"If This Man Was Murdered, How Was It Done?" [STUD]

There's a trailer available on YouTube for the hour-long documentary The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes. As you may have surmised, the title refers to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his rather contentious relationship with his most famous creation.

According to the description of the video:

In the lead up to the launch of the SHERLOCK HOLMES movie, this 60 minute drama documentary uncovers the secrets behind the real Sherlock Holmes, looks at the possible codes within the stories, and finds that the real Holmes is more of an action hero and a surprise than most would imagine.

Interviews with Surgeons from the Royal College, literary experts and Holmes' officionados this really is a fascinating journey of discovery into the heart of one of the greatest mysteries of all time - why and who killed SHERLOCK HOLMES.

Those of you in the know may recognize a few Holmes and Doyle experts:  Owen Dudley Edwards, who edited portions of the 9-volume set The Oxford Sherlock Holmes; Roger Johnson, BSI ("The Pall Mall Gazette"), editor of The Sherlock Holmes Society Journal; and Catherine Cooke, BSI ("The 'Book of Life'"), Curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collection at the Marylebone Library in Westminster, London.






Interesting piece of trivia: when we first watched it, the video had 221 views on it. We're not sure if that was purely a Canonical coincidence or if the creators artificially set it at that number.

If you're interested in this documentary, you can buy a copy of the DVD here: The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes.

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"You Can't Sit There and Play with Me Like a Cat with a Mouse" [ABBE]

We've seen the meetings of greats before: Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud, Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde, Abbott & Costello and Frankenstein. The list goes on.

Now, if your inner MGM child wants to connect with your inner Universal adult, you have the opportunity to see Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes. Because Basil of Baker Street wasn't enough of a murine tribute to Holmes, and because evidently Tom needs to wrack his brain with deducing clues in addition to chasing a wily little mouse, the felonious feline is becoming a Holmesian suck-up in this family-friendly animated feature film. I could summarize the plot here, but would it really matter? If you'd like an official plot summary, Animation World Network has it.

You can take a look at the trailer below:

If you're so inclined, go right ahead and purchase a copy of the DVD. And feel free to check out the other links above for other mash-ups that might be worth a read or a viewing.

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"I Have Figured Out Your Connections" [3GAR]

In one of our last posts, we asked for connections between Leonard Nimoy and Sherlock Holmes, and you graciously submitted yours. Thank you for that!

To those of you who were wondering what the connections are, we'll start with our own - we were thinking of three.

1. After completing his run on the Star Trek television series, Mr. Nimoy returned to the stage. In 1974, he played the title character in the U.S. tour of William Gillette's play "Sherlock Holmes."

2. Around that same time, Nimoy starred in a 15-minute short educational film called "Sherlock Holmes: Interior Motive," in which the origins of the Earth were explained. Here we have a short clip from it. Thankfully, it's not a long clip.




3. In Star Trek VI, Nimoy (as Mr. Spock) used the quote, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." He credited "an ancestor of mine" with saying it first.

Thank you so much for playing along! We'll see if we can develop similar quizzes and fun items for the future.

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"Kicks and Shoves" [ENGR]

Here's an interesting project that might be worthy of your support. Kickstarter is a site that allows you to peruse small budget creative ideas that need funding. The notion is, if enough people chip in, the project will become a reality.

We've been made aware of a Sherlockian project that needs funding: Moriarty: The Dark Chamber is a "graphic adventure" that is being proposed on Kickstarter. The publication is an upcoming graphic novel from DangerKatt Creative Studio, written by Daniel Corey, with art by Anthony Diecidue and letters and graphics by Dave Lanphear.

According to the project leads:

MORIARTY is going to be a three-chapter trade publication. Chapter #1 is complete, but we need your help to fund Chapter #2. The money received from backers will aid in production, covering the cost of art, letters and final assembly. The individual chapters of MORIARTY will debut online, and will go to print when the entire book is complete.

Here's the trailer for the project:

And a synposis:

MORIARTY follows the misadventures of Professor James Moriarty, arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, and poses the question: Can an outdated supervillain find new life?

It is the dawn of World War I, and Sherlock Holmes has been dead for twenty years. Professor James Moriarty is a lost man when he is approached by MI5 and blackmailed into finding Holmes' long-lost brother, Mycroft. What at first appears to be a routine case leads to a web of intrigue that involves a psychic box, a woman from his past, and a new villain that threatens to be greater than he ever was.

Will he unravel this complex mystery and reclaim his former glory as the world's greatest criminal mastermind, or will he fade into obscurity?

If you're interested in seeing some of the sample art, their Facebook Page has an album full of it.

Here's where you come in: the team needs to raise $3,700 in the next 40 days or so. So far, there have been 11 contributions made and $400 raised. If this is a project that you would like to see succeed, please consider contributing. There are great incentives if you volunteer a donation, including copies of the final graphic novel, downloadable artwork, and signed sketches by artist Anthony Diecidue.

In addition to donating, let's do something remarkable: let's see how viral we can make this effort. Share this link with everyone you know. Email it. Tweet it. Put it on Facebook, discussion boards, forums, etc. Let's see how far and wide we can spread the word to help get these guys off the ground. That "plus" sign in the bottom bar or the green "Share This" icon below will help you with that.




The game's afoot!

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"The Remains of the Original Inscription" [GOLD]

Next week there is an event on the calendar that every Sherlockian collector should mark well. It has nothing to do with when a particular story took place or an event of the past that has significance.

No, one week from today is when one of the rarest items of modern fiction - and certainly the rarest of Holmesian works - goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in London. For on July 15, 2010, an inscribed copy of A Study in Scarlet will be up for auction. The expected sale price? £250,000 to £400,000.

This story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print, and this is the only known inscribed copy of the original work. Randall Stock's excellent website The Best of Sherlock has the comprehensive writeup about this particular item (as well as many others). Sotheby's itself has a video preview of the item as well. Please click through to view it.

From Randall's website comes a description of the item:

This copy, the property of a private collector in New England, is bound in three-quarter morocco gilt that was probably done at the same time as Conan Doyle's inscription.  That inscription, "This is the very first independent book of mine which ever was published" appears on an extra leaf bound-in at front and is signed "Arthur Conan Doyle. | Jan 9 / 14."  Following the original cover are 26 pages of front-matter, including advertisements, the title page, table of contents, and frontispiece illustration.  The complete text of the original magazine (pp. [1]-138) then appears along with all the back-matter advertisements (pp. 139-168) and the original back cover.  It is in very fine condition.

We have the distinct pleasure of once having held that very copy in our hands when the collector showed it to us. To say that it made us a little weak in he knees would be an accurate statement. It was a direct connection to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who also once held it in his hands, and it was a marvelous specimen of the near-perfect acquisition.

Below you can take a look at the 5-page section of the Sotheby's catalog relevant to our interest.


Sotheby's Catalog Excerpt - Inscribed edition of A Study in Scarlet

If you're interested in more information, we suggest you use Randall's site as the main point of reference. In addition to everything regarding the provenance of the book (including previous owners and their affiliation with the Baker Street Irregulars) and the proceedings of the auction, he also has a good deal of press clippings about the event. It should be interesting to see how much this item sells for and whether it winds up in the hands of another private collector or in an institution's collections.

Any guesses on the final sale price?

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"Back From the Theatre" [RETI]

We suppose you could call this "The Return of the Secret of Sherlock Holmes." After a 20-year hiatus, Jeremy Paul's play The Secret of Sherlock Holmes is back.

You may recall that Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke took to the stage in 1988-89 to play the roles they became so renowned for in the Granada Television series. The play ran for approximately 400 episodes in London's West End, and its run was an obvious strain on the Brett, who had already begun a decline in health that would end in his untimely death in 1995.

It's only been recently that the play has managed to see a resurgence in interest. We wrote about Shakespeare & Company's reprisal in the fall of 2007 ("Their Secret Was Out" [GREE]) and also covered it on Episode 10 of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. Check out those two links for full coverage of that version.

There can be no doubt that the recent Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey, Jr. has also increased the attention on our favorite detective. It's no surprise then that the theatrical world should also be interested in seeing Holmes return to the stage. After all, it was William Gillette who used the stage to make Sherlock Holmes an even more integrated role in popular culture some 100 years ago.

The Stage recently reported that Jeremy Paul's The Secret of Sherlock Holmes would be returning to London's West End beginning on July 20, replacing the Fantasticks at the Duchess Theatre. In the role of Sherlock Holmes will be Peter Egan, and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson will be played by Robert Daws. Egan recently played Holmes in a stage edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles and you may recall Daws from his days as Bertie Wooster's brainless pal Tuppy Glossop in Jeeves & Wooster.

There's no indication on the length of run of this show; it's likely to be fueled by the sequel to the recent film as well. If you do see it, please pop by and let us know what you thought, or drop us a line  at bakerstreetblog AT gmail DOT com and let us know if you'd care to do a guest post with a full review.

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