Ruggles of Red Gap

The interesting tale “Ruggles of Red Gap” by Harry Leon Wilson tells the story of Ruggles, a British valet who finds himself out of place in a small American Western town. Ruggles is employed by an American couple as a servant after his employer uses him as a stake in a poker game. Plot twists abound in comedy as he becomes a small-town star after being mistakenly identified as a wealthy Brit.

After appearing in serial form in The Saturday Evening Post in 1914, the book went on to become a best-seller in 1915. Later, it was turned into a musical for the Broadway stage and a motion picture, the most well-known of which starred Charles Laughton in 1935.