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From
The Surrey Shore . .
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The Newsletter of the Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore Vol. 3, No. 3, June 2004
****A Scion
Society for All Who Enjoy Sherlock Holmes in All His Manifestations!****
. . . with the Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore as we enjoy our
second annual celebration of the birthday of our favorite Hated Rival, Barker
(just so long as you don’t end up in the canal, of course). We’ll be
meeting at noon at the Indiana Historical Society building at 450 W. Ohio
Street, at the intersection of West and Ohio Streets (opposite Military Park).
Parking is available in the IHS parking lot (corner of West and New York
Streets) and at several other locations nearby, in case the IHS lot should fill
up before we arrive. (We’re told that’s an unlikely event, however.) We will
gather in the lobby of the IHS building at noon. After enough time has passed
for everyone to arrive, we’ll decide as a group what activities to pursue
during our time on and about the Canal. The IHS building itself is open for
tours at no cost, and offers a number of historical exhibits, as well as a gift
shop. Nearby attractions include the Canal itself (with its gondola and paddle
boat rides at varying fees for the adventuresome), the Eitlejorg Museum, the
Indiana State Museum, its IMax Theater, and many other sites of interest
(although many do charge a small fee for admission). We’ll plan on eating at
one of the restaurants at the Indiana State Museum, as they—and the museum’s
gift shop—can be accessed for free (the only fee there being to view the
exhibits), although eating on-site does, of course, entail paying for your
meal. (Those who want to save a bit can bring a picnic lunch instead, as the
area has plenty of sites for such a repast.) During our afternoon feast, our
own Barker, Bill Barton, will present a paper about . . . well, the “real”
Barker (although the exact topic is a surprise). Following, we will continue as
a group to tour the Canal area—or those with other interests may break off for
some sleuthing of their own. Do plan on leaving by 3:30 p.m., as the IHS
building is hosting another event at 4 p.m. and needs the lot as free as
possible. For directions and additional details, see the “Coming Meetings”
section, later in this newsletter. (If it rains, come anyway, but bring an
umbrella for the jaunts between buildings.)
***
Summertime, and the living is . . . well, kinda hot and sticky at times. But no matter, things get sizzling in the summer for the Hated Rivals on the Surrey Shore (as you can tell by our next meeting blurb above). At least you can shuck the heavy Inverness capes and deerstalkers in favor of short sleeves and ball caps (worn with the bill to the front, please!). And you can join us for a pair of sizzling summer events this July and September. (Our September meeting falls before the beginning of autumn, so technically it’s still a summer meeting.) We hope to see you there (and later in the year as well).
Okay, as this is going to be a shorter letter than usual, what can we discuss—something ephemeral or lightweight—for a few paragraphs. I know—movies! (No offense to those of you for whom movies are a serious business.) And since the Hated Rivals are solid Sherlockians, how about . . .?
Like many Sherlockians who came
of age in the Baby Boom Generation, my first exposure to Sherlock Holmes was in
the movies—more specifically, the Basil Rathbone Holmes movies, which so often
played on TV when I was a youngster. (In fact, it would be a number of years
before I discovered that Holmes didn’t really fight Nazis in the original
stories or wear a fedora, as did Rathbone in those later, non-Victorian-based
movies. Of course, neither did Holmes wear the traditional deerstalker in most
of Doyle’s tales, at least in the city, as did Rathbone in the two
Victorian-based movies of the series, but that’s a minor point at best.) For many
years, Basil Rathbone’s was the face I imagined whenever I thought of Sherlock
Holmes—at least until I learned better. Rathbone’s portrayal of the Great
Sleuth of Baker Street was more than adequate for its day, although when I
later finally read the Canon, I found that Rathbone’s Holmes was devoid of some
of Holmes’ rarer qualities—his sense of humor, his compassion, his less
frenzied aspects.
By the time I actually started
reading the Canon as the result of an assignment in a literature class at college
(not counting reading “The Dying Detective” once in grade school), it was
another screen version of the Great Detective that most influenced my mind’s
eye: that of Nicole Williamson (who is likely best know for his Merlin in the
Arthurian movie Excalibur). I’d seen Williamson as Holmes in Nicolas
Meyer’s screen adaptation of The Seven Per Cent Solution a year or so
earlier and had been impressed by his multi- dimensional portrayal of Holmes as
a man not quite so in control as Rathbone’s version and with a warmer side
occasionally breaking through his façade of a cold, reasoning intellect. True,
Williamson did not look a great deal like Holmes, at least according the
descriptions in the stories or their accompanying illustrations. His blond hair
was especially out of step with past portrayals and descriptions of the Master
Sleuth. Even so, it was Williamson’s image that came to my mind as I read the
original tales, as well as the pastiches that I could find (The Seven Per
Cent Solution in particular).
Of course, as time went by, I
saw many other screen portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, some not too far off but
others ranging from poor to incredibly bad (say, for example, Edward Woodward
in the non-Canonical Hands of a Murderer). But in the 1980s came what I
considered—and still do—to be the most Canonical portray of Holmes to yet hit
the screen, big or small. And if you think I’m referring to Jeremy Brett,
sorry—you lose the game (but you can take our home version with you as a nice
consolation prize). Yes, I realize that, for many, Brett’s Holmes was the
quintessential version for our day. And I don’t deny that Brett did an
acceptable job as the detective. But, for me, he still didn’t quite capture all
that Sherlock Holmes is in the Canon. Brett aptly depicted those same
personality traits of Holmes that Rathbone had embodied—the cold, calculating
mind and the more manic aspects of the detective. But, as with Rathbone, I
didn’t feel that Brett captured the other side of Holmes’ personality that at
times peaked through the sleuth’s unfeeling façade in the Canon. Even when he
was trying to show those feelings, as when Watson was wounded or Holmes was
pulling a rare prank, Brett just didn’t quite cut it. Plus, to me, he really
didn’t look all that much like the Holmes of the Padget drawings—or the Canon.
So who, for me, did truly capture the essence of Sherlock Holmes on the
screen? Ian Richardson. The man who was Sherlock Holmes in only two movies—Hound
of the Baskervilles and Sign of Four—is my choice for the ultimate
screen Holmes. Why? First, I thought he captured the colder, manic qualities of
the Great Detective as well as either Rathbone or Brett, yet without going over
the top, as they so often did. And he far better captured the warmer aspects of
Holmes’ personality, which more often than most realize did manifest
themselves, especially (on occasion) to Watson and, of course, to THE woman.
Similarly, I could envision Richardson, as Holmes, pulling off a practical joke
on the police far better than I could Brett or Rathbone. And Richardson, for my
money, actually looked like the Holmes of Padget’s drawings—far more
than Brett, Rathbone, Williamson, and any other screen portrayal of Holmes that
I’ve ever seen. Yes, the actual versions of the two stories that Richardson
starred in were not as close to those in the Canon as were Brett’s versions
(although Richardson’s Hound was closer than Rathbone’s). But if the
producers of the Brett series had instead chosen Richardson to play Holmes—what
a combination that would have been.
Sadly, after those two ’80s
films, Richardson hung up his deerstalker, so to speak. He never made another
Holmes film. The reason: The Brett series had already started in Britain, where
Richardson’s two films were made, and the producers decided that they’d be
unable to compete with Grenada and dropped their plans for additional
Richardson Holmes movies. I believe that was a great loss to Sherlockiana at
large –and in particular on the screen. I fully believe (although I may be
wrong) that if the Richardson series had continued—providing, of course, that
the filmmakers didn’t stray any farther than the Brett series did from the
Canon in subsequent offerings—that it would now be Ian Richardson who would be
remembered as the Sherlock Holmes of the second half of the 20th
century, just as Rathbone is for the first half, and not Jeremy Brett. At least
Ian Richardson did have the opportunity to visit the Holmes legend again when
he portrayed Dr. Joseph Bell in the Murder Rooms series that played in
the U.S. on PBS’s Mystery.
So those are my thoughts on Holmes in the movies. You may have a different take—and that’s quite all right. It would be a very dull hobby if every Sherlockian had the same opinion on everything. (I wouldn’t fancy having to walk in lockstep with everything some particular “authority” thought about our favorite detective and his many manifestations.) So if you think some other screen version of Holmes (other than Brett or Rathbone) is closer to the real-deal, feel free to let me know. (If your musings are interesting enough, I’ll be happy to publish them.) In the meantime, for me, it’s Ian Richardson—the Sherlock Holmes of the screen.
Before closing, I want to again
thank our historian/recorder, Suzanne Snyder (Amelia Peabody), for putting
together the final version of the April newsletter and getting it mailed out to
everyone (and on time, no less, unlike this one, which is, I’m afraid, reaching
you a bit late). Thanks, too, for her contribution to the “Victorian Trivia”
section and to the “Letter From” section of that newsletter. And, thanks to
modern medical science, I have now fully recovered from my open-heart surgery,
in case you were wondering. Dr. Watson, I’m quite sure, would approve. Now, on
with summer!
(And on that simmering note, I remain, till next
issue, as always . . .)
—C.
Barker, Esq.
***
The sky was dark and overcast,
and the wind cold and furious, much as you’d expect to encounter on a dangerous
English moor rather than in (normally sunny) Garfield Park, on Indianapolis’
near south side. But a stalwart group of Hated Rivals braved the elements once
again for the most fun and fellowship one can find this side of 221B Baker
Street itself. We met in the parking lot just south of the open picnic tables
and chose the most promising, where we quickly devoured our picnic lunches.
Following that, our own Suzanne Snyder read an excellent paper about English
gardens in the Victorian era. The presentation was also a show-and-tell, as Suzanne
passed around illustrations of many of the Victorian era’s typical gardens as
well as a catalog from which one can purchase the types of plants most common
to those bright, flowery turfs. Despite the cold, all Rivals in attendance
quickly grew warm to the topic. (Our one concern during these first two
portions of the meeting involved a number of very pesky squirrels who kept
getting closer and closer to the food, as if they were planning to snatch away
every morsel that they could, well, squirrel away. Perhaps the rumors of
Moriarty training army ants to disrupt our celebration were merely red herrings
to hide the identity of his actual accomplices and the real
menace—hunger-ravaged squirrels!) We then proceeded to the park’s indoor
gardens for a self-guided tour. The contrast was striking as we ventured from
outdoors cold to indoors heat and humidity. But the gardens themselves were
quite impressive, as the building harbored not only a wide variety of tropical
plants, but a pond full of sizable fish and a number of colorful birds that
flew through the interwoven growth. We took several photos and marveled at
trees and plants that, although they would be out of place in an English
garden, were quite as foreign to an Indiana spring as would be those in some of
the more exotic locations mentioned in the Canon. Finishing our tour, we bade
one another farewell, already anticipating the next exciting Hated Rivals
meeting.
***
As our next meeting is on Indianapolis’
own downtown Canal, I thought a bit of trivia about England’s canals in the
Victorian era would be in order.
Although the mode of
transportation most associated with the Victorian era is the railway (or, if
you’re thinking London, the Hansom cab), England maintained a large system of
canals throughout the country even into (and beyond) the Victorian Age. True,
the great era of canal building and use occurred before Victoria took the
throne, but even as the canal was being eclipsed by the railway as the primary
means of commerce following the 1840s, new canals were still being build, and
the trains’ usurpation of the canals’ place in commerce within the British
Isles wasn’t completed till much later in the era. And at the dawn of
Victoria’s rule, the canals still reigned supreme, their barges hauling the
stuff of life and culture from one end of Great Britain to the other. Even
London had several canals connecting its docklands to the outskirts of the city
and into the countryside.
By the 1880s, however, the use
of the canal, while not completely over, had declined considerably. And that’s
probably why, in so many of the Holmes stories, you see the Great Detective and
his Boswell climbing aboard a smoke-belching train and not hopping into a barge
for a leisurely float down a canal.
***
I Hear of Sherlock
Everywhere!
Appetite for Murder, A Mystery Lover’s Cookbook, by Kathy Borich (188
pages, $14.95), contains five full chapters devoted to the crime-solving—and
culinary—exploits of Sherlock Holmes. The book is available from Amazon.com and
other outlets. For more information, go to www.virtualbookworm.com and search
for the title (add $2 postage if you order from the company), and to read the
introduction and two sample chapters from the book (based on “The Adventure of
the Noble Bachelor” and “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”), visit
www.KathyBorich.com, where you can also purchase the book. (Kathy asks that you
not forget to sign the guestbook while you’re there!)
Another recent book is somewhat more peripherally
related to Sherlockiana—Private Eyelashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives, by
Jack French (BearManor Media, P.O. Box 750, Boalsburg, PA 16827; $18.95 + $2
postage—$5 if outside the U.S.). The author is a member of the Red Circle scion
in Washington, D.C., and noted Sherlockian Peter Blau helped him with the
chapter that relates to Holmes (if, perhaps, in name only), one about a female
detective named Jane Sherlock. For more information (a table of contents and
some mini-reviews) or to order the book online, go to www.bearmanormedia.com.
Sherlock Holmes’ Lost Adventure: The True Story of
the Giant Rat of Sumatra is a new pastiche by Lauren Steinhauer (iUniverse, $22.95 hc; $12.95
pb; $6 as an Adobe e-book; 180 pages). It takes place immediately after A
Study in Scarlet and reveals that untold tale listed in “The Sussex
Vampire.” To read the first three chapters online, go to the author’s Web site
at www.LaurenSteinhauer.com. (If you click the Buy the Book link, you can
access additional information from the publisher, including a summary of the
book, a table of contents, and the first chapter.) Not the first pastiche about
the Giant Rat and probably not the last. You can get an idea how well this one
does by reading the online chapters.
The latest catalog from The Video Collection (P.O.
Box 2284, South Burlington, VT 05407-2284) features a number of videos and DVDs
of interest to Sherlockians. Among them are the Rathbone/Bruce Hound of the
Baskervilles and Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (only recently
available in DVD); three more sets of Rathbone/Bruce Holmes films; The Many
Faces of Sherlock Holmes (a look at the various actors who’ve portrayed
Holmes on the screen); several sets of the Jeremy Brett Holmes series; and even
the Edward Woodward/John Hillerman fiasco Hands of a Murder (if you’re a
completist). The catalog offers a number of other titles of interest to mystery
lovers, anglophiles, and aficionados of the Victorian era, all at varying
prices. For exact costs and ordering information, we suggest that you write the
company and request a catalog.
Those of you who enjoy graphic adaptations of
non-Sherlockian Victorian literature may want to look for three trade paperback
volumes of Eureka Productions’ Graphic Classics series—Vol. 9: Robert
Louis Stevenson includes illustrated version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
among other Stevenson classics; Vol. 7 features illustrated versions of Bram
Stoker’s work (including excerpts from Dracula); and Vol. 6 focuses on
the work of Ambrose Bierce, late-Victorian author of weird fiction (admired by
H.P. Lovecraft). If you’re a Mark Twain fan, Vol. 8 covers some of his tales
(although, alas, his short “Double-Barreled Detective Story,” a Holmes parody,
didn’t make the book’s cut.) All are available for $9.95 each and can be
ordered from any specialty comic book store, most major bookstores, and most
online stores such as Amazon.com. Earlier volumes in the series have featured
the illustrated works of Poe, H.G. Wells, and, of course, Conan Doyle. (The Poe
volume is being reissued soon, and the others may also still be available.)
Coming later this summer is Vol. 10: Horror Classics, which includes
illustrated pieces by Poe, Bierce, and Lovecraft, among others.
It’s no longer playing in most first-run theaters,
but keep an eye out at the second-run cinemas for Van Helsing, the
Victorian-set action/adventure movie featuring some of Victorian England’s
greatest horror creations (including Dracula and a cameo by Mr. Hyde)—assuming,
of course, you haven’t already seen it in its initial run. The movie does play
fast and loose with the details of the original stories—Van Helsing’s first
name is now Gabriel instead of Abraham, he’s a monster-hunter for the Vatican
now, and the story takes place in the 1880s, far too late for the creation of
the Frankenstein monster, a bit early for Dracula’s involvement, and decades
prior to Universal’s original setting for The Wolfman. But I’ve heard
that it’s great fun if you don’t let the storyline get in the way—kind of along
the lines of the Indiana Jones movies. A novelization is also available, which
fills in some of the movie’s gaps (and probably reflects an earlier version of
the script than the final screenplay). Sadly, as was the case for League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen, it appears that the movie may not have made enough
at the box office to justify a sequel (unless second-run and video and DVD
receipts make up the gap).
Hated Rival Will Thomas’s novel about Victorian
detective Cyrus Barker, Some Danger Involved (Touchstone Books, $22.95;
288 pages), is now out and available for purchase at most book stores and at
online outlets. (I’ve seen it locally at Borders and online at Amazon.com for
$16.07.) Will reports that sales are going well at this point, and the book has
garnered a lot of good press, including a feature in the New York Times Book
Review. For more information, Will says that the place to visit online is
the book publisher’s Web site at www.Simonsays.com or go to www.bn.com (Barnes & Noble). We urge all
who enjoy Victorian-set mysteries to support Will by picking up a copy (so that
we see more Barker novels in the future).
Sadly, the online gaming magazine Space Gamer
(at www.spacegamer.com) has ceased regular publication as a magazine, effective
this past March. Unfortunately, that also means the end of our own Bill
Barton’s (Barker) monthly column, “Horror from the Heartland.” The April
issue’s column, as mentioned in our last newsletter, was to have focused on
Bill’s fictionalized version of the Canonical Barker, as described in
newsletters last year and earlier this year as well. The June column was also
to have included the original Call of Cthulhu/ Cthulhu By Gaslight
stats that Bill composed for the latter, for those of you who follow the
role-playing side of things. The piece is currently being reworked for possible
use in another online magazine, and parts of it will eventually appear on our
Web site as well.
Finally, if you have a spare $80,000 burning a hole
in your pocket, you can purchase the entire Sherlock Holmes collection of
eminent Sherlockian Ronald De Waal, author of the World Bibliography of
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and other scholarly works. The collection
includes such treasures as a first edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles
and an 1891 London edition of A Study in Scarlet featuring a mounted
autograph by Doyle. It numbers about 10,000 items, plus 50+ cartons of files.
Unfortunately, the collection is being sold in its entirely at the noted price,
plus transportation costs, rather than as individual pieces (which I’d think
would, in the long run, command a better price—but perhaps time is of the
essence here). If you’re quite well-to-do and dedicated (some might say
fanatic) enough a collector of Sherlockiana to jump at the price, you can
contact the seller at Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore, 254 S. Main Street, Salt
Lake City, Utah 84101 (or electronically at tony@samwellers.com;
www.samwellers.com). Who knows? If no one goes for the entire collection en
masse, perhaps individual items will eventually become available. (If so, we’ll
let you know in this space.)
***
Coming Meetings!
Following are the details of our
upcoming meeting, plus the dates and tentative information about the rest of
our meetings for 2004. (Check our Web site or our Indianapolis Star Web
page for updates.) So set these dates aside to join the Hated Rivals at the
following soirées:
An Afternoon on the Canal
Sunday, July 11, 2004, noon
to 3:30 p.m.
Starting at: The Indiana
Historical Society
450 W. Ohio Street
(intersection of West & Ohio Sts.)
Downtown Indianapolis,
Indiana
Directions and Details: From the Northeast, South, or East sides: Take I-465 to I-70 on the East side of Indianapolis, and take I-70W to I-65N; immediately get in the far left lane on I-65N and get off at the Martin Luther King/West Street exit. Turn south and follow West Street to New York Street (about ¾ mile or so) and turn left. The parking lot of the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) building is to your right, on the corner of West and New York Streets. (You enter the parking lot from New York Street.) From the West (or Northwest): Take I-465 to I-65S on the Northwest side of Indianapolis, and take I-65S downtown to the Martin Luther King/West Street exit; turn south on West Street and follow the preceding directions to the IHS parking lot. (Do allow extra travel time, as the Black Expo is going on at the Convention Center about half a mile east of the IHS building, and downtown traffic is usually congested during the Expo.) The IHS building itself is directly east of Military Park. The entrance to the IHS building is on the east side, toward the Canal. We will meet in the lobby, just inside the entrance, at noon and decide from there what sights and activities to partake of. (If you think that you’ll be late, please let us know ahead of time so that we know to wait for you.) We’ll probably eat in one of the restaurants at the nearby Indiana State Museum, and during the meal, a short paper about Barker will be presented as part of the day’s festivities. For maps and additional information on the Canal, the IHS, and other nearby attractions, check out the information on the following Web site: www.indydt.com. For more info about the IHS, as well as additional directions, maps, and so forth, visit its Web site at www.indianahistory.org.
And don’t forget to mark
your calendar for this (and next) year’s other great meetings . . .
September (exact date to be
determined): A
Sherlockian Surprise!
Saturday, November 13, 2004:
A.C. Doyle Mini-Film
Fest
Sunday, January 9, 2005: Our Annual Victorian Tea
(Note: Dates and
programs are tentative and subject to change as circumstances
change—but we’ll try to stick to these as much as possible!)
***
For
more information, contact us at P.O. Box 26290, Indianapolis, IN 46226-0290; or
you can contact us electronically (via e-mail) at
postmaster@surrey-shore.freeservers.com (And don’t forget to venture online to
check out our Hated Rivals Web site, located at
http://surrey-shore.freeservers.com, for recent updates, or drop on by our Indy
Star Web page at http://community.indystar.com/928/.)
See
you again in two months, back on the ol’ Surrey Shore, where the game’s always
afoot! (But you already knew that—didn’t you?)