I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Sherlockians Are Weird

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"in the city of the weird" [STUD] </h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge54QMEvz7WwvbuPXa2X-u_eNHxQSMHfNidTuJLKc3-X5RWFSSujEK2Ow18MJw3HoKGndo-yQdnnf6DL1QG3N_WFjlcZbg7OmB_LJBdr_bHcShXsdD-H7rN7CLRXy-KJHZt5QETSJ4wK29/s1600/Graham+Moore+-+weird+and+different.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Graham Moore says #stayweird" border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge54QMEvz7WwvbuPXa2X-u_eNHxQSMHfNidTuJLKc3-X5RWFSSujEK2Ow18MJw3HoKGndo-yQdnnf6DL1QG3N_WFjlcZbg7OmB_LJBdr_bHcShXsdD-H7rN7CLRXy-KJHZt5QETSJ4wK29/s1600/Graham+Moore+-+weird+and+different.PNG" title="Graham Moore" width="640" /></a></div>
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Sherlockians are a weird bunch by definition. We obsess over a fictional character and claim that "<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/10/celebrate-national-poetry-day.html#.VOs9d_nF9gQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">he never lived and so can never die</a>." We <a href="http://bsiweekend.com/" target="_blank">host dinners</a> in his honor, we make toasts to the characters of the Canon of 60 stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we research and write <a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank">scholarly papers</a> - all in the name of a hobby.<br />
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So it was a welcome and refreshing moment during last night's Academy Awards when Graham Moore took to the stage after winning an Oscar® for Best Adapted Screenplay, giving a speech that touched a nerve with audiences worldwide:<br />
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When I was 16 years old,I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now I'm standing here and so I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she's weird or she's different or she doesn't fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. You do. Stay weird, stay different. And then when it's your turn and you're standing on this stage, please pass the same message to the next person who comes along.</div>
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It was so heartfelt, so genuine, and - dare we say? - so different that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stayweird?src=tren" target="_blank">#stayweird</a> is still a trending topic on Twitter this morning.</div>
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We were fortunate to have interviewed Graham Moore in 2011 about his book <i>The Sherlockian</i> on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose30" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 30 of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere</a>. You can listen here:</div>
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Yes, Sherlockians are weird. Stay that way.</div>
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Sherlockians Are Weird

"in the city of the weird" [STUD] Sherlockians are a weird bunch by definition. We obsess over a fictional character and cla...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

This Week in Sherlock Holmes News

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"in the course of the week" [STUD] </h4>
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Pardon us if we pause to catch our breath. We'd like to bring you up to speed on what's been happening and let you know what we have planned for this week - and how you can stay on top of the news.<br />
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What happened</h4>
The weekend proved a busy one online, as the news of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11424549/Lost-Sherlock-Holmes-story-discovered-in-mans-attic.html" target="_blank">a recently-discovered Sherlock Holmes story</a> began circulating on Friday morning. By Friday evening, we posted a detailed analysis of <a href="http://ihose.co/ACD_not" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could not have written the story</a> by Mattias Boström, BSI ("The Swedish Pathological Society"). There was some little controversy in the comments section - even Les Klinger, BSI ("The Abbey Grange") expressed an opinion. Is it over yet? We'll see what other Doyle scholars can bring to light.<br />
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And to demonstrate that this subject is far from over, we'll have at least one other analysis available this week from another contributor. Sherlockians love controversy!<br />
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On Saturday, we continued a new feature - the Saturday Matinee movie review - with a look at <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/saturday-matinee-silver-blaze-murder-at.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">another Arthur Wontner film</a>. The reviews are cross-posted from <a href="http://www.comicbookandmoviereviews.com/" target="_blank">Comic Book and Movie Reviews</a>, courtesy of David Lee Andrews.<br />
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Continuing on a lighthearted trend on Sunday, we welcomed Chris Redmond, BSI ("Billy") for his inaugural contribution to IHOSE in which he wrote about <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/canonical-abbreviations-no-short.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the origin of the abbreviations of the titles of the Sherlock Holmes stories</a>. Some have questioned the user-friendliness of the shortened titles, but we believe that using the key provided by Jay Finley Christ, BSI ("The Final Problem") is logical enough:<br />
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If the titles are all GREE to you,</h4>
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(A SIGN is your brain's BLAC and BLUE)</h4>
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BERY doubts that have flowed;</h4>
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SCAN a SPEC of <a href="http://ihose.co/ABREV" rel="nofollow" style="color: #006f85; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the code</a>.</h4>
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You can't MISS if you STUD like 3STU.</h4>
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What's next</h4>
Tomorrow, we'll be posting an interview with author Kim Krisco, who wrote <i>Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years</i>, with an unusual twist. New contributor Derrick Belanger makes his debut on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere with that one.<br />
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We'll also have an announcement on Wednesday about a special new feature of our podcast. We won't give anything away right now, aside from letting you know that you can participate in what we're calling "Mental Exaltation."<br />
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Finally, we hope we haven't been keeping you in suspense with regard to our <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/sherlock-holmes-valentine-day-quiz.html#.VOrEFfldWSp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Valentine's Day quiz</a>. We had scores of entries and we selected one winner randomly from those that submitted all correct answers. Here are the answers, in case you'd like to see how you did:<br />
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    <td>1.Jefferson Hope</td>
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    <td>2. Mary Cushing</td>
    <td>7. Henry Wood</td>  
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    <td>3. Jack Croker</td>
    <td>8. Cyril Morton</td>
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    <td>4. Grace Dunbar</td>
    <td>9. Hilton Cubitt</td>
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If you have any questions about or would like to debate the answers, please let us know.<br />
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What you can do</h4>
If you haven't yet <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub&publisher=445106&sitescope=45933" target="_blank">subscribed via email</a>, we highly recommend that you do, and please keep in mind our <a href="http://bit.ly/FlipSherlock" target="_blank">Flipboard magazine</a> and <a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/sherlock-holmes" target="_blank">Scoop.it topic</a>, where we post links and news of interest as we find them. Plus, <a href="http://facebook.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">our Facebook page</a> continues to grow; we'd be honored if you joined us there.<br />
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But most of all, if you could tell someone you know about our site and encourage them to subscribe, that would be the ultimate compliment.<br />
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We're looking forward to having you with us all week!<br />
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This Week in Sherlock Holmes News

"in the course of the week" [STUD] Pardon us if we pause to catch our breath. We'd like to bring you up to speed on what...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Canonical Abbreviations: No Short Sherlock?

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'What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!' [VALL]</h4>
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So what's your favourite Sherlock Holmes story? If it's "Silver Blaze", you might not get tired of saying or writing the name over and over again. But if it's "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", that could get cumbersome. And if you were trying to draw up a table of the stories (charting how many murders take place in each one, say), the sixty titles could take up a lot of space, even if you omitted the subtitles that several stories carry.<br />
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That was the problem that faced <a href="http://www.sshf.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Jay_Finley_Christ" target="_blank">Jay Finley Christ, BSI</a> ("The Final Problem") when he was compiling an index to the names, crimes, laughs, lenses, masks, notebooks, weapons and windows mentioned in all the stories. To save space in his beautifully typeset index, which was published in 1947 as <i>An Irregular Guide to Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street</i>, he prepared what he called a "<a href="http://ihose.co/ABREV" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Key to Story Names</a>." The Sherlockian world has known them ever since as the canonical abbreviations. [Editor's note: you can find <a href="http://ihose.co/ABREV" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the abbreviation key here on our site</a> and embedded below.]<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmL5J78KLxA2pkmbyIZyxrbRT8mc2SeaLTY-wsSuHz9LVtbY1-mZQ1BB7RrMIZor8J9FAFnzssWTOCKucmhp-7zc6pOAYeoibqGkhYzopKPiuGXwFWNEjsDSPf5mLvlJ42hE6ULTdk5kQx/s1600/Jay+Finley+Christ.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Jay Finley Christ, BSI, originator of the abbreviations for the Sherlock Holmes story titles" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmL5J78KLxA2pkmbyIZyxrbRT8mc2SeaLTY-wsSuHz9LVtbY1-mZQ1BB7RrMIZor8J9FAFnzssWTOCKucmhp-7zc6pOAYeoibqGkhYzopKPiuGXwFWNEjsDSPf5mLvlJ42hE6ULTdk5kQx/s1600/Jay+Finley+Christ.jpg" title="Jay Finley Christ, BSI" width="212" /></a></div>
Christ's basic principle was simple: the abbreviation is the first four letters of the story's title, leaving aside phrases like "The Adventure of". He listed them alphabetically, from Abbe for "The Abbey Grange" to Yell for "The Yellow Face". Christ, perhaps influenced by the British custom of capitalizing only the first letter of an abbreviation or acronym, typed them that way — besides, it takes less space. (When the story name starts with a three-letter word, he capitalized the beginning of the next word too: RedH, RedC, SixN.) Most subsequent users of his system have capitalized all four letters: ABBE, YELL.<br />
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A few problems arise with the four-letter rule, most obviously the fact that three stories begin with the word "Three". Christ solved that one easily: 3Gab for the Gables, 3Gar for the Garridebs, 3Stu for the Students. (He didn't do the same thing for "The Five Orange Pips" or "The Six Napoleons" because there's only one five and one six. And "The Sign of the Four" is Sign, with no numeral needed.)<br />
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And lest you think that these choices were capricious or confusing, recall that Christ was a professor at the University of Chicago, home of the famed <i>Chicago Manual of Style</i>. The manual indicates that "whole cardinal numbers from one through one hundred, as well as ordinals, are spelled out in nontechnical contexts." Indeed, Christ was <a href="https://mcmurdoscamp.wordpress.com/trifling-monographs/tao-abbr-christs-abbreviations-explained/" target="_blank">working from academic and legal precedents</a> for his abbreviations. <br />
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Wouldn't you know, Christ made a few exceptions, for stories with difficult names. He went with Chas for "Charles Augustus Milverton", probably because that was a recognized abbreviation for Charles, and Engr for "The Engineer's Thumb". And in three instances he apparently decided that introductory words were as insignificant as "The Adventure of", and could be ignored, so he decreed Iden for "A Case of Identity", Last for "His Last Bow", and Twis for "The Man with the Twisted Lip". <br />
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It gets a bit complicated — though only a little, since most Sherlockians surely know the names of all sixty cases and can figure out what FINA and GREE and SHOS mean. Scores of writers have used the abbreviations over the decades since Christ created them. Even when elegance demands that the full titles be used in a printed article, the abbreviations sneak into footnotes and tables, and of course tweets, where space is at a premium.<br />
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<b>No Short Sherlock</b></h4>
The abbreviations have their detractors, of course. Among them is the editor of the <i><a href="http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/" target="_blank">Baker Street Journal</a></i>, who actually devoted an editorial in 2002 to explaining why the BSJ will not ordinarily use them: they are not "welcoming" to "the newly engaged Sherlockian".<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/IHearofSherlock">@IHearofSherlock</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/darkgreendesk">@darkgreendesk</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianHolmes">@CanadianHolmes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/curtisisbooger">@curtisisbooger</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NEofMN">@NEofMN</a> I HATE the Four-letter abbreviations; use them only for Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ugh?src=hash">#Ugh</a><br />
— Baker Street Journal (@BakerStJournal) <a href="https://twitter.com/BakerStJournal/status/568853158442733569">February 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/darkgreendesk">@darkgreendesk</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IHearofSherlock">@IHearofSherlock</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianHolmes">@CanadianHolmes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/curtisisbooger">@curtisisbooger</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/NEofMN">@NEofMN</a> Not difficult but not intuitive. Should be understood by all.<br />
— Baker Street Journal (@BakerStJournal) <a href="https://twitter.com/BakerStJournal/status/568855994169741313">February 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Indeed, even the Sherlockian whose engagement has dragged on longer than that of Mary Sutherland may occasionally be thrown: was that BLAN or BLAC? RETI or RESI? CROO or CREE? REDC or REDH? And a sentence like that one demonstrates the merits of another argument, that four-letter abbreviations sound too much like excerpts from a computer manual. Definitely, they should not be used in continuous prose.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/BakerStJournal">@BakerStJournal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/timgreer7">@timgreer7</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/darkgreendesk">@darkgreendesk</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CanadianHolmes">@CanadianHolmes</a> It's *A* touchstone of Sherlockian knowledge; not *THE* touchstone.<br />
— I Hear of Sherlock (@IHearofSherlock) <a href="https://twitter.com/IHearofSherlock/status/568874452253073409">February 20, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Canonical Abbreviations: No Short Sherlock?

'What a queer, scrambling way of expressing his meaning!' [VALL] So what's your favourite Sherlock Holmes story? If it...

+ Read more »

by Scott Monty

Saturday Matinee: Silver Blaze / Murder at the Baskervilles

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"You can go to blazes!" [3STU]</h4>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">[</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">Editor's note: this is the third in <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/search/label/Arthur%20Wontner#.VNZp7_nF_14" rel="nofollow" style="color: #006f85; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a series of four posts</a> on the Arthur Wontner Sherlock Holmes series, as reviewed by David Lee Andrews of <a href="http://www.comicbookandmoviereviews.com/2014/07/sherlock-holmes-and-silver-blaze-1937.html#.VOi_hfldWSo" style="color: #006f85; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Comic Book and Movie Reviews</a>.</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">]</span><br />
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</span> I say, old chap. Have you ever noticed that in days of old British people used to speak with a rather pious accent? Yes. I can assure you this fact is true, my friend. As I heard this in the following 71-minute movie made in 1937. It was Directed by: Thomas Bentley; and Starred: Arthur Wontner, Ian Fleming, Lyn Harding, with Lawrence Grossmith.<br />
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<b>The Story</b></h4>
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Why thank you very much for inviting us to your grand abode, Sir Henry Baskerville (Lawrence Grossmith). I'm sure Dr. Watson (Ian Fleming) and myself will have a most enjoyably stay here. Especially since Inspector Lestrade (John Turnbull) gave us a tip on an up and coming horse race within the vicinity. <br />
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Well, just between the two of us, of course, only the other day the good Inspector recommended that we should place a bet on a horse to win this completion. Your horse, my friend. Your horse called the 'Silver Blaze'. Nigh on guaranteeing us that your grand stallion should be the first....<br />
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BOOOM! AGGGGHHHHhhhh!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqDDsItP9_JsAy310ycVLQqXiu1xlr-3qMqr_saauQjFwwXwpTgsxqD1-8aZ9M5Akcq-DDzh3jIEAKepcsUUGbOwiYt8eum8TRilcJRAgILJu2s9fmvAuybAWRJ91DljMIvmPi9Pkek-E/s1600/Wontner-SILV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Arthur Explains it All" border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqDDsItP9_JsAy310ycVLQqXiu1xlr-3qMqr_saauQjFwwXwpTgsxqD1-8aZ9M5Akcq-DDzh3jIEAKepcsUUGbOwiYt8eum8TRilcJRAgILJu2s9fmvAuybAWRJ91DljMIvmPi9Pkek-E/s1600/Wontner-SILV.jpg" title="Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes in Silver Blaze" width="640" /></a></div>
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Eh? What in damnations was that infernal racket? Oh no! Don't tell me someone has killed your stable hand and stolen the horse in question? Oh, dear, Sir Henry! That's a damn nuisance, isn't it?<br />
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But please don't concern yourself with this matter, old bean. As the game is a foot. My game that is! My game of sussing out who committed this heinous crime by prowling through the moors, whilst asking a lot of question's in the process.<br />
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Then again, that's most probably why what transpires all takes a run and jump when I say to myself, 'Sherlock (Arthur Wontner) old chap. You don't think Professor Moriarty (Lyn Harding) is behind this, do you?'. As a horse is hidden from prying eyes - a stable hand is found out for telling lies - a race comes down with a tremendous cough - and at the end of the day, a vile villain it finally told to pi** off. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqxrD_GV50iwFhtK6S-miPQwVu9XDdZHCFjQFs1WGTzthWbAP20Yq67ryPC1dw1W78UcVTIDFSiQy53GN2zpXl4GBPoyZYdHEQ3ufxicC2-wu76i711ntaTl4PNN2ZVzx0xFxERIZbjzW/s1600/Wontner-BASK2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The jig is up" border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqxrD_GV50iwFhtK6S-miPQwVu9XDdZHCFjQFs1WGTzthWbAP20Yq67ryPC1dw1W78UcVTIDFSiQy53GN2zpXl4GBPoyZYdHEQ3ufxicC2-wu76i711ntaTl4PNN2ZVzx0xFxERIZbjzW/s1600/Wontner-BASK2.PNG" title="Holmes beats Moriarty - again" width="640" /></a></div>
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<h4>
<b>The Review</b></h4>
I must confess, dear reader, <i>Silver Blaze</i> was one of those black and white movies I liked for its story-line, yet didn't like for its execution.<br />
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Well, I think it best if I mention that the quality of the print I saw was rather mumbled in places. Both visually and acoustically they appeared slightly garbled and opaque on screen. And sometimes -- and only sometimes mind you -- it was quite difficult to ascertain what was happening from one moment to the next.<br />
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Having said that, though, this is a very old slice of antiquated cinema, and it does date back to 1937. Plus more or less, I got used to this cosmetic pit-fall the longer it played out. Particularly since some of the actors were able to tell the actual tale in a very straight-laced fashion.  <br />
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Honestly, folks. For yours truly I thought Arthur's portrayal of Sherlock was right on the money. Not only because he looked and sounded the part, yet he also had that meticulous manner of deducing and sleuthing like some sort of Victorian doctor. And as for the Doctor -- yeah -- he did a pretty good job too. In his own humble manner Ian appeared very comfortable and self-assured in his role of Doctor Watson, whilst Lyn scared the living sh*t out of me playing Moriarty, mainly because of his very imposing stature and gruff demeanor.<br />
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As for the rest of the cast on the other hand, well, nah! They were too stiff or prim-and-proper, so to speak. And most of them came across as a mixture of one-dimensional stereotypes and secondary players that couldn't really cut the mustard.<br />
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Oh! Wait a minute! While I'm on the topic of mustard, funnily enough, I'd say this said-same garnish is how I would perceive this tale. It's not to everybody's tastes, unless you enjoy something that is peppery and spicy and is able to confuse your taste buds.<br />
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Confused -- in a good way of course -- as this flick managed to do two things where the central narrative was concerned. Firstly, unlike some more modern day thrillers, it told a murder mystery that unfolded the longer it progressed, and didn't just set-up a pretext for the characters to play off of. And secondly, the three principal characters took charge of this film by staking their ground. Sherlock was the hero. Watson and Lestrade were his side-kicks. Plus Moriarty was the bad-guy. Simply put. And simply defined.<br />
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Anyway, by now I'm sure you know how I feel about this up and down movie. Parts of it were good. Parts of it were bad. And parts of it were fairly mediocre. So for the time being let us all sit back, relax, and check out the following film facts.</div>
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<li>'Twickenham Film Distributors' first screened this production in England on the very same month as the first alleged sighting of the elusive, 'White River Monster' -- July, 1937.</li>
<li>Loosely translated, this project was entitled 'The Missing Horse' in Brazil, and when it was re-issued in America four years later, 1941, it was given the alternate title, <i>Murder at the Baskervilles</i>.</li>
<li>The majority of this movie was shot at London's 'Twickenham Film Studios', located in the English county of Middlesex.</li>
<li>This adventure was limply based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 short story of the same name.</li>
<li>Unfortunately this was the last time Arthur Wontner would play Sherlock Holmes on screen. In 1961 he died at the tender age of 86.</li>
<li>Even though the actor who played Watson in this film shares the same name as the popular James Bond novelist, Ian Fleming, he is not a writer. Instead, he is an actor whose claim to fame is being one of two Watson's who played opposite Arthur's Holmes. The other one being Ian Hunter, who also starred opposite Errol Flynn in his swashbuckling series, 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'.</li>
<li>Its a little known fact that Arthur's eldest son, Hugh Wontner, became the Lord Mayor ofLondon in 1973.</li>
<li>This story wasn't the inadvertent sequel to the now classic <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, because it was written ten years earlier.</li>
<li>After this flick turned out the lights, Arthur Wontner starred in the comedy, <i>The Live Wire</i>; Ian Fleming starred in the drama, <i>The Reverse Be My Lot</i>; and Lyn Harding starred in the adventure, <i>Mutiny on the Elsinore</i>. </li>
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Overall I'd say <i>Silver Blaze</i> was a pretty nifty movie to sit down and watch. Even though cosmetically it looked rather mundane, the story told a rather good story, and it is well worth seeing if you haven't seen Arthur's version of Holmes yet.<br />
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<h4>
<b>The Rating: B-</b></h4>
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