The Shriek: A Satirical Burlesque

In Short

A cheekily over-the-top parody of E. M. Hull's The Sheik, this burlesque novel tracks the desert misadventures of Verbeena Mayonnaise, an absurdly athletic, ciggy-smoking English flapper who sets off into the Sahara to make her fortune. Expecting high-stakes romance and villainous abductors, she instead finds herself terrorized by an American movie director, forced to browbeat a fake Arab chief into a common-law marriage, and swept into a chaotic sequence of Hollywood visual gags, outrageous fake identities, and theatrical melodrama. The text endures as a vivid, slice-of-life capsule of 1920s pop-culture satire.

The Story

The tale opens at the Hotel Biscuit on the edge of the Sahara, where the formidable Lady Speedway and her gaggle of gossips—the "Front Porch Knitting Needle Hussars"—express absolute horror at the antics of Verbeena Mayonnaise. A fiercely independent, boyish flapper who knocks her admirers across the room and constantly chain-smokes, Verbeena announces her intention to ride into the desert entirely alone. Ignoring the protests of her empty-headed brother, Lord Tawdry, and brushing off the devotion of young Bertie Butternut, Verbeena sets out with a caravan guided by the dubious Musty Ale. Far from seeking a romantic awakening, Verbeena secretly hopes her desert trek will give her the physical stunts and publicity required to launch a lucrative career as a one-woman movie star to rival Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Her plans are disrupted when she is ambushed and carried off by a imposing desert figure known as Sheik Amut Ben Butler. Expecting a menacing orientalist captor, Verbeena quickly realizes her situation is utterly bizarre: her abductor wears mismatched false whiskers, speaks like an American, and is actually terrified of her. Trapped in his plush tent, Verbeena takes charge, raiding his collection of fancy cigarette cases, browsing his eccentric library, and eventually drawing up a ruthless common-law marriage contract that entitles her to massive alimony in horses, camels, and dates should he ever desert her. Amut, overwhelmed and desperate to escape her domineering personality, attempts a midnight flight into the desert on his horse, Sunstroke, only to be promptly shot at and rounded up by Verbeena.

The narrative descends into escalating absurdities as various literary figures and fake identities cross paths in the dunes. A figure posing as the novelist Robert Hitchings attempts to spin a convoluted backstory about Amut's royal Irish-American heritage before fleeing the plot entirely. Shortly thereafter, the ultimate threat arrives: Cyril Gristmille, a megalomaniacal Hollywood director accompanied by thousands of air-imported crew members. Gristmille utterly cowers Verbeena, barking orders, forcing her into ridiculous dramatic poses, making her act under artificial apple trees, and subjecting her to brutal, repetitive kissing takes.

In the aftermath of the movie shoot, the grand mystery of Sheik Amut Ben Butler is finally laid bare. He is no desert chieftain at all, but the Crown Prince of an American brewery empire, while his entourage consists of deposed European royals and hiding aristocrats. Stripped of his false beard and humbled by the harrowing experience of Hollywood filmmaking, the Sheik surrenders to Verbeena's overwhelming charm. Realizing she would rather be "respectable than a best seller," Verbeena embraces her American prince, and the two settle into a wildly melodramatic, pulse-pounding embrace beneath the desert moon.

How It Unfolds

The scandal at the hotel Lady Speedway and the resident gossips at the Hotel Biscuit express utter outrage over Verbeena Mayonnaise, a boyish, cigarette-puffing flapper who insists on embarking on a solo trip through the Sahara. Verbeena ignores her useless brother, Lord Tawdry, flattens a suitor named Bertie Butternut, and sets off with a native caravan.

The abduction in the dunes While riding through the desert, Verbeena is swooped up by Sheik Amut Ben Butler, who wraps her in his cloak like a bundle of laundry. Expecting a dark, romantic figure, she is dismayed to find her captor's face powder-burnt, his hair mismatched, and her own scheme for cinematic fame completely derailed.

The battle of the tent Waking up in Amut's luxurious quarters, Verbeena quickly recovers her composure, raids his extensive stash of silver cigarette cases, and investigates his strange library. When Amut attempts to assert authority, Verbeena corners him with a drawn hatpin and forces him to sign a binding, businesslike marriage contract.

The midnight escape failed Desperate to flee his domineering new wife, the Sheik sneaks out of the tent in the dead of night and gallops off into the desert on his horse, Sunstroke. His bid for freedom is abruptly cut short when Verbeena tracks him down and shoots his horse out from under him.

The Hollywood invasion The true menace arrives in the form of Cyril Gristmille, a tyrannical movie director who arrives via thousands of airplanes to film a desert epic. Gristmille ruthlessly bossiness Verbeena, forcing her into absurd acting takes, setting up fake apple trees in the sand, and subjecting her to exhausting, aggressive stage kisses.

The grand unraveling With the movie finished, the Sheik reveals his true identity as an American brewery heir surrounded by undercover European royals avoiding political chaos. Verbeena gladly accepts his true persona, and the couple embraces passionately amidst the desert night.

The People

• Verbeena Mayonnaise: A intensely energetic, red-curled flapper who behaves like a rowdy schoolboy, smokes thousands of cigarettes, and possesses formidable physical strength. She enters the Sahara not for romance, but to stage publicity stunts for a movie career, and she easily dominates every man who crosses her path.
• Sheik Amut Ben Butler: Supposedly a fierce, terrifying desert chieftain, but actually a deeply anxious American brewery heir wearing false black whiskers to conceal his true identity. He finds himself utterly overwhelmed, bullied, and emotionally traumatized by Verbeena's aggressive antics.
• Lady Speedway: The rigid, moralizing leader of the hotel gossip brigade—the "Front Porch Knitting Needle Hussars"—who constantly frets over British prestige, propriety, and Verbeena's scandalous behavior.
• Cyril Gristmille: A domineering, loudmouthed Hollywood movie director who descends on the oasis with an army of cameramen, barking orders, shaking actors, and ruthlessly forcing Verbeena into humiliating romantic takes.
• Lord Tawdry: Verbeena's hopelessly dim-witted, monocle-wearing brother who constantly drops his eye-glass, lacks any authority over his sister, and exists mainly to be mocked and outsmarted.

In Its Own Voice

"The rash creature is simply throwing her good name to the American Sunday supplements and Margot Asquith at 'ome."

Lady Speedway vents her outrage at the hotel regarding Verbeena's reckless plan to cross the desert alone.

"Ay bane looking for your razor, kiddo," said Hulda deferentially.

Hulda, the six-foot-tall maid, rummages through Verbeena's luggage after her capture.

"You know nothing of kissing! Nothing! And you're supposed to have had Oriental training too! Here--come here--like THIS! Kiss--kiss--LIKE THIS!!"

The tyrannical movie director, Cyril Gristmille, screams at Verbeena while forcing her through a scene.

What It's Really About

Beneath its frantic gags and theatrical slapstick, the book serves as a direct satire of the exoticized, highly sensationalized orientalist romances popular in the 1920s. It takes the typical dynamic of a helpless western heroine abducted by a brooding, domineering desert chief and completely turns it on its head: here, the heroine is a aggressive, athletic roughneck, while the terrifying Sheik is a helpless, terrified fake hiding behind false whiskers. The narrative also skewers the burgeoning American film industry and pop-culture celebrity obsession, showing how calculated commercialism and Hollywood artifice lie right behind the era's grandest romantic fantasies.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy vintage comedy, classic pop-culture parodies, or literary history will find this brief burlesque a fascinating, fast-paced novelty. Reading it feels like watching a silent-era slapstick comedy short transformed into prose, packed with rapid-fire slang, frantic visual humor, and endless absurdities.

The book does carry distinct period difficulties that modern readers should anticipate. The prose is saturated with hyper-specific 1920s American and British slang, topical references to figures like Margot Asquith and Georges Carpentier, and intentional, exaggerated literary gibberish. Additionally, the text reflects the racial stereotypes, insensitive ethnic humor, and casual caricatures typical of early 1920s commercial comedy, particularly in its portrayal of native desert characters and foreign accents. However, for those interested in seeing how early twentieth-century readers mocked the overwrought melodrama of their own bestsellers, this colorful parody offers a lively, uncompromisingly weird window into the past.