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The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series)

1924 film series

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 27, 2025
Entity authorityQ7100378
Source-derived summary

The Clicking of Cuthbert is a 1924 British silent comedy series of six 30-minute short films, all involving golf. The series, directed by Andrew P. Wilson and starring Harry Beasley, was based on short stories by P. G. Wodehouse. These stories were originally published in various magazines; some of the stories had been featured in the collection The Clicking of Cuthbert (1922), while others were later included in the collection The Heart of a Goof (1926).

The films were generally faithful to Wodehouse's original stories and used some of Wodehouse's language in the intertitles. However, some major new subplots and gags were added, including a mischievous caddie played by Harry Beasley. The framing device of The Oldest Member was removed, leaving Beasley as the only regular in the series. The films have been restored, and three have been made available together on video: Rodney Fails to Qualify, Chester Forgets Himself, and The Long Hole (retitled The Moving Hazard).

Films

All six films featured Harry Beasley, credited as The Caddie.

The Clicking of Cuthbert

The first short film had the same title as the series. Based on the short story "The Clicking of Cuthbert", collected in The Clicking of Cuthbert.

Editorial summary

“The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series)” enters the record as 1924 film series. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Clicking, Cuthbert and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1924, 1922, 1926—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1924-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Clicking, Cuthbert and film.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Clicking, Cuthbert and film provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7100378. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 1922 and 1926.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series) primary sources, The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series) archive and Clicking research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Clicking of Cuthbert (film series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.