictures.

a jigsaw puzzle ad (Ralph Lynn and Glennis Lorimer)

still from Chance of a Night-Time (Ralph Lynn and Winifred Shotter)

Two South African tobacco cards, here and here (Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls). The site also features Rudolph Valentino in a powdered wig and a really stunning picture of Fay Wray. (Have I mentioned my passion for black-and-white portraiture?)

According to the IMDb, Ralph Lynn (1882-1962) appeared in twenty-two films between 1929 and 1937 (the second of the two South African tobacco cards is from his last film, For Valour). Their biography/trivia page adds that he was a stage actor who made his career playing "monocled 'silly ass' twits." And, as I thought, his first name was pronounced "Rafe."

This post is oracne's fault, for posting a reference to Rupert Brooke (and based on this portrait--which makes me think of the SCR in Gaudy Night drooling over Viscount Saint-George--you can see what the women of Bryn Mawr '17 were on about). I don't have the least idea how I got from Rupert Brooke to Ralph Lynn, but such are the mysterious inner workings of my mind.

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Holy Shamoley, Rupert Brooke was a hottie! I saw the class book almost 8 years ago, and can't remember if I identified Sam Chew or not--wonder if I could do so using Rupert's photo? Heh. He was certainly popular. Next time I go researching, I'll try and find out what happened to him, if he enlisted/was drafted or not.

Ralph Lynn SO looks like Peter Wimsey ought to look. Poor Peter. Not the cutest.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Rupert Brooke was a total dreamboat. I looked at that picture and suddenly I understood why Sam Chew deserved a mention in the class book. Yowza.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Yowza, indeed. Brooke was dead by then--I wonder how old Professor Chew was? I don't NEED to know for the story, but I want to.

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. I picture Wimsey blonder - he has straw coloured hair, I seem to remember. The monocle and the hair style is spot on, though.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, Peter is a blond, hair-color variously described as primrose (in "The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question"), straw (mostly), and tow (when freshly dried, in Busman's Honeymoon).

Re:

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

And he has no chest hair - but it doesn't stop him making babies - I remember that!

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I'm drooling over Rupert Brooke. And the bewigged but shirtless Valentino. MMMmmmmm.

I'm a basket case.

The Ralph Lynn pics are interesting... my mental image of Peter is a little less rectangular in the face but has similarly "finely drawn" features. His smile is different (less toothy?), and his hair is blond. I've never seen the TV adaptations of the books, so I can continue to revel in my own mental picture. :)

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Aieee!!! That's perfect. Especially the silly-ass toothy grin, most notably in the jigsaw puzzle ad. I never imagined his teeth sticking out so far, but now that I see him, *of course* they do.

I have, naturally, blonded his hair in my imagination.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

This is a job for ... Photoshop!

Which, sadly, I neither own nor know how to use. But making Ralph Lynn a blond would be interesting.