WADR-radio interview with Gayle Lange Puhl:
Interview with Gayle Lange Puhl
Showing posts with label Gayle Lange Puhl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gayle Lange Puhl. Show all posts
2015-10-12
2011-08-18
Baker Street Irregulars Birthday Weekend 2011 by Gayle Lange Puhl, ASH
I am a Sherlockian, a fan of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes. I belong to several scions, including The Original Tree Worshippers of Rock County, The Criterion Bar Association, The Beacon Society, The Friends of the Great Grimpen Mire and The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes. The Baker Street Irregulars is a national scion that holds a formal dinner every January in New York City. Not everyone is a BSI, but the event is an opportunity for Sherlockians from around the world to gather and celebrate Mr. Holmes’ birthday. In 2011 he is 157 years old.
It was time for the 2011 Sherlock Holmes/Baker Street Irregulars Birthday Weekend in New York City. I booked a room at the Roosevelt Hotel on 45th Street through the BSI and packed my bags. I took the Van Galder bus to O’Hare Field, flew from Chicago to La Guardia Airport and landed just before lunch on Thursday January 6. A shuttle van took me to the hotel.
The first thing on my schedule was the Distinguished Speaker Lecture at the Midtown Executive Club at 40 West 45th Street that started at 6:15 pm. The speaker was Michael Sims, an author and anthologist. He had compiled The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime and has finished the upcoming The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Detective Stories.
He talked about his teenage years when he lived in a rural area of the South with no phone or electricity and how he depended upon his mailbox to bring him glimpses of the outside world. He joined a book club and related his excitement the day his copy of William Baring-Gould’s The Annotated Sherlock Holmes arrived in 1967. He became fascinated with the Victorian Era and said it led him to a career in authorship and editing with Penguin Books. I spent a very enjoyable evening listening to his talk along with other members of the audience.
On Friday, The William Gillette Memorial Luncheon started at noon at Moran’s Chelsea Seafood Restaurant at 146 Tenth Avenue at 19th Street. A private dining room at the restaurant is dedicated to the famous actor, with a painting of him on the wall near the fireplace. I sat between two Sherlockians, one of whom received his membership in the exclusive Baker Street Irregulars later that evening. The other had delivered a paper to his scion comparing Sherlock Holmes to Nero Wolfe, the portly New York detective active in the middle part of the 20th century. I told him a couple of facts about the Holmes/Wolfe connection he didn’t know, which made him very happy. We also talked about the Sherlockian dinners put on by the Culinary Institute of America (also known as the CIA) and of the William Gillette Castle, home of the “Guest of Honor” and now a state park in Connecticut. Entertainment was given by the Friends of Bogey, an acting troop who performed a skit showing Holmes and Watson adjusting Holmes’ deductive methods to modern electronic mobile technology.
The Baker Street Irregulars Dinner was held that night at the Yale Club at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue. It was invitation only for its members so many others arranged to go to The Gaslight Gala at the Manhattan Club at 201 West 52nd Street at Seventh Avenue.
I sat at a table with several members of The Bootmakers of Toronto, the nationwide scion of Canada. Several people there were decorated Bootmakers, known as Master Bootmakers. One member, Karen Campbell, M. Bt., got up and sang a funny Sherlockian song as part of the entertainment later. Music was provided by Audrey Epstein, ASH.
Several Sherlockian toasts were drunk and the festivities were well underway. The many different scions represented by the assembled guests were read out and acknowledged.
After a delicious buffet, several skits and songs were performed by various Sherlockians. After the dessert buffet, a raffle drawing and a lively auction took place. The money raised went to offset costs of the Gala. The raffle was for two hand-painted Gaslight Gala sweatshirts. Among the auction items featured were a Christmas village based on the buildings of Baker Street, a hand-painted handkerchief, a jig-saw puzzle of 221B Baker Street, a doll dressed in a deerstalker hat and Inverness cape and a one-of-a-kind Sherlock Holmes-themed house banner designed and sewn by a talented Sherlockian seamstress. A sing-along involving the entire audience finished out a successful evening.
At nine o’clock on Saturday morning the Merchants Room (Convent Garden West) was opened in the Vanderbilt Suite on the second floor of the Roosevelt Hotel. The large room was filled with tables covered with books, CDs, pictures, paperbacks, first editions, and many other Sherlockian items. I handled a first edition Hound of the Baskervilles worth $3,000. That was a little out of my budget, but I picked up some paperbacks for a dollar, including a Basil of Baker Street: The Lost Colony signed by the author Eve Titus. My big purchase was a copy of The Grand Game, an anthology of Sherlockian scholarship edited by mystery author Laurie R. King and the author of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and The Annotated Dracula, Leslie S. Klinger. Les is the Sherlockian expert advising on the new Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law movie Sherlock Holmes 2. Both Les Klinger and Laurie R. King were present to sign their opus and I made sure they autographed mine.
After I deposited my purchases in my room, I walked out onto the New York streets to see something of the Big Apple. I walked as far as the New York City Library and saw the stone lions in front. I strolled through Times Square and shopped for souvenirs on Fifth Avenue.
At one o’clock I joined some friends and walked to the Baker Street Irregulars’ annual reception held at the New York City Bar Association at 42 West 44th Street. Mickey Fromkin looked quite sporty in her deerstalker and Inverness cape. At the reception we joined 200 other Sherlockians in a short business meeting before refreshments were served.
The program included announcements of who had been added to the Baker Street Irregulars membership rolls the night before, a specially written song that was filled with Sherlockian news and mentions of other international happenings for the year of 2010, a raffle drawing for a hand-crafted “King of Bohemia” brooch and an auction of special items for the benefit of a BSI charity. The auctioneer was my friend Peter Blau, BSI, who, along with three others, was celebrating his 50th year in the Irregulars.
The entertainment was a song from the as yet-unproduced script of a musical based on the 2009 book Dust and Shadow by newly admitted Irregular Lyndsay Faye. Her book pitted Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. Lyndsay has hopes of getting the finished product on Broadway and everyone present wished her well.
Drinks and an elaborate spread of dainty treats were offered after the meeting and Sherlockians and other guests found plenty of opportunities to visit and make new friends. I met a pair of sisters, Joan and Mary Silaco, from Queens, New York. They were new to the Sherlockian world and we hit it off right away.
We talked for hours and ended the evening back at the Roosevelt Hotel, eating hamburgers at the bar and telling each other about our hometowns. Joan talked about her sightings of celebrities in Manhattan and I described life in Evansville. Joan and Mary couldn’t conceive of a town without public transportation and surrounded by big empty fields.
On the morning of Sunday, January 9, I got up early and after breakfast took a taxi to Rockefeller Center. I wore my deerstalker hat and carried a sign about Sherlock Holmes with “Hi, Evansville, WI” at the bottom. I stood in the crowd outside the NBC studios where “The Today Show” was broadcast and got on camera with the rest of the crowd. After she did the weather, Janice Huff autographed my sign and posed for a picture. When the show was over I visited The NBC Experience next to the studio and purchased a photo of myself and my sign taken earlier by a NBC employee. I also took the opportunity to view some of the murals in Rockefeller Center and get some souvenirs at the NBC Store.
I took a taxi back to the Roosevelt Hotel, packed my bags and caught my shuttle van back to La Guardia and flew to Chicago. I made all my travel connections and was home in Evansville by Sunday night. I enjoyed my adventure in New York City and hope to go again someday.
It was time for the 2011 Sherlock Holmes/Baker Street Irregulars Birthday Weekend in New York City. I booked a room at the Roosevelt Hotel on 45th Street through the BSI and packed my bags. I took the Van Galder bus to O’Hare Field, flew from Chicago to La Guardia Airport and landed just before lunch on Thursday January 6. A shuttle van took me to the hotel.
The first thing on my schedule was the Distinguished Speaker Lecture at the Midtown Executive Club at 40 West 45th Street that started at 6:15 pm. The speaker was Michael Sims, an author and anthologist. He had compiled The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime and has finished the upcoming The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Detective Stories.
He talked about his teenage years when he lived in a rural area of the South with no phone or electricity and how he depended upon his mailbox to bring him glimpses of the outside world. He joined a book club and related his excitement the day his copy of William Baring-Gould’s The Annotated Sherlock Holmes arrived in 1967. He became fascinated with the Victorian Era and said it led him to a career in authorship and editing with Penguin Books. I spent a very enjoyable evening listening to his talk along with other members of the audience.
On Friday, The William Gillette Memorial Luncheon started at noon at Moran’s Chelsea Seafood Restaurant at 146 Tenth Avenue at 19th Street. A private dining room at the restaurant is dedicated to the famous actor, with a painting of him on the wall near the fireplace. I sat between two Sherlockians, one of whom received his membership in the exclusive Baker Street Irregulars later that evening. The other had delivered a paper to his scion comparing Sherlock Holmes to Nero Wolfe, the portly New York detective active in the middle part of the 20th century. I told him a couple of facts about the Holmes/Wolfe connection he didn’t know, which made him very happy. We also talked about the Sherlockian dinners put on by the Culinary Institute of America (also known as the CIA) and of the William Gillette Castle, home of the “Guest of Honor” and now a state park in Connecticut. Entertainment was given by the Friends of Bogey, an acting troop who performed a skit showing Holmes and Watson adjusting Holmes’ deductive methods to modern electronic mobile technology.
The Baker Street Irregulars Dinner was held that night at the Yale Club at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue. It was invitation only for its members so many others arranged to go to The Gaslight Gala at the Manhattan Club at 201 West 52nd Street at Seventh Avenue.
I sat at a table with several members of The Bootmakers of Toronto, the nationwide scion of Canada. Several people there were decorated Bootmakers, known as Master Bootmakers. One member, Karen Campbell, M. Bt., got up and sang a funny Sherlockian song as part of the entertainment later. Music was provided by Audrey Epstein, ASH.
Several Sherlockian toasts were drunk and the festivities were well underway. The many different scions represented by the assembled guests were read out and acknowledged.
After a delicious buffet, several skits and songs were performed by various Sherlockians. After the dessert buffet, a raffle drawing and a lively auction took place. The money raised went to offset costs of the Gala. The raffle was for two hand-painted Gaslight Gala sweatshirts. Among the auction items featured were a Christmas village based on the buildings of Baker Street, a hand-painted handkerchief, a jig-saw puzzle of 221B Baker Street, a doll dressed in a deerstalker hat and Inverness cape and a one-of-a-kind Sherlock Holmes-themed house banner designed and sewn by a talented Sherlockian seamstress. A sing-along involving the entire audience finished out a successful evening.
At nine o’clock on Saturday morning the Merchants Room (Convent Garden West) was opened in the Vanderbilt Suite on the second floor of the Roosevelt Hotel. The large room was filled with tables covered with books, CDs, pictures, paperbacks, first editions, and many other Sherlockian items. I handled a first edition Hound of the Baskervilles worth $3,000. That was a little out of my budget, but I picked up some paperbacks for a dollar, including a Basil of Baker Street: The Lost Colony signed by the author Eve Titus. My big purchase was a copy of The Grand Game, an anthology of Sherlockian scholarship edited by mystery author Laurie R. King and the author of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and The Annotated Dracula, Leslie S. Klinger. Les is the Sherlockian expert advising on the new Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law movie Sherlock Holmes 2. Both Les Klinger and Laurie R. King were present to sign their opus and I made sure they autographed mine.
After I deposited my purchases in my room, I walked out onto the New York streets to see something of the Big Apple. I walked as far as the New York City Library and saw the stone lions in front. I strolled through Times Square and shopped for souvenirs on Fifth Avenue.
At one o’clock I joined some friends and walked to the Baker Street Irregulars’ annual reception held at the New York City Bar Association at 42 West 44th Street. Mickey Fromkin looked quite sporty in her deerstalker and Inverness cape. At the reception we joined 200 other Sherlockians in a short business meeting before refreshments were served.
The program included announcements of who had been added to the Baker Street Irregulars membership rolls the night before, a specially written song that was filled with Sherlockian news and mentions of other international happenings for the year of 2010, a raffle drawing for a hand-crafted “King of Bohemia” brooch and an auction of special items for the benefit of a BSI charity. The auctioneer was my friend Peter Blau, BSI, who, along with three others, was celebrating his 50th year in the Irregulars.
The entertainment was a song from the as yet-unproduced script of a musical based on the 2009 book Dust and Shadow by newly admitted Irregular Lyndsay Faye. Her book pitted Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. Lyndsay has hopes of getting the finished product on Broadway and everyone present wished her well.
Drinks and an elaborate spread of dainty treats were offered after the meeting and Sherlockians and other guests found plenty of opportunities to visit and make new friends. I met a pair of sisters, Joan and Mary Silaco, from Queens, New York. They were new to the Sherlockian world and we hit it off right away.
We talked for hours and ended the evening back at the Roosevelt Hotel, eating hamburgers at the bar and telling each other about our hometowns. Joan talked about her sightings of celebrities in Manhattan and I described life in Evansville. Joan and Mary couldn’t conceive of a town without public transportation and surrounded by big empty fields.
On the morning of Sunday, January 9, I got up early and after breakfast took a taxi to Rockefeller Center. I wore my deerstalker hat and carried a sign about Sherlock Holmes with “Hi, Evansville, WI” at the bottom. I stood in the crowd outside the NBC studios where “The Today Show” was broadcast and got on camera with the rest of the crowd. After she did the weather, Janice Huff autographed my sign and posed for a picture. When the show was over I visited The NBC Experience next to the studio and purchased a photo of myself and my sign taken earlier by a NBC employee. I also took the opportunity to view some of the murals in Rockefeller Center and get some souvenirs at the NBC Store.
I took a taxi back to the Roosevelt Hotel, packed my bags and caught my shuttle van back to La Guardia and flew to Chicago. I made all my travel connections and was home in Evansville by Sunday night. I enjoyed my adventure in New York City and hope to go again someday.
2010-09-13
A Spirited Conference by Gayle Lange Puhl
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| Statuettes that made up part of the exhibit of "Spirits of Sherlock Holmes" at the Elmer L. Anderson Library at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis |
“The Spirits of Sherlock Holmes”, a conference held at the Elmer L. Anderson Library of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis was held from August 6-8, 2010. It was presented by The Norwegian Explorers, the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections and the University of Minnesota Libraries.
The Norwegian Explorers of Minnesota, Inc. is a non-profit organization interested and dedicated to the appreciation and advancement of Sherlock Holmes and his world. In a grey world they help keep the memories of all things Sherlockian forever green.
The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections is a non-profit group dedicated to the maintenance and growth of the Collections held by the University of Minnesota. Those consist of rare Sherlockian books, papers and other items. The Collections are held in a subterranean vault 85 feet under the Anderson Library on University grounds. They make up the largest grouping of Sherlock Holmes-related reference material in the United States.
The University of Minnesota Libraries houses, maintains and cares for the Collections. Timothy Johnson is the E. W. McDiarmid Curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collections and Curator of the Special Collections and Rare Books of the University.
I arrived in Minneapolis on August 4. I stayed at the home of Karen Murdock, ASH, a member of the Norwegian Explorers and Sherlockian author. In fact, the book she edited, “Sherlock Alive”, came out at the conference. It is the collected Sherlockian references of Vincent Starrett, a founding member of the Baker Street Irregulars, from his Chicago Tribune column “Books Alive” from 1942 to1967.
On August 5 Karen drove me to the Elmer L. Anderson Library where I met Timothy Johnson. We inspected the display set out in the exhibit space. It was devoted to Holmes and ranged from stuffed animals and dolls of Holmes and Dr. Watson thru menus and mugs to early writings about the Sherlockian world to an Inverness cape and two deerstalker hats. In the background a tape made up of music from the various movies and television shows about the Great Detective, interspersed with poems and dramatic readings, played softly.
Tim, the Curator of the Collections, took me down the special elevator to tour the vault. It was very exciting for a life-long Sherlockian like me. Long rows of shelves, filled with file boxes and stacks of things like board games and other items, stretched off into the distance. Later I spent time in the Reading Room going over the letters I had exchanged with John Bennett Shaw in the 1960s and ‘70s. His personal library of over 15,000 items had been obtained by the University of Minnesota in 1993. I was interested to discover that not all the letters I had sent him in his lifetime were in the Collections’ files. Things are still being discovered.
The conference opened at 11:00 am on Friday, August 6, at the Library. 110 people had signed up for the three day celebration of Sherlock Holmes and his time. Their ages ranged from late seventies to a Norwegian Explorer just nine years old and entering the fourth grade.
A presentation was given by Ray Betzner, BSI, on Vincent Starrett, legendary Sherlockian who had written the first widely-popular full-length book about Holmes and his world, “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”. Starrett had gone on to help found the Baker Street Irregulars which meets in New York City and the Hounds of the Baskerville (sic) of Chicago.
Timothy Johnson, Neil McCaw, Catherine Cooke, BSI, ASH, and Peggy Perdue, MBt. spoke on the current activities of the various collections of which they are in charge. Tim Johnson talked about the Sherlock Holmes Collection of the U of Minn. Neil McCaw is the Academic Director of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, Lancelyn Green Bequest of Portsmouth, Great Britain. He told of the traveling exhibit he placed in Japan earlier this year. Catherine Cooke is a decorated Baker Street Irregular and Curator of the Marylebone Public Library of Westminster, London, only a couple of blocks away from Baker Street. She also belongs to the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes and the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. Peggy Perdue is a decorated member of the Bootmakers of Toronto and Curator of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the Toronto Public Library in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The final talk of the day was given by Steven Rothman, BSI and editor of the Baker Street Journal since 2000. His paper was on Christopher Morley, the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars in 1934, and his work as editor of The Saturday Review of Literature as it related to Doyle, Holmes and the Irregulars.
Vendors had their wares for sale at tables along the walls of the conference room. They included Steven Doyle, publisher of the Baker Street Journal and author of “Sherlock Holmes for Dummies”. Christopher Roden of the Calabash Press was selling copies of the newly-reissued “Bending the Willow”, the story of Jeremy Brett and his part as Holmes in the Granada television series frequently shown on public TV. George Vanderburgh of the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box was selling copies of Karen Murdock’s new book, “Sherlock Alive”. She was thrilled at all the requests for autographed copies.
On Saturday, August 7, Gideon Hill, MD and a member of the Baker Street Irregulars and the Sons of the Copper Beeches in Pennsylvania gave the talk “Vintage and Spirited”. It was a tongue-in-cheek discussion of Dr. Watson’s supposed alcoholism.
Russell Merritt, BSI and a semi-retired Professor of Film Studies at the University of California-Berkeley gave an illustrated talk on Sherlock Holmes and the Silent Cinema, with stills from the original movies, many now lost.
After lunch, there was a formal debate between Jon L. Lellenberg, a decorated member of the BSI and co-editor of “Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters” and author/editor of 8 volumes of BSI Archival History and Richard J. Sveum, MD , BSI and President of the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections. Dr. Sveum held the position that Sherlockian scholarship began with “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes” by Mgr. Ronald Knox, a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, in 1912. Mr. Lellenberg contended that there had been earlier mentions of Holmes and his methods in the press before the 1912 paper was read to groups of college students before publication. Neither man gave up a foot of ground. The members of the audience were left to make up their own minds on the subject.
“Boys and Girls Together” was the title of the paper given by Evelyn Herzog, BSI and ASH. She told the history of the founding of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes after they had been shut out of the Baker Street Irregulars because of their sex. Women were not admitted to the BSI until 1991 although the ASH had invited men as members several years before.
The attendees of the conference were then invited to walk to the nearby Wilson Library to view the Allen Mackler 221B Sitting Room permanent exhibit. Paul Martin, BSI and Jon Lellenberg, BSI shared remarks about their long-time friend, Sherlockian collector Allen Mackler of the Norwegian Explorers.
Saturday night a banquet was given for the conference goers at the Holiday Inn Metrodome. Brad Keefauver, BSI, ASH addressed the celebrants and an auction of Sherlockian items for the benefit of the Sherlock Holmes Collections was held with Peter Blau, BSI, ASH as auctioneer.
At 9:30 am at the Anderson Library on Sunday, August 8, the conference continued with Tim Reich’s paper, “Guy de Maupassant’s “Le Horla” and the Haunting of Sherlock Holmes”. It drew parallels between Holmes’ conduct during a certain period of time in the stories and the behavior of de Maupassant’s hero in the story “Le Horla”.
S. E. Dahlinger, a decorated Baker Street Irregular, a member of ASH and a Master Bootmaker of the Bootmakers of Toronto held to the theme of the conference with her paper entitled “Haunting Libraries in Search of a Guaranteed Medium”. She spoke of her search for information and photographs from the Sherlock Holmes Collections regarding actor William Gillette’s appearance in the silent movie made from his stage success “Sherlock Holmes”.
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| Gayle with the notorious Giant Rat of Sumatra |
The Sherlockian acting troupe The Red-Throated League of the Norwegian Explorers preformed an Edith Meiser radio script, “The Giant Rat of Sumatra” to close out the conference. Edith Meiser spent years in Hollywood writing for radio, including hundreds of Sherlock Holmes adventures for Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Her scripts are part of the Sherlock Holmes Collections. The performance was dedicated to the late Wayne Swift, BSI, who had the investiture The Giant Rat of Sumatra. A very large stuffed Rat Mr. Swift had made for himself and which was included in Mr. and Mrs. Swift’s donation to the Collections held pride of place in front of the microphones.
Most people went home that afternoon, but I stayed a few extra days. During that time I had dinner with Susan Rice, ASH, Mickey Fromkin, ASH, and Karen Murdock at a Nepali restaurant. We enjoyed yak dishes. Karen and I went to bookstores and I spent 3 more days at the Anderson Library Reading Room. I enjoyed seeing and handling many unusual items, including Vincent Starrett’s own copy of the “Beeton Christmas Annual”, the paperback magazine that published the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in “A Study in Scarlet”. I read original copies of the Strand Magazine, which printed the Holmes short stories, and I leafed through some of the many scrapbooks John Bennett Shaw kept about all things Sherlockian. I particularly enjoyed the ones on Sherlockian-themed restaurants and Holmesian movies.
All in all, I had a wonderful time at the “Spirits of Sherlock Holmes” conference at the Elmer L. Anderson Library at the U of Minn. in Minneapolis. Their next one is in 2013 and I am already looking forward to it.
2010-08-02
"The Jewels of the Agra Treasure or Honestly, Officer, The Box Was Empty When I Opened It" by Gayle Lange Puhl
In “The Sign of Four” a box filled with jewels was sought by almost every major character in the novel. The Agra treasure consisted of 143 Diamonds, nearly 300 pearls, 97 emeralds, 170 rubies, 40 carbuncles, 210 sapphires, 61 agates, and beryls, onyxes, cat’s eyes, turquoises, and an unnumbered amount of other stones. They were probably all cut gems, except for the pearls.
The treasure was kept in a chest of Indian workmanship and of considerable weight. It had no key when the police recovered it from Jonathan Small. Dr. Watson had served in India during the Second Afghanistan War. He identified it as an example of Benares metal-work. Benares is a city in India situated on the holy river of the Ganges in the north-central part of the sub-continent. The chest had a thick and broad hasp, wrought in the image of a sitting Buddha. The box was massive, well-made and solid, clearly constructed to carry things of great price.
The walls, floor and lid of the container were two-third of an inch thick and made of iron. The actual size of the chest was not given. It was small enough that, while very heavy, Watson could carry it by himself.
This paper gives a short description of the four most valuable kinds of gems described by Small as being part of the Agra treasure contained in the box.
The “Great Mogul” diamond mentioned in the story actually existed. It was found in India in 1650 as a 787 carat rough stone. It was cut and described in 1665 as a high-crowned rose-cut stone. Its owner, Nadar Shah, King of Persia, was assassinated in 1747 and the stone disappeared. Some experts believe it may have been re-cut into either the Orlov Diamond of the Romanov Imperial Jewels or into the Koh-in-noor, now a part of the British Crown Jewels.
Diamonds were said in ancient times to assist the wearer’s stomach and brain. They were thought to strengthen the memory. Diamonds supposedly promoted purity, life, joy, innocence, repentance and honesty. The finest diamonds are a clear blue-white color but they can come in other hues, like yellow or pink.
Diamonds come from Africa, India, Russia, South America and even the United States.
Emeralds are a grass-green variety of beryl. They can be cut in rectangular, round, oval or square shapes. Some are shaped into cabochons. It is the birthstone of Taurus the Bull, April 20 to May 20. They are the gemstones of the 20th, 35th and 55th year of marriage. Ancient emeralds were found in Upper Egypt in 2000 B.C. They were highly prized by Alexander the Great and Cleopatra.
The Moguls, or rulers, of India inscribed sacred texts on large emeralds and wore them as talismans. For their size, emeralds can be more valuable than diamonds.
Emeralds supposedly had many virtues. They were used as antidotes to poison in the Middle Ages. The wearer of an emerald was said to gain wisdom, success in love and constancy of mind. Worn as an amulet, emeralds were thought to give good fortune, and symbolize rebirth and youth.
The Agra treasure emeralds could have come from the Urals, Africa or India itself.
Pearls come from mollusks like freshwater clams or saltwater oysters. They are formed by the mollusk coating a tiny bit of irritant like a grain of sand within the shell with mother-of-pearl, the substance the inner shell is made of. Irregularly-shaped pearls are called baroque pearls. Freshwater pearls have been found in the Mississippi River and in other freshwater creeks. Over a short period of time in the late 1800s three pearls were found in clams in Evansville, WI. Cultured freshwater pearls have been grown in the streams of Bavaria, Australia and the United States.
Man-made or cultured pearls have been made in China for over a thousand years. In the 1890s the Japanese began producing an improved cultured pearl.
Saltwater pearls are called Oriental pearls. They can be cultured or natural pearls. Natural pearls have been found in the Persian Gulf, the waters between India and Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the South Pacific. They have also been found in the ocean off Western Mexico.
Pearls can be cream-colored but also black, rose, gray, blue, yellow, lavender, green and mauve. Pearls are the birthstones of Gemini, May 21 to June 21. A pearl is said to symbolize love, success, and happiness. They are the gemstone for the 1st, 12th and 30th year of marriage.
Rubies are made of corundum, which produces both rubies and sapphires. Large, fine-quality rubies are rare and valuable. They may be cut into mixed-cut ovals or antique cushions if they are lighter-colored stones. Dark red rubies are made into cabochons or into beads. Only diamonds are harder gemstones.
The name ruby comes from the Latin “ruber” which means red. The best rubies are a deep, pure, vivid red. Gemologists must carefully tell the difference between pinkish, purplish or orangey red rubies and pink, purple or orange sapphires.
Rubies are the birthstone for Aries, March 21 to April 19. They supposedly signify primal energy, self-assertiveness, daring, initiative, enterprise and adventure.
During the Middle Ages, a ruby worn on the left hand was thought to bring its owner lands and titles, to bestow virtue and protect against seduction. They were thought to guarantee health, wealth, wisdom and success in love. Some people of India believed possessing a ruby would enable them to live in peace with their enemies.
Rubies are found in Afghanistan, Kenya, Madagascar, Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The Agra treasure box once held well over a thousand precious jewels. Yet it was more valuable when Dr. Watson and Mary Morstan discovered it was empty. With the gems gone the honest Doctor felt himself free of the taint of fortune hunting and allowed his love for Mary to express itself. Proverbs 31:10 says “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Watson agreed. After his declaration of devotion to the woman he loved was accepted, Watson wrote “Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.”
The treasure was kept in a chest of Indian workmanship and of considerable weight. It had no key when the police recovered it from Jonathan Small. Dr. Watson had served in India during the Second Afghanistan War. He identified it as an example of Benares metal-work. Benares is a city in India situated on the holy river of the Ganges in the north-central part of the sub-continent. The chest had a thick and broad hasp, wrought in the image of a sitting Buddha. The box was massive, well-made and solid, clearly constructed to carry things of great price.
The walls, floor and lid of the container were two-third of an inch thick and made of iron. The actual size of the chest was not given. It was small enough that, while very heavy, Watson could carry it by himself.
This paper gives a short description of the four most valuable kinds of gems described by Small as being part of the Agra treasure contained in the box.
The “Great Mogul” diamond mentioned in the story actually existed. It was found in India in 1650 as a 787 carat rough stone. It was cut and described in 1665 as a high-crowned rose-cut stone. Its owner, Nadar Shah, King of Persia, was assassinated in 1747 and the stone disappeared. Some experts believe it may have been re-cut into either the Orlov Diamond of the Romanov Imperial Jewels or into the Koh-in-noor, now a part of the British Crown Jewels.
Diamonds were said in ancient times to assist the wearer’s stomach and brain. They were thought to strengthen the memory. Diamonds supposedly promoted purity, life, joy, innocence, repentance and honesty. The finest diamonds are a clear blue-white color but they can come in other hues, like yellow or pink.
Diamonds come from Africa, India, Russia, South America and even the United States.
Emeralds are a grass-green variety of beryl. They can be cut in rectangular, round, oval or square shapes. Some are shaped into cabochons. It is the birthstone of Taurus the Bull, April 20 to May 20. They are the gemstones of the 20th, 35th and 55th year of marriage. Ancient emeralds were found in Upper Egypt in 2000 B.C. They were highly prized by Alexander the Great and Cleopatra.
The Moguls, or rulers, of India inscribed sacred texts on large emeralds and wore them as talismans. For their size, emeralds can be more valuable than diamonds.
Emeralds supposedly had many virtues. They were used as antidotes to poison in the Middle Ages. The wearer of an emerald was said to gain wisdom, success in love and constancy of mind. Worn as an amulet, emeralds were thought to give good fortune, and symbolize rebirth and youth.
The Agra treasure emeralds could have come from the Urals, Africa or India itself.
Pearls come from mollusks like freshwater clams or saltwater oysters. They are formed by the mollusk coating a tiny bit of irritant like a grain of sand within the shell with mother-of-pearl, the substance the inner shell is made of. Irregularly-shaped pearls are called baroque pearls. Freshwater pearls have been found in the Mississippi River and in other freshwater creeks. Over a short period of time in the late 1800s three pearls were found in clams in Evansville, WI. Cultured freshwater pearls have been grown in the streams of Bavaria, Australia and the United States.
Man-made or cultured pearls have been made in China for over a thousand years. In the 1890s the Japanese began producing an improved cultured pearl.
Saltwater pearls are called Oriental pearls. They can be cultured or natural pearls. Natural pearls have been found in the Persian Gulf, the waters between India and Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the South Pacific. They have also been found in the ocean off Western Mexico.
Pearls can be cream-colored but also black, rose, gray, blue, yellow, lavender, green and mauve. Pearls are the birthstones of Gemini, May 21 to June 21. A pearl is said to symbolize love, success, and happiness. They are the gemstone for the 1st, 12th and 30th year of marriage.
Rubies are made of corundum, which produces both rubies and sapphires. Large, fine-quality rubies are rare and valuable. They may be cut into mixed-cut ovals or antique cushions if they are lighter-colored stones. Dark red rubies are made into cabochons or into beads. Only diamonds are harder gemstones.
The name ruby comes from the Latin “ruber” which means red. The best rubies are a deep, pure, vivid red. Gemologists must carefully tell the difference between pinkish, purplish or orangey red rubies and pink, purple or orange sapphires.
Rubies are the birthstone for Aries, March 21 to April 19. They supposedly signify primal energy, self-assertiveness, daring, initiative, enterprise and adventure.
During the Middle Ages, a ruby worn on the left hand was thought to bring its owner lands and titles, to bestow virtue and protect against seduction. They were thought to guarantee health, wealth, wisdom and success in love. Some people of India believed possessing a ruby would enable them to live in peace with their enemies.
Rubies are found in Afghanistan, Kenya, Madagascar, Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The Agra treasure box once held well over a thousand precious jewels. Yet it was more valuable when Dr. Watson and Mary Morstan discovered it was empty. With the gems gone the honest Doctor felt himself free of the taint of fortune hunting and allowed his love for Mary to express itself. Proverbs 31:10 says “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Watson agreed. After his declaration of devotion to the woman he loved was accepted, Watson wrote “Whoever had lost a treasure, I knew that night that I had gained one.”
2010-06-21
A Short Guide to Sherlock Holmes on Screen by Gayle Lange Puhl
Every audience gets the Holmes movie of its time. William Gillette was the first big Sherlock Holmes stage star. His audiences in 1899 wanted melodrama with a love interest and that is what they got. Eille Norwood was the first big silent movie Holmes. He made 47 movies, each about 25 minutes long. He was a favorite of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his movies had action and lots of disguises. Holmes and Watson really came into their own when the movies got a voice. Arthur Wontner was an English actor who made 5 movies in Great Britain in the 1930s. More than any other actor, he looked the most like Sherlock Holmes.
Except for Gillette, all those movies had been filmed in “the present day” which was frankly a lot cheaper than presenting the movies in the “Victorian era”. There were still Victorian elements in each movie, mostly embodied in Holmes and Watson’s dress and attitude toward crime and women. Basil Rathbone’s HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES movies were the first in a long time to be filmed in the correct historic period. When Universal Studios made its series of 12 films with Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, in order to hold the public’s interest and keep Holmes relevant to the real world (they were out to make money, after all) the scenes were updated to current times (the 1940s). Holmes was pitted against Nazis for the first 3 movies, as any good Englishman would be at the beginning of World War II. Widely distributed in cinemas and later on television, those performances became the norm for decades.
Various Sherlock Holmes radio shows broadcasted world-wide for decades. Television rose in popularity in the ’fifties and ’sixties and Holmes TV series were aired in several countries. Two starred Ronald Howard and Peter Cushing. These were usually set in Victorian times and centered, like the radio plays, more on action with a large dollop of deduction in every episode.
In 1970 the interest in Holmes and Watson was great enough for the famous Hollywood director Billy Wilder to make the film THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
A "Jack the Ripper vs. Sherlock Holmes" film, A STUDY IN TERROR, was made in 1965. Another, "MURDER BY DECREE',came out in 1979. They emphasized horror and in each Sherlock Holmes was more physical than one might expect. A broad comedy called “WITHOUT A CLUE” was made in 1988. In the ten years between 1984 -1994 British Television gave us Jeremy Brett and the high standards of the Granada studios. Widely seen throughout the world, those episodes set the standard of fidelity to the original stories.
Ever since the first big BATMAN movie, big blockbusters with loads of action and computer-generated effects have made the most money in the movie theaters. LORD OF THE RINGS, HARRY POTTER, IRONMAN and SPIDERMAN are examples. They made the most money because audiences raised on video games and fast action wanted those kinds of movies. When someone realized at last that Holmes and Watson had great possibilities (plus the added advantage of being ‘literary’) it was inevitable that the producers would decide to go big, use computers, and put Holmes in the Victoria era again. Robert Downing, Jr. is a big movie name. He got the big movie treatment and audiences got the kind of big special-effects movie they had come to expect.
I had never seen a Guy Richie movie before SHERLOCK HOLMES. Robert Downing, Jr. was not my idea of Holmes physically, looking nothing like Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing or Jeremy Brett. He didn’t fit the written description by Doyle either. But the man can act. His Holmes, researched with the help of an eminent Sherlockian, Les Klinger, is grittier and more active than the previous portrayals. The movie displayed Holmes’ cold mind, yet showed him vulnerable and human. Watson’s loyalty is understandable.
Dr. Watson, by Jude Law, is more active than previous depictions but closer to the original as written by Doyle. Lulled by former producers’ decisions to “dumb down” Watson in order to emphasize Holmes’ brilliance, movie audiences forget that John H. Watson was a trained doctor and an experienced war veteran. He loved excitement and in the movie Holmes played on his almost physical need for it. Yet Watson was respectable enough to fall in love with Mary Morstan and yearn for a “normal” life of hearth and home, with a practice that would not be interrupted by gunfire, upsetting patients who might decide to switch to a more conventional physician.
The storyline played on the superstitions and interest in the paranormal that was rife during the time period of the movie. It also tied in to Doyle, who soon after the 1890s became the most famous Spiritualist of his generation. It also battered against Holmes’ rationality. If there was one man in the Empire who didn’t believe in spooks, it was Sherlock Holmes. And he could tell you why. Therefore he was the one man in the Empire who could defeat the fear and uncover the tricks.
Don’t take all your Holmes from the movies. The real Sherlock Holmes is in the written stories. Over the decades in the films, Holmes has come in all shapes and sizes. He has appeared as a calculating machine and an action hero. The important thing to remember is that he is the world’s greatest detective and Watson’s friend. As long as those two elements are present, any movie about Sherlock Holmes does his creator and his fans proud.
Except for Gillette, all those movies had been filmed in “the present day” which was frankly a lot cheaper than presenting the movies in the “Victorian era”. There were still Victorian elements in each movie, mostly embodied in Holmes and Watson’s dress and attitude toward crime and women. Basil Rathbone’s HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES movies were the first in a long time to be filmed in the correct historic period. When Universal Studios made its series of 12 films with Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, in order to hold the public’s interest and keep Holmes relevant to the real world (they were out to make money, after all) the scenes were updated to current times (the 1940s). Holmes was pitted against Nazis for the first 3 movies, as any good Englishman would be at the beginning of World War II. Widely distributed in cinemas and later on television, those performances became the norm for decades.
Various Sherlock Holmes radio shows broadcasted world-wide for decades. Television rose in popularity in the ’fifties and ’sixties and Holmes TV series were aired in several countries. Two starred Ronald Howard and Peter Cushing. These were usually set in Victorian times and centered, like the radio plays, more on action with a large dollop of deduction in every episode.
In 1970 the interest in Holmes and Watson was great enough for the famous Hollywood director Billy Wilder to make the film THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
A "Jack the Ripper vs. Sherlock Holmes" film, A STUDY IN TERROR, was made in 1965. Another, "MURDER BY DECREE',came out in 1979. They emphasized horror and in each Sherlock Holmes was more physical than one might expect. A broad comedy called “WITHOUT A CLUE” was made in 1988. In the ten years between 1984 -1994 British Television gave us Jeremy Brett and the high standards of the Granada studios. Widely seen throughout the world, those episodes set the standard of fidelity to the original stories.
Ever since the first big BATMAN movie, big blockbusters with loads of action and computer-generated effects have made the most money in the movie theaters. LORD OF THE RINGS, HARRY POTTER, IRONMAN and SPIDERMAN are examples. They made the most money because audiences raised on video games and fast action wanted those kinds of movies. When someone realized at last that Holmes and Watson had great possibilities (plus the added advantage of being ‘literary’) it was inevitable that the producers would decide to go big, use computers, and put Holmes in the Victoria era again. Robert Downing, Jr. is a big movie name. He got the big movie treatment and audiences got the kind of big special-effects movie they had come to expect.
I had never seen a Guy Richie movie before SHERLOCK HOLMES. Robert Downing, Jr. was not my idea of Holmes physically, looking nothing like Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing or Jeremy Brett. He didn’t fit the written description by Doyle either. But the man can act. His Holmes, researched with the help of an eminent Sherlockian, Les Klinger, is grittier and more active than the previous portrayals. The movie displayed Holmes’ cold mind, yet showed him vulnerable and human. Watson’s loyalty is understandable.
Dr. Watson, by Jude Law, is more active than previous depictions but closer to the original as written by Doyle. Lulled by former producers’ decisions to “dumb down” Watson in order to emphasize Holmes’ brilliance, movie audiences forget that John H. Watson was a trained doctor and an experienced war veteran. He loved excitement and in the movie Holmes played on his almost physical need for it. Yet Watson was respectable enough to fall in love with Mary Morstan and yearn for a “normal” life of hearth and home, with a practice that would not be interrupted by gunfire, upsetting patients who might decide to switch to a more conventional physician.
The storyline played on the superstitions and interest in the paranormal that was rife during the time period of the movie. It also tied in to Doyle, who soon after the 1890s became the most famous Spiritualist of his generation. It also battered against Holmes’ rationality. If there was one man in the Empire who didn’t believe in spooks, it was Sherlock Holmes. And he could tell you why. Therefore he was the one man in the Empire who could defeat the fear and uncover the tricks.
Don’t take all your Holmes from the movies. The real Sherlock Holmes is in the written stories. Over the decades in the films, Holmes has come in all shapes and sizes. He has appeared as a calculating machine and an action hero. The important thing to remember is that he is the world’s greatest detective and Watson’s friend. As long as those two elements are present, any movie about Sherlock Holmes does his creator and his fans proud.
2010-04-27
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