"It Is Quite a Pretty Little Problem" [SCAN]

Here's a pretty little problem for you: test out your knowledge of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes(starring Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce) over at the Am I Wrong site.

It's a really neat little setup that allows you to drag & drop character names, in order to match them up with the names of the actors who portrayed them. When you're done, it gives you your score and allows you to share it with others.

Here's mine:

I scored 100%!
I got 10 out of 10 correct on the The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Movie Match quiz.

How'd you do? If you need to refresh your memory, you might want to pick up a decent copy of the DVD.

"I Give You These Results" [BLUE]

Last night was the Mystery Writers of America dinner at which the 2007 Edgar Award winners were announced. In January, in a post titled Your Merits Should be Publicly Recognized, I listed six categories containing seven entries which featured Sherlock Holmes (or his friends). Of those, I am happy to inform you that two were presented with Edgars:

Best Critical / Biographical
The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, The Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases by E.J. Wagner

Best Play
"Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure" by Steven Dietz (Arizona Theater Company)

Congratulations to Ms. Wagner and Mr. Dietz!

"His Data Were Insufficient" [TWIS]

About the status of the Spring Baker Street Journal: I have been receiving inquiries from many subscribers regarding your Spring issue. After doing some preliminary research, I found that the data from online purchases from PayPal were corrupted.

I am in the process of reloading these files and getting all of your information sent to our distribution and mail center. Please bear with me as I see that this process is completed.

If you have any questions, please contact me directly. Thank you.

"I Am Gathering All the Threads" [SIXN]

Peter Blau has just released the April 2007 edition of his newsletter Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press. Without fail, he has provided a good number of links to sites on the Web that may be of interest to Sherlockians and I have aggregated them here.

• Wisconsin Public Radio's interview with the late Ely Liebow - show dated April 8, 2007
  
• The April Fool's Day post on the Baker Street Blog that started the Russell Crowe / Nicholas Rowe hysteria
• The Russian animation of Sherlock Holmes from the Baker Street Blog
• Dan Baines' announcement that he had found the remains of a mummified fairy while walking his dog in rural Derbyshire received considerable publicity, some of which mentioned Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Cottingley fairies
• Search archives of old newspapers with Google Archive Search
• Steve Hockensmith's novel On the Wrong Track is the second in his series about Old Red and Big Red Amlingmeyer, Montana cowboys who enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories in the 1890s; there's some great material available from Steve's Web site
• The real scoop behind Hercules, the world's biggest dog
• The Magnoli Collection of Prop Replicas has two items of interest: Sherlock Holmes' passport as it represented his travel in the Basil Rathbone / Nigel Bruce series and document on which the curse of the Baskervilles was written
  
• Spring issue of the Tonga Times from the Mini-Tonga Scion Society has an article about Ted Bergman's miniature 221B Baker Street, with photographs
• Author Michael Kurland's Web site, featuring his novels about Professor Moriarty. His four novels are The Empress of India,
  
• We've mentioned Laurie King's blog here before, but now Mary Russell has her own blog
• Door County, Wisconsin hosts the next Canonical Convocation and Caper from September 28-30, 2007

Since Peter mentions a variety of books and authors in each newsletter, I'm adding a new feature: a roundup of all of such references, presented as a handy-dandy Shelfari bookshelf:

"Knowledge of Geology" [STUD]

The semi-annual meeting of the Practical, But Limited, Geologists recently took place in Long Beach, California. Naturally, Peter Blau was on the scene. But to make matters even more interesting (if that is indeed possible around Peter), John Rabe from the KPCC-FM show "Off-Ramp" was on-hand to record the proceedings.

You can hear what Peter and some other notable Sherlockians, such as Chuck Kovacic and Maggie Schpak had to say by going to the Off-Ramp site and clicking on "Sherlock Rocks."

He certainly does.

"The Case of Matilda Briggs" [SUSS]

In The Sussex Vampire, Holmes received a letter mentioning that name. But he clarified the statement for Watson:

"Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson," said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. "It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared."

We have no other information about the Matilda Briggs. But there are some theories that there was a connection with the real-life mystery ship, the Mary Celeste.


The Mary Celeste was an abandoned ghost ship found off the coast of Portugal in 1872. If you'd like more background about the ship, check the Wikipedia article.

The connection to the Matilda Briggs? In actuality, there was a woman on board named Sophia Matilda Briggs. And in 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle popularized the myth by making it the basis of his story J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement.

And the reason for mentioning it all all right now? There are news reports that a "ghost yacht" was found off the coast of Australia with its crew missing, a battered sail, computers functional, and table set for dinner. Could it be another case of the Mary Celeste? Or could it be that, since Australia isn't all that distant from Sumatra, there is another case of a giant rat?

"Drawing on His Stockings" [SIGN]

Our friends over at The Morning News have discovered The Adventure of the Missing Stocking - a new Sherlock Holmes adventure. Evidently, the writers of the television series Lost took time out of their busy schedules to write this pastiche—the latest chapter in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

My favorite quote has to be the Lestrade-as-Hurley remark:

“Pretty weak, dude,” said Lestrade.

Definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

"A Composer of No Ordinary Merit" [REDH]

Today - April 18, 2007 - marks an auspicious occasion: the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian-born composer Miklós Rózsa (it's my birthday too, but that's not as important). To celebrate that event, producer James Fitzpatrick of Tadlow Music is releasing a limited collector's edition, the World Premiere Recording of the Complete Score of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

You may recall a previous post in which I highly recommended that collectors get a taste for the full score by purchasing Rózsa's Violin Concerto, Op. 24. Composed before he scored the movie, the concerto was the closest thing we had to the full recorded score other than the title music featured in Sherlock Holmes: Classic Themes From 221B Baker Street.

Now we have for the first time the definitive score, orchestrated by noted Rózsa expert Nic Raine, a noteworthy orchestrator and composer in his own right. I have previewed a copy and recommend it with my highest regard. Stick with me. This is a long, but worthwhile post to read.

While the "Classic Themes" version was at least representative of the theme, that orchestra was tinny in comparison to what is now available from Tadlow Music. As well it should, since the music is performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra with the same orchestral line-up that Rózsa used: 26 violins, 10 violas, 10 celli, 5 basses, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, harp, piano, celesta and timpani plus 4 percussion. The original Rózsa sketches were obtained from Syracuse University, containing not only the complete music as heard in the film, but additional and alternate cues never used.

With over 77 minutes of music, the richness and emotion of Rózsa's score is more evident than ever. Solo violinist Lucie Svehlova truly captures the depth of loneliness, melancholy and quirkiness of Holmes through her interpretation. One can almost feel him longing for a relationship other than the cerebral, never to find it. There are alternate cues for some of the Scottish music in the film, and the original version of the main titles.

The liner notes that accompany the CD are extensive - the booklet is 24 pages long and filled with information about the life of Rózsa, notes on the cues, and details about the production of this new recording. In it, Rózsa's daughter Juliet writes:

Father was extremely overjoyed at the prospect of scoring the life of Holmes. As he says in his autobiography Double Life, "the script had the wit, the imagination and the charm of Wilder's best films and I was certain that this was going to be the best of them all...as to the music, I enjoyed adapting my Concerto."

Billy Wilder had a grand vision for the 260-page shooting screenplay with a $10 million budget. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes was set to be three hours and twenty minutes with an intermission, but was drastically cut after studio executives demanded a shorter version. Wilder acquiesced, taking out what Rózsa considered some of the best material. According to the composer, what resulted was:

...two episodes were cut and hacked about in an attempt to make one story out of two. The weakest story, about a submarine disguised as the Loch Ness Monster was left intact, but elsewhere all the best bits were eliminated. The truncated film as you see it today is a sorry travesty of the original and a great disappointment to all involved.

According to the liner notes, "Wilder was devastated by the callous emasculation of his work, and returned to the screen only infrequently after that. The restoration and preservation of Wilder's original cut remains one of the highest priorities of the American Film Institute." [emphasis mine]

In the meantime, Fitzpatrick has done a remarkable job of restoring and preserving this score for our pleasure. When you order the CD, be sure to take a look at the 5-minute video clip of the recording session.

And if you'd like to read a more professional review from a film score expert, take a look at Mike Beek's review on Music for the Movies. He captures everything much better than I could. I'm just here to tell you that, as a film score collector and a Sherlockian, this new CD is a must-have.

Ordering information is available on the Tadlow Music site. Please be sure to mention The Baker Street Blog when you check out.

"The Best Antidote to Sorrow" [EMPT]

I know this blog reaches hundreds of people on a daily basis, and normally I don't ask much of my readers. But this is an exception. I need your help. Or more accurately, another Sherlockian needs your help.

It seems that one of our own is suffering in a pretty bad way and could use some snail mail to cheer him up. Joseph Coppola, BSI ("Victor Hatherly") writes that a fellow member of the Mycroft Holmes Society of Syracuse needs some good old community effort to help lift his spirits. Joe writes:

Some years ago, this group saved the life of Mycroftian Alice Daye by sending her letters and cards when she was in the burn unit here in Syracuse. I write today to ask for your generosity again to assist in the recovery of Win Martin.

Win is a longtime member of the Mycroft Holmes Society of Syracuse, he is our resident musician having been a classically trained pianist and organist as well as an active contributor to our meetings. You haven't heard 'We Never mention Aunt Clara' until you have heard it played on a full pipe organ by a classically trained organist. His wife, also a Mycroftian, passed away a few years ago. Win has no family and has been fighting severe depression ever since, he is also fighting the usual infirmities of advance age and is not very mobile.

His Doctor has recently ordered him to move to an adult residence home so that he will have more social contact. He feels alone in the world, I have told him that he is a Sherlockian and that he has a Sherlockian family that cares about him.

I'm asking you to reinforce that statement by sending him a postcard, greeting card, or letter. He needs to know that he is not forgotten. If you will, his address is:

'Win' Martin
Manlius Home for Adults
215 E Pleasant St.
Manlius, NY 13104
U.S.A.

Here's a suggestion, to really liven the correspondence up: why not describe your first encounter with Sherlock Holmes? This will help Win reminisce and to get to know you a little better as a Sherlockian. I know I'll be sending my own greetings out shortly. Won't you join me?

If we can get even 1/4 of the blog readership to send something to Win, he'll have enough reading material to last him quite a while.

"It Is an Old Manuscript" [HOUN]

It's not very often that one of the original 60 stories from the Sherlock Holmes canon goes on the market. Which is why news of the June 21 auction of the manuscript of The Three Gables is likely to attract quite a bit of attention.

The aucton is being held at Sotheby's in New York (click the link for limited details) on June 21 at 10:00 a.m. Previews are available from June 15 - 20, 2007 and a catalogue is available for purchase. The manuscript, once owned by the Marquis of Donegall and then Walter Pond, BSI, is expected to fetch approximately $350,000.

If you're curious about these sorts of things, a great resource with lots of detailed information about Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and other manuscripts, please take a moment to bookmark Randall Stock's site. Randall acts as the central clearinghouse of background and whereabouts of the manuscripts, aided and abetted by many noted collectors. I have added his site to my growing list of resources on the right.

"A Little More Information" [STUD]

While my original post about Ely Liebow contained a good deal of information and garnered some great comments (thank you!), more information as been pouring in. I have added two updates to the entry. In case you don't feel like scrolling down, here they are:

On April 12, the Chicago Tribune did a very nice feature article/remembrance of Ely with comments from Otto Penzler, Bob Mangler and Ray Betzner.

And Peter Blau kindly identified an interview with Ely that aired on Wisconsin Public Radio's University of the Air on April 8, 2007. They dedicated the show to Ely's memory. It can be heard as a RealAudio file.

"It Was Remarkably Animated" [SCAN]

The Russian animator Alexander Bubnov has created a mini-masterpiece with his two-part feature The Murder of Lord Waterbrook. You can view Part One and Part Two on YouTube or you can view each below.

And, if you happen to read Russian, you can take a look at the original script and some sketches on Bubnov's LiveJournal account, or you can take a look at Russian animation in letters and figures.

"Books Which Fill a Shelf" [VEIL]

One of the most common attributes of all of the Sherlockians I have had the chance to meet is that we like to buy books. Notice I didn't say "collect," because I'm far too aware that some of us accumulate books rather than collect them. And a common difficulty is locating that book that you know you just saw and making sense of an ever-increasing library.

By day I work in the marketing world where my specialty is social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising, PR and technology - taking the forms of blogs, podcasts, online communities, wikis, RSS feeds, etc. The Baker Street Blog in its current form exists because of my interest/expertise in this area. As a by-product of this work, I get to see a lot of social networking sites that can enhance productivity, make our lives easier, or are just plain fun.

Here are three new solutions for book lovers that I thought you might want to check out for yourself. All of these sites share a couple of main features: the book titles, images and descriptions are driven by large databases such as Amazon.com and the Library of Congress; and they allow you to connect with other readers.


"In his library..." LibraryThing
The first up is LibraryThing. This site launched last summer and has really taken off. Essentially, it is two things: a way to catalog your library and a way to connect with other people who have the same books. You just need to create a user name and password and you're done. And here are some of the things you can do:

• Input the ISBN and let the databases populate the fields
  
• Rate your books and write reviews
• Search, sort and edit your book inforation
• Apply tags that identify your collection the way you want to think about it
• Join groups and chat about your interests
• Get recommendations from LibraryThing based on your collection

LibraryThing has a limited version and a paid version; with the free version, you can catalogue up to 200 books; with the paid version you can list an unlimited number of books. The paid version costs $10/year or $25 for a lifetime membership. Either way, it's a handy application. Take the tour for yourself and see what it's like. You can find my profile here.


"Filled a shelf..." Shelfari
In January, Shelfari joined the crowd. Their motto: Read. Share. Explore. With Shelfari you can create a virtual bookshelf to show off your books. It's essentially the same model as Library Thing: Connect with friends. Discover exciting new titles. Voice your opinion. All for free. But the major difference is that you actually can show off your books. Here's a shelf from my page:

This plugin requires Adobe Flash 9.

For a more in-depth review, click here.


"You have shown your relish..." Revish
I've saved the powerhouse for last. Revish is a site that takes LibraryThing to the next level. You still have the power of Amazon from a number of countries, as well as other major databases, plus Revish has actually integrated other social networks, such as LibraryThing, Flickr and del.icio.us. Among the things you can do with Revish:

• Review books
  
• Read and comment on reviews
• Keep a reading list and a reading journal
• Participate in groups, discussing books

This is definitely a site for the serious book lover. A review is available by clicking here. And you can see my profile here.

I can recommend each site for ease of use and integration with other online services. With any of the above options, you'll have quick and easy way to reference your site. Feel free to poke around and chose the one that works best for you.

"He Had Actually Won" [EMPT]

Did you think I forgot about the contest I was running? Not to worry! I'm a man of my word. I'm here to make good on my promise to award a full year's subscription of the Baker Street Journal, plus the Christmas Annual to three lucky winners.

If you missed the original post, the gist of it was as follows: each page of the BSJ Web site contains a Canonical image. I asked participants to name the story associated with each page, 14 in all. Naturally, you all found that I had left one page out of my calculations, so there were actually 15.

I was very impressed (and overwhelmed!) with the level of participation. Not to mention the high quality of responses. Nevertheless, I committed to three winners. I've tallied the results and selected the three perfect scores. But first, here are the answers:

1. Home page: The Priory School
2. FAQs: The Beryl Coronet
3. What's New: The Norwood Builder
4. Site map: The Priory School
5. Watson's Weird Tales: The Devil's Foot
6. Shoscombe Alice: Shoscombe Old Place
7. Archived Articles: The Musgrave Ritual
   
8. Items for Sale: Charles Augustus Milverton
9. Morley-Montgomery Award: The Three Students
10. Links: Shoscombe Old Place
11. Good Old Index: The Sussex Vampire
12. Contact Us: The Three Garridebs
13. Submissions: The Hound of the Baskervilles
14. Letters to Baker Street: Wisteria Lodge
15. BSI Weekend: The Sign of Four

The participants who submitted perfect scores were: Randall Stock, Marilynne McKay and Bob Byrne. Congratulations to you all!

"Stand With Me Here Upon the Terrace..." [LAST]

Alas, this type of news is never easy to break. Nor is it one of the tasks of this blog to which I look forward. But I believe it's a part of the responsibility I've taken on in the Sherlockian community.

Ely M. Liebow, BSI ("Inspector Gregory") passed away this weekend. For those who knew him, Ely was a deeply thoughtful and intellectual man with a superb sense of humor and a deep knowledge of Sherlock Holmes. I didn't know him well, but I did manage to raise a few glasses with him in a suite at the Iroquois Hotel some 10 or 12 years ago after my first BSI Dinner (and before the Iroquois went upscale). He was quiet in that room of rabblerousers (you know who you are!), but when he spoke, he was heard. And then there was usually heard a thunder of laughter.

In addition to the Baker Street Irregulars, Ely was a member of Hugo's Companions, the Hounds of the Baskerville and 140 Varieties of Tobacco Ash. He appeared at a number of conferences over the years and was known for his signature Sherlockian book:Dr. Joe Bell: Model for Sherlock Holmes, which has just been re-released. And the estimable Brad Keefauver has him listed at #70 on the Hundred Hottest Sherlockian Writers of the Last Century.

Ely's obituary ran in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times:

Ely M. Liebow, husband of Phoebe, nee Recht; father, of Wendy (Scott Burson), Cynthia and Franette Liebow; grandfather, of Allison and Esther Burson. Funeral Ceremony Monday, 10 a.m., at Congregation Solel, 1301 Clavey Rd., Highland Park, IL 60035. Interment Shalom, Arlington Heights. In lieu of flowers memorials in his memory to Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. St. Louis Ave., Chicago, IL, The Cancer Wellness Center, 215 Revere Drive, Northbrook, IL 60062, PanCAN, 2141 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245, or Congregation Solel would be appreciated. For more information please contact Congregation Solel, 847-433-3555.

There is an online guestbook which you may sign for Ely's family. It will remain open until March 31, 2008.

And please, if you have any memories of Ely you'd like to share, please do so via the comments link below.

Update (4/15/07): the Chicago Tribune did a very nice feature article/remembrance of Ely on April 12th.

Update (4/16/07): Wisconsin Public Radio's University of the Air has an interview with Ely that aired on April 8, 2007. They dedicated the show to Ely's memory. It can be heard as a RealAudio file.

Photo credit: Ray Betzner, sent courtesy of David Morrill

"He Had Fooled Us" [3GAR]

For those of you who didn't catch on yet, yesterday's post (April 1, 2007 - that should have been a dead giveaway) was a hoax. While the rumors of Russell Crowe are still rumors, albeit well-publicized ones, the Nicholas Rowe fantasy was purely an invention of my twisted mind.

You have to admit that it would be an excellent casting choice, but we'll have to leave Hollywood to its own devices. After all, they keep bankrolling Tom Cruise films...

Thank you for playing along - especially those of you who left comments. I see I only managed to sucker one person ('Anonymous') entirely.

And if you happen to be a student of popular culture, you might be interested to know that April Fool's Day hacks occurred all over the Internet. It's a longstanding tradition at Google, and many people in the blogosphere picked up on it.

"There Is the Long Row..." [VEIL]

Further to the reports of a Sherlock Holmes movie being developed by Warner Bros. comes the news of a lead actor that will undoubtedly be more acceptable to readers of this blog. The initial reports were that Russell Crowe would be the lead, in a nod to Holmes' more physical side, and many Sherlockians were livid.

But you may be pleased to know that the producers have come to their senses and have instead settled on Nicholas Rowe as their choice. Astute Sherlockians will remember Rowe from the 1985 adventure film Young Sherlock Holmes, directed by Steven Spielberg, where he played a school-age Holmes who looked remarkably like Joseph Bell, the medical professor who inspired Conan Doyle.

The producers, who originally were going for toughness, have evidently agreed that Rowe, who stands 6 feet 4 inches tall, will undoubtedly be an imposing figure. And they're being mindful of the Canon as he perfectly fits Watson's description of Holmes from A Study in Scarlet:

"In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision."

Rowe seems to be following in the footsteps of the late Jeremy Brett, as Rowe lost his longtime partner Lou Gish last year to cancer. You may recall that Brett went on with the Granada series shortly after he lost his wife Joan to cancer in the mid-1980s.

This is really welcome news, as Hollywood seems to get casting all wrong many times in Holmes films. It's encouraging to see an actor who can really inhabit the character - espeically one who proved himself in his previous Holmes outing.

Background info.