"From the Dummy's Chair" [MAZA]

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8FbxoA-W95Wu_BYh5HV3LcvRjCb2afD23-G8fJBf-AsQb5P63hXREdB-ckT3cy2UINoVgv5OZel2h69943iylMu9fLH6Fgei2n4T_uDsh77AwQBAC1f-uoEYRx6WLMlHbHKLL5-7IZD_/s1600/maza-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8FbxoA-W95Wu_BYh5HV3LcvRjCb2afD23-G8fJBf-AsQb5P63hXREdB-ckT3cy2UINoVgv5OZel2h69943iylMu9fLH6Fgei2n4T_uDsh77AwQBAC1f-uoEYRx6WLMlHbHKLL5-7IZD_/s1600/maza-03.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b>Editor's note</b>: This is part of a new feature on the Baker Street Blog we're calling "From the Dummy's Chair." Joining us to guest post for this column is Steven Doyle, BSI ("The 'Western Morning News'") is the author of the Edgar-nominated <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Dummies-Steven-Doyle/dp/0470484446?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes for Dummies</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0470484446" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b>. Because of the limitations in the print world, he wasn't able to completely fit everything he wanted into the book. This series will become a real-time continuation of that labor of love. Steve is also half the team behind the <a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/">Wessex Press</a>.</span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">For a little background on the topic, the <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Reference-Library-Apocrypha/dp/0938501496?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0938501496" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b></i>, please see the previous entry in this series that <a href="http://www.bakerstreetblog.com/2011/02/from-dummys-chair-maza.html"><b>appeared on February 3</b></a>.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: large;">The Apocryphal Candidates in Chronological Order</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><i><b>The Mystery of Sasassa Valley</b></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">(<i>Chambers’s Journal</i>, Sep 6, 1879)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">This was Doyle’s first published story and it is a tale tinged with the supernatural. Peter Haining claims this tale has characters and situations which are archetypes of those in the Canon. Haining is the only person to propose this story for inclusion.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b>The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy’s Household</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">(<i>Boy’s Own Paper</i>, 1887)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">“Uncle Jeremy’s Household” appeared in <i>Boy’s Own Journal</i> in early 1887, almost twelve months prior to <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>. There are a number of Holmesian overtones in the tale, and several Sherlockian commentators have asserted that this story contains prototypes of Holmes and Watson. As Peter Haining states, “Holmes and Watson did not spring fully finished into [Conan Doyle’s] mind, but rather developed from his musing on his university Professor, Dr. Joseph Bell, and the detective story genre as a whole.”</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">The concept is that “Uncle Jeremy’s Household” is an early trial-run of an intelligent detective with a partner solving a mystery, similar to the Holmes/Watson duo. They are not named Holmes and Watson, and they aren’t Holmes and Watson. But, there are undeniable elements in this tale that do turn up in the Sherlockian Canon. The well-known Sherlockian scholar James Holroyd points out, in the Spring, 1967 issue of <i><a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/journal.php">The Sherlock Holmes Journal</a></i> the following points:</span></div><div><br /><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">The narrator, named Hugh Lawrence, lives in Baker Street</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">His friend is named John H. Thurston</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Lawrence studied medicine, was devoted to medicine, and had an “acid-stained finger</span></li></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">But the question remains (and it is a big question): even if “Uncle Jeremy’s Household” is a precursor to Sherlock Holmes, does this qualify it as not only legitimate apocrypha, but as part of the Canon?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"></span><br /><a name="more"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>Angels of Darkness</i></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">(c. 1887)</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyib9wNbDdOwrnTvF6ibwufVW_cVtlH1gmDoQcjhUnC-SnCT7Jk8SAI_LJ24r3Sdvv2GpDgGFC7BfTk73bRaeKRSQ7y471IDJnQTINDRRge3G5IgknB63Bd8hlHy6PYGq1iZR3FRerVrY/s1600/164_angels-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyib9wNbDdOwrnTvF6ibwufVW_cVtlH1gmDoQcjhUnC-SnCT7Jk8SAI_LJ24r3Sdvv2GpDgGFC7BfTk73bRaeKRSQ7y471IDJnQTINDRRge3G5IgknB63Bd8hlHy6PYGq1iZR3FRerVrY/s1600/164_angels-sm.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">Unpublished until 2000, when it was brought out in The Baker Street Irregulars’ <b><a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/angelsdarkness.html">Manuscript Series</a></b>, this play was written while Conan Doyle was still a young man in his early twenties. It is believed that this play was probably the last piece of Holmes related-literature to be suppressed by Doyle’s estate. <i><b><a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/angelsdarkness.html">Angels of Darkness</a></b></i> was started, then abandoned, before <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Study-Scarlet-Sherlock-Holmes-Mystery/dp/1450596185?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">A Study in Scarlet</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1450596185" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b></i> was published in 1887. It is essentially a rewrite of the American chapters of <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>, with the London action moved to San Francisco. It definitely is not a Sherlock Holmes story. Sherlock Holmes is in <i>Angels of Darkness</i>. But, it is a John H. Watson story. Strangely, however, it is not quite the Watson that we know through Watson’s own first-person accounts. Here he acts disreputably, and even ends up marrying a woman other than Mary Morstan. It is of course “apocryphal,”…or is it… and it contradicts <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> in many other details. And yet, it is a different account of major events told in <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>, with one of Study’s major characters involved.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Field Bazaar</i></b> (1896)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">“<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/FIELD-BAZAAR-SHERLOCK-HOLMES-PASTICHE/dp/2876540592?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Field Bazaar</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=2876540592" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b>” is a genuine Sherlock Holmes story. Commentators characterize it as a parody, perhaps even the first. Written as a fundraiser for Edinburgh University’s effort to enlarge the university Cricket grounds. “The Field Bazaar” was originally published in the November 20, 1896 issue of <i>The Student</i>, a university magazine. But does this motivation for it being written really a parody? In the story, Holmes and Watson are at breakfast, and as he does on several occasions in the Canon, Holmes correctly reads Watson’s thoughts. In addition, it is told from Watson’s first person perspective, as are most tales in the Canon. While it may be humorous, it is very much in the spirit of similar episodes found in the sixty tales, and is thus a legitimate Sherlock Holmes story, and the first of the four unanimously agreed-upon apocryphal tales.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Lost Special</i></b> (1898)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Man with the Watches</i></b> (1898)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">These two stories that were originally published in 1898, but not collected into a book —<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004DNWHHY&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe> <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Terror-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004DNWHHY?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Arthur Conan Doyle’s Tales of Terror and Mystery</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004DNWHHY" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b></i> — until 1923. This undoubtedly accounts in part for their relative obscurity. Hopefully you have taken time to read them, as they are the second and third unanimously agreed-upon apocryphal tales. <i>The Lost Special</i> features the appearance of “an amateur reasoner of some celebrity” who suggests a solution to the case of a missing train. This “amateur reasoner” has written a letter to the London Times, and to read it is to know this is Sherlock Holmes. Holmes’s first law of logic “once one has eliminated the impossible, etc” is even here.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">In <i>The Man with the Watches</i>, the “well-known criminal investigator” of the story is again clearly Sherlock Holmes. As Lord Donegall puts it, “the cold, systematic logif of the synthetic reasoning employed, and the condescending didacticism which marks the style and method of expression throughout, attest unerringly to the Master’s hand.” </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">What is interesting is that, in both tales, the detective fails to solve the mystery. Perhaps this is why Holmes’s name is not mentioned, perhaps Holmes’s vanity kept these failures from being associated with his name. It is important also to remember that both these tales fell into what is know as Holmes’s “hiatus,” the post-Reichenbach Falls/pre-Empty House period. In fact, these stories are much closer in time to the <i>Memoirs</i> than the <i>Return</i>, or even <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hound-Baskervilles-Sherlock-Holmes-Mystery/dp/1936594382?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Hound of the Baskervilles</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1936594382" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b>, for that matter, and is perhaps evidence that, shortly after tossing Holmes over the falls, Conan Doyle was already feeling the urge to bring him back.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">In 1936, just six years after Doyle’s death, Christopher Morley and Edgar Smith were advocating their inclusion into the Canon. As an aside, these two tales have been included</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">in all French editions of The Complete Sherlock Holmes.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts</i></b> (a.k.a. <i><b>Sherlock Holmes</b></i>) (1899)</span><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Frohman-presents-Gillette-Sherlock/dp/B004JVVHN0?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Poster Charles Frohman presents William Gillette in his new four act drama, Sherlock Holmes 1900" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B004JVVHN0&tag=thebakerstree-20" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004JVVHN0" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Most Sherlockian scholars do not consider this legendary play to either part of the apocrypha or the Canon. A few do. This is the Gillette play, officially written by Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette, which had a successful run of over thirty years. The case for its inclusion is based primarily on this alleged co-authorship. In 1897, Conan Doyle wrote a five-act Sherlock Holmes play, which was sold to American theatrical agent Harold Frohman. One of Frohman’s clients was William Gillette. Frohman, who felt the play needed work, secured Doyle’s approval to have Gillette both rewrite and star in the play. Gillette dove in and made extensive changes. Then, in November of 1898, the manuscript was lost in a fire, but the industrious Gillette quickly rewrote the play from memory.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">Despite the play having elements from several Canonical tales, including “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Final Problem,” <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>, <i>The Sign of Four</i>, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” and “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter,” the play is almost certainly more Gillette than Doyle.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Adventure of the Tall Man</i></b> (c. 1900)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">When searching through Conan Doyle’s papers, one a Doyle biographer name Hesketh Pearson discovered an astonishing find —the outline/summary of an unwritten Sherlock Holmes story. This treasure-trove even included some dialogue. As Pearson described it in the August, 1943 issue of <i>The Strand Magazine</i>:</span></div><div><blockquote>Among Doyle’s papers I discovered the scenario for an unwritten Sherlock Holmes story, in which the detective, baffled by the criminal’s cunning, is reduced to the stratagem of frightening the villain into a confession of guilt. This is done with the help of an actor, who makes himself up to resemble the murdered man, pokes his ghost-like head into the bedroom window of the murderer and cries out his name in “a ghastly sepulchral voice.” The criminal gibbers with fright and gives the game away.</blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Well, perhaps we can see why Doyle never finished the tale! Several Various authors have attempted to complete the story, the best known being by Robert A. Cutter, BSI in 1947.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Man who was Wanted</i></b> (c. 1900)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">And then there is this, yet another unpublished Sherlock Holmes story, (this one complete) and also found by biographer, Hesketh Pearson. The story of this tale is a saga in itself. When Pearson revealed that there was an unpublished tale in 1942, the Baker Street Irregulars began lobbying for its publication. The Doyle estate, then run by Doyle’s sons, stalled, dithered, and then ultimately negotiated for its publication in <i>Cosmopolitan</i> magazine in 1948. Then, to everyone’s embarrassment, it is revealed that <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Case-Man-Who-Was-Wanted/dp/B0016BXY1O?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0016BXY1O" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b> was actually authored by a man named Arthur Whitaker, who had written the story and sent it to Conan Doyle hoping for a collaboration. Doyle turned him down, purchased the story for £10, and never used it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">So, how can a story known to be written by someone else be considered Canonical, or at least apocryphal? While scholars Green and Tracy agree that Whitaker wrote the story, Peter Haining asserts that “The opening scene between Holmes and Watson betrays the hand of the master,” and that the story must be partly written by Conan Doyle. While his critique of the writing is correct, there is, however, zero evidence to support co-authorship.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>A Gaudy Death</i></b> (1901)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">With the subtitle “Conan Doyle Tells The True Story of Sherlock Holmes’s End’” this interview appeared in the December 15, 1900 issue of <i>Tit-bits</i>, a weekly magazine published by the same publishers who put out <i>The Strand Magazine</i>. Doyle gave this interview after Holmes had supposedly died at the Reichenbach falls. What is really interesting is he does mention that he has the occasional urges to write more Holmes adventures, further adding credence to <i>The Man with the Watches</i> and <i>The Lost Special</i>. He also discusses how he came up with the idea for Holmes, switching from novels to serial adventures, and how he had to kill Holmes because he was “lower work that was obscuring my higher.” </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Speckled Band (aka The Stonor Case)</i></b> (1902)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">This classic story was adapted into a play by Conan Doyle himself out of dire financial necessity. When his play entitled <i>The House of Temperley</i> (based on his reworked his prizefighting novel, <i>Rodney Stone</i>) bombed, Doyle found himself holding a six-month lease on an empty theater. So, he turned to Sherlock Holmes to rescue him. He wrote <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Speckled-Cambridge-Scholars-Publishing-Classics/dp/1443806080?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Speckled Band</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1443806080" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i></b> in less than a week. It was a smash hit, and the day was saved.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Painful Predicament of Mr. Sherlock Holmes</i></b> (1905)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">When William Gillette decided he needed a curtain raiser for one of his non-Sherlockian plays, the came up with this short comedy sketch, The plot involves Sherlock Holmes, and a very talkative client who monopolizes the dialogue, not allowing Holmes to get a word in edgewise. There is speculation that this play was written by Arthur Conan Doyle, and Gillette would certainly have needed Doyle’s consent to write an original work involving Sherlock Holmes. But co-authorship is almost certainly not the case, and there is no evidence at all that Doyle had a hand in its writing.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>Some Personalia about Sherlock Holmes</i></b> (1917)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">This essay was featured in <i>The Strand Magazine</i> as a Christmas treat to its readers. It talks of the way Holmes had caught the public imagination, and Conan Doyle’s view on his character. <i>Some Personalia About Sherlock Holmes</i> was written by Doyle and appeared in a 1917 edition of <i>The Strand</i>. Doyle discusses receiving letters written to Holmes and ruminates on true life crimes that the author had some involvement in investigating.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Crown Diamond: An Evening With Mr Sherlock Holmes</i></b> (1921?)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">This is yet another Sherlockian play by Arthur Conan Doyle. The general presumption of most scholars is that it was written sometime in either 1920 or 1921, shortly before it was mounted on the stage. However, his son Adrian Conan Doyle has stated that it was written in the early 1900’s, and this author believes he is correct. It is my contention that, following the collapse of <i>The House of Temperly</i>, Doyle’s first stab at drafting a life-saving Sherlock Holmes play wasn’t <i>The Speckled Band</i>, but rather <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/crown-diamond-evening-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/B0007HZNLM?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Crown Diamond</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0007HZNLM" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></b></i>. There is internal evidence within the play itself to support the claim, and if you want a full discussion of the argument, see the March 2005 issue of <i>The Illustrious Clients News</i>. Whenever it was written, it wasn’t produced until 1921.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>The Truth About Sherlock Holmes</i></b> (1923)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">This was an essay published in <i>Collier’s</i> magazine, in which Doyle again explains where the idea for Sherlock Holmes came from.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>How Watson Learned the Trick</i></b> (1924)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">Now we come to the fourth, and final item that is unanimously accepted into the apocrypha. This story, written specifically for publication as a miniature book in library of <i>The Queen’s Dolls Hous</i>e. It was later published in <i>The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House Library</i>. It is very similar to <i>The Field Bazaar</i> — the familiar breakfast scene, but instead we find Watson taking a shot at deducing Holmes’s thoughts. Of course, he fails miserably. It is short (503 words) and has a peculiar motivation for being authored, and yet, once again, it is an authentic episode in the life of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><b><i>My Favourite Sherlock Holmes Adventures</i></b> (1927)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">This is a short piece Doyle wrote for <i>The Strand</i> in 1927. It is a listing of Doyle’s own </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">dozen favorite Holmes tales. It is interesting to read the list, which was compiled before <i>Case-Book</i> was published.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">And that’s it…everything that has been proffered as possible candidates for being considered Sherlockian apocrypha and/or Canonicity.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">What do you think? What do you make of this large deposit of non-Canonical writing? Should the Canon be formally expanded? There is one thing Sherlockians agree on — The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes makes fascinating reading.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Please consider visiting our sponsors (in the right column and footer of the site) from time to time. It helps defray the costs associated with running this site.</i></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: small;">--</span><br /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=057361606X&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0938501496&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001VH6M4O&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004DNWHHY&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  </div>

"From the Dummy's Chair" [MAZA]

Editor's note : This is part of a new feature on the Baker Street Blog we're calling "From the Dummy's Chair." Joining...

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by Scott Monty

"Something to Explode About" [CREE]

"<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515091/">Sherlock Holmes 2</a>" is currently filming on location in France, as you're probably aware. The movie is set in 1891, following the sequence of events in the first film, and involves none other than Professor Moriarty. And today, we have a still image from the filming.<br /><br />We know what you're thinking: will it be faithful to the Canon?<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5429485779_c625ba00df_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5093/5429485779_c625ba00df_z.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2011/02/07/new-still-from-sherlock-holmes-2-shows-an-explosive-scene">The Daily Blam!</a></i></td></tr></tbody></table>We're looking forward to bringing you more news about the film as the production moves along. But we're not simply going to provide you with updates that have already been made on other sites (although that will be part of our coverage). We'll be getting occasional updates from our new Hollywood correspondent - an individual who is acting as an official advisor to the film - Leslie Klinger, BSI ("The Abbey Grange"). Les is most well known for his work on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-Annotated-Sherlock-Holmes-Complete/dp/0393059162?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><b><i>The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes</i></b></a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-Annotated-Dracula-Bram-Stoker/dp/0393064506?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The New Annotated Dracula</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393064506" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />, not to mention the entire <a href="http://amzn.to/esYZsn"><b>Sherlock Holmes Reference Library</b></a>.<br /><br />Until then, we leave you with this gem from Vincent Starrett, BSI ("<i>A Study in Scarlet</i>"):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>221B</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Here dwell together still two men of note</div><div style="text-align: center;">Who never lived and so can never die:</div><div style="text-align: center;">How very near they seem, yet how remote</div><div style="text-align: center;">That age before the world went all awry.</div><div style="text-align: center;">But still the game’s afoot for those with ears</div><div style="text-align: center;">Attuned to catch the distant view-halloo:</div><div style="text-align: center;">England is England yet, for all our fears–</div><div style="text-align: center;">Only those things the heart believes are true.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A yellow fog swirls past the window-pane</div><div style="text-align: center;">As night descends upon this fabled street:</div><div style="text-align: center;">A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,</div><div style="text-align: center;">The ghostly gas lamps fail at twenty feet.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Here, though the world explode, these two survive,</div><div style="text-align: center;">And it is always eighteen ninety-five.</div><br /><br /><i>Please consider visiting our sponsors (in the right column and footer of the site) from time to time. It helps defray the costs associated with running this site.</i> <br /><br /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001OQCV6A&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0393064506&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=039305800X&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0393059162&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />--

"Something to Explode About" [CREE]

" Sherlock Holmes 2 " is currently filming on location in France, as you're probably aware. The movie is set in 1891, followin...

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by Scott Monty

"I Have Some Knowledge of...Baritsu" [EMPT]

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRQpGHbZCc7IAXG49_0Oq-HEwTldfwPMtMDl37p1ZhcihEDZg8bhcaoawwB8LXzP3ITWjf1ePc9KQvNREdEG8pb68l8q1atMLLbWwuZB0yrCgCM-70Tmj4uXyJZ-48icPBRwYZLDnwaEP/s1600/FINA_Holmes_reichenbach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRQpGHbZCc7IAXG49_0Oq-HEwTldfwPMtMDl37p1ZhcihEDZg8bhcaoawwB8LXzP3ITWjf1ePc9KQvNREdEG8pb68l8q1atMLLbWwuZB0yrCgCM-70Tmj4uXyJZ-48icPBRwYZLDnwaEP/s200/FINA_Holmes_reichenbach.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>As you are probably aware, the "Japanese system of wrestling" that Holmes described in "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Return-Sherlock-Holmes-Vol-Grange/dp/B00007G1WI?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">The Adventure of the Empty House</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thebakerstree-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00007G1WI" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />" (in telling how he and Professor Moriarty settled their dispute at the Reichenbach Falls) was referred to as <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baritsu">baritsu</a></i>.<br /><br />But in fact, the term was an invention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's - perhaps unintentionally, as the actual martial art <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu">bartitsu</a></i> was invented by E. W. Barton-Wright  just two years prior to the story being written. It's quite possible that Doyle heard the term in passing and simply misremembered it, sealing its identity incorrectly for some 100 years.<br /><br />However, for the last two years, the <b><a href="http://bartitsu.org/">Bartitsu Society</a></b> has built its presence on the web, and not without a little nod to Sherlock Holmes. In fact, they have been helping with the production of a documentary about the activity for the last year, and now the film is in the final stages of development. <a href="http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/2011/02/bartitsu-the-lost-martial-art-of-sherlock-holmes-update-2/">According to their site</a>:<br /><blockquote>Hosted by Tony Wolf, <i>Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes</i> traces the history, loss, rediscovery and modern revival of E.W. Barton-Wright’s “New Art of Self Defence”. It was shot in Italy, Switzerland, the UK and the USA and features interviews with martial arts historians Harry Cook and Graham Noble, authors and Bartitsu enthusiasts Mark Donnelly, Will Thomas and Neal Stephenson, and self defence historian Dr. Emelyne Godfrey.</blockquote><blockquote>The 55-minute documentary is an international co-production between the Cletarte cultural association, Broken Art, Ran Arthur Braun and Tony Wolf and will be distributed by the Freelance Academy Press.</blockquote>The trailer for the film is available on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDNaC-2HW-A">YouTube</a>:<br /><br /><br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZDNaC-2HW-A" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></center><br /><br />We'll try to keep up to speed on the developments of this project. Of course, if you hear before we do, please let us know.<br /><br /><br /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00262QZHW&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00262O5ZG&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1905605102&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>  <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thebakerstree-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0037K7HYC&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br /><br />--

"I Have Some Knowledge of...Baritsu" [EMPT]

As you are probably aware, the "Japanese system of wrestling" that Holmes described in " The Adventure of the Empty House ...

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by Scott Monty

"Vanderbuilt and the Yeggman" [SUSS]

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawMDhJjXzNN4LsqbGUvYw3JkyIVYwO-i053rgG1o6_-MLnAC77pFrXRQyzFvrnMsYnOXxQZ3JrmC3s4gz0Z9ewaJBDdDJtNUQ36q2u5N5RjHCAHQhHyC4-sL3TF6uFamdux5fpZYNqKM/s1600/rouby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawMDhJjXzNN4LsqbGUvYw3JkyIVYwO-i053rgG1o6_-MLnAC77pFrXRQyzFvrnMsYnOXxQZ3JrmC3s4gz0Z9ewaJBDdDJtNUQ36q2u5N5RjHCAHQhHyC4-sL3TF6uFamdux5fpZYNqKM/s1600/rouby.jpg" /></a></div> <b><i>Editor's note: </i></b>Our correspondent for obituaries of members Baker Street Irregulars (sometimes referred to as "Stand with me here upon the terrace") is Francine Kitts, BSI ("Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope"), who has this duty annually at the BSI dinner. We welcome her to this role here.<br /> <br /> Jason Pierre Rouby, BSI (“Vanderbilt and the Yeggman”) died in Little Rock, AR on January 15, 2011 at the age of 87. He was a reporter for several newspapers, including the Arkansas Gazette, was a regional planner, and was active in community services and charitable organizations. During World War II he served in the US Army as a machine gunner and qualified as a sharp shooter. He was a member of the 80th Reconnaissance Troop, a division of General Patton’s Army and served as a French interpreter in several war trials. He was awarded three Bronze Stars for his involvement in the Battle of the Bulge.<br /> <br /> In addition to being a contributing member of The Baker Street Irregulars, Mr. Rouby was a member of the <a href="http://www.sh-whoswho.com/index.php?refsociety=250">Maiwand Jezails</a> in Omaha and founded The Arkansas Valley Investors, Ltd. in Little Rock. He traveled around the country a few times a year giving talks on Sherlock Holmes and later donated his Sherlockian books and memorabilia to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He was investitured into the Baker Street Irregulars in 1968.<br /> <br /> A touching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGC7DPUvb5Y">commemorative video of Mr. Rouby</a>, prepared by his grandson David Aaron Rouby, can be seen below:<br /> <br /> <br /> <center> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kGC7DPUvb5Y" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe></center> <br /> <br /> Do you have any personal memories of Jason Rouby? Please share them in the comments section below.<br /> <br /> --<br /> <br />

"Vanderbuilt and the Yeggman" [SUSS]

Editor's note: Our correspondent for obituaries of members Baker Street Irregulars (sometimes referred to as "Stand with me here ...

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by Francine Kitts