I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Remembering Charlie Adams, BSI

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"My old friend Charlie" [ILLU]</h4>
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I would guess that most Sherlockians became fascinated with Holmes after becoming familiar with him on their own, not particularly because they were a Rathbone or Brett fan first, not because they knew that well-known authors like Isaac Asimov or Rex Stout were fans. When we discovered that there were thousands of Sherlock <i>aficionados </i>in scion societies, ASH, BSI, and other groups, we joined in because we were thrilled to be in the company of others who loved Holmes and Watson as much as we did.<br />
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When we started attending meetings and events, we met others like ourselves for whom the game was always afoot. We made friends with these Sherlockians based upon our mutual admiration for the world’s first consulting detective and his chronicler, not because we hoped to network for a better job or to get recommendations for a great vacation.  Conversations invariably were about Holmes and Watson (and even that literary agent by the name of Doyle).  Have you ever noticed that when you meet a new Sherlockian, your first question is usually “What is your home scion?” and almost never “So what do you do for a living?” <br />
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Friendships among Sherlockians are special because these friendships are not primarily about us – they are about our admiration for two men who never lived, and so will never die.  But we form close friendships with other Sherlockians over the years, learning about each other via our mutual connection with Holmes and Watson.  And unlike our heroes, our Sherlockian friends do live and do eventually die.<br />
<br />
Charles A. Adams, BSI ("The Winter Assizes at Norwich"), or Charlie to his many friends, an avid and longtime follower of all things Sherlockian, died May 18, 2014, in Colchester, Connecticut at the age of 69. He founded his own scion near Norwich and then joined the Men on the Tor in the late 1970s; he was also a member of the Speckled Band of Boston and a visitor to many other scions in New England. He received his Irregular Shilling in the BSI in 1990 with the investiture of "The Winter Assizes of Norwich" – the name of his original scion society. Charlie will be especially remembered for many Sherlockian-content parodies of popular and Broadway tunes that he and his Winter Assizes colleagues created over the years, as well as for a rather "naughty" Toast he gave to Watson’s Second Wife at the BSI dinner in 1981.<br />
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Charlie was a solid, well rounded Sherlockian – not a fanatical collector, not an organizational ‘mover and shaker,’ not a prolific writer of scholarly journal articles (though he was always ready with a thoughtful Canonical toast).  Over the years Charlie became a good friend to many.<br />
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Personally I will miss our drives from Connecticut to New York to attend the Gillette luncheon and the annual dinner. It was during these drives that I came to know Charlie well. He was a fan of radio host Jean Shepherd and his nightly show on WOR back in the '60s.  A motorcycle enthusiast for many years he also followed Shep’s column in <i>Car and Driver</i> and <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1ssalWg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jean Shepherd’s America</a></i> TV show on PBS.<br />
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Charlie was a voracious reader and loved the Flashman novels, Horatio Hornblower stories, the Aloysius Pendergast series, and read various science fiction authors among many, many others; he was a voracious reader. For over 20 years we shared a room in NYC as we each played Holmes to the other’s Watson, and enjoyed our own ritual luncheon of a pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie Deli the day after the dinner.  One year we even skipped the Saturday afternoon cocktail party to see <i>Monty Python and the Holy Grail</i>. <br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span>Jan Prager of Rhode Island’s The Cornish Horrors was a friend of Charlie’s. He wrote:</span></h4>
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My favorite memory of Charlie is the time he and I took a Friday afternoon before BSI to drive out to Queens to see <a href="https://amzn.to/4x8nM0J" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chris Steinbrunner</a>, who was terminally ill. Chris had told us not to come because he didn't want us to see him diminished in his wheelchair, but Charlie insisted that we go anyway. We talked to Chris through the door, and we all enjoyed the visit, short as it had to be. All the way back to Manhattan Charlie and I talked about the many good times we had with Chris at Cornish Horrors and Men on the Tor meetings — and weekends at my house or on Block Island when Chris would drive up with a trunk full of movies and a projector, and we'd watch for hours on end. The likes of Charlie may not be seen again, but his loyalty and quiet companionship live on among the BSI.</blockquote>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span>From <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/06/episode-53-for-sake-of-trust.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tom Francis</a>: </span></h4></div>
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I am a big Shep [Jean Shepherd] fan but it was many, many years before Charlie and I discovered we had this mutual interest. That’s because he had so many interests that we had just never got around to Shep. I loved the way he used a Socratic approach to open up a fresh topic and he would sucker me in every time. I don’t have to tell you [Bob Stek] about the Jazz clubs because you joined us several times. But my favorite part may have been the walk back up Sixth Avenue as we could just talk, and talking with Charlie was always the high point. He wasn’t just an interesting talker he was a very good listener. When Chris Steinbrenner was ill, depressed and refusing to see anyone it was Charlie who went to him and visited regularly and provided Chris the only companionship he had at the end. Charlie was a very compassionate person.</blockquote>
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I am afraid the oral history project may have missed getting his story. He quietly knew everyone. His stories about Asimov are lost. I remember him telling of one of the times they shared a cab and Charlie asked him to autograph a book he had bought from a remainder sale...Isaac went nuts.</blockquote>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span>Burt Wolder wrote:</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></h4></div>
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What I remember most about Charlie was the depth of his joy in Sherlock Holmes and his eagerness to share with fellow Sherlockians.  I remember a paper he gave at the Speckled Band, all about "how to do it" — how to approach giving a Sherlockian paper, how to play the game.  It's thanks to Charlie that I began to write "singing toasts" for some Sherlockian luminaries — one year Charlie showed up at (I think) a meeting of The Cornish Horrors with a boom box and a cassette tape of "Daisy, Daisy."  He had written new lyrics to that old song, and he wanted me and other people to join him in presenting it.  I remember his vest-pocket pipe, in the old days when smoking was still allowed.  But mostly I remember his undiminished enthusiasm, his warmth, his sense of fun and his desire to share the simple joy of Sherlockian pursuits. He reveled in Sherlock Holmes, and that he will be much missed goes without saying.</blockquote>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span>Susan Rice, organizer of the annual Gillette luncheon, recalled: </span></h4></div>
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I'm not sure whether Charlie never knew for sure he could come to the city for the birthday weekend until the last minute, or whether he was an expert procrastinator like me, but I rarely received his reservation for the Gillette Luncheon until the very last moment. The restaurant is very cooperative and I could always find space, but the one thing I would not alter were the table assignments, hammered out a week or so before the luncheon.  Thus Charlie and other latecomers were seated together at the most distant table, usually Table 17. I hoped it would teach a lesson and present a good reason for an earlier reservation, but instead it encouraged the opposite. Since these were often the same people, they developed a camaraderie and enjoyed, I suspect, their outlaw status. For many years, even when he sent his reservation before the deadline, Charlie would request a seat at Table 17.</blockquote>
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One day at an <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/10/episode-11-bob-thomalen-part-1.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Autumn in Baker Street</a> I had given a presentation on Mr. Holmes and his bees, and Charlie approached me later to talk about his own fascination with honeybees. Pleased to find him so responsive and knowledgeable, when I returned home I sent him a copy 
of my book, <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1ssbUmV" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Compound of Excelsior</a>.</i> The letter of thanks he sent me was a beautiful thing. He described his surprise and pleasure to receive the book, his decision to read it outdoors on a hillside where he always saw many bees, and his joy to find so many links between Holmes and the apiary science. As an anti-collector I keep very little  correspondence, but I kept that lovely letter.</blockquote>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span>Tyke Niver of The Men on the Tor wrote:
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There is one item that I see every day that reminds me of Charlie. 
 When we designed our present house we decided that it should have a 
Holmes theme...in fact the plaque on the front door says "Baskerville 
Hall." One day Charlie, with some members of the Winter Assizes at 
Norwich, visited and said that he liked the scarlet red flocked wall 
paper that we have in the library.  He asked if they could have some of 
it. Sure, have some. What a surprise when, later on, Charlie gave us a
 present.  They had mounted some of the wallpaper and, using .22 
cartridges, they had pock marked the wallpaper with the initials 
V.R....just like Holmes. It now proudly hangs in the library.</blockquote>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Scott Monty writes:</span></h4>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
While I knew Charlie from various New England scion societies in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and I always enjoyed his musical numbers. It's an area of Sherlockian interest that we shared. But more than Charlie's Sherlockian credentials, it's Charlie's friendly and encouraging nature that I'll always remember. Every time I had occasion to see Charlie — and opportunities in the last few years would generally amount to an annual reunion — the informal and quiet conversations were always the most meaningful. Charlie was always interested in other people and full of compliments and suggestions. I might not have known Charlie as well as some of the other correspondents above, but Charlie made me feel like I was valued just as equally as them. And that was a special gift.</blockquote>
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When you did come to know Charlie, you learned of his other interests and his personal history. Born in Norwich, CT, he graduated from Norwich Free Academy in 1962. Earning a bachelor's degree from the College of the Holy Cross in 1967, he returned to NFA to teach English literature. He also earned a master's degree in 1975 from the University of Hartford. He retired in 2003 after a teaching career of 36 years. He was a dedicated teacher who interacted extensively with his students in and out of class, who taught them to think and not just regurgitate facts. A skilled marksman and competitive rifle shooter, as a NFA faculty member, he coached the NFA rifle team to several State High School Championships. <br />
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He and his wife of 36 years, Carol, were hosts over the years to many Sherlockians who visited Gillette Castle to research William Gillette. He told a wonderful story of how he and Carol 'accidentally' came to buy their house high on a hill in East Haddam directly across the road from the Castle.  Besides Carol, he is survived by his son, Chris, and daughter-in-law Dianne, of Norwich, as well as his older brother, Albert, of Virginia.<br />
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Charlie was a fine Sherlockian and a great human being.  He is already missed by everyone who knew him.<br />
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[<b>Editor's note</b>: if you have a memory of Charlie that you'd care to share, please leave a comment below.]<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>Robert Stek, BSI ("The Mysterious Scientist") was invested into the Baker Street Irregulars in 1996.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>

Remembering Charlie Adams, BSI

"My old friend Charlie" [ILLU] I would guess that most Sherlockians became fascinated with Holmes after becoming familiar wit...

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by Spocklock

Sherlock Holmes Is Everywhere Except...

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"whom I served at the fatal battle" [STUD]</h4>
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<br />
As we were preparing a talk for <a href="http://www.scintillation.org/" target="_blank">Scintillation of Scions VII</a> in Hanover, MD on June 7 - which we'll share at some point in the future - we came across <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2009/05/man-of-excellent-birth-and-education_22.html#.U47DRvldWSo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a previous post covering the Arthur Conan Doyle Symposium</a> at Harvard in 2009.<br />
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At that event, Glen Miranker, BSI ("The Origin of Tree Worship") investigated Sherlock Holmes in popular culture - an in particular, in advertising. According to Glen,<br />
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In advertising, we see the image of Holmes used for soda, clothing, shoes, head lice, enemas, food, tobacco (including cigarette cards, cigar box labels, cigar bands, pipes, chewing tobacco, etc.), home inspection, gas companies, insurance, detective services, automotive products, games (the Parker Bros card game appeared in 1904 and stayed on the market until 1923), balloon animal modeling, computer games, video games.</blockquote>
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Miranker concluded that the only areas not yet affected by Sherlock Holmes are NASCAR, rap music and baseball.<br />
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Well, we noticed this video last year, but after coming across the remark above, we're prepared to say that from Glen's analysis, only NASCAR and baseball remain untouched. Because Epic Rap Battles pitted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CLlZuiBkQ" target="_blank">Batman against Sherlock Holmes</a>:</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/17CLlZuiBkQ" width="560"></iframe></center>
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One down, two to go.<br />
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Who do you think won?<br />
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Sherlock Holmes Is Everywhere Except...

"whom I served at the fatal battle" [STUD] As we were preparing a talk for Scintillation of Scions VII in Hanover, MD on Jun...

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by Scott Monty

Classics of Sherlockiana: the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes

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“which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha” [VALL]</h4>
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The Canon of Sherlock Holmes compromises four novels and
fifty-six short stories. But there existed writings by Arthur Conan Doyle about
Holmes or John H. Watson that are not part of the accepted Canon that, though
they were published, were hidden, secret or obscure until 1980 when Jack Tracy
collected them in <a href="http://amzn.to/1pQtdJv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha</i></a>. </div>
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Six by Doyle were:<br />
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<ul>
<li>"The Field Bazaar"</li>
<li>"How Watson Learned
the Trick" </li>
<li>"The Man with the Watches" </li>
<li>"The Lost Special"</li>
<li>"The
Speckled Band" (play)</li>
<li>"The Crown Diamond" (play)</li>
</ul>
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<br />
Also included were "The Adventure of
the Two Collaborators" by J.M. Barrie, which as Tracy notes "Doyle called it 'the
best of all the numerous parodies' on Holmes and thought so much of it that he
gave it the place of legitimacy by including it in his autobiography;" the
William Gillette plays "Sherlock Holmes" and "The Painful Predicament of
Sherlock Holmes;" a plot outline for an unwritten Holmes story (now sometimes
referred to as "The Adventure of the Tall Man") and "The Case of the Man Who
Was Wanted" by Arthur Whitaker.</div>
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The value of the book, aside from gathering these disparate
pieces in one place, was Tracy’s invaluable introductory notes on each,
explaining when, how and why they came into existence. For example, the history
of the Whitaker pastiche, for a short time thought by the world to be the 61<sup>st</sup>
Holmes story from Doyle's hand, is succinct.</div>
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Arthur Whitaker sent his story to Doyle in 1910 in hopes of
a collaboration. Doyle replied in a letter that while it was a fine story,
Whitaker should invent his own characters and publish it. Otherwise, Doyle
offered him around £10 for use of the plot. Whitaker, an unemployed architect
took the money and Doyle filed it away.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sir Arthur died on 7 July 1930, and his papers lay undisturbed for many years. Hesketh Pearson, in 1942, became the first to go through them, and he discovered ‘The Man Who Was Wanted.’<br />
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The Sherlockian world was electrified. A heretofore unknown Sherlock Holmes adventure! Pressure from many sources immediately came to bear on the Conan Doyle Estate to publish the piece. A paragraph or two were printed in Pearson’s 1943 biography of Doyle, but the Estate resisted the many offers for its publication….<br />
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At last, COSMOPOLITAN made a satisfactory offer, and "The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted" appeared in the August 1948 issue of that magazine, as well as in Britain’s THE SUNDAY DISPATCH during January 1949.<br />
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Then the truth came out. Arthur Whitaker, now retired, was still living. He contacted the Estate and was able to produce his carbon copy of the typescript as well as Conan Doyle’s handwritten letter, dated thirty-eight years earlier, in which Doyle offered to purchase the plot.</blockquote>
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For those interested in a more detailed history, I highly
recommend Jon Lellenberg’s <a href="http://amzn.to/1x4GyT6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Nova 57 Minor:The Waxing and Waning of the Sixty-First Adventure of Sherlock Holmes</i>.</a></div>
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<h3>
Haining's Hand</h3>
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In 1981, Peter Haining came out <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <a href="http://amzn.to/1mQuuOs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</a></i> which contained many,
but not all, of the pieces in <i>The Published Apocrypha</i>: "Bazaar," "Watches," "Special," "Predicament," "Wanted," "Diamond," Trick" and the plot outline and Robert
A. Cutter's pastiche based on it "The Adventure of the Tall Man."<br />
<br />
Haining
filled out his book with the Doyle penned essays "The Truth About Sherlock
Holmes"(which contains Barrie's "Two Collaborators"); "Some Personalia About
Mr Sherlock Holmes," "My Favorite Sherlock Holmes Adventure," two non-Holmes
Doyle-penned mysteries "The Mystery of Uncle Jeremy's Household" and "The Mystery of Sasassa
Valley," "The Case of the Inferior Sleuth" — two poems, Arthur Guiterman's "To
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" on Holmes' critique of Poe and Gaboriau and Doyle's
reply "To an Undiscerning Critic" and "A Gaudy Death: Conan Doyle Tells the True
Story of Sherlock Holmes's End," a 1900 article from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tit-Bits</i> magazine. While in some respects it can be seen as a
knock-off of Tracy's book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Final
Adventures</i> has enough differences to be complementary, albeit, without
possessing Tracy’s deep scholarship,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
lesser work. </div>
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Definitely not a lesser work came out in 1983. Tracy wrote
in his introduction:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This book is subtitled 'The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Published</i> Apocrypha.' There still the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unpublished</i> Apocrypha — two tantalizing works in Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's own hand—which remain suppressed. They are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Angels of Darkness</i>, a three-act play, written in 1890 based on
the Mormon flashback in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Study in
Scarlet</i>, set in San Francisco, and having Doctor Watson for its principal character
[see below]; and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Stonor Case</i>, a 'first
version' of the 1910 drama <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Speckled Band</i>."</blockquote>
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<h3>
Keeping the Memory Green</h3>
Richard Lancelyn Green’s <a href="http://amzn.to/TbLOVr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes</i></a> contained <i>The Stonor Case</i> as well as the aforementioned "Bazaar," "Trick," the poem "To an Undiscerning
Critic," "Diamond," "Some Personalia About Mr Sherlock Holmes," “A
Sherlock Holmes Competition” (which contains Haining’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>“My Favorite Sherlock Holmes Adventure”); “The
True Story of Sherlock Holmes” (which is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tit-Bits</i> article) and “Plot for Sherlock Holmes Story”.</div>
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However, Green's introduction is a 142-page biography of
Doyle with emphasis on Holmes and is worth the price of the book itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Original to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Uncollected</i> is "Prefaces," all the prefaces written by Doyle
for various editions of the Canon; "Sherlock Holmes on the Screen," "Sidelights
on Sherlock Holmes" and "The Background on Sherlock Holmes," both drawn from
Doyle's autobiography <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Memories and
Adventures</i>; "The Last of Sherlock Holmes," an interview of Doyle that
appeared in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Mail</i> in October
1904; "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Review by Joseph Bell," "Sherlock
Holmes Parodies by J.M. Barrie" containing "Collaborators" and "The
Late Sherlock Holmes," and "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or, An Ungrateful Father; by
Beverley Nichols", an article published in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sketch</i>
in November 1926.</div>
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Like with Tracy's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Published Apocrypha</i>, the true value in Green's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Uncollected</i> is the deep research and scholarship each man brings to
the table of contents. His introduction to "Plot for Sherlock Holmes Story" is concise
and probably on-the-mark:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This '<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scenario</i>
for an uncompleted tale' was discovered by Hesketh Pearson, who included it in
his biography of Conan Doyle. Although attributed to Doyle there is no evidence
to show that it is by him and strong internal evidence to suggest that it is
not."</blockquote>
</div>
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<br />
<h3>
Highly Irregular</h3>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
And speaking of scholarship, there is boatloads of that in the Baker Street Irregulars Manuscript Series 2001 publication <a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/angelsdarkness.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Angels of Darkness</i></a>, the up-until-then unpublished Doyle play that launched a
thousand speculations. William Baring-Gould based an 1886-1887 marriage of Watson to "Constance
Adams" of San Francisco from second-hand knowledge of it. Would he still have posited a pre-Mary Morstan marriage if he knew that Watson was to be betrothed to Lucy Ferrier instead?<br />
<br />
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<br />
Reading the play, one
can understand why it was unpublished for so long. It is not very good,
inferior to its source material “The Country of the Saints” section of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Study in Scarlet</i>, heavy on melodrama
and ethnic stereotyping passing for characterization. It is a product of its
times and the essays by Clifford S. Goldfarb, Christopher Roden, Don B. Wilmeth
and Michael W. Homer make its historical and theatrical context clear. The John
Watson of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkness</i> may or may not be
the Canonical Watson, but after 56 years of rumor and speculation after its existence was revealed by Adrian Conan Doyle's biography of his father, it was nice
to have the play at hand and judge for ourselves.<br />
<br /></div>
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<h3>
A Pressing Matter</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2009, the <a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/">Wessex Press</a> and editor Leslie S. Klinger
finished <i><a href="http://wessexpress.com/html/shrl.html" target="_blank">The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library</a></i> with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://wessexpress.com/html/apocrypha.html" target="_blank">The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes</a></i>. Like the Canon in the Reference
Library series, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apocrypha</i> is
annotated within the Grand Game, thus is complementary to the historical approach of the above works. The contents include:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>"The Field Bazaar," </li>
<li>"The
Man with the Watches," </li>
<li>"The Lost Special," </li>
<li>"How Watson Learned the Trick," </li>
<li>"The
Stonor Case," </li>
<li>"The Crown Diamond: An Evening with Sherlock Holmes," </li>
<li>"The Tall
Man: A Plot for a Sherlock Holmes Story" </li>
<li>"Angels of Darkness."</li>
</ul>
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<br />
While newspaper or magazine articles might be rediscovered
shedding new light on Doyle’s relationship with his most famous creation, it
seems highly improbable that any more material from Doyle’s hand will appear that
will be included in that select section called the Apocrypha. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only <i>Angels of Darkness</i> and the Reference
Library <i>Apocrypha</i> are currently in print; the others are readily available in the second-hand market. All the books mentioned in this post
are worth seeking out.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
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Classics of Sherlockiana: the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes

“which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha” [VALL] The Canon of Sherlock Holmes compromises four novels and fifty-six short s...

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by James C. O'Leary

Basil Rathbone: The Reluctant Sherlock Holmes

<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
"Good-day, sir; good-day" [SIGN] </h4>
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<br />
After seven years playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's infallible detective, actor Basil Rathbone, a Brit by way of Johannesburg, would reveal a gnawing disdain for Sherlock Holmes.<br />
<br />
"One was jealous of course," he writes in his 1956 autobiography, <a href="http://amzn.to/1o1mVXZ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>In and Out of Characte</i>r</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Jealous of his mastery in all things, both material and mystical…he was a sort of god in his own way, seated on some Anglo-Saxon Olympus of his own design and making! Yes, there was no question about it, Holmes had given me an acute inferiority complex!"</blockquote>
<br />
Indeed, between 14 films and 200 radio broadcasts, Rathbone came to recognize his own limitations in 19th century fiction. But it was a burden that nonetheless became his legacy. He created an icon: Inverness cape, slung around lean shoulders; a hawkish nose; a <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/01/the-basil-rathbone-hat-mystery.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">visored cap</a>; a <a href="http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/tag/sherlock-holmes-did-not-smoke-a-calabash-pipe/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">curved pipe</a>.<br />
<br />
The silhouette that has inspired new generations of backyard and on-screen antiheroes.<br />
<br />
"It's <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/03/marking-75-years-of-this-classic.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">acknowledged</a> that there has been no other actor before and probably since, with the possible exception of (Jeremy) Brett, who achieved such a physical realization of Conan Doyle's protagonist," explained Neve Rendell, editor of <a href="http://thegreatbaz.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Baz: A Basil Rathbone Blog</a>, in an interview with IHOSE. "It's been said he is in some ways the <a href="http://www.arthes.com/holmes/" target="_blank">(Sidney) Paget</a> drawings come to life."<br />
<br />
Classically-trained -- a contemporary of Laurence Olivier -- Rathbone easily slipped into the Canon's conception of Holmes as artful, Victorian sleuth. Twentieth Century Fox's <a href="http://amzn.to/1fd2jJA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i></a> and <a href="http://amzn.com/B0001DCYB4" target="_blank"><i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i></a> (1939) then integrated motifs relic of the <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/user/attaboyclarence/the-game-is-afoot" target="_blank">Golden Age of Hollywood</a>. A misty, lantern-lit moor (a wink at the era's popular Gothic horror flicks). A fusty, bumbling companion. A villain -- and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJVXHLjVhk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">vaudevillian tonic</a>.<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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ygXbh2f8l5dGhjI6bmd2KGI6AjncMHna62-qQD9tvvZmW2lCEQmBr6vWHJufHEmIzfgDGEP1uJpCv6SIX87rUzPrpdJKhlAPeArDCl2pNhv6VAh5YQBwBzDdgn1gm-gA8wrkfc4HSYQb/s1600/Wikimedia+Commons.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ygXbh2f8l5dGhjI6bmd2KGI6AjncMHna62-qQD9tvvZmW2lCEQmBr6vWHJufHEmIzfgDGEP1uJpCv6SIX87rUzPrpdJKhlAPeArDCl2pNhv6VAh5YQBwBzDdgn1gm-gA8wrkfc4HSYQb/s1600/Wikimedia+Commons.png" width="490" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When Universal Studios rebooted the series in 1942, in the heart of World War II, Rathbone <a href="http://www.sherlockpeoria.net/AaaView/View2012/ViewSP042912.html" target="_blank">grew into</a> a fedora-wearing action man.<br />
<br />
"Given the massive popularity of Rathbone's Holmes at the time, it was inevitable to induct him into the <a href="http://www.chaplinbooks.co.uk/SecretWeapon.pdf" target="_blank">fight against Nazism</a>, both on- and off-screen -- to promote the sale of war bonds and in support of the British War Relief," said Rendell, who started her website in 2012. "His quintessential 'British-ness' must have helped a great deal at a time when FDR was trying to win American popular opinion in going to war and supporting Europe."<br />
<br />
Despite his and Holmes' trans-Atlantic influence -- what journalist <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/02/episode-61-private-life-of-vincent.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vincent Starrett</a> immortalized in his poem <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/celebrate-national-poetry-day.html#.U405ovldWSo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"221B"</a> -- Rathbone began to resent the light treatment of Conan Doyle's weighty work. He cringed when fans cried "Quick, Watson, the needle" or "Elementary, my dear Watson!" He dreaded typecasting.<br />
<br />
And, he said, he feared "oblivion" for portraying someone who, "for a brief, beautiful period, was more real than reality itself."<br />
<br />
Yet in the hearts and minds of all who followed him, from Brett to Cumberbatch, Rathbone personifies Holmes. Call it typecasting but, really, it is much more. It is iconic. With the swish of his Inverness and the puff of his pipe, Rathbone brought the world's first consulting detective to life. He made us laugh. He made us forget. To that, it's "Good-day, sir; good-day."<br />
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<i>Image credit: <a href="http://ireallyshouldbedrawing.tumblr.com/post/54607470704" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">ireallyshouldbedrawing (Tumblr)</a></i></div>
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