Arthur Treacher Collection

Arthur Treacher
(1894 – 1975)

Americans are in love with the concept of employing a butler. The concept of keeping servants and having a butler flies in the face of the Yankee notion of egalitarianism and is reminiscent of British aristocracy. However, being able to afford a butler is an indication that you have "made it", that you have reached the pinnacle of personal and professional success to the point of being able to afford the finer things in life.

The American reality tends to identify with the butler more than with the aristocrats who employ him, while acknowledging the fact that the success of a butler is tied to that of the family he chooses to 'buttle' for. We see a butler, even though they are a servant, as someone who is wise and loyal, the predilection of mystery writers to show that "the butler did it" notwithstanding.

Our notion of the perfect butler is based on the character of Jeeves, created by P.G. Wodehouse. Actually, Jeeves was technically a valet or personal manservant rather than a butler. A butler (the term means "officer in charge of the King's bottles") is the senior male in a staff of household servants while a valet works for an individual rather than a household. Jeeves still manages to embody the characteristics of wisdom and loyalty we want to see in a butler, and Jeeves has become vernacular as a generic term for a useful and reliable person.

The character of Jeeves was brought to the screen by British actor Arthur Treacher, and Treacher built a career around the American notion of a British butler. Treacher, born in 1892, was the son of a Sussex solicitor, and educated at a private boarding school in the Midlands. During the Great War, he was an officer in the Royal Garrison Artillery. After mustering out of the service, Arthur began a stage career which brought him across the Atlantic in 1926 with the revue Great Temptations. Billy Rose used him in 1930's Sweet and Low, and it did not take Hollywood long to take notice.

At 6'4", directors loved to shot him next to diminutive Shirley Temple, and he appeared in Curly Top (1935), Stowaway (1936), Heidi (1937) and The Little Princess (1939) with the child sensation. The Shirley Temple films established his reputation as "the perfect butler", and he took the role of P.G. Wodehouse's character in Thank You Jeeves! (1936) and Step Lively Jeeves (1937). Although the films were well received, Wodehouse was not impressed and would not authorize any more Jeeves films. Treacher's character was well established, however, and he would ride on the typecasting for more than three decades.

During WWII, the G.I.s loved stories of aristocrats getting their comeuppance, and Treacher made the rounds of Command Performance, GI Journal, and Mail Call as a butler getting the best of his boss. On the May 17, 1944, episode of Mail Call, Jimmy Durante tries to hire Treacher as his butler, a role for which he was uncredited in the 1934 film Hollywood Party. Arthur had recurring roles on The Jack Carson Show and The Smiths of Hollywood, and he showed up at Duffy's Tavern on multiple occasions to "class-up the joint".

Treacher was a popular guest on several early TV shows in his typecast role, and he was a mentor to game show host Merv Griffin. When Griffin launched his own syndicated talk show in 1965, he brought Treacher aboard as announcer and sidekick. As the show opened, Arthur would read the list of guests, and end the intro with "…and now, here's the dear boy himself, Meeeer-vin!" When CBS offered Griffin the chance to go up against The Tonight Show in 1969, the network was afraid that Treacher was too old for the show, but Griffin fought to keep his friend aboard. However, when the show moved to Hollywood later that year, Treacher chose to remain behind, telling Griffin "at my age, I don't want to move, especially to someplace that shakes!"

Treacher was still popular enough to become the celebrity spokesperson for the Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips restaurant chain. Supposedly, Treacher's own batter recipe was used in the flagship recipe to underscore the British nature of the place, and during the late 1970's there were more than 800 stores. The industry took a hit when the "cod wars" between Great Britain and Iceland drove up the price of fish in the Seventies, and there are only 14 Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips left, many co-branded with Nathan's Famous.

Arthur Treacher passed away on December 14, 1975, at the age of 81 from cardiovascular disease. His ashes were buried at sea in the Atlantic. A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6274 Hollywood Blvd was dedicated on February 8, 1960, to honor Arthur Treacher's work in Motion Pictures.