Birth of a Salesman Birth of a Salesman "Birth of a Salesman" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the 26 March 1950 issue of "This Week" magazine. Part of the "Blandings Castle" canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection "Nothing Serious" (1950). The story's title is a play on "Death of a Salesman", the now-classic stageplay by Arthur Miller, which had won a Pulitzer Prize the previous year. Lord Emsworth is visiting America for the wedding of his niece Veronica to millionaire Tipton Plimsoll. With currency restrictions
The Play What I Wrote Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple", the "play within a play" (with a cameo by a mystery guest star) which formed the play's second half. It is named after the "play wot I wrote", the inept play supposedly written by Wise and featuring a celebrity guest which formed the finale to each Morecambe and Wise show. In "The Play What I Wrote", "Sean" writes a similarly inept play and is humoured by "Hamish" in the first half by having it performed. As in the Morecambe and Wise antecedent, the celebrity would play him or herself set up to appear, rather foolishly,