Musings-Where did "The Butler Did It" Come From?

This is a shorter post today as we examine the idea of "The Butler Did It."  Enjoy.

Everybody knows the phrase "The Butler Did It."  It is referred to as a joke as if that was a common villain in murder mysteries at some point.  But the truth is, it wasn't used that often to warrant being a trope.  A trope is "a convention or device that establishes a predictable or stereotypical representation of a character, setting, or scenario in a creative work."  But, if it was never really used enough to become a convention that is predictable, where did we get the phrase?

"This plot formula has the unusual distinction of being a cliché of mystery writing without ever having been widely used.  

The concept of "the butler did it" is commonly attributed to Mary Roberts Rinehart. Her otherwise forgettable 1930 novel, The Door, is notable for (spoiler alert) the ending, in which the butler actually is the villain. (The actual phrase "the butler did it," however, never appears in the text.)

While suspicion had fallen on butlers with some regularity in earlier mystery fiction, only one previous author placed the knife (or in this case the pistol) directly in the butler's hand: "The Strange Case of Mr Challoner" by Herbert Jenkins, published as part of the collection Malcolm Sage: Detective in 1921. It was The Door, however, that locked the cliché into the imagination of the reading public." Nate Pedersen "Why do we think the butler did it?" The Guardian, Dec 9, 2010 

     In 1867 the Civil War began in the United States, but before that the system of owning slaves had engendered a fear of slaves rising up against their owners, which occrured in only a few instances.  This fear was particularly fed among the women to fear what would happen to them if slaves rebelled.   This kept both women and slaves, who had similar non-legal status, to distrust one another.  Apparently it wasn't only the Amreican south that may have spawned the "Butler Did It" concept.  Although nobody specifically makes that specific connection.

"In Lady Audley’s Secret from 1862, too, the character Lady Audley “shares with her Victorian readers a mounting anxiety about the eyes and ears of servants in the home.” It makes a certain sense that the trope seemed more popular because it dug into the fears of the upper class at the time."  Addison Rizer  "When Did the Butler Dunnit? The History of 'The Butler Did It' Trope" Bookriot, Jan 19, 2023. 

Whatever the specific reasons that caused us to blame the Stoic Butler stereotype, TVTropes.com suggests that "The butler is the avatar of the most unlikely suspect that turns out to be guilty because the author wasn't creative enough to come up with a better way to surprise the reader... except that you can see it coming a mile away."

Additionally, TVTropes.com also reveals that there is something similar which I'd not heard about.  "It is the case that this is an English-language trope: crime novels popular in Germany in the same period were notorious for the cliche that "the gardener did it," thus transplanting the blame out of the house."

In the course of researching this post, I found there is a stage play titled "The Butler Did It" and a movie based on the play.  Here is the description of the play: 

"This comedy parodies every English mystery play ever written: but it has a decidedly American flair. Miss Maple, a dowager with a reputation for "clever" weekend parties, invites a group of detective writers to eerie Ravenswood Manor on Turkey Island where they are to impersonate their fictional characters. The hostess has arranged all sorts of amusing incidents: a mysterious voice on the radio, a menacing face at the window, a mad killer on the loose. Who is that body in the wine cellar anyway? Why do little figurines keep toppling from the mantle? Then a real murder takes place, and Miss Maple is outraged. She offers an immense reward to the "detective" who can bring the killer to justice. And what an assortment of zany would-be sleuths! When they're not busy tripping over clues, they trip over each other! Laughs collide with thrills, and the climax is a real seat-grabber as the true killer is unmasked, and almost everyone turns out to be someone else! Can be played as a pure farce, or as humorous satire."

I want to see this play, it sounds like a lot of fun.  Have you seen it?  If so, please share what you thought of it.

I hope you enjoyed our little exploration of this expression and its murky origins when it actually is a rarity.  What else would you like to know?  Leave in the comments if there is a mystery/thriller subject you would like me to tackle.