I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

221B Baker Street, Reading, Pennsylvania

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". . . a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished . . ."  [STUD]</h4>
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We have all been there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps you imagined Watson removing a decanter from the tantalus on the
sideboard, pouring you a drink, adding a splash of soda water from the gasogene
before inviting you to take a chair in the sitting room at 221B Baker Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You also may be able to imagine the 'VR' on
the wall, the wax bust of Holmes in the corner, and a violin carelessly left
out of its case and much too close to Holmes’ glassware and chemicals on his
lab table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But 'fess up – your imagination
just isn't up to vividly re-creating the entire sitting room in your mind’s
eye.</div>
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But if you build it, they will come.</div>
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On Saturday, April 26<span style="font-size: x-small;">,</span> over 30 people attended
the open house at 221B in Reading, PA, as Denny Dobry and his wife Joann
showcased one of the most elaborate and complete reproductions of Holmes's and
Watson's sitting room on Baker Street in London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have seen several other re-creations – at the
<a href="http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Museum</a> and at the <a href="http://www.sherlockholmespub.com/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Pub</a> in London, and back in the ‘70s I visited the Sherlock Holmes, Esq. Public
House on Union Square in San Francisco. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t been to all that exist (<a href="http://www.221bbakerstreetla.com/" target="_blank">221A Baker Street in LosAngeles</a> is one, and there is another in <a href="http://www.sherlockholmes.ch/" target="_blank">Meiringen, Switzerland</a>) but the amount of work and detail seen in
the room in the basement of a typical middle-class house just outside of
Reading is truly remarkable.</div>
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Though constructed in the basement, the impression of a
first floor flat (second floor in America) is complete with the two
windows mentioned by Watson in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Study in
Scarlet</i> overlooking Baker Street, with London street sounds in the
background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can look through the
windows to see a façade of the other buildings on Baker Street (painted on a
solid back wall).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The illusion is quite
striking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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But the real excitement is
experienced as you take in the incredible amount of detail that is seen in this
labor of love by Denny Dobry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everywhere
you look you see not only most every single item ever mentioned in the Canon, but
there are one or more artifacts from each of the 60 stories (including Baron Gruner’s 'little black book' with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i> private photographs of Victorian ladies with details of their
lives suitable for blackmailing and a specimen of a Lion's Mane jellyfish in a
glass jar!)<br />
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There are, of course,
photographs of General Gordon and Henry Ward Beecher and Her Royal Majesty,
Queen Victoria, and an unbroken small plaster bust of Napoleon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are literally hundreds of items <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> mentioned explicitly in the Canon
that we all <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> had to be there as
well: checks signed by Holmes or Watson made out to Mrs. Hudson for rent,
receipts from local shops, telegram blanks as well as Watson’s foot locker from
the Army and a framed copy of his commission in the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers.</div>
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Denny was inspired by Paul Churchill's sitting room
re-creation in 1996 and began collecting (and manufacturing!) artifacts as he
planned his own room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Construction of
the room's walls, floor and ceiling took about a year and was completed in
1999.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Members of various scions local to
Pennsylvania, and of course members of Denny’s own scion, the <a href="http://www.whiteroseirregulars.net/" target="_blank">White Rose Irregulars</a>,
have had the pleasure of visiting over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This open house was an opportunity for other
Sherlockians to marvel at the planning and effort that went into what is
arguably the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">most</i> complete
re-creation of the sitting room of the world’s first consulting detective and
his biographer, John H. Watson, MD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> 
</span>Please <a href="mailto:dendobry@ptd.net" target="_blank">contact Denny directly</a> to attend a meeting of the White Rose Irregulars of York or to arrange for a visit to see the Sitting Room for yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be worth the
trip, no matter how far you must travel.</div>
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(photos courtesy of Denny Dobry)<br />
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221B Baker Street, Reading, Pennsylvania

". . . a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished . . ." [STUD] We have all been there. Perhaps you imagined ...

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by Spocklock

Experience Sherlock Holmes Filming Locations Up Close

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"the stately towers" [PRIO]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLEPhDyxdVNAXbmJZlNjvvvGvoJMAsWJXDzlztflHYHC4whqYtzlydw1UH0novKNlvdWmWfQmvCc75Ak0VaHNVQ-j8jbuqeMc0zaVSRSf9OEkRiyl3TuYpx5M6M2b3m8yJUuI3PqoT69T/s1600/Leighton_Hall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Leighton Hall - filming location of The Dancing Men, in which it was Ridling Thorpe Manor" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLEPhDyxdVNAXbmJZlNjvvvGvoJMAsWJXDzlztflHYHC4whqYtzlydw1UH0novKNlvdWmWfQmvCc75Ak0VaHNVQ-j8jbuqeMc0zaVSRSf9OEkRiyl3TuYpx5M6M2b3m8yJUuI3PqoT69T/s1600/Leighton_Hall.jpg" title="Leighton Hall in Lancashire" width="640" /></a></div>
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The descriptions of the houses and estates in the Canon leave us with visions of stately homes and grand settings. When Granada created its Sherlock Holmes series in the 1980s with Jeremy Brett and produced by Michael Cox, part of the lavish production of the shows was the settings chosen for the various locations.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://my.core.com/~jcnash/sherlock_places.html" target="_blank">The Tourist's Sherlock Holmes</a> is a great place to start to give yourself a solid grounding in just where these homes are. In many cases, the actual setting did not match with the geography of the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but gave us a realistic visual setting for the action. The site even has <a href="http://my.core.com/~jcnash/sherlock_graphic.html" target="_blank">a page with a very handy graphic</a> that sorts the filming locations by stories and has links to websites:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcWyS7nVPVuQAwvN_FmrQYzAukoLVxQi-WNFPMLY_PI1wQbVgPGJ_TI8kHpgObpPlt7_A7UYLUymDJijeLbZygTyrdUUsoDFcx48ehu6n7t0JSvfKiPtQkF5aFaJliyxuRTMaw-Ggx1iG/s1600/holmes_graphic.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Filming locations of Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, sorted by geography and by original story" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcWyS7nVPVuQAwvN_FmrQYzAukoLVxQi-WNFPMLY_PI1wQbVgPGJ_TI8kHpgObpPlt7_A7UYLUymDJijeLbZygTyrdUUsoDFcx48ehu6n7t0JSvfKiPtQkF5aFaJliyxuRTMaw-Ggx1iG/s1600/holmes_graphic.gif" title="Homes from the Granada Sherlock Holmes series" width="612" /></a></div>
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Many of these homes are open to the public for touring, and one recently came to our attention: Leighton Hall in Lancashire served as a stand-in for Ridling Thorpe Manor in "The Dancing Men" and is <a href="http://www.lep.co.uk/news/investigate-leighton-hall-on-sherlock-s-anniversary-1-6567210" target="_blank">open throughout the summer season</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Even more comprehensive, impressive, and interactive is the <a href="https://locations.sherlockpodcast.com/" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Filming Locations</a> site assembled by the team at <i>The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</i>.<br />
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Some of the country houses that have always impressed us are <a href="http://www.chatsworth.org/" target="_blank">Chatsworth House</a> [PRIO], <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/baddesley-clinton/" target="_blank">Baddesley Clinton</a> [MUSG], <a href="http://www.allertoncastle.co.uk/" target="_blank">Allerton Park</a> [SIGN] and <a href="http://www.tableyhouse.co.uk/house.html" target="_blank">Tabley House</a> [ABBE]. What are your favorites? Have you visited any of them?<br />
<br />
Watch the series in high definition on <a href="https://amzn.to/33heqlH" target="_blank">this Blu-ray set of the complete Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series</a> to compare your visits.<br />
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Experience Sherlock Holmes Filming Locations Up Close

"the stately towers" [PRIO] The descriptions of the houses and estates in the Canon leave us with visions of stately homes an...

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by Scott Monty

Sonnet: Sherlock Holmes to John H. Watson

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally predominated in him" [REDH]</h4>
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<div>
In the early- to mid-Forties, Edgar W. Smith, the Buttons-cum-Commissionaire of the Baker Street Irregulars, and the first editor of <i><a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank">The Baker Street Journal</a></i>, published a short booklet. Titled <i>A Lauristen Garden of Verses</i>, it was printed by the Pamphlet House of Summit, New Jersey and bore the authorship of Helene Yuhasova (who for many years was thought to be a pseudonym of Edgar. We found out the truth in <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose75" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 75 with Sonia Fetherston</a>).</div>
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<div>
The thin volume contained six Sherlockian sonnets and a ballade, and we thought we would share one of them here.</div>
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<h4>
Sherlock Holmes to John H. Watson</h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You said of me what Plato said of him<br />
Who took the hemlock at his soul's behest:<br />
That I was paragon and paradigm --<br />
Of all you've known, the wisest and best.<br />
Discernment such as that shows goodness, too,<br />
And certifies a wisdom long concealed --<br />
<i>My </i>wisdom lay, perhaps, in choosing you<br />
To stand beside me as my foil and shield.<br />
<br />
For you are Britain's apotheosis;<br />
The <i>summum bonum</i> of the bulldog breed;<br />
A benison epitomized in this:<br />
That strength and valour flourish in your deed...<br />
Come, Watson, com! The game's afoot and free:<br />
The world has need of men like you -- and me.</blockquote>
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<div>
You can learn more about Edgar Smith and the early days of the Baker Street Irregulars by picking up a copy of any of the volumes of the <a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/itemsforsale/bsihistoryseries.html" target="_blank">Baker Street Irregulars Archival Series</a>. At this time, the only volumes that are still available in print and available from the BSI are Vols. 4 and 5, but you may have luck with <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/" target="_blank">AbeBooks</a> or <a href="http://ebay.com/" target="_blank">eBay</a> if you're looking for one of the first three volumes.<br />
<br />
To read of the history of this revered organization is to know its founders and leading lights, whose great imagination and personalities we have to thank for <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/trade-shows-events/article/60728-baker-street-irregulars-turn-80.html" target="_blank">the BSI at 80 years</a>.<br />
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<div>
<br /></div>

Sonnet: Sherlock Holmes to John H. Watson

"the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally predominated in him" [REDH] In the early- to mid-Forties, Edgar W. Smi...

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by Scott Monty

The First Appearance of Sherlock Holmes on The Muppet Show

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-Xuo_vcgo0mcPz4OQcpKPJs0yzPWbMROC3BLfFpxAnXLP_XddRJjGjzOc8gBbcgkUmTPXNVeAtC3Pnw1z6Mrzj6O2Qic1YrU8mag3n7orchxoWBL3l3tkhsNxjhLZsBIGptURFqiUpDZ/s1600/Rowlf+Baskerville+Sherlock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Rowlf and Baskerville the Hound take on Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Disappearing Clues" border="0" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-Xuo_vcgo0mcPz4OQcpKPJs0yzPWbMROC3BLfFpxAnXLP_XddRJjGjzOc8gBbcgkUmTPXNVeAtC3Pnw1z6Mrzj6O2Qic1YrU8mag3n7orchxoWBL3l3tkhsNxjhLZsBIGptURFqiUpDZ/s1600/Rowlf+Baskerville+Sherlock.jpg" title="Rowlf and Baskerville the Hound" width="640" /></a></div>
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We came of age at a time when Saturday evenings at home meant a combination of <i>The Love Boat</i> and <i>Fantasy Island</i>, preceded by <i>The Muppet Show</i>. The format of the show was essentially your standard variety show: a guest star each week, musical numbers, comedy sketches and backstage interactions in front of a "live" audience.<br />
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In this case, we were pleased to find a sketch from Season 1, Episode 3 with guest star Joel Grey (available on DVD: <a href="http://amzn.to/1t0EOsc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Muppet Show</i> Season 1</a>). The piece was titled "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Disappearing Clues," starring Rowlf as Sherlock Holmes, Baskerville as Watson, Miss Piggy as the maid and a rather imposing purple monster named Gorgon Heap.<br />
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<center>
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The reason we had never seen it before is because when the program (or more appropriately, programme) aired in the UK, there were fewer commercial spots, so additional footage had to be shot. Such two-minute shorts were <a href="http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/UK_Spots_(The_Muppet_Show)" target="_blank">shown in the UK</a> but not in the United States.<br />
<br />
And a word or two about <a href="http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Baskerville_the_Hound" target="_blank">Baskerville the Hound</a>. Obviously, his name was inspired by <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, but his personality was anything but vicious. This cute little Afghan hound originally appeared with Rowlf in a series of commercials for Purina Dog Chow in 1962 in Canada (which are available on <a href="http://amzn.to/1hES9D6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Muppet Show Season 3</i> on DVD</a>), and then in the first season of <i>Sesame Street</i>. The above episode is his first appearance on <i>The Muppet Show</i>, and he made two other appearances with Rowlf in Season 1, but those were UK spots as well. Baskerville also showed up numerous times in Season 2. (Source: <a href="http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Baskerville_the_Hound" target="_blank">Muppet Wiki</a>)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhhPBxPP3Zn4ZDTWXbyZpSTuyPvDFSJ-2IId8O2qfRhJodROwzvbpAZRJ3nn-IQVbAIU8Ur1AlQ7Nn_ImR9GCvyHrdIuyT5hF7tNsml3AGcLByE7hyis2Bk3aENk0pKmfcmS33BJ-vJZf/s1600/Baskerville.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhhPBxPP3Zn4ZDTWXbyZpSTuyPvDFSJ-2IId8O2qfRhJodROwzvbpAZRJ3nn-IQVbAIU8Ur1AlQ7Nn_ImR9GCvyHrdIuyT5hF7tNsml3AGcLByE7hyis2Bk3aENk0pKmfcmS33BJ-vJZf/s1600/Baskerville.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you'd like to satisfy your collector's mania, Baskerville, Rowlf and the rest of the gang can be seen in <i>The Muppet Show</i> on DVD. (<a href="http://amzn.to/1t0EOsc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> | <a href="http://amzn.to/1p3t2h6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.co.uk</a>)<br />
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