The Open and Inclusive Worldwide Online Sherlockian Society (Really, We're about Having Fun)
With thanks to Donald Yates “Pal” for sharing the news with me, I’m happy to inform you that applications are available for the The Beacon Society’s Jan Stauber Grant!
Many of you are well-aware of the wonderful efforts of the Beacon Society when it comes to education, as well as reaching out to young people to share our interest in Sherlock Holmes and our love of reading, so if you happen to be an educator or know of one who would be interested in this opportunity, please spread the word!
In the spirit of the awards season… share with us the actor or actress who performed your favorite portrayal of Dr Watson in the motion pictures.
Last week, we discussed the tragic figures found in the Canon.
So this week, tell us: who do you regard as some of the luckiest ones in the Canon?
February 22, 1886: The Beryl Coronet was reclaimed by its owner. (BERY)
February 20, 1886: Holmes returned the missing part of the Beryl Coronet to Alexander Holder. (BERY)
February 19, 1886: Alexander Holder asked Holmes to find the missing part of the Beryl Coronet. (BERY)
Holmes followed footprints left in the snow made by Arthur Holder and Sir George Burnwell. (BERY)
Mary Holder eloped with Sir George Burnwell. (BERY)
February 18, 1886: Arthur Holder asked his father for money the third time. (BERY)
Part of the Beryl Coronet was stolen. (BERY)
In your opinion, who is one of the most tragic figures in the Canon?
This is a reminder to anyone who is interested in submitting to the next volume of The Watsonian: Today is the deadline!
If you’re nearly done preparing a submission, please know that late submissions may be considered. However, I ask that you please contact our editor, Pippin (see the e-mail links on the right column on the main page), to see if that might be possible.
(Based on SIGN)
Tune: Fascination by F. D. Marchetti, arranged and sequenced by Jim Bottorff
When she said, “The treasure is gone,”
I then realized that I now could gain one.
With the gems and gold
Sunken through the cold
Nothing could prevent my heart from saying, “Thank God!”
When she asked me, “Why so say you?”
I confessed my love for her now shown as true.
Drawn against my side without slightest resistance,
Mary whispered, “Thank God,” too!
February 11, 1886: Arthur Holder asked his father for money the second time. (BERY)
Can you guess which canonical story that this refers to?
The History of C’animals
It was May of 2001 and Sherlockians were gathering for an event at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Before the big dinner several of us whiled away the afternoon exploring some of local the shops. And that’s where it started; I found an adorable baby gorilla in the guise of a stuffed toy.
Later, when my friends and I were comparing our shopping trophies, I validated my purchase by naming the small gorilla McGinty, the Bodymaster. Little did I know that I was soon to become addicted to collecting stuffed toy versions the many animals mentioned in the Canon. Adding up those that are mentioned as similes, those that are mention as allegories and those that play an actual role (no matter how big or small) there are more than 134 animals in the 60 published stories. And that’s not counting the various breeds of canis familiaris.
Soon I began to haunt local toy stores, the gift shop at the American Museum of Natural History and the internet looking all manner of amphibians and crustaceans, reptiles and rodents. In a relatively short period of time I had acquired a substantial number of stuffed toys. Storage soon became an issue; solved by the purchase of several very large straw baskets. Thankfully stuffed toys are squishable. Of course the collection is incomplete. Apparently there aren’t many requests for toy versions of gudgeon or pilot fish. Searching for stuffed shrimp resulted only in recipes. And then there are species, like slow worms or drag hounds, known only to the denizens of the Canon.
After I retired I finally had the time to “play” with my collection; grouping and photographing them by story. The results are some of the pictures that will be showing up on this website. Some of the adventures have only a few c’animals while others have so many several pictures were necessary to complete the family album. By the way, did you know there is one adventure that doesn’t have any animals at all?
Have fun identifying them all.
Cheers,
Cocoa (aka Judith Freeman)
I’m back from my trip to New York City and England. The jet lag has mercifully passed and I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. I’d swamp you with vacation photos and stories of the incredible Watsonians I’ve met this past month, but this certainly not a personal blog, so let’s keep the focus on who we really enjoy talking about: Dr Watson.
I went to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and, although I felt quite hesitant, I was too curious not to at least go in and see the contents of the museum. This may be my only visit to London, after all, so why not at least once? I had heard about it (not all particularly positive impressions) and I felt oddly curious about the mixed reactions I’d hear from others.
After, I walked out of the museum feeling dissatisfied, though perhaps not for the same reason as others might (such as due to the high price or the over-reliance on wax figures). The reason for my dissatisfaction was this: despite having the room available of two additional floors in the building, why do we not see Dr Watson’s bedroom? There is Sherlock Holmes’ room and the famous sitting room and… that’s it, the rest of the floors display other things, but no bedroom for Dr Watson?
As far as I’m aware, Dr Watson never spares time to describe his own room at 221B Baker Street, though he took time to describe Holmes’ room and their sitting room. So, my question is: What do you think Dr Watson’s bedroom would look like? What do you think we might find in his bedroom? Could you describe how it might look?
Of all the many entertaining authors
Whose published books by some are fondly kept,
Have any matched your subtle pawky humor?
Were any at descriptions as adept?Of course you had the great unique advantage
Of having such a gifted friend to know,
And living at a time we view as charming,
From those quaint glimpses that your stories show.But still, the manner of your stories’ tellings
Stirs up imaginings more than a guess.
We’ve shuddered at portrayals of the villains.
We’ve warmed to view the damsels in distress.And as for Holmes, you’ve made him such a hero,
We’d no doubt swarm to get his autograph,
And search his face to sense the egotism
That never fails to make our spirits laugh.Then cheers from all for sturdy Dr. Watson!
The one fixed point within all changing scenes.
His writings cause some pilgrimage to London
Or shorter jaunts to local silver screens.
I found this tribute to our beloved Dr Watson on the site listed below. I may still be down but the Doctor and you all have always supported me.
Take care, all.
Chips
81 Sherlockian Poems and Songs
lyrical praise and humor by John McDonne
February 4, 1875: Jack McMurdo arrived in Vermissa Valley. (VALL)
I found one of these spoons in a junk shop. I researched the history. The spoon was put into cans of Chase San-born Coffee to advertise a movie being released.
The Movie was titled “Charlie McCarthy, Detective”. I never saw the movie but I would like to if anyone knows of how to get a copy.
You may remember some lovely fellows I spoke to about Sherlock Holmes on the radio: Lawrence Albert (JHWS “Bertie”) and John Patrick Lowrie, who play Dr Watson and Mr Holmes in Imagination Theatre.
I’m happy to mention that our dear friends and their clever cohorts have accomplished quite an astounding feat! The Imagination Theatre is the first North American English speaking audio drama company to perform every story in the Canon! They’ve collected their long, impressive project in a complete set, found HERE.
So, do you ever listen to Holmes and Watson on the radio? Do you have any particular Sherlockian productions or portrayals of Dr Watson that you personally enjoyed listening to as an audio drama?
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Raven’s Call follows Holmes into retirement, where shortly after he arrives in Sussex Downs he becomes aware that a reported accidental death may have been murder. Holmes uses his gifts for observation and deduction to discover the identity of the murderer and teams up with a new partner to get the guilty party’s confession. A pastiche of the first order, Raven’s Call will delight the Holmes enthusiast as it shows the consulting detective may retire, but is never retiring.
I’m in London right now! For the very first time in my life!
(Note: I’m not counting the time in my early twenties where I got rerouted through Heathrow Airport during a very hectic Madrid-to-Seattle trip, where I then got rudely yelled at, and then had my check in luggage lost for three weeks…. that one time doesn’t count. This is a proper do-over. And instead of Heathrow, I flew in through Gatwick. So there. Ha!)
If you live around London, or ever visit London, what are some of your favorite places to go?
If you’ve never been, but you want to go to London one day, what would you like to go see?
Bodies washing up along the eastern coast of New England and the mysterious grounding of a “ghost ship” near Manhattan combine to bring Sherlock Holmes out of retirement to resume his pursuit of the villainous Baron Antonio Barlucci-the Whitechapel Vampire. But when he arrives in London to enlist the assistance of Dr. Watson, the good doctor has reservations.
It’s been twenty-five years since Holmes and Watson hunted Barlucci, twenty-five years since they learned the baron was buried beneath a mountain of ice and snow.
Has Holmes’ preoccupation with Barlucci driven him to see connections where none exist? Have his powers of deduction gone stale while in retirement? Has Watson’s worst fear, that Holmes’ obsession with the baron has unbalanced his finely tuned psyche, come true?
Sherlock Holmes and the Return of the Whitechapel Vampire is the exciting finalé to the Whitechapel Vampire Trilogy. In this final chapter, Holmes must face more than evil. He must face his own mortality-the only certainty in an uncertain world.
“Right from the opening paragraphs, I was overjoyed because I felt I was reading a brand new Conan Doyle mystery. Being a die- hard fan of the original, I then became wary: could a modern author be successful in this tremendous undertaking? The answer is a resounding yes! SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RETURN OF THE WHITECHAPEL VAMPIRE is more than an homage to Conan Doyle: Mr. Turnbloom essentially captures everything that is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson but makes it his own, without the reader ever having the impression of the author “trying”; never does the author endeavour to copy, but he in fact prolongs the formidable legacy of Conan Doyle.” – Monique Daost