"I Grieve to Say" [ILLU]

We just learned of the passing of H. Paul Jeffers, BSI ("Wilson Hargreave") on December 4. There's something of a personal connection here, but first, let's put the facts in front of you, as Sherlock Holmes would prefer. But fair warning: there are many links to click through if you're up to the task.

Paul was an author and a journalist and was prolific in all of his writing. And to know Paul was to understand how diverse his interests were. They ranged from Sherlock Holmes to Americana, from smoking () to religious topics (Dark Mysteries of the Vatican& The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jerusalem), from secret societies (The Freemasons in America: Inside the Secret Society) to maritime adventure (Burning Cold: The Cruise Ship Prinsendam and the Greatest Sea Rescue of all Time).

The American icons in Jeffers' works included Theodore Roosevelt - Roosevelt the Explorer: T.R.'s Amazing Adventures as a Naturalist, Conservationist, and Explorer and In the Roughrider's Shadow: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. -- War Hero as well as Fiorello LaGuardia, "Diamond Jim" Brady, Billy Mitchell, and Sal Mineo. He even covered one of the greatest natural disasters in the U.S. in the last century in Disaster By the Bay: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906.

His works that involved Sherlock Holmes include Murder Most Irregular (in which a member of the Baker Street Irregulars is murdered on the evening of the annual dinner), and A Grand Night for Murder (in which an Edgar award winner is offed the day after receiving the award). He authored the 2005 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual Once a Week in Baker Street: the Boucher Green Years and edited a book from their work: The Forgotten Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Based on the Original Radio Plays by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green. He even wrote one that combined his interest in Roosevelt and Holmes: The Adventure of the Stalwart Companions, which included Detective Wilson Hargreave of the New York Police Bureau, mentioned in "The Dancing Men."

As you can see, quite prolific. And this isn't even the end of it. Take a look at his Amazon page for a more complete assessment, or scroll through the carousel below.








I was lucky enough to meet Paul at a meeting of the Men on the Tor - the first Sherlock Holmes society I belonged to. It was after I left Connecticut to head to college, and I returned for a meeting at the Griswold Inn in Essex, CT. I remember sitting next to him and admiring the Peterson's Sherlock Holmes pipe that he was smoking. We got to talking and he told me about the two books he wrote about Holmes, as well as his car-less existence; he traveled to meetings via train (or ride-sharing, in some cases). We struck up a correspondence and one day a package arrived in the mail from Paul: he sent me those two books, inscribed. I still have them in my collection and I'll always treasure them.

In 1999, Paul received his investiture from the BSI, which was "Wilson Hargreave," after the detective who made an appearance in Stalwart Companion. If you have a memory of Paul, please feel free to share it in the comments section below.


Note: From time to time, we run obituaries here on the Baker Street Blog, to honor those Holmesians who have passed beyond the Reichenbach. You can find previous entries by clicking on the "terrace" label at the end of the post. The reference to the terrace is from "His Last Bow," in which Holmes says to Watson:

"Stand with me here upon the terrace, for it may be the last quiet talk that we shall ever have."

"The Trend of Events" [LAST]

Opening day of the film "Sherlock Holmes" resulted in lots of online chatter. Twitter, as mentioned previously on these pages ("With Every Nerve in a Twitter" [TWIS]) manages to capture that public commentary in near real-time. And it's a fairly decent barometer of the public's reaction to any given current event, as we witnessed in 2009 with the death of Michael Jackson, the Tiger Woods affair(s) and events in Iran, to name a few.

On December 26, we monitored some of the chatter on Twitter using the search feature at http://search.twitter.com which contains a listing of the top 10 trends at any given moment. Throughout the day, the terms "Sherlock" and "Sherlock Holmes" were squarely in the middle of the trending topics and remained there consistently - even beating "Happy Boxing Day" at one point:

That trend continued on December 27th as well.

When one stops to think about it , it's an amazing feat for a character so firmly rooted in the 19th century to appear in the public stream of consciousness so solidly. In addition, there are reports that not only did the film beat the 3-D special effects film "Avatar,"  but it also set the record for a Christmas Day opening. Overall, it took in $65.4 million at the box office for the weekend. Not to shabby for someone whose rates were on a fixed scale.

Here's hoping that the continued attention on the film will bring more readers to the original stories.

    

"Quickly Test the Matter" [SILV]

We recently discovered another Sherlock Holmes-related app on iTunes. You may recall the recent review we did on a previous app ("Now, That Shows Real Application" [STOC]), which was a modestly priced service that mapped Canonical locations to present-day London.

This new app by SuperMonko is a Sherlock Holmes quiz that challenges your knowledge of the great detective through four different levels of play. But be forewarned: the quiz doesn't only test what you know about the stories; there are references to film and television productions as well.

Despite a few misspellings and an occasionally vague wording of a question, we found the quiz to be a decent one. The most erudite Sherlockian should be able to answer most of the questions without much help, although there may be a few obscure or arcane items that only the truest devotee will know. The newbies will have enough to keep them interested without feeling ostracized, as the first level contains questions that are basic without being entirely vapid. For the $0.99 purchase price, it's a diversion that's well worth the investment.

You can get the app by clicking here or by clicking on the image above.

If you do download the app to your iPhone or iPod touch, please drop a line and let us know what score you managed to achieve.

"The Second Morning After Christmas" [BLUE]

As part of our editorial duties, we always strive for a unique and original title for our posts. As such, we try not to duplicate the Canonical phrases that aptly sum up the topic at hand on any given day. And in nearly 500 posts, we've managed to avoid any such duplication, for the most part.

The only exception to that has been the post "The Second Morning After Christmas" [BLUE] which has been used in 2006 and 2008 previously. As is the custom with the Wall Street Journal, which annually reproduces a 1961 editorial on the pilgrims in the new world, we saw no reason to avoid replication here.

So, we bring you "Two Days After Christmas," a tribute to "The Blue Carbuncle" in the style of Clement Moore's A Visit from St. Nick.






Two Days After Christmas

Please feel free to share and use this at your own Sherlockian society holiday meetings. The only thing we ask is that you attribute the poem to its rightful author.

For those of you inclined more to listening rather than reading, here's the audio version, courtesy of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere:

"Production of the Photograph" [SIXN]

Each year for the last five or six years, I've been lucky enough to receive a Christmas card from fellow Sherlockian Richard Ray Green of the Genus Loci of Birmingham, Alabama. His son Joshua has been a fellow co-conspirator in Richard's interest in the Canon and in many ways has eclipsed his dad with his own activity in plays and other local events.

But the highlight of their year - something they take great pride in - is their Sherlockian Christmas card. It's always a set of photographs that recreate scenes from the Sherlock Holmes stories that are well known. And you can tell that they really put serious thought and hard work into making their creation a reality.

This year, they chose a number of appearances of Holmes in comics and graphic novels, and a couple of stills from the latest film thrown in for good measure. Here's a slideshow of the original images that inspired their card and the resulting scenes that they shot.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.


If you like what you see here, you can get an entire 2010 Sherlockian calendar with images from Richard and Joshua. The Sherlockian purveyors Classic Specialties have used their images, along with the matching Canonical images and Sherlockian dates of interest throughout the year. As Classic Specialties themselves wrote:

In order to show the degree of canonical authenticity which Joshua, his contemporaries and his dad have achieved, we have taken the liberty of including appropriate illustrations from the original magazine publications (The Strand and Colliers). As has been our custom during the past couple of years, we also include on each month of the calendar, annotations of the birth dates of all our Sherlockian friends who were kind enough to share that information with us, and, of course, annotations of important canonical events with their associated dates. The graphic at your right shows the Greens' re-enactment of the slaying of The Hound of the Baskervilles (the insert is the Paget version). We certainly hope that you will receive this unique exposition of these Young Sherlockians' energy and creativity with the same enthusiasm that we have.

You can purchase a 2010 Sherlockian calendar for yourself by clicking here.

"Enough to Drive a Patient into an Asylum" [DYIN]

Everyone wants a piece of the action that Warner Bros is stirring up. Certainly we here at the blog are happy about the additional attention that the greatest literary detective is getting. But as with any push in the entertainment industry, we get all sorts of attempts to cash in at varying levels of quality.

Using the very original title "Sherlock Holmes," a home entertainment company aptly named The Asylum has developed the crazy idea that Holmes should be battling robots and giant monsters in Victorian London (!) as they release their creation directly to DVD. To show you how serious they are about their work, they take great pride in having their video Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus named by Entertainment Weekly as the worst DVD of 2009. Says The Asylum: "They obviously didn't see any of our other films..."

Wired magazine ("Now Playing: Cheap-and-Schlocky Blockbuster Ripoffs")has a term for this: mockbuster. And they refer to the Asylum as "a low-budget studio specializing in shamelessly derivative knockoffs." Evidently, their version of the eponymous film will be made for less than $500,000 thanks to "cheap digital technology and even cheaper talent," and will join the pantheon of other B-movie titles such as Snakes on a Train, Transmorphers, and The Day the Earth Stopped  that have made the company $5 million in the last year.

This version of Holmesian happenings not only includes robots, dinosaurs and giant squid, but the creators have graciously added hookers and a bomb-throwing dragon to the mix as well. Originally, we had thought it might have been The Lost World meets Sherlock Holmes, but something tells us that there's more (less?) to it than that.

Count us even less excited to see this version. If completist collector John Bennett Shaw, BSI ("The Hans Sloane of My Age") were alive, you can bet he'd add it to his collection. Will anyone else? Until then, we recommend picking up a copy of Schlock Homes: The Complete Bagel Street Saga by Robert L. Fish. At least that volume is clearly a parody.

A tip of the deerstalker goes to MovingPictureBlog.

"A Large Collection of Valuable Curiosities" [SIGN]

The University of Minnesota Libraries have a valuable claim to fame: they house the Sherlock Holmes Collection - positively the largest collection of material about the great detective than any other in the world.

The curator, Tim Johnson, is a very knowledgable Sherlockian and librarian. He brings his personal passion and professional expertise together in a way that few can. Please sit back an enjoy a few minutes with Tim and others as they take you through some of the wonderful collection you can find at the library.

It goes without saying that if you're ever in the upper Midwest, take some time to get to the collection. They're always happy to have visitors. And you can even join the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collection.

Here are some previous posts about Minnesota and its connection to the Sherlockian world:
"For Sixty Years the Bulwark..." [BLAC]
"My Collection of M's is a Fine One" [EMPT]
"He Has Peremptorily Requested" [SECO]
"At This Conference" [MAZA]

"An Element of Comedy" [3GAB]

It seems that the great detective is showing up everywhere in popular culture lately - certainly the film, but online, in print and on the air as well.

In this case, NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon takes a stab at a sketch featuring Fallon as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law making an appearance as Dr. Watson. Take a look here at their attempt.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

"Sombre Face of the Old House" [VALL]

And now for something completely different - a Baker Street Blog post that's not about the movie.

Alexian Gregory, BSI ("The Grimpen Postmaster") has forwarded along a petition to help save Undershaw, the home that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's designed in 1897 and in which he wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1902. The home is now in danger of falling into the hands of developers, as it has not achieved the appropriate grade for saving as an historic home.

You can click here to view the petition and sign it electronically. If you choose, you can also donate a nominal amount through PayPal. The text of the petition is here:

'Undershaw' the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and spiritualist's greatest ambassador is under threat from the property developers who plan to split the house up and build apartments in the heart of the Surrey countryside in the middle of National Trust land. The organisation Hindhead Together and many local supporters would like to see this historical house restored to it's former glory and opened to the public as a museum and tea rooms welcoming visitors worldwide.

The developers are due to submit their plans to the planning department very shortly. This petition is to object to private residential dwellings and to prevent 'Undershaw' from being split up and to retain public access to the grounds and building.

It is intended to forward this petition to Russell Morris, the Historical Buildings Officer of the local planning office as and when the plan for the housing complex becomes registered.

Mr John Gibson FRICS has set up and registered 'The Undershaw Preservation Trust' with the government as a Museum and Cafeteria. We desperately need your help, please visit the blog to find out how you can help us support this valuable cause.

Please take the time to read up on this important effort and do what you can to help support it.

Related posts:
"I Can Hardly Explain It" [NOBL] - February 7, 2007
"Shall I Sign Here?" [BLAC] - February 21, 2007
"Possibly You Have Seen Pictures and Read Descriptions of the Famous Old Building" [MUSG] - July 6, 2006

"A Touch of Madness" [3GAB]

Marketing blogger Chris Thilk keeps a site called Movie Marketing Madness, in which he summarizes and assesses the efforts of Hollywood in their creativity and execution around marketing new films.

As you can imagine, he's done his homework for the Warner Bros film "Sherlock Holmes" starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, directed by Guy Ritchie. You can see previous mentions of the film on the Baker Street Blog by clicking on this link.

Thilk includes in his assessment a mention of the posters, the trailers (yes, there were two), the online component - including the 221B game, the television advertising and cross-promotions such as 7-Eleven and the Visit Britain tie-in, and the TweetDeck theme. In addition, there's an extensive section on press coverage, which very kindly lists the Baker Street Blog.

"Scored Once More" [MISS]

 Previously mentioned in passing on these pages, we're happy to revisit the topic of music and the new Warner Bros. film. The original soundtrack score to "Sherlock Holmes" is by Hans Zimmer, who is also known for his musical work on The Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Gladiator and many others.

The Sherlock Holmes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is now available for pre-order on Amazon. It's expected to be available on January 12, 2010. Probably too soon to be able to be in your hands for a trip to the Baker Street Irregulars Weekend in New York later that week. But stay tuned - maybe we'll have the iTunes version announced here at that time (hint, hint). You can keep up with the latest Sherlock Holmes news by subscribing above via email or RSS.

If you're interested in other soundtracks related to Sherlock Holmes, please check my review of the original soundtrack of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes: "A Composer of No Ordinary Merit" [REDH].

"We Could Plainly See the Figures on Her Deck" [SIGN]

In the continued marketing effort for the upcoming Warner Bros. "Sherlock Holmes," we're seeing more of an online push.

Tweetdeck, which is a desktop application for people who use Twitter, has developed a new theme called the Tweetdeck Telegram Co. - prominently featuring the 221B game we reviewed here last month.

If you use Twitter, there are applications such as Tweetdeck that allow you to sort your followers into groups, in order to manage the flow of information. You can create a number of columns, to make the scanning easier. For example, you can create a column with just replies to you; a column that features results from a search term you've input (such as "Sherlock Holmes"); and the Sherlockian version of Tweetdeck allows you watch a column called "Inside 221B" which shows you updates of characters in the game, such as Madame Rowena and Mrs. Hudson's Diary.

It's a very nice interface, with a Victorian / Steampunk flavor to it. Here's what it looks like after you get things going.

"If I Might Offer You" [STOC]

From time to time, I'm approached by advertisers with offers for you, my readers. As you can imagine, there are all sorts of Sherlock Holmes-related products out there right now. The discriminating Sherlockian can probably tell the difference between the real thing and the hastily assembled also-ran items.

In the spirit of full disclosure, on any of the Amazon links that I share with you, I receive a small commission. It's not much, but it lets me buy one book or CD about every month. And since I'm doing this blog as a labor of love and not asking any subscription fees or support from my readers, I hope that you'll consider clicking on the links or using the Amazon search box in the sidebar to make your purchases. And I should also note that I won't post an advertisement or offer that I don't personally believe in.

In this case, I've got a pair of great offers from Fandango - you can reserve your tickets to the new movie now, through this link, and get a free download of the song "Holmes" from the soundtrack on iTunes:


And you can also enter the sweepstakes, giving you a chance to win a trip for two to London, with a four-night stay at a 4-star hotel and admission to the Sherlock Holmes Museum:

I hope you'll take advantage of this offer, and consider sharing it with your friends. Enjoy!

"Formidable Machinery In Motion" [STUD]

Hold onto your seat, folks. That is, if you happen to attend a screening of the new Sherlock Holmes film and you're in a theatre that happens to accommodate the technology described below - one that will literally move you.

Of course, this isn't entirely new. You may recall hearing of a film from 1959 called The Tingler, in which a pathologist discovers that a parasite growing on the spine - a "tingler," can only be stopped by screaming. Director William Castle employed the gimmick of electrical buzzers installed in seats and set them off during appropriate moments during the film. More on that from Wikipedia.

Anyway, here's what D-Box is bringing us for Christmas:

D-BOX Technologies, Inc., a leader in innovative motion technology for the entertainment industry, has announced its ninth major motion picture release and fourth one with Warner Bros. for its new holiday blockbuster, Sherlock Holmes, opening Christmas Day.

Audiences will experience the classic, adventure-mystery like never before from seats that move simultaneously with the onscreen suspense and intense action. With motion effects embedded frame by frame, sensations of motion occur during action scenes, while seats remain still during quieter, dialogue-driven sequences.

"With nine new releases, a fourth one with Warner Bros and 10 movie theatre locations to date, we are thrilled with how well D-BOX has been embraced by the industry and movie fans alike," said President and CEO, Claude McMaster. "Since introducing D-BOX Motion Code(TM) in Hollywood earlier this year, we have continued to experience rapid growth, offering the D-BOX experience to moviegoers in the Western United States and Midwest as well as in Canada. We look forward to adding new theatres and continuing to build on our strong support from Warner Bros. and many more industry leaders."

D-BOX motion seats are available at 10 movie theatres in North America including the Mann Chinese 6 Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif.; UltraStar Cinemas in Surprise, Ariz.; Theatres at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.; Galaxy Highland Theatre in Austin, Texas; Cineplex Odeon Queensway Theatre in Etobicoke, Ontario; Galaxy at the Cannery in Las Vegas, Nev.; UltraStar Apple Valley in San Bernardino, Calif.; Cinema Beloeil in Montreal, Quebec; Wehrenberg Theatres' Ronnies 20 Cine in St. Louis, Mo.; and Emagine Theatres' Canton Theatre in Canton, Mich.

For additional information and theatre details visit www.d-box.com.

Makes us glad we live in Southeastern Michigan. Of course, we have to wonder how the seats will react to Rachel McAdams' appearance as Irene Adler...

"Curiously Mixed" [SHOS]

The new Sherlock Holmes film directed by Guy Ritchie has premiered in London and there have been early screenings in Los Angeles. And so far, the reviews are mixed:

The Guardian gives it 2 out of 5 stars and calls it "high-end hack work"
The Daily Telegraph says that it's "an undeniably rollicking romp"
The Times says that Robert Downey Jr. is "terrific" as Holmes but that it was an "overlong film."
inthenews.co.uk gives it 7 out of 10, calling it "immensely enjoyable."

But you see, here at the Baker Street Blog, we won't leave you to trust the reviews of the mainstream press. Oh no. We're about much more. In fact, we've got a review from a member of the Baker Street Irregulars - Sean Wright ("The Manor House Case"), who saw the film over the weekend. Sean is the co-author of Enter the Lion: A Posthumous Memoir of Mycroft Holmes and knows his way around the Canon. Here is his guest post:

My son, DeForeest, and I saw Sherlock Holmes at a screening for the Writers Guild in Hollywood. We learned that members consider the film a "hot ticket", sure to make Warners a bundle.

This cinematic Holmes adventure comes to us courtesy of former Warners' executive and graphic novelist, Lionel Wigram who wrote it up originally as a graphic novel. Realizing that today's youth knows next to nothing about the character Warners made sure to hire box office champ Robert Downey, Jr. to lure teens into theatres. If the gushing two-page puff piece appearing in the NY Times last January is to be believed, adolescent girls will line up for blocks just to gaze dreamily at Downey's "abs".

The trailers had me all set to detest the movie but, and not at all grudgingly, I enjoyed it. The film is a fine adventure, happily peppered with canonical quotations despite liberties taken with chronology as John Rabe noted earlier on the Baker Street Blog. I also agree with him that it is LOUD.

As for the actors, Rachel McAdams is quite fun but her "Irene Adler" has little in common with her canonical counterpart aside from the fact that she's cunning, fearless. and runs about in men's clothing. Despite this she looks disturbingly right as Irene.

The Lestrade and Watson cinema stereotypes are pleasantly guyed - with a measure of revenge one might say. Eddie Marsan plays Lestrade with gusto and would look even more like him if he lost the beard. 'Tis a pity Kelly Reilly is not given more to do as Mary Morstan but the little she's given she handles well. It would also be nice to see a bit more of Geraldine James who makes the most of the little screen time she's allotted as Mrs Hudson.

I was all ready for Lord Blackwood - ably portrayed by Mark Strong - to turn into Professor Moriarty a la Young Sherlock Holmessince he looks "curiously reptilian." Problem is he hasn't enough scenes to give the audience a really good reason to loath him.

Having played the good doctor many times it was a joyful revelation to see Jude Law's portrayal of Watson in his prime. Honest, able, upright, a man of action, recognizably a former soldier, who is not above gambling (yes, Holmes keeps his chequebook locked up). He is even allowed to be shown in practice as a doctor. It is to the screenwriters' credit that Watson is allowed to display his deductive talent which anyone who reads the Canon knows Watson to possess.

The nicely-wrought screenplay has several memorable sequences, such as watching Holmes improvise a disguise as he shadows Irene Adler. There is an homage to Basil Rathbone and another to Jeremy Brett but I'll let the reader find them. And, professionally speaking, I recognized two script details which were, um, "inspired" by a memoir entitled Enter the Lion written by Mr Mycroft Holmes which I "edited" 30 years ago. I was nevertheless impressed that the film's dénouement depends so heavily on logical deductions convincingly explained by Holmes.

A crass concession to the present age has Holmes naked, shackled to a bedstead after spending the night with Irene. This is offset by a fascinating sequence showing Holmes mentally mapping out an attack on McMurdo during a bare-fisted boxing match alluded to in SIGN. Warners has long touted this film as emphasizing Holmes as "action hero" and why not? It is a neglected part of Holmes' character on film although Nick Meyer included a memorable duel spotlighting Holmes' prowess as a fencer in The Seven Percent Solution.

The one drawback with the film that just won't go away is Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. God love him, he's to be commended for doing all he can to make the role work. Every so often he sounds right but it's not enough. Downey is simply miscast. Contributing to this problem is the producers' decision to make him unlike any previous Holmes.

While there is a canonical purple dressing gown, the producers have understandably jettisoned the deerstalker to avoid cheapening the character with stereotyping. Many of us remember the disconcerting image of Christopher Plummer in Murder by Decree arriving at the opera attired in deerstalker and capecoat.

Downey's costumes are inspired more by Toulouse-Lautrec posters than by anything Sidney Paget illustrated for Strand Magazine. Holmes is now attired in the costume of an insouciant poet or artist at home in Soho or the Rive Gauche, his collar dashingly turned up a la Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. When forced to sport neckwear, instead of his proper under-the-collar bowtie, this Holmes simply ties on a cravat and lets it dangle from beneath his collar in a most ungentlemanly way. But this Holmes is anything but a gentleman, as Victorians understood the term.

The producers seem bent on turning Sherlock Holmes into a Victorian Batman, solving crime, not to see justice prevail, but due to a mental unbalance. Watch for more of this in later installments.

Months ago I remarked that Warners was treating this film like a franchise and I was not disabused of that fact by the film's conclusion. Like it or not, there will be more of the Lionel Wigram vision of Sherlock Holmes just as long as Warners is confident in Downey's bankability among teens and other adolescents.

So there you have it. I'll be interested to hear your reactions as the film rolls out.