Character guide

Archie Moffam

major

Also known as Archie, Archibald Moffam, Mr. Moffam, Mrs. Archie Moffam

Archie Moffam drifted into the Brewster dynasty on the strength of his smile and a wartime acquaintance with the song 'Mother's Knee,' and now finds himself the son-in-law of a man who regards him as a walking catastrophe. His genius for good intentions gone spectacularly wrong — whether coaching his brother-in-law from a self-help book or bringing a tramp into his father-in-law's bedroom — keeps him perpetually on the edge of domestic exile. He matters because every scheme he launches, however lunatic, is powered by genuine affection, and the gap between his intentions and their results is where the book lives.

Mr. Daniel Brewster

major

Also known as Daniel Brewster, Mr. Brewster, Brewster, old Brewster

Daniel Brewster owns the Hotel Cosmopolis and a temper that his children describe as more bark than bite, though Archie has yet to confirm the bite is entirely absent. He is a man of order, thrift, and dignity, all three of which Archie violates on a near-daily basis — most memorably by installing a vagrant in his bedroom to rummage through his wardrobe. His running war with Archie is the engine of the novel's comedy, and his grudging, unspoken affection for his family keeps the conflict from ever turning cruel.

Lucille Brewster Moffam

major

Also known as Lucille, Lu, Lou, Old Lu

Lucille Brewster Moffam is the bridge between two irreconcilable worlds — her father's empire of order and her husband's empire of chaos — and she crosses it daily with patience and a dry sense of humor. She nudges Archie into errands he dreads, forgives him for forgetting their anniversary, and knows exactly how to deploy his charm where charm might work. Without her steadying hand, Archie's misadventures would be merely destructive; with it, they become the stuff of domestic comedy worth reading.

Reggie van Tuyl

supporting

Also known as Reggie, Reginald van Tuyl, van Tuyl, Reginald

Reggie van Tuyl moves through the novel's social world with the effortless ease of a man who has never had to explain himself to a hotel manager or a suspicious wife. He is the friend Archie calls when a plan requires connections, a sympathetic ear, or simply someone willing to be complicit in something foolish. His presence widens the story's comic field beyond the Brewster family, and his willingness to follow Archie into trouble confirms that the novel's world rewards loyalty over sense.

Bill Brewster

supporting

Also known as Bill, Willie, Bill Brewster, Brother Bill, old Bill

Bill Brewster is a young man with one topic — the absent Mabel — and no ability to discuss it with the one person whose approval he needs. He loses his nerve whenever he faces his father, yammering instead of speaking, and so turns to Archie for coaching from a self-help book called 'The Personality That Wins.' His predicament gives Archie a purpose beyond mere survival and gives the novel a second romantic thread, one that runs on the same fuel of good intentions and poor execution.

George Benham

supporting

Also known as Mr. Benham, Mr. George Benham, Benham, jolly old Benham

George Benham is the kind of friend Archie makes easily — a pleasant presence at lunch, a man whose misfortunes Archie cannot help but take personally. When Benham's romantic life collapses, Archie's instinct to intervene collides with his fear of what Lucille will think, and the resulting tension exposes the limits of Archie's helpfulness. Benham matters less as a personality than as a catalyst: his troubles force Archie to choose between being a good friend and being a good husband, a choice the novel treats with characteristic lightness and genuine stakes.

J. B. Wheeler

supporting

Also known as Wheeler, old Wheeler, Mr. Wheeler

Wheeler is an acquaintance of Archie's who turns up in the hotel orbit, cheerfully confessing that a stolen painting was the best thing that ever happened to him because it freed his wife to take up golf. His breezy pragmatism — 'God bless you!' he cries when Archie admires the vanished picture — marks him as one of the novel's contented schemers. He matters because his small triumph of domestic engineering shows how Wodehouse characters happily rearrange their lives to dodge the things they dread.

Vera Silverton

supporting

Also known as Miss Silverton, Miss Vera Silverton, the spectacular Miss Silverton

Vera occupies Archie's room by a desk-clerk mix-up and catches him hiding under her bed, but her real disappointment is that he isn't a burglar she can be photographed capturing. Her press agent is useless, her career needs noise, and she registers genuine regret when reality fails to deliver a headline. She matters because her hunger for publicity turns a comic bedroom farce into a running collision between Archie's muddles and the machinery of celebrity.

Washington McCall

supporting

Also known as McCall, Mr. McCall, Washington, young Washington McCall, young McCall

McCall owns property next to Brewster's in Westchester and has been prodded by his formidable wife into a lawsuit, then into taking a suite at Brewster's own hotel. Lucille describes him as one of those small, bullied husbands who does whatever he's told, making him a walking grievance for her father. He matters because his suit and his inconvenient presence seed the McCall subplot that keeps Brewster simmering and Archie meddling.

Squiffy

supporting

Also known as Dear old Squiffy, Dear Old Squiffy Peril

Squiffy — Lord Seacliff — arrives at the Cosmopolis and, without ever saying a word to Brewster, drinks his way through six cases of supplies and then pulls the tablecloths off every table in the grillroom. Archie defends him fondly, noting that Squiffy could be whiffled to the eyebrows and still look sober as a bishop. He matters because his rampage is the first great disaster Brewster blames on Archie, establishing the pattern of innocent chaos that drives the hotel comedy.

Sausage Chappie

supporting

Also known as The Sausage Chappie, Chappie

The Sausage Chappie is a habitué of the Cosmopolis Grill who recognizes his wife at a neighboring table and, when the stout man beside her pats her cheek, seizes the buffet's cold pies and lets fly. His cry of 'It's my wife!' and her answering 'I thought you were dead!' detonate one of the novel's great set pieces. He matters because his eruption hands Archie a chance to play fixer, and because his marital resurrection shows Wodehouse's gift for turning catastrophe into farce.

Cora Bates McCall

supporting

Also known as Mrs. McCall, Cora, Mrs. Cora Bates McCall

Mrs. McCall is the force behind the Westchester land suit, having turned her timid husband Washington against a man he once liked, and she receives Archie's peacemaking visit with icy disdain. Lucille blames her for starting the whole quarrel, and the McCalls' expensive suite at the Cosmopolis looks like deliberate provocation. She matters because her calculated campaign against Brewster gives the early plot its running feud and gives Archie his most thankless diplomatic missions.

Mr. Moon

minor

Also known as Moon, the elusive Mr. Moon, Elmer M. Moon, Elmer Moon

A mysterious and elusive figure who appears intermittently throughout the story.

Roscoe Sherriff

supporting

Also known as Mr. Roscoe Sherriff, Sherriff, Mr. Sherriff

Sherriff is a self-described apostle of Energy whose anecdotal, well-paid past dazzles Archie into wishing he could 'slip things over' and 'put things across' too. Spotting a useful convert, he asks Archie to conceal Mme. Brudowska's snake at the Cosmopolis, insisting it must be a dead secret from the watchful Brewster. His scheme matters because it hands Archie the action he craves while planting the kind of secret that breeds hotel chaos.

Lord Seacliff

minor

Also known as young Lord Seacliff, Seacliff, poor Seacliff

A young British aristocrat who visits the hotel and causes social ripples.

Connolly

supporting

Also known as Mr. Aloysius Connolly, Mr. Connolly, Aloysius

Connolly begins as a chilly presence, but his manner turns bright and alert as he urges Archie to sit and take the chill off the armchair, having 'thought of something.' His bulldog watches gravely from its basket while he probes whether the hotel knows Archie's identity, hinting at a scheme brewing. His shift from gruffness to conspiratorial ally gives Archie an unexpected local accomplice inside the Cosmopolis.

Salvatore

minor

Also known as the unfortunate Salvatore

An Italian immigrant who works at the hotel and has a series of mishaps.

Washy Steps

minor

Also known as Washy, the unfortunate Washy, the Washy

A hotel employee known for his clumsiness and unfortunate incidents.

Herbert Parker

minor

Also known as Parker, jolly old Parker, good old Parker, the absent Parker

Archie's former valet who writes letters detailing his own adventures.

Percy

minor

A friend of Archie's who gets involved in a romantic subplot.

Lindsay McCall

minor

Also known as Lindsay, the McCall, Mr. Lindsay McCall

A relative of Washington McCall who appears in the story.

Blake

minor

Also known as Mr. Blake

A hotel employee or guest who interacts with Archie.

Professor Binstead

minor

Also known as Binstead

An academic who becomes involved in the hotel's social life.

Gossett

minor

Also known as Mr. Gossett

A hotel employee with a minor role in the proceedings.

Mabel Winchester

minor

Also known as Mabel

A young woman who becomes a romantic interest for one of the characters.

General Mannister

minor

A retired military man who is a guest at the hotel.

Pongo

minor

A dog owned by one of the characters, causing comic trouble.

Spectatia Huskisson

minor

Also known as Spectatia, Miss Huskisson, Miss Spectatia Huskisson

A wealthy and eccentric hotel guest with a distinctive personality.

Gus Biddle

minor

Also known as Gus, Augustus Biddle, Mr. Biddle, Biddle

A hotel guest involved in a subplot about a lost dog.

Jane Murchison

minor

Also known as Jane, the exigent Jane

A young woman who briefly appears in a romantic context.

Madame Brudowska

minor

Also known as Mme. Brudowska

A European guest at the hotel with an exotic air.

Peter

minor

A minor character who appears in social scenes at the hotel.

Officer Donahue

minor

Also known as jolly old Donahue, Donahue

A friendly police officer who patrols the hotel area.

Wilson Hymack

minor

Also known as Hymack

A character who appears in the hotel's social circle.

Cassidy

minor

Also known as Officer Cassidy, Mr. Cassidy

A police officer who occasionally appears in the story.

Edgar

minor

A minor character mentioned in passing at the hotel.

Blumenthal

minor

Also known as Mr. Blumenthal

A businessman who has dealings with the hotel.

Sir Philip

minor

Also known as Philip, Sir Philip What's-his-name, jolly old Sir Philip

A British aristocrat who visits the hotel briefly.

Mr. O'Neill

minor

Also known as Tim, Timmy, Mr. Timothy O'Neill

A hotel guest with a minor role in the story.

Doctor Grimesby Rylott

minor

A doctor who is called upon for medical emergencies at the hotel.

Miss Pauline Preston

minor

Also known as Miss Preston, the Misses Pauline Preston

A young woman who appears in a social context at the hotel.

William J. Bryan

minor

Also known as William, Jolly old William

A historical figure mentioned as a hotel guest, not a major character.

Silent Samuel

minor

Also known as Samuel, Silent Sammy

A quiet hotel employee known for his taciturn nature.