e-newsletter of the Holmesian Studies SIG of American Mensa

since ’88, Baker Street Irregulars scion since ‘95

 "Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed." (Mark 4:22)

Issue XL                                                                                                  Winter '13-'14

Sig News

W e have submitted our info to The Sherlockian Who's Who at http://www.sh-whoswho.com/index.php?refsociety=298. Please check it out and tell us if it actually took and your experience there.

The Curse of Sherlock Holmes

W e came upon Basil Rathbone's description of what he called the curse of Sherlock Holmes. It was not exactly a curse upon Sherlock Holmes, but the typecasting of an actor who has played the part of the Great Detective. Jeremy Britt is alledged to have cursed Holmes for not being able to play any other role, for having become Sherlock Holmes.

I t made us wonder about the other actors who have played him. Those who played Holmes more often likely would have gotten a stronger dose of "the curse" [see bold below]. On the other hand playing Holmes may have been too much for the one-timers. Perhaps Holmes, "The Immortal Detective", aggravated the effect by also playing the actors who played him through the years, taking to the now ubiquitous deerstalker cap, Meerschaum pipe and magnifying glass that William Gillette popularized. Is it not a noteworthy fact that the first Sherlock Holmes in the film "Sherlock Holmes Baffled" (1900) before Holmes "retired" was played by "Anonymous"?

2013 Igor Petrenko gets Holmes curse

2012 Ross K. Fold, Jonny Lee Miller get Holmes curse

2011 Robert Downy, Jr. gets Holmes curse

2010 Benedict Cumberbach, Vincent Aubert, Ben Syder get Holmes curse

2009 Ian Buchanan, Louis Macleod get Holmes curse

2008 Christopher Bevins gets Holmes curse

2007 Jonathan Pryce gets Holmes curse

2005 Eugenio Monclava, Ted Rooney get Holmes curse

2004 Rupert Everett gets Holmes curse

2002 Richard Roxburgh, James D'Arcy get Holmes curse

2001 Joaquim de Almeida, Eric Legrand, Hervé Ganim get Holmes curse

2000 Matt Fewer gets Holmes curse

1999 Jason Gray-Stanford gets Holmes curse

1997 Rhéal Guévremont gets Holmes curse

1996 Bill Barretta, Francesco J. Basilio get Holmes curse

1995 Jeff Benett gets Holmes curse

1994 Patrick Macnee, Fan Ai Li get Holmes curse

1993 Jim Cummins, Anthony Higgins, Radoslav Brzobohatý get Holmes curse

1992 Richard E. Grant gets Holmes curse

1991 Charlton Heston, Rupert Frazier, Jeremy Irons, Juan Manuel Montesino get Holmes curse

1990 Edward Woodward, Reece Dinsdale get Holmes curse

1989 Maurice LaMarche, Brian Bedford get Holmes curse

1988 Brent Spiner, Rodney Litchfield, Michael Caine get Holmes curse

1987 Michael Pennington gets Holmes curse

1986 James Downey gets Holmes curse

1985 Jeremy Brent, Nicholas Rowe, Ian Richardson get Holmes curse

1984 Taichirô Hirokawa, Fat Chung, Peter Evans, Guy Rolfe get Holmes curse

1983 Roger Ostime, Peter Toole, Ian Richardson get Holmes curse

1982 Guy Henry, Tom Baker, Paul Guers, Peter Lawford get Holmes curse

1981 Frank Ganella gets Holmes curse

1980 Geoffrey Whitehead, Keith McConnell get Holmes curse

1979 Vasil Livianov gets Holmes curse

1978 Jeremy Clyde gets Holmes curse

1977 Christopher Plummer, Peter Cook get Holmes curse

1976 Nicol Williamson, Roger Moore get Holmes curse

1974 Raymond Gérôme, Rolf Becker get Holmes curse

1973 Henri Verlojeux, John Cleese get Holmes curse

1972 John Rutland, Stewart Granger ges Holmes curse

1971 Radovan Lukavský gets Holmes curse

1970 Robert Stephans gets Holmes curse

1969 Peter Jeffrey gets Holmes curse

1968 Peter Cushing, Nando Gazzolo get Holmes curse

1967 Eric Schellow, Jacque François get Holmes curse

1965 Jerome Raphael, John Neville, Paul Frees get Holmes curse

1964 Douglas Wilmer gets Holmes curse

1962 Christopher Lee gets Holmes curse

1959 Peter Cushing gets Holmes curse

1957 Jalmari Rinne gets Holmes curse

1955 Ronald Howard, Wolf Ackva get Holmes curse

1954 Ernst Fritz Fürbinger gets Holmes curse

1951 Alan Wheatley, Andrew Osborn, John Longden get Holmes curse

1949 Alan Napier gets Holmes curse

1939 Basil Rathbone gets Holmes curse

1937 Bruno Güttner, Siegfried Schürenberg, Louis Hector get Holmes curse

1933 Martin Fric, Reginald Owen get Holmes curse

1932 Robert Rendel gets Holmes curse

1931 Raymond Massey, Arthur Wonter get Holmes curse

1929 Carlyle Blackwell, Clive Brook get Holmes curse

1923 Eman Fiala gets Holmes curse

1921 Eille Norwood gets Holmes curse

1920 Willy Kaiser-Heyl gets Holmes curse

1918 Ferdinand Bonn gets Holmes curse

1917 Hugo Flink gets Holmes curse

1916 William Gillette, H. A. Saintsbury get Holmes curse

1915 Hector Dion, Eugen Burg get Holmes curse

1913 Harry Benham gets Holmes curse

1912 George Tréville gets Holmes curse

1911 Mack Sennett, Einar Zangenberg, Alwin Neuß, Lauritz Olsen get Holmes curse

1910 Otto Lagoni gets Holmes curse

1908 Viggo Larsen gets Holmes curse

1905 Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson gets Holmes curse

New Investigations

A fter our listing of cases in issue 39, “Frank Open” (Paul E. Blau) directed us to Philip K. Jones's treasure of a list at http://sherlock-holmes.es/database.php. It doesn't give a lot of information on each title, just where published, some of the characters, perhaps a canonical reference, but there are many we had not investigated as yet. My own list does not include the parodies or mere homages as his does, but we did discover some of The Punishment of Sherlock Holmes, etc., punchlines, reminiscent of the groaner, "The Great Dormitory Mystery" by Sharon N. Faber in Sherlock Holmes through Time and Space's "Alimentary, my were-Datsun.". It is rather easy to deduce the rest of the story from the "lunch pines".

"A 'Corny' Conclusion" by William Ballew: "[He was] arrested…for a salt and buttery with intent to kill."

"A Bird in the Hand" by Robert C. Burr: "No, Watson, just out of gas."

"A Brief Course in Economics" by Rosemary Michaud: "Counterfeiting is a cellar's market."

"A Brilliant Diagnosis" by Robert C. Burr: "[He had] come down with the Asian flue."

"A Canine Left/Leaves behind in the Strand" by Robert C. Burr: "He was creating a bottomless pit."

"A Canonical Chuckle" by Alan C. Olding: "[He] pulled the wrong knob and got stout."

"A Case of Identity" by Carolyn Low: "[He was] not a chicken friar"

"A Change in Habiliments": "[He picked up] his dear stoker cap and in-furnace cape."

"A Fine Cup of Tea" by Robert C. Burr: "The Koala tea of Moozy is not strained."

"A Fishy Story" by Robert C. Burr: "There, but for the glaze of cod, go I."

"A Goon and His Gal" by Frank Darlington: "Sam 'n Janet Evening"

"A Lesson in Boating" by Robert C. Burr: "[You can't] have your kayak and heat it too."

"A Pilfering in New Orleans" by Darlington, Frank: "The Adventure of the Burial Cornet"

"A Real Parisian Fashion" by Robert C. Burr: "[We found] the hutch back of Notre Dame."

"A Short, Short Christmas Story" by Robert C. Burr: "She should name him Sandy Claws."

"A Simple Case of Detailing" by Robert C. Burr: "It was bound to a cur."

"A Tent Joke" by Don Dillistone: "[We should] seek out a dog in a pup-tent."

"A Tibetan Housewife's Lament" by Robert C. Burr: "Oh, my baking yak!"

"A Truly Cannon(ical) Tale" by Robert C. Burr: "[It'd be hard to] find another man of his calibre."

"A Violin End" by Jack Kavanagh: "He is bloody, but unbowed."

"Addendum to 'The Adventure of the Crooked Man'" by Alan C. Olding: "A stoat's stoatally different."

"All the Prints That Fit the News" by Robert C. Burr: "These are the Times that dry men's soles."

"Amour du Derrière" by Robert C. Burr: "She left all who loved her behind."

"An Abbey Jest" by Ann Margaret Lewis: "[He was] a dead ringer for his brother."

"An Archeological Find" by Philip K. Jones: "The Mas are in stone."

[WARNING: You will find further PUNishment in future issues.]

Porlock's Puzzles

T his time, since they're so easy, rather than encrypting a canonical quote, we'll give titles and backstory to some punchlines from our own soon-to-be-published Reignbeau's Rhymes and Riddles. This issue we will again use a key phase to generate a simple one-to-one substitution cipher. To give enough cipher text to do a frequency count, we'll do several with the same substitution. [At least that's a plausible excuse for several more punishments, eh?]

"A Disturbance at the Zoo"

Holmes and I were taking a leisurely summer stroll through Regency Park, when it was disturbed by a ungodly moaning sound.

"I say, Holmes. That sounds like nothing I have ever heard before! What do you think it is?"

"I would say, it is too soon to say, but I dobelieve it is coming from the direction of the Zoological Gardens. Let us investigate further."

We proceeded in said direction as did other curious, yet wary, park visitors and even residents of nearby Albany Street. By the time the crowd reached the zoo we overheard countless speculations of varying plausibility, everything from a foghorn to a seasick crocodile.

When the crowd finally reached the wildebeest is was obvious that the animal was suffering from an inflammatory lung condition.

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"The Case of the Baker Street Burglary"

Lestrade called us in because, as was not all that unusual, this case baffled him and besides we were close handy. He had done admirably well this time in reducing the number of suspects in the theft to just two. He could not however determine which of the two had stolen the pies of which there were no trace. Only the baker himself and his young assistant had access to the bakery before opening and yet after the pies had been baked. They gave completely contradictory accounts of what had occured.

Repeating their stories again us it seemed to me equally implaucible that the baker had not baked the pies or that the assistant had disposed of them all without leaving a clue.

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"The Farmer's Market Fracas"

Mrs. Hudson came home from her early morning shopping earlier than expected and very upset. I tried to calm her, while Holmes gently coaxed the details of the insident from her.

"It was just awful. It was, Mr. Holmes. Just awful. I'm still shaking from the experience." said and then paused to catch her breath.

"Pray, continue," Holmes said.

These hooligans came rushing into the market from all directions at once. Dressed in rags they were, with handkerchiefs over their faces. They overturned carts and knocked down the piles of fruits and vegetables scattering them everywhere. It was only after they as quickly disappeared that the merchants discovered that their cash boxes were still secure. They couldn't have gotten much in any case since the market had only just opened."

"There, there, Mrs. Hudson. We'll go to the market for you." I said, as Holmes nodded to me in agreement.

We found the market still in great disarray, those merchants were busy setting their stall right again and double checking their inventory. Holmes quickly found a trail of clues to follow amongst the remnant debris and pursued it.

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