Jan 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Some comic-book news: WITHIN OUR REACH is a graphic-novel-format anthology of Christmas stories published by Star Reach Productions ($7.95) to benefit the charities Sempervirens and AmFAR, and the contents include one nicely Sherlockian story: "The Season of Forgiveness" (written by Martin Powell, who has written SCARLET IN GASLIGHT and A CASE OF BLIND FEAR for Eternity, and illustrated by Patrick Olliffe). Carin Rafferty's SHERLOCK AND WATSON (Toronto: Harlequin Books, 1991; 221 pp., $2.99) is a Harlequin Temptation romance (#363); it's a modern story, and Sherlockian only by title, but worth looking for in shops that deal in used paperbacks if you'd like to see how far romance novels have come from the days when Barbara Cartland invented the genre: Callie (aka Doc) Watson is a pool hustler, and Ian Sherlock is on the lam from the law, and there is sex-before-marriage (though it's carefully safe sex). If your friendly neighborhood comic-book shop carries trading cards, or if you have a friendly neighborhood trading-card shop, look for Walt Disney trading cards distributed by Impel Marketing: Family Portraits #128 shows a scene from "Lonesome Ghosts" (1937), and Favorite Stories #64-72 has 18 scenes from the film, with Mickey and Goofy in deerstalkers. An interesting excerpt from a judicial opinion: "In the prosecution of the investigation authorized by the letters, a certain Inspector Lestrade . . . determined to interview the accused." Not our Lestrade, unfortunately, but rather an Inspector Lestrade of the French police, who participated in an investigation of an American soldier accused of pushing the queer in France in 1952. Thanks to Al Rosenblatt, who discovered this Inspector Lestrade in a computer data base of opinions by the United States Court of Military Appeals. Reported by Richard Wein: Michael Hardwick's THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SHERLOCK HOLMES (presumably a reissue of the 1986 edition) forecast by St. Martin's Press in Jan. Also: Peter Rowland's THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EDWIN DROOD (the pastiche published by Constable in Britain in 1991) (Mar 91 #2) forecast by St. Martin's in Feb. Gary Lovisi's THE LOSS OF THE BRITISH BARK SOPHY ANDERSON and P. Smith's THE GREY NUN LEGACY are new pastiches, with cover art by Frank Hamilton, published as a Gryphon Double Novel (60 pp., $6.95 postpaid) by Gryphon Publications, Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Grace Hopper died on Jan. 1. She joined the Navy in 1943, and retired in 1986 as a rear admiral, and as a legend as a pioneer in the computer world. To cite only one of her achievements, she was leader of the research team that found the first "bug" in a computer: it was a two-inch moth that had interrupted the work of the Mark I at Harvard in 1945. Reported: Gary Sick's OCTOBER SURPRISE (Times Books/Random House, 277 pp., $23.00) opens with quotations from "Hamlet" and "Sherlock Holmes" (the book details Sick's claims that in 1980 the Reagan campaign made a deal with the Iranian government to delay the release of the American hostages). Jan 92 #2 The National Film Preservation Act of 1988 created a National Film Preservation Board in the Library of Congress, responsible for selecting no more than 25 films a year for the National Film Registry, "based on their historic, cultural, or aesthetic importance." The third list of 25 films, announced in Sept. 1991, included Buster Keaton's fine silent film "Sherlock, Jr." (1924). The third issue of Varieties of Ash is now available, with some excellent "Silver Blaze" scholarship (some serious and some not), an investigation of the Vernets by Jane Morris (whose reference library appears to be unique), and much more. $10.00 for two issues, from Susan E. Dahlinger, 758 Third Street, Secaucus, NJ 07094. Thanks to Joan Kerins for last year's German stamp issued to honor the 100th birthday of Hans Albers, showing him in the 1932 film "Der Sieger" [The Winner]. His other well-known films included "Der blaue Engel" (1930) and "Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war" (1937). If you watched "The American Experience: The Quiz Show Scandal" on PBS-TV on Jan. 6, you saw (and heard) an attractive brunette contestant give the answer "Gloria Scott", and you may have wondered whether that might have been in some way Sherlockian. It was: the contestant was Bobbye O'Rourke, who appeared later in the program with her husband, Air Force Capt. Thomas O'Rourke. The O'Rourkes each won $32,000 on "The $64,000 Question" in May and June 1956, answering questions on Sherlock Holmes. And "Gloria Scott" was part of the answer to one of the $128 questions: Who was Holmes' only friend in college? (Name the individual and the story in which he appears.) And those who watched the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's Day may have seen the Sherlockian float decorated by the La Canada-Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association. John Farrell has kindly provided the details from the official program: "The Sherlock Hounds are on a mission to discover who stole a piece of cheese and a dog bone, while the culprit mouse makes its getaway with the stolen goods on a satellite float. The dogs are comprised of mums, Pampas grass, Cocoa palm bark, and Cardone puffs, with accents of seeds, spices, statice, and gladiola petals. In total, 35,000 whole flow- ers, 400 pounds of seeds, and 200 plants are used to create this dog and mouse chase." "The Master Blackmailer" received quite a bit of advance publicity before the new two-hour version of "Charles Augustus Milverton" was broadcast in Britain on Jan. 2, mainly because of the wooing of Agatha ("Sherlock Shows He's No Holmo!" was the headline in the Sun), and some favorable reviews. Granada has now aired 33 stories for a total of 36 hours in the series, and plans are underway for new shows (one possibility, according to a story in the Sherlock Holmes Gazette, is Jeremy Paul's dramatization of "The Red Circle"); three shows will be shot this spring, and three more this fall. The third issue of the Sherlock Holmes Gazette (Nov. 1991-Feb. 1992) has 36 pages and offers much more than coverage of the Granada series; the cost is L18.00 for four issues, and the address is Theme Publications, 43 Bowleaze Coveway, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 6PL, England (they take plastic). Jan 92 #3 The birthday festivities in New York were (as always) enjoyable and interesting, and blessed by unseasonably mild weather. The informal events on Thursday included the Annual Christopher Morley Walk, a meeting of The Pawky Humorists, and for the first time an Aunt Clara Sing- along at O'Lunney,s with tributes paid to Aunt Clara in more languages than most people recalled at the close of the event. Friday's schedule included the Mrs. Hudson Breakfast at the Algonquin, where more than 70 people were welcomed by Tom and Ruthann Stetak, who presented a commemorative breakfast tray to Bill Rabe (the founder of the breakfast), and the William Gillette Luncheon at the Old Homestead, where Susan Rice's arrangements featured an excerpt from Gillette's play "Too Much Johnson" performed by Paul Singleton and Andrew and Sarah Montague Joffe. And Otto Penzler offered hospitality (and Sherlockian books) at his open house at the Mysterious Book Shop. The Baker Street Irregulars gathered at 24 Fifth Avenue, where *The* Woman was Margaret Walsh, who was toasted by Steve Stix during the pre-dinner cocktail party and then departed to dine at the National Arts Club with other ladies who have received that honor. And there were fifteen ladies at the BSI's annual dinner (for the record, on this historic occasion, they were Maureen Green, Evelyn Herzog, Karen Johnson, Kate Karlson, Eleanor O'Connor, Marsha Pollak, Susan Rice, Lloyd Rose, Sherry Rose-Bond, Julie Rosenblatt, Marina Stajic, Ruthann Stetak, Francine Swift, Jean Upton, and Delia Vargas). The agenda included the usual toasts and other traditions, and Irv Kamil's report on The Asian Travelers (a new Sherlockian society founded last year on the Great Wall of China), introductions of three well-traveled visitors (Jean-Pierre Cagnat from France, and Yuichi Hirayama and Hirotaka Ueda from Japan), Ely Liebow's discussion of the Sherlockian aspects of "The $64,000 Question" (the 1956 television quiz show), Steve Rothman's revelation of a Sherlockian recording by Christopher Morley, Bruce Montgomery's tribute-in- song to his Grand Aunt Clara, Ed Vatza's discussion of "The Gloria Scott", and Joe Fink's investigative report on Dr. Watson's marital affairs. The Two-Shilling Award (for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty) was given to Mike Whelan, and Irregular Shillings and Inves- titures were presented to Jeff Decker ("Dr. Grimesby Roylott"), Maureen Green ("Kitty Winter"), Michael McClure ("Stimson and Co."), Sherry Rose- Bond ("Violet Hunter"), and Bruce Southworth ("Victor Hatherley"). The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes also dined on Friday evening, at the Century Cafe, where the agenda included a joint toast by Bev and Samantha Wolov to their favorite Canonical child, a tribute by Tina Rhea to the late Michael Harrison, a toast to Canonical doctors by Dr. Marillyne McKay, a report on Sherlock Holmes at the North Pole by Marlene Aig, and a series of songs set to various theme music from "Mystery!" On Saturday morning the huckster room at the Algonquin was well attended, and so was the Saturday-afternoon cocktail party at 24 Fifth Avenue, where the agenda included poetic reports by Al Rosenblatt and Sarah Joffe on the Friday dinners, a fast-and-furious auction that raised $610 for the BSI, and a raffle that featured a bottle of Madeira (1934 vintage) donated to the Dr. John H. Watson Fund by Patricia Guy. Jan 92 #4 The cocktail party also featured the presentation of Irregular Shillings and Investitures to Pat Moran ("Patience Moran") and Mary Ellen Rich ("Lady Frances Carfax"). Tom Stix also announced that in December the Investiture of "Pall Mall Gazette" had been awarded to Roger Johnson, and presented the BSI's Queen Victoria Medal to Theresa Thomalen. And on Saturday evening a few die-hard Sherlockians visited the Marymount Manhattan Theatre for a performance of "Holmes, Sweet Holmes" by the Dance Circle Company; choreographed by Ernesta Corvino to music by Tchaikovsky, the ballet offered an amusing finale to the weekend. The Dr. John H. Watson Fund offers financial assistance to Sherlockians (membership in the BSI or the ASH is not required) who might otherwise be unable to participate in the weekend's festivities. A carefully anonymous John H. Watson presides over the fund and welcomes contributions, which can be made by check payable to John H. Watson and mailed (without any return address) to Dr. Watson, c/o Thomas L. Stix, Jr., who will happily forward the checks unopened. Tom's address: 34 Pierson Avenue, Norwood, NJ 07648. There's still room on the Sherlockian cruise to Bermuda, departing New York on May 16 and returning on May 23. Bob and Eileen Katz, Mary Ellen Rich, Ed Van der Flaes, and Peg and Chuck Henry will provide some of the deep-sea entertainment, and information is available from Holmes on the Horizon, Box 96, Norwood, NJ 07648. Delia Vargas notes another source for deerstalkers, in a catalog of "Things You Never Knew Existed" (Johnson Smith Co. Box 2550, Bradenton, FL 34206), in sizes S/M/L/XL at $14.95. The sixth volume of Beeman's Christmas Annual is now available (the cost is $10.00 postpaid, from William R. Cochran, 517 North Vine Street, Du Quoin, IL 62832); published as a well-deserved tribute to Newton M. Williams, the 32-page booklet has reminiscences about Newt from some of his friends, and reprints of some of his own scholarship. Bruce Southworth reports two new volumes in the MATCH WITS WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES series adapted by Murray Shaw (Feb 90 #6). Prepared for children aged 8-11, each volume has two Canonical stories (Spec/Suss and Abbe/Bosc now join the series), and splendid illustrations. The books cost $9.95 each postpaid from the publisher: Carolrhoda Books, 241 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55401 (800-328-4929). Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" will be performed at the Cider Mill Playhouse in Endicott, N.Y., on May 14-31, and Kate Karlson proposes a theater party for Sherlockians on May 30. You can contact Kate at 1259 Fowler Place, Binghamton, NY 13903. Thanks to all who responded to the query (Dec 91 #2) about "A Century of Sleuthing". For those who did not see the broadcast, it appears to be an 11-minute trailer for "A Crucifer of Blood" and aired at the end of the program on TNT on Nov. 4 (and presumably earlier in Oct. and Nov.). The trailer had bits and pieces of an interview with Charlton Heston, scenes from other early and late Sherlockian films, and some associations items such as Sherlockian glimpses of Abbott and Costello, and Harpo Marx. Jan 92 #5 British Airways is offering a tour called "Light Upon the Moor: Sherlock Holmes" on July 19-29, with six days at Cambridge and five days in Devon. The lecturers will include Stanley MacKenzie, and the accommodations on Dartmoor will be at the Manor House Hotel ("Baskerville Hall" in the 1932 film of the story). Call 800-792-0100 for information. The Feb. 1992 issue Playboy has yet another (mediocre) Sherlockian item in its "Playboy's Party Jokes" (oh, for those long-ago days when the magazine was publishing stories from the Canon). The third volume in the BSI's archival series is IRREGULAR RECORDS OF THE EARLY 'FORTIES, edited by Jon L. Lellenberg (New York: Baker Street Irregu- lars, 1991; 312 pp., $18.95), bringing the history of the early days into the somewhat more organized years that preceded the Trilogy Dinner in Mar. 1944. Peter B. Spivak has contributed an account of Edgar W. Smith's non- Sherlockian career, and Glen S. Miranker a report on The Pamphlet House, and we are fortunate indeed to be able to read so much of the delightful correspondence among those who graced the Sherlockian scene half a century ago. Available from the Fordham University Press, Box 6525, Ithaca, NY 14850 (800-666-2211); shipping costs $2.00, and they take plastic. Plan ahead: there will be (at least) two Sherlockian workshops in 1993. The Norwegian Explorers will sponsor a conference on "Sherlock Holmes' Victorian Criminal Classes: Rogues, Rascals, and Ruffians" on June 11-13 (write to: Bruce E. Southworth, 2600 West 86th Street, Bloomington, MN 55431). And The Scowrers and Mollie Maguires of San Francisco will hold their "Third International Sexennial Sherlockian Seminar and Celebration" at Stanford University on Aug. 4-8 (Charlotte A. Erickson, Box 341, Mount Eden, CA 94557). A LA RECHERCHE DU CRICKET PERDU, by Simon Barnes (London: Macmillan, 1989; 137 pp., L7.99), is an amusing collection of short pieces about cricket (and more amusing, certainly to those who understand and enjoy the game), as written by famous authors such as Shakespeare, Melville, and Conan Doyle ("The Case of the Masked Captain" opens with: "To Sherlock Holmes, she was always *the* barmaid."). NEW CRIMES 3, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991; 272 pp., $18.95), is the latest in his series of anthologies, with Julian Rathbone's "Baz" (about a thoroughly modern Holmes and Watson), and John Dickson Carr's "Another Glass, Watson!" (reprinted from the catalog of The Sherlock Holmes). THE ADVENTURE OF THE INDOLENT MAID is J. C. Charles' new contribution in the area of adults-only Watsoniana ("the good doctor gives pretty Nancy's bare backside a 'treatment' that, at least temporarily, makes doing her chores more attractive than sitting"); the 14-page pamphlet is available from The Filmoods Co. (Box 475, Scarsdale, NY 10583); $8.00 postpaid. Tense Moments: The Magazine of Short Suspense Fiction is planning a special Sherlockian issue, and seeks submissions: stories or articles (no erotica), with a maximum length of 3,000 words. Additional information is available from the magazine's editor, Bob Madia (Box 362, Mokena, IL 60448). Jan 92 #6 Barbara Alder reports that "Sherlock Holmes et la diva" aired on the French channel of the CBC in Nov. 1991 (that's "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" in French for Canadian viewers). And Jennie Paton notes that Baker & Taylor (who distribute to bookstores) are listing a videocassette of "Sherlock Holmes: The Incident at Victoria Falls" priced at $89.95. The American distribution company reports that the programs are still available to television stations in the United States, in four-week windows starting May 18 ("Victoria Falls") and Aug. 8 ("Leading Lady"). Which three weekly American periodicals have the largest circulation? Reported by Ted Friedman (from the Bergen County Record, Jan. 24): William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy hope to interest theatrical producers in "Harry and Arthur" (a new play adapted from an as-yet-unpublished novel BELIEVE, written by Shatner and Michael Tobias). The play is about a fictionalized encounter between Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, with Shatner as Houdini and Nimoy as Conan Doyle. "Masterpiece Theatre" is one of the most literary series on television, and Books Britain (2170 Broadway #3327, New York, NY 10024) has an interesting catalog of books on which the shows were based. Most of them are imports, of course, and generally not found in book shops. Yuichi Hirayama reports that Bob Jones' SHERLOCK HOLMES SAVED GOLF (Dec 91 #1) was published in Japan as GOLFER: SHERLOCK HOLMES NO SHIN BOUKEN by The Baseball Magazine in 1991 (ť2,000). The weekly American periodical with the largest circulation is TV Guide. Next largest is the National Enquirer (3.8 million), followed by the Star (3.2 million). The National Enquirer and the Star are owned by the same company (and the circulation figures do not include people who merely look at the tabloids while waiting in supermarket checkout lines). The American Volksmarch Association and three local Sherlockian societies will sponsor a "Lady Carfax Memorial Walk" in Black Forest, Colorado, on July 25 (a special souvenir medal will be presented to all who complete the walk). For additional information, send an SASE to The Falcon Wanderers AVA-072, Box 17162, Colorado Springs, CO 80935. According to my records, my 1992 seasonal souvenir (THE CASTING AWAY OF MRS. LECKS AND MRS. ALESHINE) should be in the hands of all subscribers, received during the birthday festivities in New York, or since, or with this mailing. If I missed someone, please let me know. And a few commercials: the revised 12-page list of Investitured Irregulars, Two-Shilling Awards, and *The* Women costs $1.10 postpaid. The 62-page list of 566 Sherlockian societies, with names and addresses for the 334 active societies, costs $3.55 postpaid. The run of address labels for 290 indi- vidual contacts (recommended for those who wish to avoid making duplicate mailings to people who are contacts for more than one society) costs $10.25 postpaid. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Feb 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Sherlockian collectors need not be told that there is hardly anything that is not collected by someone. The American Society of Check Collectors has its own journal (now five years old), and The Check Collector (Nov. 1991) has Lee Poleske's article on "Sherlock Holmes and Cheques", illustrated by photographs of checks issued by the Capital & Counties Bank and by Cox & Co. Dues are $10.00 a year, and the secretary is Charles Kemp (Box 71892, Madison Heights, MI 48071). The Armchair Detective celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and the winter 1992 issue is nicely Sherlockian, with Jeremy Brett on the cover and with Edward Hardwicke and Michael Cox in a long interview with Elizabeth Trembley, an amusing pastiche by Sally C. Gunning, and a new "Report from 221B Baker Street" by Sherry Rose-Bond and Scott Bond. $26.00 a year (129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019). Forecast for April from Gaslight Publications: MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, with revisions included in the 2nd edition published in 1930 only in Britain ($24.95), and MYTH AND MODERN MAN IN SHERLOCK HOLMES: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AND THE USES OF NOSTALGIA, by David S. Payne ($24.95). Svend Petersen ("The Mazarin Stone") died on Jan. 18. Svend was one of the four founding officers of The Red Circle of Washington in 1949 (and creator of the scion's formal initiation ceremony), and he received his Investiture in 1951. His varied interests included composing puzzles (and he made sure that there were occasional Sherlockian allusions in the "Trans-O-Grams" he contributed to the National Review for many years) and a long-standing and delightful devotion to puns, and he will be missed by his many friends in Washington and elsewhere in the Sherlockian world. The city of Dundee is celebrating its 800th anniversary, according to press reports at hand from Jon L. Lellenberg: Dundee district councillor Charles Farquhar, dressed in Sherlockian costume, joined Chief Superintendent Ernie Brown of the Tayside Police's central division to celebrate the mention of Dundee in "The Five Orange Pips". A new sales list at hand from Sherlock's Home (5724 East Second Street, Long Beach, CA 90803), with recent books, games, and memorabilia. A COMPOUND OF EXCELSIOR (Dubuque: Gasogene Press, 1991; 92 pp., $10.95) is a carefully-researched and well-written monograph by Susan Rice (who holds the appropriate BSI investiture of "Beeswing") on the whys and wherefores of Sherlock Holmes' retirement years as a bee-keeper on the Sussex Downs. $13.70 postpaid from the publisher (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004). Rollin V. Hadley ("Ricoletti of the Club Foot") died on Feb. 2. He was the administrator of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston from 1963 to 1970, and director from 1970 until his retirement in 1988, and an energetic and enthusiastic collector of Conan Doyle material, including manuscripts, first editions, and letters. A member of The Speckled Band of Boston for many years, he received his Investiture in the BSI in 1956. Feb 92 #2 Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies died on Jan. 27, two days after her 101st birthday. She was one of the last links with the world of Victorian theater, and made her debut at the age of 20 in a walk-on part in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". She won accolades as the finest Juliet of her generation, opposite John Gielgud as Romeo in 1924, and her last role was her appearance with Jeremy Brett in Granada's "The Master Blackmailer" on British television last month. THE ANNOTATED NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, by Martin Gardner (New York: Summit Books, 1991; 253 pp., $20.00), is a delightful book, offering a detailed history of Clement Clarke Moore's immortal poem, a fascinating collection of sequels and parodies (including William E. Dunning's "An Unusual Visitor in Baker Street", reprinted from the Dec. 1975 issue of the BSJ), and as an epilogue a fine Christmas essay by G. K. Chesterton. New Sherlockian sales lists at hand from Tim O'Connor (6015 West Route 115, Herscher, IL 60941) and Robert C. Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718) and Howard Einbinder (180 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). Reported by Ruthann Stetak: a "Sherlock Holmes" greatcoat-styled cape for ladies, in a blend of cream, beige, and gray wool ($355.00), with matching deerstalker ($40.00), discounted to about $166.00 for the ensemble, in a catalog available from Gray Walsh Capes International, 5604 Erik, Amarillo, TX 79106 (800-999-2214). If you were watching the winter Olympic Games when the S'ian commercial for Lennox Gas Furnace and the American Gas Association aired, that was Patrick Horgan as Holmes and Sandy Marshall as Watson; the commercial premiered in Oct. 1990 during baseball season, and was repeated in 1991. And Dave Galerstein notes that one of the spectators for the ice-dancing on Feb. 17 was dressed as Sherlock Holmes (including deerstalker, Inverness cape, and calabash), and that when the camera focussed in on the man, the announcer said, "Of course, that's elementary." June Thomson's THE SECRET CHRONICLES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (London: Constable, 1992; 203 pp. L12.99) is her second collection of pastiches, with seven more of the unreported cases mentioned only in passing by Watson, and an attempt to resolve the continuing chronological conflict over the date of his marriage to Mary Morstan. As in the first collection (THE SECRET FILES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, published by Constable in 1990), the style is good and the plots imaginative. The Sherlockian Times is a new combined saleslist-and-newsletter published by Classic Specialties (Box 19058, Cincinnati, OH 45219) -- of particular interest are offers of counted cross-stitch Sherlockian patterns. Reported by Gordon Kelley from the latest mail-order catalog from Signals, 1000 Westgate Drive, St. Paul, MN 55114 (800-669-5225): "Sherlock Holmes Audios" is a boxed collection of eight cassettes, each with two radio shows starring Rathbone/Bruce, Stanley/Shirley, and Langford/Baker. The catalog says that the collection is available only from Signals, but I don't think they have any programs that aren't available elsewhere. Feb 92 #3 Barbara Alder has confirmed that "Sherlock Holmes et la diva" was indeed broadcast by Radio-Canada (the CBC French television network), in two one-hour episodes, on Dec. 6 and 13, 1991. We will wait patiently, of course, to see whether "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" gets onto the air in English later this year. Don Hobbs reports a new (1991) addition to the Canonical series published by the Reader's Digest Association: THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, with new illustrations by David Johnson. Al and Julie Rosenblatt's splendid 20-page souvenir menu for "An Evening in Scarlet" at the Culinary Institute of America on May 16, 1987, handsomely devised, designed, and produced, with many illustrations, annotations, and explanations, is still available for $17.00 postpaid (checks to Peter E. Blau, at the Spermaceti Press). Peter Crupe reports that Joanne Romano (Mystery Lovers Ink, 8 Stiles Road, Salem, NH 03079) offers coffee mugs with a silhouette of Holmes ($8.95). There wasn't much advance publicity, but Disney released "The Great Mouse Detective" for the second time on Feb. 14 (retitled "The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective"). And this time round the newspaper advertisements include the credit line: "Based on the 'Basil of Baker Street' book series by Eve Titus and Paul Galdone." One reason for the new title for the film may be hopes that some reviewers may not realize that it's a second release. One local paper in Washington describes "The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective" as "Disney's sequel to 'The Great Mouse Detective'". The film did reasonably well in its first release (earning $25.3 million in the U.S.), and not all that badly when it opened again on Feb. 14, placing sixth on the list of the ten top-grossing films for the weekend; the estimated weekly gross was $4.1 million (the top film was the just-released "Wayne's World" with an estimated weekly gross of $18.1 million). Bill Vande Water reports that Alex Simmons' play "Sherlock Holmes and the Hands of Othello" (produced at the Westbeth Theatre Centre in New York in 1987) is included in BLACK THUNDER: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN DRAMA, edited by William B. Branch (New York: Mentor Books, 1992; $5.99). Further to the report on Walt Disney trading cards (Jan 92 #1), Tom Stix reports that scenes from "Lonesome Ghosts" (1937) are included in a Tyco View-Master 3-D set called "Mickey Mouse and Friends" (one version with a viewer and three reels, and the other version without the viewer). The winter 1991 issue of The Sherlock Holmes Journal has arrived, honoring the centenary of The Strand Magazine (with a fine interview with Richard Usborne, the last assistant editor of the magazine), and with other news and scholarship. There still is a waiting list for full membership in The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, but associate membership (subscription to two issues of the SHJ) costs $15.00 a year to the U.S.; write to G. S. Stavert, 3 Outram Road, Southsea, Hants. PO5 1QP, England. Feb 92 #4 Ian Wolfe died on Jan. 23, at the age of 95. His long career as a character actor began in 1934 (in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street") and ended in 1990 (as The Forger in "Dick Tracy"), and he appeared in more than 150 films and 200 television shows. He was part of the "crew" at Universal and worked in four of their Sherlockian films: as the clerk in the antique store in "Sherlock Holmes in Washington" (1943), as the butler Drake in "The Scarlet Claw" (1944), as Amos Hodder in "The Pearl of Death" (1944), and as the Scotland Yard Commissioner in "Dressed to Kill" (1946). According to Lawrence Nepodahl, Wolfe wrote his own epitaph: "If employers call, tell them 'I'm on location' in some other world." Jim Duval edited and published 41 issues of The QuarterLy $tatement for Cox & Co. of New England, and achieved a fine record for a scion journal. The first issue (reprinted), the last issue, and a cumulative index are offered for $5.00 postpaid (for all three items), from James O. Duval, 72 Merrimack Street, Penacook, NH 03303. The Noble and Most Singular Order of the Blue Car- buncle have honored the centenary of the publica- tion of their titular story with a commemorative design (about 10 by 12 inches, in red, blue, and black) on white sweatshirts (M/L/XL at $16.00) and T-shirts (M/L at $10.00). Checks payable to the NMSOBC should be sent to Champ Vaughan, 3224 S.W. Ridge Drive, Portland, OR 97219. Northstar's comic-book series CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES has been resurrected with a new title, and CHRONICLES OF CRIME & MYSTERY: SHERLOCK HOLMES #1 (Feb. 1992; $2.25) has "The Speckled Band" (illu- strated by Dan Day); their address is 2551 North Clark Street #402, Chicago, IL 60614. GREAT LAW & ORDER STORIES, edited by John Mortimer (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992; 356 pp., $25.00), is a fine anthology, with "The Copper Beeches" and an interesting introduction in which Mortimer praises the Howard League for Penal Reform and acknowledges his own debt to the strong and vivid writing and the irresistable plots and characters of the Sherlock Holmes stories (and confesses to having occasionally stolen shamelessly from them). The six latest Jeremy Brett one-hour shows are listed on cassette at $24.95 each by The Video Catalog (Box 64428, Saint Paul, MN 55164) (800-733-2232), but only five actually are available: "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" will not be offered on cassette until after it has been broadcast by PBS-TV later this year. But: Jennie Paton's video lending-library does have a copy of the missing story (there is a charge of $5.00 per cassette, and borrowers pay return postage). Write to Jennie C. Paton, 206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458. Jack Kerr reports that the Simon & Schuster audiocassettes have now caught up with the subscriptions series of the Rathbone/Bruce radio shows. Volume 15 (with "The Guileless Gypsy" and "The Camberwell Poisoners" and comments by Ben Wright) has just been released to stores. Feb 92 #5-6 This year's Canonical Convocation and Caper in Door County, Wis., will be held on Sept. 18-20. If you would like to be on the mailing list, write to Bernadette Donze (7224 South Kidwell Road, Downers Grove, IL 60516). Lloyd Rose, who was one of the fifteen ladies present at this year's annual dinner of The Baker Street Irregulars, described the historic event in the Jan. 13 issue of the Washington Post. Her article is copyright 1992 by the Washington Post, and reprinted with permission. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Mar 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press The Washington Post reported (Feb. 26) on a violent dispute between Hindus and Muslims in Hapur, India, where the Hindus objected to plans by Muslims to build on a vacant lot containing a banyan tree inhabited by a five-foot black cobra that was regarded as the reincarnation of Lord Shiva (and that has not been seen since the riot). But while the cobra was in residence, the Hindus chanted and sang, threw money and gold at the tree, and laid out "bowls of milk for the snake to drink" (obviously rejecting the conclusions of the many Sherlockian scholars who claim that snakes don't drink milk). And another report in the Washington Post reveals that Franz Grillparzer is remembered for more than merely being the subject of Gustav Pollak's FRANZ GRILLPARZER AND THE AUSTRIAN DRAMA, a copy of which records the history of The Grillparzer Club (described in considerable detail by George Fletcher in IRREGULAR MEMORIES OF THE 'THIRTIES). The Grillparzer Prize (an $18,500 award envisioned as one of Austria's most prestigious literary honors) was established in 1991 and given to the nation's foremost living author, Peter Handke. But this year's award generated some controversy when the honoree, Hans Lebert, accused the German foundation that funds the prize of seeking the cultural "colonization" of German-speaking Austria. The new catalog from the Margo Feiden Galleries (75 University Place, New York, NY 10003) offers an Al Hirschfeld lithograph of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (26 x 21 inches) for $500. Ray Betzner reports (in the latest issue of The Quarter Note, published by The Cremona Fiddlers) that Douglas G. Greene recommends John Dickson Carr's PATRICK BUTLER FOR THE DEFENSE (1956) as a mystery whose main character was based on Adrian Conan Doyle). And suggests that you attempt to identify another fictional work in which one of the characters was based on Adrian Conan Doyle. "The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective" had an estimated $7.1 million total gross after two weeks. For comparison: "Wayne's World" (released at the same time) had an estimated $33.5 million gross after two weeks (and did $9.6 million more in the third week, by which time Basil was no longer on the top-ten list). And Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" had an estimated $119 million gross after 17 weeks (one can understand why "The Great Mouse Detective" was considered to have been less than successful the first time out, with a total gross of $25.3 million). Forecast by Bob Burr: THE D CASE, by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini, from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in June: Holmes, Marlowe, Maigret, and other great sleuths of fiction convene in Rome to solve the mystery of Dickens' "Edwin Drood". Another Sherlockian allusion from the Olympics, reported by Ruthann and Tom Stetak: "the bootmaker of Toronto" (that was the announcer's description of a man named Knebil who was one of the figure skaters' favorite bootmaker). Mar 92 #2 The Pequod Press offers a new collection of Douglas Norman's unusual poetry: VIOLET HUNTING AND OTHER SHERLOCKIAN PASTIMES ("a delightful little garland of verse that often smacks of explicit or implicit sex, with some subjects and language once considered taboo, but here handled with the author's usual good taste"). The book is available for $35.00 (cloth) or $15.00 (paper) from John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707-1521. Subscriber Kevin S. Moriarty is well aware of his family connections, as demonstrated by the advertisement that will run in his local yellow pages. News from Carole Nelson Douglas: her GOOD MORNING, IRENE will be reissued in paperback by Tor in April, and her third book (IRENE AT LARGE) will be published by Tor in June. The Mar. 1992 issue of Smithsonian has Nancy Shute's report on "The Lab Sleuths Who Help Solve Crimes Against Animals" (the staff of the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab- oratory in Ashland, Ore., where scientists combat contraband traffic in wild animals and wildlife parts and products. The historical roots of forensic science can be traced back to sixth-century China, according to the ar- ticle, which quotes from Richard Saferstein's textbook CRIMINALISTICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO FORENSIC SCIENCE (1981): it was Sherlock Holmes who "applied the newly developed principles of serology, fingerprint fingerprinting, firearm identification, and questioned-document examination long before their value was first recognized and accepted by real-life criminal investigators." Alexander Hvatsky (32 High Street #309, New Haven, CT 06510) offers a sales list for a collection of more than 150 Sherlockian pastiches (to be sold as one lot) in return for an SASE. The other fictional work that includes a character based on Adrian Conan Doyle is Anthony Boucher's ROCKET TO THE MORGUE (first published in 1942 as by H. H. Holmes). "Medico stooge of drug-taking London private 'tec tells tale of revenge killings in English metropolis. Despite long flash-back and overseas jump to western U.S. deserts, story has merit and author may go far. Readable." An anonymous capsule review of A STUDY IN SCARLET, spotted by Jennie Paton in the Saturday Review of Literature (Dec. 26, 1936). Spotted by Bill Ballew: EACH NEW DAY (New York: Scribner Laidlaw, 1989); a Scribner Reading Series anthology, with Donald J. Sobol's "The Case of the Broken Window" (with a Sherlockian illustration by Lane Yerkes). The story is adapted from Sobol's ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE DEAD EAGLES (1975), which hasn't been seen but may also have a Sherlockian allusion. Mar 92 #3 You too can be lord of the manor (or something). An advertise- ment spotted by Gary Westmoreland in the Wall Street Journal on Feb. 24 announces that four British lordships (with their associated rights and coats or arms) are available at prices ranging from $9,500 to $21,570. The agents are Stamford, Perry and Fitzgerald, and Anthony Fitzgerald-Hill welcomes enquiries in London (his telephone number is 44-71-379-2823). Heidi Thornberry (Action Graphics, Box 225, Navarre, OH 44662) offers a Sherlockian sweatshirt (screened in green on gray), available in sizes S/M/L/XL ($18.00) and XXL ($20.00), plus $2.00 shipping. Noted by Ron De Waal: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, with an afterword by Frederick Busch (New York: Pen- guin Books/Signet Classic, n.d.); a recent reprint of the 1986 edition, with the same cover art. Further to the report (Aug 91 #5) on the Sherlockian line (about eliminating the impossible ...) in Rupert Holmes' new play "Solitary Confinement": there isn't one. But it *was* in the play, for one or two perform- ances in Pasadena, last November, at the end of the first act, and if you see the play you will know how relevant it was. And I do recommend the play, which is now at the Kennedy Center in Washington, on its way to Broadway: it is written with style and ingenuity, and Stacy Keach is splendid in the lead. I also recommend that you do not read more detailed reviews of the play, because it is next to impossible to discuss it without spoiling some of the many surprises devised by Rupert Holmes. The Sherlockian collections published by The Illustrious Clients have all been fine additions to the writings about the writings, and THE ILLUSTRIOUS CLIENTS FOURTH CASEBOOK is no exception. Edited by Steven T. Doyle, Mark Allen Gagen, and William A. Barton, and with 122 cloth-bound pages, the new collection offers an excellent variety of subjects, and of authors such as David L. Hammer, Michael Harrison, Tina Rhea, Patricia J. Ward, and Jerry Neal Williamson (whose reminiscences about the founding of the society in the 1940s offer a splendid look at what those early days were like). The book is available from Steven T. Doyle, 540 West Sycamore, Zionsville, IN 46077; $21.45 postpaid. Newly listed in a catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) THE WASTELAND/FOUR QUARTETS, read by T. S. Eliot on a set of two audiocassettes (item 1783653, $19.00); the set also contains Eliot reading "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" and likely is a reissue of earlier recordings made by Caedmon. One of the "Four Quartets" is "East Coker" (which is of passing interest for Eliot's use of the word "grimpen" (from "The Hound of the Baskervilles"). "I don't claim to be yours truly, S. Holmes. I mean I can't glance at a man and immediately know he is left-handed, constipated, has a red-haired wife, and slices lox for a living." MCNALLY'S SECRET, by Lawrence Sanders (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1992). Mar 92 #4 Reported by Frank Darlington: a new catalog from Radio Spirits (Box 2141, Schiller Park, IL 60176), offering some Sherlockian recordings, including two six-hour sets ($29.95 each), each set with six stories read by Charles Fuller. The twelve recordings were issued a while back by Irregular Productions (Oct 90 #4), but the prices are now lower. The Sherlockian Walking Stick (D3392b) is still available, with the handle modeled on J. Robert Black's artistic statue and the shaft in ebony ($155) or Dymondwood ($115), in a catalog from the House of Canes and Walking Sticks, 767 Old Onion Mountain Road, Wilderville, OR 97543 (800-458-5920). The Ben Silver Collection offers a fine color catalog of regimen- tal and old school ties (some with Sherlockian and Doylean connections, of course). And some of the descriptions are quite intriguing: the 3rd Gordon Highlanders (75th and 92nd Foot) was formed in 1881 by amalgamation of the 75th Stirlingshire Regiment (raised in 1787) and the 92nd Gordon Highland- ers (raised in 1794 by the Marquis of Huntly, whose wife, Jean, recruited offering kisses with the King's shilling between her teeth). Their address is 149 King Street, Charleston, SC 29401 (800-221-4671). Further to the report (Feb 92 #3) on the Reader's Digest Association's 1991 edition of THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (with fine illustrations by David Johnson and an Afterword by John L. Cobbs): earlier titles in this series are A STUDY IN SCARLET/THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1986), THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1987), and THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1988). Has anyone seen anything for 1989 or 1990? Noted by Dick Rutter: Ghost River Images (1600 East Roger Road #22, Tucson, AZ 85719) offers ten of the Canonical short stories as paperbound miniature books at $7.95 each (at 1/6 or 1/12 scales). The firm also offers to print miniature editions of your own work. Baedeker's guidebooks are an interesting addition to Sherlockian shelves, with their detailed descriptions and splendid maps of the long-gone London that Sherlock Holmes knew so well (and the 1891 guide to Switzerland should not be neglected). William B. O'Neill (11609 Hunters Green Court, Reston, VA 22091) has a fine stock of Baedekers, and will be happy to quote against your want-lists. A new sales list of Sherlockiana at hand from Howard Einbinder (180 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Reported: VICTORIAN GHOST STORIES, edited by Michael Cox and R. A. Gilbert (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992; 497 pp., $24.95); with ACD's "The Captain of the 'Pole-Star'". Does anyone know someone who owns a Jaguar that has SHERLOK license plates? More accurately: does anyone know someone who used to own a Jaguar that had SHERLOK license plates? A "CBS Evening News" segment, broadcast on Mar. 9, about "repo men" (as an aspect of the current recession) had a short quote from a man who works for a firm called Sherlock Recovery, and a brief view of the repossession of a Jaguar with SHERLOK plates. Mar 92 #5 The Mystery Writers of America will hold their Edgar Allan Poe Awards Banquet on Apr. 30, and two of the four nominees for an Edgar for "best episode in a television series" are Sherlockian: Granada's "Shoscombe Old Place" (dramatized by Gary Hopkins) and "The Problem of Thor Bridge" (dramatized by Jeremy Paul). Frank Darlington notes that Educorp Computer Services offers a wide variety of fonts for the Macintosh, including a 12-point Dancing Men font. Their address is 7434 Trade Street, San Diego, CA 92121 (800-843-9797). But you can also contact Tina Rhea, who in 1987 used Fontastic Plus to devise a new Ridling Thorpe font for the Macintosh. The cipher is complete, as devised by Remsen Ten Eyck Schenck (BSJ, Apr. 1955), with flagged (end-of-the-word) letters obtained using the shift key (apparently not available in Educorp's version). Her font is available in 18-point (1822 bytes) for Macwrite and Macpaint, and in 36-point (5494 bytes) for Macpaint, and she offers both of the fonts, and a note on how to use them, free of charge, in return for an initialized Macintosh diskette (single-sided or double-sided) and return postage; if you do not have Font/DA Mover, put a copy of your System file on the diskette and she will insert the fonts. Tina's address is 3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770 (see below for another item available from Tina). The "country companions" spotted by Dick Rutter in the Jan. 1992 catalog from Wild Wings include a six-inch figurine of a nicely Sherlockian bloodhound, in handcrafted cold cast resin by artist Robert Harrop. The price is $49.95 plus $7.00 shipping, and their address is Box 451, Lake City, MN 55041 (800-445-4833). The Simon & Schuster audiocassette series continues to offer fine opportunities to hear many of the Rathbone/Bruce radio shows not previously available. Vol. 15 is now in the stores ($11.00) with "The Guileless Gypsy" and "The Camberwell Poisoners" (both from 1946 scripts by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher), and fine commentary by the late Ben Wright. New cassettes will be available every three months. Gary R. Westmoreland reports that "The Crucifer of Blood" (broadcast on TNT cable in Nov. 1991, with Charlton Heston as Sherlock Holmes) is available on cassette from Movies Unlimited, 6736 Castor Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19149 (800-523-0328). The price is $89.99 (the usual level for releases aimed at the video-rental market), but the price should come down within a year or so. Another item at hand from Gary concerns the weekly appearance of Moriarty on television, in the series "Law & Order" (broadcast on Mondays by NBC-TV) -- this Moriarty is Michael Moriarty, who plays assistant district attorney Ben Stone. The "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective" compact-disc game developed by ICOM Simulations for video-game systems (Feb 91 #2) has now been released on a CD-ROM disc for IBM-compatible and Macintosh personal computers (the list price is $69.95, but the street price is about $50.00, according to an article at hand from Paul Brundage). The game includes live-action video (15-frames-per-second quarter-screen digitized video) and runs 90 minutes. And ICOM is already halfway through work on a sequel. Mar 92 #6 If you have watched Jeremy Brett's "Sherlock Holmes" series on A&E cable, and have stayed tuned for the next show, you'll know that "Lovejoy" is a good series, too, with Ian McShane doing a fine job in the title role. "Lovejoy" is based on the books by Jonathan Gash, and Gary Thaden notes that THE GREAT CALIFORNIA GAME (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991; $19.95) brings Lovejoy to the U.S., and involves him in a search for the long-lost manuscript of Arthur Conan Doyle's first novel, THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH. The Bimetallic Question of Montreal and The Reichen- bach Irregulars of Switzerland have commissioned the newest memorial to Sherlock Holmes: a bronze plaque to be installed at the Reichenbach Falls in May. There already are two other plaques in the vicinity, at the Restaurant Roessli in Meiringen and at the base sta- tion of the Reichenbach funicular tramway, but the new plaque will be at the actual "fearful place" (to the left of the falls, as in the Paget illustration, and across from the natural viewing area to the right of the falls that is more convenient for visitors. Emory Lee reports that Stone Castle Imports (Box 141, Bardstown, KY 40004) offer Sherlockian miniature fig- urines (54mm) from firms such as Valiant and Imperial. Spotted by Jack Kerr: Filmfax (Feb.-Mar. 1992) has good coverage by Gary Coville and Patrick Lucanio of "Jack the Ripper" in print and on film and television (with discussion of Sherlockiana), as well as excellent articles about George Zucco and Lionel Atwill, who gave splendid performances in the Rathbone/Bruce films. Reported: LOGIC NUMBER PROBLEMS, by Wade H. Sherard III (Palo Alto: Dale Seymour Publications, 1992; 64 pp., $8.95); a book of problems for students in grades 7-12, with Sherlockian artwork. The publisher's address is Box 10888, Palo Alto, CA 94303 (800-872-1100). The movie "Champagne for Caesar" (1950) has an S'ian connection, and it is available on videocassette (according to the Movies Unlimited catalog, it is a riotously funny film about a genius, played by Ronald Coleman, who goes on a radio quiz program and takes them for everything they've got; Vincent Price is the show's neurotic sponsor, who hires beautiful Celeste Holm to distract Coleman). According to an article in the Jan. 1989 issue of Cinefantastique (which includes a fine tribute to Vincent Price and a review of his many films), Disney's artists modeled Ratigan in "The Great Mouse Detective" on Price's performance in "Champagne for Caesar". Jeremy Brett's publicity tour of the United States last year included an appearance at the WETA-TV studios in suburban Washington on Oct. 26, when he spoke and answered questions for about 45 minutes. Tina Rhea recorded the session, and offers an audiocassette for $5.00 postpaid; her address is 3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Apr 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press The plays are old, but the published scripts are new discoveries, and will be of interest to those who pursue Sherlockian drama. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND is a two-act adaptation by Tim Kelly, published in 1981, and LADY DITHER'S GHOST is a "musical version of a Sherlock Holmes mystery" by DuMont Howard, published in 1985. The publisher is I. E. Clark, Inc. (Box 246, Schulenburg, TX 78956), and the scripts cost $3.00 each; the shipping charges are $1.50 for the first script, and $2.50 for two to five scripts, and they take plastic if your order is more than $10.00. As famous as William S. Baring-Gould is among Sherlockians, he is not the first of that ilk to achieve renown in the literary world. That honor goes to the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, who in 1864 wrote the famous hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" and then a series of books about country legends that include those of the west country in general and of Dartmoor in particular. And there is a Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society, founded in 1989, with a newsletter published three times a year; membership costs L6.00 a year, and you can write to David Shacklock, 2 Carlton Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 2BX, England. Members of the original "Star Trek" crew celebrated their 25th anniversary with a photograph made for the American Library Association, spotted by Jennie C. Paton on the cover of American Libraries (Jan. 1992); it is hard to see in this size, but Walter Koenig (who played helmsman Pavel Chekov) is holding a copy of THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES. The photo is available as a poster (22 x 28 inches) for $6.00 (plus $2.00 shipping) from ALA Graphics, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Bookmarks also are available ($7.00 for 200 copies). The fifth and sixth volumes in the MATCH WITS WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES series are now available, with four stories (Spec/Suss and Abbe/Bosc) nicely adapted by Murray Shaw for children aged 8-11, and attrac- tive illustrations by George Overlie. $9.95 each (postpaid) from Carolrhoda Books, 241 First Avenue North, Minneapo- lis, MN 55401 (800-328-4929). Ben Wood (Box 740, Ellenton, FL 34222) offers a new sales list that includes some of the publications of The Pleasant Places of Florida, and Sherlockian and Doylean stamps issued by Redonda, San Marino, Dominica, Turks & Caicos Is., and Coromo Is. Apr 92 #2 At hand from Jon Lellenberg is an editorial from the [London] Times (Feb. 14, 1992) occasioned by "a deadly plot" to kill off Inspector Morse. Admirers of Morse will be relieved to learn that the plot failed. The plotters were the producers of the television series in which John Thaw plays the title role, and they had hoped that the final episode in the series would have him "bumped off in Bayreuth, no doubt accompanied by the 'Immolation of Brunnhilde' from Morse's beloved 'Gotterdammerung'." Morse's rescuer was Colin Dexter, who created the character and realized that lucrative publishing contracts made Morse worth more alive than dead. "I would not be doing myself any favors by having him killed," Dexter said. "Anyway, I like him." The writer of the editorial, needless to say, noted the parallel with events in the Canon. Reported from Britain: FROM BOW STREET TO BAKER STREET: MYSTERY, DETECTION AND NARRATIVE, by Martin A. Kayman (Macmillan, 269 pp., L40); a discussion of the development of the genre. THE OXFORD BOOK OF GOTHIC TALES, edited by Christopher Baldick (Oxford Univ. Press, 534 pp., L16.96); the contents include "The Speckled Band". "Dover Thrift Editions" are an interesting addition to bookstore shelves: trade paperbacks priced at $1.00, in an move to get good literature into the hands of readers as cheaply as possible. SIX GREAT SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES (New York: Dover Publications, 1992; 107 pp., $1.00) offers Scan/ RedH/Spec/Engr/Fina/Empt and a brief note about Conan Doyle. Barbara Alder reports that The Sherlock Holmes (the pub in Northumberland Street) will reopen in mid-April (it has been closed for renovations), and that a new Sherlockian souvenir shop has opened across the street from 221B Baker Street. Forecast from Britain: Theme Publications have announced that they intend to publish David Stuart Davies' THE TANGLED SKEIN: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DRACULA AFFAIR on June 30, at L25.00 (postpaid by surface mail). The book will be "an exclusive worldwide limited edition of 500 copies" that "will not be reproduced in this particular form as an English-language version ever again," and the first 50 copies will be signed by the author and by Peter Cushing (and allocated on a first-come first-served basis). Copies can be reserved only through paid-in-advance orders (sterling check, cash, or money order), and a detailed flier is available from Theme Publications (43 Bowleaze Coveway, Weymouth, Dorset DR3 6PL, England). The Mapleton Stables at Louisville have a new Sherlockian multi-color lapel pin, available for $9.00 postpaid from Ralph Hall, 2906 Wallingford Court, Louisville, KY 40218. The Arthur Conan Doyle Society has announced a David Kirby Memorial Essay Competition, with a deadline of Dec. 31, 1992, and prizes of L50 offered in each of two categories: "the life, writings and/or criticism or study of the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," and "studies in the Sherlockian writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" (pastiches and parodies are excluded). The society also plans a weekend visit to Edinburgh in Mar. 1993, guided by Owen Dudley Edwards. Fliers for both items are available from Christopher Roden, Grasmere, 35 Penfold Way, Dodleston, Chester CH4 9ML, England. Apr 92 #3 Reported by Ron De Waal: CRIME CLASSICS: THE MYSTERY STORY FROM POE TO THE PRESENT, edited by Rex Burns and Mary Rose Sullivan (New York: Viking Penguin, 1990; 390 pp., $22.95), has also been published as a trade paperback (New York: Penguin Books, 1991; 390 pp., $10.95); the contents include "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Speckled Band". W. T. Rabe ("Colonel Warburton's Madness") died on Apr. 4. Bill's genius was perhaps best expressed by his talent in making madness respectable, and he did that in many fields: as chief telephone-book critic for the Detroit newspapers, as Detroit Hatchetman of the Friends of Lizzie Borden, as chief executive officer of Hush Records (providing the records with which Silent Record Week was celebrated each year), as public-relations officer for the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island (the Miami Beach of the North), and in so many ways in the world of Sherlock Holmes. His plaque was the first to be unveiled in Meiringen, and he founded the Martha Hudson Breakfast at the Hotel Algonquin, and as Chief Medical Officer of The Old Soldiers of Baker Street he published two editions of the SHERLOCKIAN WHO'S WHO AND WHAT'S WHAT, a long run of The Commonplace Book, the phonograph records he called VOICES FROM BAKER STREET, and most recently WE ALWAYS MENTION AUNT CLARA. He received his Investiture in 1955, and the BSI's Two-Shilling Award in 1990, and his contributions to Sherlockiana are not yet complete, since his videocassette BAKER STREET NEWSREEL will soon be available to remind us of how much fun he brought to the world he enjoyed so much. Spotted by Jennie Paton: a sweatshirt (black on gray in S/M/ L/XL) offered by The Rare Bear (21 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY 12498) at $39.95 plus $5.00 shipping (they take plastic). The Georgetown Frame Shoppe (1083 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Washington, DC 20007) has a production cel from "Deduce, You Say" (1956), showing Daffy with a magnifying glass ($2,000), and a limited-edition cel (1981) signed by artist Chuck Jones and showing Daffy in full Sherlockian costume ($1,200). And the Old Print Gallery (1220 31st Street NW, Washington, DC 20007) offers an original of the caricature of William Gillette by "Spy" (Leslie Ward) [D4274b], matted and framed ($1,250). Further to the report (Mar 92 #4) on the Sherlockian series published by the Reader's Digest Association, Philip Shreffler reports that THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is scheduled for 1993, containing HIS LAST BOW, "The Man with the Watches", "The Lost Special", "The Field Bazaar", "How Watson Learned the Trick", and an afterword by Philip. Tina Rhea is working on an annotated bibliography of the many books written by Michael Harrison, and would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who might have copies of BATTERED CARAVANSERAI, THERE'S GLORY FOR YOU!, TRANSIT OF VENUS, A HANSOM TO ST. JAMES'S, COUNT CAGLIOSTRO, and UNDER THIRTY. Her address is 3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770. Robert C. Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718) is offering "Hawkshaw the Detective" comic strip from 1920s and 1930s Sunday papers, and in a 1943 comic books, plus other newspaper comic-strip material. A sales list is available. Apr 92 #4 Bill Rabe's BAKER STREET NEWSREEL videocassette is a delightful reminder of the early days of Sherlockian exploration as well as of the days of home movies, in 1951 and 1952, when Lt. Rabe (operating as the photo-analysis section of The Old Soldiers of Baker Street) filmed in England, Belgium, Paris, and Switzerland. Bill relied on a used camera and had no exposure meter, but his fidelity to the Sherlockian spirit was as high then as in later years. His 30-minute excursion into the past is followed by a video transfer of the 10-minute "The Celebrated Archives of Sherlock Holmes" (made to promote "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes") and some interesting audio, including a report on the second running of The Silver Blaze at Aqueduct in Sept. 1953. $20.00 postpaid from Charm Audio (Box 1291, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783). The Incessant Trumpet is a pleasant and well-produced eight-page newsletter based on Helen Williams' love of literature, and the Nov.-Dec. 1991 issue is nicely Sherlockian. And available from The Prism (Box 2021, Birmingham, MI 48012); $3.00. Michael McClure reports that the just-released videocassette of Disney's "101 Dalmatians" comes with an announcement that the videocassette of "The Great Mouse Detective" will be released this summer. Discovered by Bill Vande Water: John Peel's WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO? (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1991; 96 pp., $2.95); a spin-off from the computer game and television series, the book offers four trails to follow hither and yon. And one of the trails leads through Disneyland, where Basil of Baker Street provides a clue. What on Earth (2451 Enterprise East Parkway, Twinsburg, OH 44087) continues to offer Sherlockiana in its catalogs, such as the Bossons "character wall heads" of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty ($63.95 each); the Bearlock Holmes doll ($74.95); and Tsukasa Kobayashi's SHERLOCK HOLMES'S LONDON ($16.95). Jack Davis (Davis and Son, Long Leaf Mall, Wilmington, NC 28403) offers a Sherlock Holmes umbrella or walking stick (the handles are in polyester resin) for $70.00. Also available: the Bossons busts of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty ($65.00 each), deerstalkers ($25.00), and a Holmes-and-Watson meerschaum pipe set ($65.00). Shipping costs $5.00, and they accept plastic. Pattie Brunner notes a report from England that Granada will begin work in April on their next "Sherlock Holmes" program, and that it will be a "The Sussex Vampire" (in a two-hour adaptation). And Pattie reports that Jeremy Brett has not been idle: he plays a small part in the film "Patriot Games" (based on Tom Clancy's book and starring Harrison Ford), expected in the theaters this summer. Pattie also offers a sales list of postcards, mugs, prints, and other items autographed by Jeremy Brett: send an SASE to Pattie at 3019 Fire Weed Court, Florissant, MO 63031. At hand from Syd Goldberg is a newspaper report that LumiVision has issued a 90-minute laserdisc ($45.00) with all the surviving footage of "The Lost World" (1925), a trailer, a promotional short, and a demonstration of the stop-motion special effects devised by Willis O'Brien. Apr 92 #5 "Though not a great zealot of the detective story he knows his Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Anna Katharine Green, Mary Roberts Rinehart, S. S. Van Dine." From Christopher Morley's long article on "What the President Reads: Notes on a Visit to the White House" in the Saturday Review of Literature (Sept. 24, 1932), spotted by Jennie Paton. The president was Herbert Hoover (who in 1930 had invited William Gillette to luncheon at the White House, when Gillette was in Washington on tour in "Sherlock Holmes"). Isaac Asimov ("The Remarkable Worm") died on Apr. 6. He was a grand master in the world of science fiction (Asimov's Laws of Robotics are now a given for writers in that genre), and he was perhaps more of a master at making science understandable (if the remarkable worm was unknown to science, very little science was unknown to Isaac). Above all, he was imaginative, and that showed as well in his mysteries and in his limericks and in his songs and in his enjoyment of the Canon. His reconstruction of Moriarty's famous essay on "The Dynamics of an Asteroid" was published in BEYOND BAKER STREET in 1976, shortly after Isaac received his Investiture, but it is his S'ian songs and limericks that will be remembered best by those who heard them at our annual dinners and cocktail parties. A two-hour videocassette of "Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years: Incident at Victoria Falls" is now in the shops (released by Vestron Video), starring Christopher Lee (Sherlock Holmes), Patrick Macnee (Dr. John Watson), and Jenny Seagrove (Lilly Langtry). The third billing for Jenny Seagrove (who played a memorable Mary Morstan in Granada's "The Sign of Four") is perhaps the best demonstration of how much editing was done for the videocassette version: Lilly Langtry does not appear as a character [yes, she signed her name as Lillie Langtry, and that's not the only mistake in this show]. "Incident at Victoria Falls" also is available from Jennie Paton's lending library, as is Granada's two-hour "The Master Blackmailer". Her address is 206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458. Credit Susan Diamond and Allan Devitt for their report on "The Rocketeer" (a film that vanished so fast from the theaters that it already is an in- flight movie): the villain, played by Timothy Dalton, is a Nazi fronting as an actor, named Neville St. Clair. Reported by Brian MacDonald: THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES in a 1990 "Puffin Classics" paperback edition with new cover art ($2.95). And Anne Perry's RESURRECTION ROW and PARAGON WALK (both from Fawcett Crest at $4.95 each), featuring Victorian detective Inspector Pitt, and with Pitt in Sherlockian costume on the covers. And THE MUDSOCK MANUSCRIPTS (vol. 1) by Larry A. Reynolds, illustrated by Greg Shelton, with an illustrated story "Hop 'n Burger" in which Perrier the pig plays Holmes ($12.95 from Larry Reynolds Productions, Box 141, Fishers, IN 46038). THE HORROR OF THE HEIGHTS & OTHER TALES OF SUSPENSE (San Francisco: Chroni- cle Books, 1992; 242 pp., $9.95) is the latest in the company's series of trade-paperback reprints of Conan Doyle's work. The "other tales" are fine ones, and Chronicle offers a fine companion to its earlier reprints of the Professor Challenger series and ROUND THE FIRE STORIES. Apr 92 #6 The Simon & Schuster audiocassette series of the Rathbone/Bruce radio shows has reached vol. 16 ($11.00) with "The Terrifying Cats" and "The Submarine Caves" (both from 1946 scripts by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher) and new commentary by series announcer Harry Bartell. Of particular interest is the opportunity to hear a new voice as Watson (Eric Snowden replaced a temporarily ailing Nigel Bruce for one of the shows). A report from an Australian newspaper, quoted by Washington Post columnist Bob Levey: Government chemists in Canberra have isolated a new element-- administratium. The heaviest element yet discovered, it consists of one neutron, eight assistant neutrons, 25 vice neutrons, and 256 assistant vice neutrons. Despite its weight, it appears to be completely nonproductive and does not react or produce any real byproducts or end products. VarŠse Sarabande Records (13006 Saticoy Street, North Hollywood, CA 91605) have issued a compact disc (VSD-5359) with Henry Mancini's music for "The Great Mouse Detective" (1986). And Patrick Gower's music for the Granada "Sherlock Holmes" series is still available on cassette (VSC-5221) and on compact disc (VSD-5221). Cassettes cost $9.98, and compact discs $15.98; shipping extra ($3.00 plus $0.50 each beyond one item); plastic accepted. Dee Snyder, the founder of The Mini-Tonga Scion Society (for creators and keepers of Sherlockian miniatures) has written to introduce Brian Jackson (the society's new "Islander"), who will be maintaining the registry and publishing the newsletter and keeping the society active; his address is 1500 Crescent Circle #110, Lake Park, FL 33403. The 22-page manuscript of "The Three Garridebs" is scheduled at auction on May 9 (estimated at $85,000-100,000) at the Superior Galleries, 9478 West Olympic Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (800-421-0754). The catalog also includes the first printing of the first edition (London, 1888) of A STUDY IN SCARLET ($9,000-10,000) and a first edition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES ($1,000-$1,500). Michael Hardwick's THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SHERLOCK HOLMES, first published in 1986, has been reissued as a trade paperback (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992; 255 pp., $10.95). The book is similar in approach to his THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION (1962), but has greater emphasis on the stories; it is a splendid beginners' introduction to the Canon, and no less useful as a general reference work. Peter Rowland's pastiche THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EDWIN DROOD, published last year by Constable in Britain (Mar 91 #2), now has an American edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992; 176 pp., $16.95). The novel opens with the arrival of John Jasper at Baker Street in 1894, to ask Sherlock Holmes to prove that Edwin Drood has been murdered, and offers an intriguing solution to the problems posed by Charles Dickens. It is of passing interest that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was interested in possible solutions to "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and discussed the story with Dickens (with the help of the medium Florizel von Reuter): Conan Doyle was curious about a solution "from the spirit-pen" of Dickens that had been published in Vermont in 1873, and asked Dickens, "Was the American who finished *Edwin Drood* inspired?" "Not by me," Dickens replied. See THE EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN (1930, p. 149-153). Apr 92 #7 LOGIC NUMBER PROBLEMS, by Wade H. Sherard III (Palo Alto: Dale Seymour Publications, 1987; 64 pp., $8.95), is an imaginative collection of problems for grades 7-12, with amusing cover and interior Sherlockian artwork by Rachel Gage. The publisher's address is Box 10888, Palo Alto, CA 94303 (800-872-1100). "Sherlock Holmes in Caracas" is a new 95-minute Venezuelan film, with Jean Manuel Montesinos as Sherlock Holmes and Gilbert Dacournan as Watson, shown at the 32nd International Film Festival in Cartagena, Colombia, on Mar. 13, and reviewed by Paul Lenti in Variety (Mar. 30). "This curiosity owes more to the Firesign Theater's 'Giant Rat of Sumatra' and Monty Python than to Arthur Conan Doyle. Venezuelan filmmaker Juan E. Fresan's English-lingo venture is a self-conscious, low-budget, free-wheeling satirical mess that might possibly find homevideo interest. Title is misleading since this deconstructed Holmes merely passes through Caracas on his way to Maracaibo to aid an old friend who is married to a former Miss Venezuela. Fantastic plot, which emerges late in the film, seems tacked on to give purpose to pic's constant mugging. While weird dealings point to a pagan-worshipping governess, Holmes discovers that the ex-Miss Venezuela is really a vampire who threatens the lives of her children. In between, Holmes discusses his weak characterization, subtitles that draw attention to the sound effects, Watson shooting everything with his ubiquitous Betacam, and lots of corny costumes and tropical sets. Editing proceeds at a madcap pace, and the 20- gags-a-minute script actually pays off every once in a while." The Gleniffer Press has published THE THREE STUDENTS in a microbook edition (1.00 x 0.75 inches), typeset and illustrated, at L15.00 or $30.00 postpaid (U.S. dollar checks acceptable). Their address is 11 Low Road, Castlehead, Paisley, Scotland PA2 6AQ, United Kingdom. 100 GREAT DETECTIVES, edited and introduced by Maxim Jakubowski (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991; 255 pp., $18.95), is the American edition of an fine collection of essays in which famous mystery writers discuss their favorite detectives. H.R.F. Keating examines Sherlock Holmes, and the other essays cover a wide and interesting range of detectives old and new, familiar and sometimes unfamiliar, with most of the writers offering personal essays and enthusiastic tributes rather than mere potted biographies. Simon Brett, to cite only one example, notes that "One of the great things about literature is that it offers the safest sex around," and explains his love-affair with Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone. Donald Girard Jewell's A FEW HOURS TO THE BIRDS: A MONOGRAPH ON BIRDS AND BIRDING IN THE TIME OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Westminster: Pinchin Lane Press, 1991) is the second in his "Sherlock Holmes Natural History Series" (the first volume covered fish and fishing in A TROUT IN THE MILK, and the next will deal with Canonical cats). The 40-page monograph is nicely done, and available from the author (4685 Geeting Road, Westminster, MD 21158) for $9.95 postpaid. Dr. Fatso's 23rd and (allegedly) penultimate account of the doings of his shrewd and spasmodic colleague Turlock Holmes is THE HESITANT PATIENT, due this month from the Pequod Press. $35.00 (cloth) or $15.00 (paper) from John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707. Apr 92 #8 Sherlockians, meeting formally or informally, sometimes pursue a Canonical version of the game "Twenty Questions" to see how quickly players are able to identify one of the Sherlock Holmes stories. But: what is the smallest set of yes-or-no questions that will identify all the sixty recorded cases? Eight questions would be the theoretical minimum (because sixty-four possibilities will cover the sixty recorded cases). If anyone can devise a set of twenty questions that will serve the purpose, I will be happy to publish such a list (or a shorter one, of course). Jeremy Brett's fans should check their local television listings: WETA-TV (Washington's PBS-TV station) will rebroadcast his four-part mini-series "Rebecca" beginning on May 7. J. Raymond Hendrickson ("The Musgrave Ritual") died on Mar. 7. Ray was for many years a professor of classics at Temple University in Philadelphia, and a stalwart member of The Sons of the Copper Beeches. His translation of the Musgrave Ritual into Greek will be found in the Sept. 1966 issue of the BSJ. Herbert H. Middleton ("Ionides, of Alexandria") died on Apr. 21. Herb was one of the founders of The Sons of the Copper Beeches, in 1947, and as one of the third-generation owners of the Middleton pipe-tobacco company he was an enthusiastic champion of Sherlock Holmes as an inveterate pipe-smoker, and of the many Sherlockians who have shared the great detective's devotion to the briar, cherrywood, and clay. SHERLOCK HOLMES FOR CHILDREN is a new one-hour audiocassette, offering four stories (Maza/Spec/Musg/Blue) told by Jim Weiss, who does an excellent job of combining narration and dialogue. The stories have been edited for the younger target-audience, but the adaptations are imaginative and retain the excitement of the Canon. The cassette costs $9.95 (plus $2.00 shipping), from Greathall Productions, Box 813, Benicia, CA 94510. It was in "The Stockbroker's Clerk" that Watson compared Sherlock Holmes to a "connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a comet vintage." And the allusion to a comet vintage has been neglected by most of the Canonical commentators. Well, one of the comet vintages was 1811, and it is a bottle of Lafitte 1811 ("an extremely rare wine that just might hold the secret to eternal youth") that is featured in the new film "Year of the Comet" (with a screenplay by William Goldman, and Penelope Ann Miller, Tim Daly, Louis Jourdan, and Ian Richardson in the lead roles). Ronald A. Knox, who did so much to invent our own grand game, is also well known for his "decalogue" of rules for writing detective fiction (one of them suggesting that "The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader"). SINS FOR FATHER KNOX, by Josef Skvorecky (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1989), recently reported by Ely Liebow, is a collection of ten stories, each of which violates one of Knox's rules; the reader is challenged not only to identify the murderer but also to decide which rule has been broken. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 May 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press The fourth issue of the Sherlock Holmes Gazette (spring 1992) has 40 pages and continues its coverage of the Granada series (including good background interviews with author Jeremy Paul and costume designer Esther Dean), plus other intriguing reports on items such as a Sherlock Holmes pub at the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain and Boris Yeltsin's admiration for Sherlock Holmes. The address is Theme Publications, 43 Bowleaze Coveway, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 6PL, England, and the cost is L21.00 for four issues (they take plastic). Further to the challenge to identify a fictional work in which one of the characters was based on Adrian Conan Doyle, Michael McClure has suggested two additional candidates: Eve Titus' BASIL AND THE LOST COLONY (1964) and BASIL AND THE PYGMY CATS (1971), in which "Lord Adrian" appears. Michael also reports that the videocassette of "The Great Mouse Detective" will be released on July 17. And he has added another title to the list of periodicals he edits: Slylock Fox and Friends #1 is an eight-page black- and-white reprint (quite suitable for coloring) of a selection of cartoons by Bob Weber, Jr. The reprint was offered in the Sunday comic strip, and they have already had more than 1,300 requests for copies; it costs $1.00 postpaid, and a set of Slylock Fox stickers is also available for $2.00, and you can order from Michael W. McClure, 1415 Swanwick Street, Chester, IL 62233. I. Eugene Willis died on Jan. 17. He was Bud Willis to family and friends, and it is to Bud Willis and his wife Ruth that we owe "Aunt Clara" (one of the unofficial Sherlockian anthems). Bill Rabe's delightful monograph WE ALWAYS MENTION AUNT CLARA (1990) told the story of how the song was written on Christmas Day in 1936, and of Bud's long battles to convince authorities such as Carl Sandburg that the song was not merely anonymous folklore. Bud knew that the S'ian world had adopted the song, and he was (to quote Bill) "somewhat bemused that after all these years all these people are paying all this attention to his old Auntie." SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS, edited by Harold Orel (published last year by Macmillan in London and St. Martin's Press in New York) (Dec 91 #6), is now available from St. Martin's at $35.00 postpaid. The book is an intriguing approach to biography, offering extracts from ACD's own writings, from interviews with him, and from articles, essays, and autobiographies written by people who knew him. Orel has divided his selections into five sections ("The Years at Edinburgh University"; "Sher- lock Holmes"; "The Professional Writer"; "Speaking Out on Public Issues; Sports"; and "Spiritualism"), and he has added useful notes to help modern readers to whom many names and references will not be familiar. There are many reasons to recommend the book: one being that the selection is a good one, providing first-hand insight into many aspects of Conan Doyle's life and career. Another is that the opinions and interpretations are those of the writers, who were closer to Conan Doyle than biographers or admirers can be today. And there is much material that will be new and interesting to almost anyone who wishes to know more about a man who did so much, and so well. Prepaid orders can be sent to St. Martin's Press (attn: Donelle Gladwin), 175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010. May 92 #2 "Staff fear for Granada standards after chief executive goes" was the headline on an article in The Times (Feb. 4), at hand from Chris Redmond, about the forced resignation of Granada Television's executive chairman David Plowright, after a disagreement with the head of the parent company, the Granada Group. A letter of protest was signed by 1,000 of Granada Television's staff, and key executives issued statements of concern. The Granada Group, hoping for more profit from its television subsidiary, wants to cut program budgets. Plowright led the recent (and successful) campaign by Granada Television to get its broadcasting license renewed for another ten years; another bidder for the franchise was ready to pay much more than Granada was, but the Independent Television Commiss- ion gave great weight to Granada's fine programming in the last decade. A new catalog at hand from Murder Ink (2486 Broadway, New York, NY 10025): they offer an interesting T-shirt (sizes L and XL only) with Steve Cragg's portrait of Conan Doyle for $16.96 plus shipping; they take plastic and the toll- free number is 800-488-8123. The new mail-order catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) has THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (#1788256) at $12.95. And it's in the new catalog from the Strand Book Stone (828 Broadway, New York, NY 10003) at $7.95 (#21368). Presumably the book will also be found on the bargain tables in book stores. Published by Castle Books in 1980, the book is a 490-page facsimile reprint from The Strand Magazine, with 17 non-Sherlockian short stories, RODNEY STONE, ACD's article on "Life on a Greenland Whaler", and Harry How's "A Day with Dr. Conan Doyle". The latter-day Avenging Angels, attempting to make amends for the murders committed by an earlier organization using the same name, are planning to install a plaque dedicated to the memory of John and Lucy Ferrier, at or near the Pioneer Trail State Park in Salt Lake City, on Aug. 4. A flier with more information about the plaque, and about the ceremony, is avail- able from Ronald B. De Waal, 638 12th Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT 84103. A report on the May 9 auction at the Superior Galleries in Beverly Hills: the 22-page manuscript of "The Three Garridebs" was opened at $87,500, but received no bid and went unsold. The first printing of the first edition of A STUDY IN SCARLET (London, 1888) was sold for $9,500, and a first edi- tion of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES was sold for $1,100. Sherlock Holmes meets Nikola Tesla, and Nyarlathotep, in Ralph Vaughan's fantasy-pastiche SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE DREAMING DETECTIVE (62 pp., with illustrations by Earl Geier). Available for $6.95 postpaid from Gryphon Publications, Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Heritage Travel Services (800-828-9843) offers a tour of England on Aug. 17-25, arranged for fans of public television: an "Inspector Morse" tour of Oxford, a "Sherlock Holmes" tour of Granada studios, an excursion on The Orient Express, a private tour of Castle Howard ("Brideshead Revisited"), and much more. $2,495 including round-trip travel on British Airways. May 92 #3 The First Annual Watsonian Weekend will be held on July 24-26 in and around Arlington Heights (near Chicago), featuring the "Great Agra Treasure Hunt" on July 24, "The Canonical Collegium" and "The Royal Berkshires/Fifth Northumberland Fusileers Regimental Dinner" on July 25, and the running of "The Silver Blaze" on July 26. Details available from Robert W. Hahn, 2707 South 7th Street, Sheboygan, WI 53081. "The Sherlock style, modeled here by Fred, is a wool-blend plaid," and it is one-size-fits-all, with a tie under the chin and slots for the ears, and it costs $14.95. Reported by Mary Ellen Rich, from the spring 1992 catalog from Cats, Cats & More Cats (2 Greycourt Avenue, Chester, NY 10918). Shipping costs $3.95, and they take plastic. A packet of illustrated fliers at hand from Peter Melonas (Sherlock Holmes Mystery Bookstore, 4480 Mall of Memphis, Unit 3, Memphis, TN 38118), with offers of T-shirts, dolls, sculptures, and artwork by John Northcross. As noted earlier (Mar 92 #5), "Shoscombe Old Place" (drama- tized by Gary Hopkins) and "Thor Bridge" (by Jeremy Paul) were two of the four nominees for an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for "best episode in a television series." The winning nominee, announced at the MWA annual dinner on Apr. 30, was "Poirot: The Lost Mine". But the Granada series has won Edgars in the past, in 1988 ("The Musgrave Ritual") and in 1989 ("The Devil's Foot"). A repeat plug for the microbook (1.00 x 0.75 inches) edition of THE THREE STUDENTS published by the Gleniffer Press (Apr 92 #7). It's set in 3-point Times, and well-produced and nicely-bound, and there are now fewer than 50 copies available and the stock won't last long. L15.00 or $30.00 postpaid (U.S. dollar checks accepted), and the address is 11 Low Road, Castlehead, Paisley, Scotland PA2 6AQ, United Kingdom. For those who don't yet have everything, Alan C. Olding reports a new set of four miniature hats (Holmes' deerstalker, Watson's top hat, Lestrade's bowler, and a Bobby's helmet) cast in silver by Australian master goldsmith Malcolm Walter. The hats are 18mm to 20mm high, and come with hand-turned ebony hat stands, and cost US$200 each, or US$750 for the set. Alan's ad- dress is P.O. Box 13, Stirling, S.A. 5152, Australia. Punch died on Apr. 8, after a long decline in circulation. The magazine's Doylean connection was established in 1843, when Richard Doyle joined their staff as an illustrator. His cover design became the magazine's trademark, and was used virtually unchanged from 1849 to 1956, but he resigned in 1850 in disgust over their anti-papist policy, and was quickly replaced by John Tenniel (who achieved lasting renown when he illustrated ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND in 1864). Punch's first Sherlockian piece was a parody by R. C. Lehmann published on Aug. 12, 1893, and in later years the magazine had hundreds of Sherlockian and Doylean items (including ACD's story "The Debut of Bimbashi Joyce"). According to a brief obit in the Wall Street Journal, spotted by Syd Goldberg, the cover of the last issue showed a dejected Mr. Punch stumbling into the sunset with his friend Judy and dog Toby. May 92 #4 Manchester, home of Granada Television and its studio tour, has many other claims to fame, according to an article reported by Syd Goldberg in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Manchester boasts more theaters than any city in England outside London, and the fastest-growing airport in Europe, and it has government backing for its bid to host the Olympic Games in the year 2000. Patrick Tull does an excellent job with unabridged audiocassette recordings of THE SIGN OF FOUR (three cassettes, $21.95) and THE HOUND OF THE BASKER- VILLES (five cassettes, $36.95), offered by Recorded Books, 270 Skipjack Road, Prince Frederick, MD 20678 (800-638-1304). Also available are Tull's THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (seven cassettes, $49.95) and THE VALLEY OF FEAR (four cassettes, $29.95), Peter Mesney's A STUDY IN SCARLET (three cassettes, $21.95), and Alexander Spencer's THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (seven cassettes, $49.95) For those who don't yet have everything, Alan C. Olding reports a new set of four miniature hats (Holmes' deerstalker, Watson's top hat, Lestrade's bowler, and a Bobby's helmet) cast in silver by Australian master goldsmith Malcolm Walter. The hats are 18mm to 20mm high, and come with hand-turned ebony hat stands, and cost US$200 each, or US$750 for the set. Alan's ad- dress is P.O. Box 13, Stirling, S.A. 5152, Australia. I sometimes forget that some subscribers to this newsletter are relatively new subscribers. Jennie C. Paton reports hearing from some people who were puzzled by the mention (Apr 92 #5) of her lending library for Sherlockian video. She started the library a few years ago to help scions get material to show at meetings, and now has a wide variety of major and minor material available. The charge is $5.00 per cassette (borrowers pay return postage, and Jennie's address is 206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458. Ben B. Bodne died on May 12. Bodne and his wife were on their honeymoon in the 1920s when they discovered the Hotel Algonquin, and shared the dining room with Will Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Sinclair Lewis, Eddie Cantor, Gertrude Lawrence, and Beatrice Lillie. He bought the hotel in 1946, and worked hard to maintain its reputation as a meeting place for literary and other celebrities. The Algonquin was sold to a Japanese company in 1987, but Bodne continued to live in the hotel, where (as Jon L. Lellenberg has noted) a table in the lobby was permanently reserved for him. John Dickson Carr's THE DOOR TO DOOM AND OTHER DETECTIONS, first published in 1980, is now available in a trade-paperback second edition (New York: International Polygonics, 1991; 346 pp., $10.95). The book was edited by Douglas G. Greene, and it is a fine collection of Carr's short stories, parodies, and essays, with an excellent introduction by Greene (who is now working on an authorized biography of Carr). The parodies are Sherlockian (dramatizations of "The Adventure of the Conk-Singleton Papers" and "The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber" that were performed in 1948 and 1949 at the annual meetings of the Mystery Writers of America). One of the essays ("The Grandest Game in the World") was written in 1946 as an introduction for a never-published anthology of the "ten best" mystery novels, and while half of the essay has been published before, it appears in full (and with Carr's appreciation of the Canon) for the first time in this edition. May 92 #5 Further to the query (Apr 92 #8) asking for the smallest set of yes-or-no questions that will identify all the sixty recorded cases, Chris Redmond noted that the theoretical minimum is six, rather than eight (the relevant equation is 2 to the nth power rather than n squared). And Chris has supplied a list of questions (more than six, but fewer than twenty), which will not be published this month, in case anyone else is working on the problem. Reported: MPI Home Video has released the Granada version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" on laserdisc ($29.95). "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" continues to bemuse and bedevil readers who want to know the solution to the unfinished mystery. And an imaginative approach to the problem will be found in THE D. CASE: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, by Charles Dickens, Carlo Fruttero, and Franco Lucentini (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992; 587 pp., $23.95). First published in Italy in 1989 and now available in English, the book offers an account of events at a Forum on the Completion of Unfinished or Fragmentary Works in Music and Literature, and the deliberations of the participants, who include Lew Archer, Father Brown, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, and Sherlock Holmes. There is considerable humor, and a surprise ending, and the dust jacket is also of interest, with portraits of Holmes and Watson drawn by Edward Gorey. Ray Dubberke's DICKENS, DROOD, AND THE DETECTIVES (New York: Vantage Press, 1992; 192 pp., $16.95) is a more scholarly approach to the mystery, based on his suggestion that Dickens concealed his intentions so skillfully that "almost any conclusion one chooses, however farfetched, can be supported by citations from the novel." Dubberke examines the influence of real crimes, criminals, and detectives on Dickens' story, and proposes a solution based on those influences and on other works by Dickens (suggesting in passing that the team of Datchery and Deputy anticipates Sherlock Holmes and his Baker Street Irregulars). The latest issue of Anglofile includes the second half of an interview with Jeremy Brett, an interview with Lysette Anthony ("Without a Clue"), and (as always) the latest news about British television, stage, and screen. The 12-page magazine costs $12.00 a year for six issues, and their address is Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30333. Peggy Ann Osborne collects buttons used on clothing, and she is writing a book about them, and hopes that someone can provide some information about an intriguing Sherlockian button she has found. It is a metal button (shown here actual size), with a loop shank, and a bronze-tinted face that shows a silhouette of Holmes with initials that appear to be JTM. If you know anything about the button, please write to her at 2613 Knollwood, Hazel Crest, IL 60429. "My Trans Am, like Magnum's Ferrari, is about as easy to track as the lin- seed oil Sherlock Holmes laid down for Toby." The Trans Am belongs to the heroine of Sara Paretsky's new mystery novel GUARDIAN ANGEL, and the quote was spotted by Bob Brusic. Presumably there are other uses for linseed oil than keeping baseball gloves in good shape, but laying down trails for Toby wasn't one of them. May 92 #6 The good news is that a four-hour version of "Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls" (with Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee) does exist, and has been cleared for more than a hundred markets in the United States. The mini-series may have aired on some stations by now, since the four-week "window" opened on May 18, but Washington viewers will see (and surely tape) the show on WDCA-TV on June 9-10. And it will air on WGN-TV (the Chicago superstation that some cable companies carry) on June 10-11. The bad news, for those who rushed to buy the high-priced two-hour videocassette, is that that version was butchered to fit onto one cassette. The window for the four-hour "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" opens on Aug. 8 (and it will be broadcast in Washington on Aug. 25-26). Reported by Paul Brundage: "Sherlock Holmes: Mystery and Murder" is a one- week tour to England scheduled for September, advertised by the California State Automobile Association Travel Agency (800-352-1955) Insp. Sholto Lestrade is back, in London in 1895, investigating a series of murders in the Underground, and in the usual difficulties with his superior officers, the general public, and assorted inanimate objects. M. J. Trow's LESTRADE AND THE DEAD MAN'S HAND (London: Constable, 1992; 237 pp., L13.99) is the eleventh in his series about Lestrade, and offers an excellent blend of humor and mystery. "It was all that the girl could do to keep herself in the saddle," says the Canonical account of Lucy Ferrier's first meeting with Jefferson Hope (his saddle also is mentioned in the story). But it is unlikely that either saddle was as ornate as the one shown on the Western Americana stamped envelope, designed by Harry Zelenko and issued on April 10. IRENE AT LARGE (New York: Tor Books, 1992; 320 pp., $19.95) is Carole Nelson Douglas' third novel about Irene Adler and her friend Penelope Huxleigh, due to be published in July. The book begins with a description of the battle at Maiwand, but the story begins in Paris in 1889. Irene remains as intrepid and adventurous as ever, and the tale is nicely told, with an ending that indicates that a sequel is likely. Reported by Rosemary Michaud: three Sherlockian references (two to Holmes and one to Hemlock) in Norman Mailer's 1991 spy novel HARLOT'S GHOST. Arts & Entertainment cable is now airing reruns of "Lovejoy" (starring Ian McShane), but a new series of shows started on the BBC on Jan. 12. The 7th program ("Scotch on the Rocks") also stars Edward Hardwicke. Reported: mention of Sherlock Holmes' forays into London's train tunnels in KING SOLOMON'S CARPET, by Barbara Vine (New York: Harmony Books, 1992; 356 pp., $19.00). Barbara Vine is a pseudonym used by Ruth Rendell. Pat Ward reports that the cast of Granada's version of "The Sussex Vampyre" (that's their spelling) will include Roy Marsden, who has starred as Adam Dalgleish on "Mystery!" and was featured in the "Sandbaggers" series. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Jun 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Harmony Gold (the company that produced the mini-series "Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls") is now at work on "The Lost World" and "Return to the Lost World", and Andrew Jay Peck has noted a report in the Hollywood Reporter (May 14) that Harmony Gold also plan to film "The Poison Belt" and "The Day the Earth Screamed". Andy also spotted a report in Weekly Variety (same date) about the Family Channel's cable plans for the fall 1993: a new one-hour drama series called "221B Baker Street" involves a wealthy modern American couple who inherit a Victorian house at that address in London and find that people still write to Sherlock Holmes to ask for help. And the American couple, with the help of a twelve-year-old street urchin, solve some of the mysteries. At least that's the concept; the scripts have not been written, but the series will be a co-production with New World Television, which will shoot on location in London). The "Everyman's Library" editions of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1982) and THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1983) have been reissued as THE BEST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (London: J. M. Dent, 1992; 368 pp., L4.99), with a new and perceptive introduction by H. R. F. Keating and cover art showing the "Spy" caricature of William Gillette. The book is distributed in the U.S. by Charles E. Tuttle (28 South Main Street, Rutland, VT 05701), and in the bookstores priced at $8.95. Martin A. Kayman's FROM BOW STREET TO BAKER STREET: MYSTERY, DETECTION AND NARRATIVE (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992; 269 pp., $45.00) examines in scholarly detail the 19th-century mystery genre, and its eventual focus on detection. Kayman's final chapter deals with the Sherlock Holmes stories, suggesting that in the Canon "the mystery itself is shifted from the crime, its sequel, and even its solution, to the detective's explanation of how he solved it." Kayman also notes the ground-breaking realism of the Canon: it is the power of Holmes' belief in himself and in his world as rational that has made it so easy for so many of his readers to accept him as real. THE MUDSOCK MANUSCRIPTS, mentioned earlier (Apr 92 #5), is nicely done. Written by Larry A. Reynolds and illustrated by Greg Sheldon, the stories feature a close-knit family of farm animals, and will be enjoyed by both children and adults. One of the stories ("The Syncopated Sleuths") is a mystery, and Perrier the pig turns detective, in Sherlockian costume and method. The book costs $12.95 postpaid, from Larry Reynolds Productions, Box 141, Fishers, IN 46038. More stories are planned, including one with even more Sherlockian content and the title "The Hound Is Basking Still". I. E. Clark, who publish the scripts for THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND and THE ADVENTURE OF LADY DITHER'S GHOST (Apr 92 #1), also publish Richard France's 1974 one-act adaptation of SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE ADVENTURE OF THE DYING DETECTIVE (D4382b), and a few copies are still available. $2.00 for the acting script, and $10.00 for the director's script (giving background information, costume sketches, and staging ideas). Shipping is $1.50 for the first script, and $2.50 for two to five scripts; plastic accepted for orders of more than $10.00; the address is Box 246, Schulenburg, TX 78956. Jun 92 #2 "Sherlock" is an eponym (a word that can be used to define both the person for whom a thing is or is believed to be named, and the name based on or derived from an eponym). Another eponym is "crapper" (Thomas Crapper was the inventor of the siphonless flushing mechanism used in modern toilets). And when you use the "john" you are indebted to the Rev. Edward Johns, also British, who introduced the "dolphin" toilet to the U.S. at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 (according to a recent article spotted by Syd Goldberg in the N.Y. Times). The CONCISE DICTIONARY OF BRITISH LITERARY BIOGRAPHY is a new eight-volume set (Detroit: Gale Research, 1992; $395.00), and vol. 5 (LATE VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN WRITERS, 1890-1914) has J. Randolph Cox's excellent 24-page entry for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (updated from the entry Randy wrote for Vol. 70 of the DICTIONARY OF LITERARY BIOGRAPHY (1988). It's a fine combination of biography, bibliography, and commentary on Conan Doyle's work. Forecast: new editions of THE EXPLOITS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr, from Marboro's Dorset Press (for the bargain- book tables), and (with a new introduction by Carr's biographer Douglas G. Greene) in paperback from International Polygonics. The South Downers have a new membership pin, available in two versions: the beehive is in brown, with a black silhouette of Holmes on a blue background or on a yellow one. The pins cost $7.50 each (plus $1.00 shipping per order), and you can order from Richard A. Myhre, 1319 Poplar Court, Homewood, IL 60430. Ralph Spurrier purchased David Kirby's mailing list from David's widow, and David's customers should have received at least one catalog from Spurrier, who offers a fine selection of old and new Sherlockiana and Doyleana. You can write to him at Post Mortem Books, 58 Stanford Avenue, Hassocks, Sussex BN3 8JH, England. Further to the report (Mar 92 #1) on "the bootmaker of Toronto" mentioned in the telecasts of the Olympics, Cliff Goldfarb notes that the man's name is (correctly) John Knebli. Cliff was his next-door neighbor in the 1950s, and remembers seeing champions such as Dick Buttons come to be fitted for first-class skates. Knebli is now in his 80s, and still in business. Julian Symons' BLOODY MURDER: FROM THE DETECTIVE STORY TO THE CRIME NOVEL is now available in a third and expanded edition (London: Macmillan, 1992; 296 pp., L10.99). His chapter on the Canon retains the enthusiasm he first displayed in 1972 ("Certainly what needs to be stressed today is something that should be a cliche, and unhappily is not: that if one were choosing the best twenty short detective stories ever written, at least half a dozen of them would be about Sherlock Holmes"), but his new "Postscript for the Nineties" offers scant praise for many of the most popular current writers in the genre. Symons also suggested in the first edition that "the tone of mock-scholarly facetiousness" in the Writings About the Writings "must make them rank high among the most tedious pieces of their kind ever written," but he omitted that harsh judgement from both the second edition (1985) and the current one. He calls his book "a record of enthusiasm and occasional disappointment," and it is exactly that, and well-written and interesting. Jun 92 #3 Robert Morley died on June 3, after a long career as a skillful and witty character actor, and portrayed a memorable Mycroft in the film "A Study in Terror" (1965). He claimed that he learned all about acting in about three months, selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, and he insisted that he was lazy by nature: "Anyone who works is a fool. I don't work--I merely inflict myself on the public." Single pages of the manuscript of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (many of which were distributed to booksellers in the United States in 1902, to be used in window displays) are occasionally available for purchase, and one of them (the thirteen page, beginning "This from Hugo Baskerville...") is offered for $25,000 by Joseph M. Maddalena (Profiles in History, 345 North Maple Drive #202, Beverly Hills, CA 90210). Non-Sherlockian Conan Doyle autograph and manuscript material is also available from the company. William M. Gaines died on June 3. He was a pioneer in the genre of horror comics, publishing series that included The Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt (until Senate hearings on the effect of comics on innocent youth prompted the comic-book industry to impose self-censorship). In the early 1950s he turned his attention to another magazine he founded and published: Mad, the first magazine of satire aimed directly at adolescents. Its first Canonical items were "Shermlock Shomes!" and "Shermlock Shomes in The Hound of the Basketballs!" (parodies written by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by Bill Elder in 1953 and 1954), and more recently the magazine skewered the movie "Young Sureschlock Homely". Gaines made irreverence an institution decades before television series such as "Saturday Night Live" found the same sort of audience and the same sort of success. Gary Thaden has forwarded a review of Colin Dexter's new THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS (Crown, $20.00); the book is an adaptation of an Inspector Morse story that was aired on "Mystery!" (about the theft of the Wolvercote Tongue) and includes a comparison of Morse's leaps of logic to those of Mycroft Holmes. On May 7, at the House of Lords, the Crime Writers Association presented Leslie Charteris with their Diamond Dagger Award ("the supreme accolade in our genre, given in recognition of a superlative career in writing"). Now 85 years old, Charteris shared script-writing credit (using the pseudonym Bruce Taylor) with Denis Green for the Rathbone/Bruce radio broadcasts in 1944 and 1945. And his "Saint" story "The Jolly Undertaker" included as a character Prof. Julian D. Corrington, who (in the story and in real life) had written about some of the scientific aspects of the Canon. The quarterly magazine Scarlet Street continues to offer in-depth coverage of old and new Sherlockian film and television, including interviews with Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwick, Christopher Lee, and Patrick Macnee, as well as a report on the Granada series by David Stuart Davies. The winter 1992 issue has news (with location photographs) that Patrick Macnee was filmed in Canada in Oct. 1991 in the role of Holmes for a television version of Craig Bowlsby's play "The Hound of London" (1987). And Foothill Video (Box 547, Tujunga, CA 91043) advertises a long list of Sherlockian video ($7.95 per cassette, one of them being Clive Brook's "Sherlock Holmes" (1932) (not previously noted as available on cassette). The magazine is published by R. H. Enterprises, 271 Farrant Terrace, Teaneck, NJ 07666 ($18.00 a year). Jun 92 #4 The new Arpad Publishing comic-book series CHRONICLES OF CRIME & MYSTERY: SHERLOCK HOLMES that began with Dan and David Day's adaptation of "The Speckled Band" (Feb 92 #4) has competition. Tome Press (a division of Caliber Press) has published the first issue of a new series CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES with Dan and David Day's adaptation of "A Scandal in Bohemia" (spotted by Jack Kerr). The Tome Press comic book actually is a reprint from the CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES series that was published by Renegade in the 1980s (and picked up by Northstar, and then by Arpad). The Tome Press address is 621-B South Main Street, Plymouth, MI 48170. "This book is dedicated to our children, one son and seven daughters. As Sherlock Holmes said: 'You know my methods, use them!'" The dedication, noted by Rosemary Michaud, is certainly one of the more intriguing uses of a quotation from the Canon: it is in A CLINICAL GUIDE FOR CONTRACEPTION, by Leon Speroff and Philip D. Darney (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1992). Five postage stamps with designs showing "animals in winter" were issued by Great Britain in Jan., and two of them show a fox and a fallow deer (both foxes and deer are mentioned frequently in the Canon). A new eight-page catalog (concentrating on S'iana imported from Britain) at hand from Classic Specialties (Box 19058, Cincinnati, OH 45219). They are taking reservations now for a new and expanded edition (due this fall) of the splendid GRANADA COMPANION: A SHERLOCK HOLMES ALBUM that was published by Karizzma in 1987. The four-hour television broadcast version of "Sherlock Holmes: The Golden Years: Incident at Victoria Falls" actually runs about three hours and six minutes plus commercials, and Jenny Seagrove does nicely as Lillie Langtry, and railroad-expert John Paton reports that the train seen in the film was not built until the year after King Edward died. Christopher Roden has moved, and so has The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, and the David Kirby Memorial Essay Competition. The new address is: Ashcroft, 2 Abbottsford Drive, Penyffordd, Chester, Cheshire CH4 0JH, England (close enough to the border with Wales that Penyffordd is pronounced Pennyforth). Christopher was one of the guest speakers at a ceremony in Crowborough in May, when a plaque honoring Sir Arthur was unveiled (we can expect a full report in the next issue of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society's journal). Richard D. Lesh (1205 Lory Street, Fort Collins, CO 80524) has reprinted an amusing early parody: "The Weirdly Thrilling Adventure of the Lost Bathing Suit" was written by L. C. Hopkins and illustrated by Robert J. Dean, and stars Herlock Shomes and Dr. Rotson. The piece was first published in Nov. 1908 in Uncle Remus's The Home Magazine, which was founded by Joel Chandler Harris and edited by Julian Harris (Don Marquis, the associate editor, went on to be a respected writer, as well as a long-time associate and friend of Christopher Morley). The reprint, in reduced facsimile, is on high-quality paper and bound in boards, and available from Dick for $25.00 postpaid. Jun 92 #5 Richard R. Rutter's carefully researched article about "Cyclic Mysteries: Parallel Tracks in the Detective Fiction of L. Frank Baum and Arthur Conan Doyle" was published in the winter 1991 issue of The Baum Bugle. The parallels are interesting, and Dick also has noted a few possible instances of literary osmosis. The Baum Bugle is published three times a year by The International Wizard of Oz Club; membership is $10.00 a year, and single issues of the magazine cost $3.50 (write to Fred M. Meyer, 220 North 11th Street, Escanaba, MI 49829). Steven T. Doyle reports that the Sherlock Holmes Review's third Sherlockian symposium will be held the weekend of Nov. 21-22 at the Omni Severn Hotel in Indianapolis. For more information on the Sherlock Holmes-SHR Symposium III, write to Steven at Box 583, Zionsville, IN 46077. Further to earlier reports (Aug 91 #3 and Nov 91 #1) on the National Farm Medicine Center's test of the best hat for farmers to wear to reduce their exposure to skin cancer (in which a mesh variation of the deerstalker took second place), this summer the Asgrow Seed Co. of Kalamazoo will become the nation's first seed company to give away non-traditional caps to farmers. According to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press (sent by Gary Thaden), the mesh stalker isn't one of Asgrow's choices. A brief note in the British press, at hand from Jon Lellenberg, reported that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were expected to arrive by hansom for the official reopening of The Sherlock Holmes (the pub in Northumberland Street) on May 22, after a refurbishment that cost L250,000. Edward D. Hoch's "The Problem of the Vanishing Salesman" (in the Aug. 1992 issue of EQMM) is a fine addition to his series of short stories about Dr. Sam Hawthorne, and rings some intriguing changes on the unrecorded case of the disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore. Fred Fondren died on June 8. An actor, playwright, director, and founder of the Prometheus Theatre, far off-off-Broadway, he wrote and starred in "Sherlock Holmes and the Warburton Conspiracy" at the National Arts Theatre in 1981. At the Prometheus his plays included "Sherlock Holmes Embattles Count Dracula" (1983), "Sherlock Holmes: A Case of Identity" (1988), and "Sherlock Holmes: The Eclipse Conspiracy" (1990). Reported by Ron De Waal: SHERLOCK HOLMES: TALES FROM BAKER STREET (Sandy Hook: Radio Yesteryear, 1990; a set of four audiocassettes, $16.95); with eight of the Rathbone/Bruce shows (none of them new discoveries). Avail- able at B. Dalton (and presumably in other chain bookstores). Further to the report (Dec 91 #2) about the conversion of the Isle of Dogs into a mixed-use community, the project appears to be encountering serious difficulties: Canary Wharf, a huge complex that includes a 50-story office building (the tallest in Europe), has sought bankruptcy-court protection. The Canary Wharf project has been masterminded since 1987 by Paul Reichmann of Olympia & York, an investment company that is based in Toronto and now faces its own financial problems. An estimated L500 million in additional funding is needed to complete Canary Wharf, and it is quite likely that the full redevelopment of the area will be considerably delayed. Jun 92 #6 The Northeast Victorian Studies Association will hold its 19th annual meeting at Rhode Island College on Apr. 30-May 2, 1993, and the topic will be "Victorian Waters". If you'd like to submit a paper, write to Prof. Joan Dagle, English Dept., Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 02908. If you'd like to attend the conference, write to Prof. Earl E. Stevens (at the same address). The latest rumor about the Jeremy Brett series is that Granada has decided to continue making two-hour adaptations, and thus has scrapped plans to use their one-hour scripts for "The Red Circle" and "The Three Garridebs" and at least one other story. And there is as yet no reliable report on which story Granada will do after "The Sussex Vampire" (or "The Sussex Vampyre" or whatever title they decide will be most effective). Andrew Jay Peck has discovered a necktie with a "Sherlock Fox" pattern (brown fox and green deerstalker) on terelene polyester (specially woven in Switzerland, and more durable than silk), available in navy blue or royal blue. Chipp Custom Clothiers and Furnishers (attn: Paul Winston), 342 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10173-0006; $24.75 postpaid, and they take plastic. Reported by Rick Smith: THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF MODERN QUOTATIONS, edited by Tony Augarde (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), has 34 quotations from the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all from the Canon except one from THE WHITE COMPANY. Bob Dylan has only 11 quotations, and Lillian K. Dykstra just one, but it's an amusing one. Writing to her husband in 1952, about Thomas E. Dewey, she said: "He is just about the nastiest little man I've ever known. He struts sitting down." If you have been wondering how to use the Canon to predict who is going to be elected president in November, in view of the absence from the Canon of anyone named Bush or Clinton or Perot, it is of interest that one candidate has mentioned Sherlock Holmes. On June 21 many of the major papers started running stories about Ross Perot's apparent fascination with investigations and intrigue. Perot responded angrily, and on June 24 announced that the emerging image of him as a sort of "Sherlock Holmes running around with my magnifying glass" is a concoction of the GOP. Stuart M. Kaminsky's OPENING SHOTS (Eugene: Mystery Scene Press, 1991) is a 157-page collection of his short stories, including a Sherlockian pastiche "The Final Toast" (reprinted from the 1987 anthology THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES). $4.95 postpaid from the publisher (Box 1227, Eugene, OR 97440). The list of the smallest set of yes-or-no questions that will identify all the sixty recorded cases will be postponed once again, due to lack of room rather than to lack of response John Bennett Shaw reports that an Italian friend would like to correspond with a S'ian ophthalmologist. If any reader qualifies, or knows someone who does, please write to John (1917 Fort Union Drive, Santa Fe, 87501). The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Jul 92 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Baker Street is not the only place where enthusiasts argue about who lived where. A recent story by Shari Rudavsky in the Washington Post notes that while a seamstress named Betsy Ross did live in Philadelphia in the 1770s, she enjoyed relative anonymity until the 1870s, when her grandson William Canby began spreading the rumor that she designed the first flag. Nobody paid Canby much attention until a tavern owner posted a sign on his bar, at Ross' address, advertising "The Home of the First American Flag". But even if Betsy Ross had indeed sewn the first flag (historians are not sure who really did), the sign would still be incorrect, because the city renumbered its addresses after Ross' time, and her home actually was down the block. "Hype proved stronger than history," according to Temple University history professor Morris J. Vogel, and the alleged Ross home "becomes the structure where the woman who did not sew the flag did not live." If you've had trouble finding the graphic-novel-format anthology WITHIN OUR REACH (Jan 92 #1), with Martin Powell's Sherlockian story "The Season of Forgiveness" (illustrated by Patrick Olliffe), copies are available from Tim O'Connor (6015 West Route 115, Herscher, IL 60941) for $12.00 postpaid. The London Zoo (mentioned in "Charles Augustus Milverton") was scheduled to close in Sept. (Jun 91 #6 and Jul 91 #4), but there has been a temporary reprieve: the emir of Kuwait has donated L1 million to the Zoo, in thanks for Britain's contribution in the Gulf War, and the Zoo now hopes to remain open through the winter. Granada's "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" may (or may not) air on Thursday, Aug. 27, depending on whether your local PBS-TV station does not have a scheduling conflict. And this has been a summer of conflicts, what with the possibility of the political conventions and the Olympics, and whatnot. The 1992 running of The Silver Blaze at Belmont (in New York) will be held on Sept. 12. Those who would like to attend, and have not yet received the formal announcement, should write to Stephen L. Stix, 10784 South 250 East, Markleville, IN 46056. The two-hour version of "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" has reached the video shops, released by Vestron Video, and not recommended either for purchase or for rental, unless you're interested in seeing how it can be possible to edit a third of the material out of a program and still have it tell a reasonable story. The four-hour version due soon on television will make more sense. And it won't cost anything to watch, thanks to all those commercials. It is always a pleasure to find a Sherlockian scholar making use of modern technology. Brad Keefauver has demonstrated a truly Canonical "passion for definite and exact knowledge" in investigating what really went through the mind of Professor Moriarty as he plummeted to his death at the Reichenbach. The modern technology was bungee-jumping, and the results of the experiment are reported in the July issue of Plugs & Dottles (published monthly at $10 a year by Robert C. Burr, 4010 Devon Lane, Peoria, IL 61614-7109). Jul 92 #2 Reported by Paul Martin: the early fall 1992 catalog from the House of Tyrol (Box 909, Alpenland Center, Cleveland, GA 30528) (800-241-5404) has a set of Sherlock Holmes desk accessories in hand-cast English pewter: a letter opener and a magnifying glass at $36.00 each, or $69.00 the set. The catalog also offers a Steinbach wooden Sherlock Holmes nutcracker (one of the leading contenders for the title of the most hideous Sherlockian artifact) at $98.00. FORENSIC GEOLOGY, by Raymond C. Murray and John C. F. Tedrow, has a second edition (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1992; 203 pp., $52.00), revised to reflect developments in the science since the first edition appeared in 1975. The first chapter ("History--Sherlock Holmes to the Present") notes that the application of geology to criminalistics began, as did many of the other applications of science to this area, with the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and credits Sherlock Holmes with pointing the way for many of the ideas and techniques now used by forensic scientists. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: UNREALITY: THE METAPHYSICS OF FICTIONAL OB- JECTS (Cornell University Press, $26.50); with many Sherlockian and Doylean references. Thanks to Tim O'Connor, there is more information about CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, the comic-book series that is now reprinting Dan and David Day's adaptations of the Canonical stories published by Renegade in the 1987 and 1988 (Jun 92 #4). The reprint series, published by Tome Press (a division of Caliber Press), has new (and more sedate) covers than the originals but offers all the inside artwork. Three issues have appeared, with "Scan" and "Musg" ($2.50 each) and "Nava" ($3.50). Their address is 621-B South Main Street, Plymouth, MI 48170. Georgia Brown died on July 5. She was a splendid singer and actress, best known for her performances on stage as Jenny in ""The Threepenny Opera" and as Nancy in the musical "Oliver!", but she also appeared in two Sherlockian films: as a bawdy barroom singer in "A Study in Terror" (1965) and as Mrs. Freud in "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" (1976). The friendship between Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and their shared interest in spiritualism, and their eventual bitter arguments about it, is a fascinating story, one that truly deserves a book, rather than the short accounts written by both men, and the brief discussions available in biographies. Sadly, BELIEVE., by William Shatner and Michael Tobias (New York: Berkley Books, 1992; 321 pp., $5.50), is not that book. The problem, basically, is that they've got so many things wrong. They're wrong about Houdini and Conan Doyle, about their personal lives and their professional lives. And it's not just the minor details that are wrong. Anyone who is even marginally familiar with what Houdini and Conan Doyle did, separately and together, will quickly recognize that this book is fiction. In justice to the authors, they freely acknowledge that in an authors' note, admitting that "most details that might have harbored even a shred of truth have been freely altered, embellished, imagined or altogether invented." As reported earlier (Jan 92 #6), there also is a script for a play ("Harry and Arthur") that Shatner (as Houdini) and Leonard Nimoy (as Conan Doyle) hope to star in, and they have been trying to find someone interested in producing it. Jul 92 #3 SUPER SLEUTHS ($12.99 suggested retail) is a commercial video- cassette in the "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers" series from Walt Disney Home Video; one of the two shows on the 44-minute cassette is "Pound of the Baskervilles" (produced in 1989), involving the Rescue Rangers in the search for the will of Howard Baskerville, author (using a pseudonym) of "The Adventures of Sherlock Jones". Paulette Greene (7152 Via Palomar, Boca Raton, FL 33433) can still supply copies of her Sherlockian publications: Madeleine Stern's SHERLOCK HOLMES RARE BOOK COLLECTOR (1981) and SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE GAME'S A HEAD (1983), signed and in wrappers ($15.00 each); and Trevor Hall's THE LAST CASE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1986), in boards ($25.00). "The Great Mouse Detective" is now out on videocassette, with a list price of $24.99, and (according to the manager of the Disney shop at a suburban mall here) no plans for tie-in merchandise other than the still-in-print book edition from Gallery Books. The film grossed $25.3 million when it was first released, and after the second release to theaters earlier this year had a total gross of almost $40 million. Disney's recent "Beauty and the Beast" grossed $119 million after only 17 weeks, so one can understand why Disney is down-playing Basil. And if you haven't already bought the cassette at your local video shop, Gary Thaden reports that it's available from Target at $15.88; they take plastic, and you can call 800-800-8800 to locate their nearest store. Available from Thomas Biblewski: a chrome-plated lapel pin with a silhouette of Sherlock Holmes. $9.00 postpaid, from the Baker Street Dispatch, Box 5503, Toledo, OH 43613. Reported by Ralph Hall (in a local Toys 'R' Us): a set of Norfin Trolls Playing Cards ($2.99), with the "Sherluck" troll (Oct 90 #3) on the five of diamonds (from the Fundex-Third Quarter Corp., Indiana- polis, IN 46222); and the Geoffrey Magnifier ($0.99) with Geoffrey in S'ian costume (from the Hingham Corp., Kowloon, Hong Kong). One of the more amusing aspects of book-collecting is that bookplates, used by collectors to proclaim ownership of their books, have themselves become collectibles (despite claims by purists that bookplates must be affixed to a book if they are to be considered more than mere labels). And it should of course not surprise anyone that there are more than a few Sherlockians who use S'ian bookplates, occasionally commercial productions but far more often specially-commissioned with S'ian themes. Vincent Starrett and Edgar W. Smith were among the earliest S'ians to have their own S'ian bookplates, and their designs (and many more) will be found in SHERLOCKIAN BOOKPLATES, by W. E. Butler (Cambridge: Silent Books, 1992; 57 pp., L8.95). Butler has cast his net widely, in the United States and Britain and on the continent, showing and discussing many examples of how much fun imaginative bookplates can be, and he includes a history of the "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" ornately- armorial bookplate that was used by Adrian Conan Doyle in the books in his library at the Chateau de Lucens (and that has confused modern collectors who may not be aware that the bookplate does not necessarily indicate that a book was owned by Sir Arthur). The publisher's address is: Boxworth End, Swavesey, Cambridge CB4 5RA, England. Jul 92 #4 "His favorite author was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but not on account of Sherlock Holmes, with his corpses in the fog, but on the strength of the sunlit pages of THE WHITE COMPANY, a novel of chivalry in which nobody pours boiling oil on anyone, except maybe Saracens, who don't count." From Wilfred Sheed's introduction to THE WORLD OF CHARLES Addams (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991). Discovered by Luci Zahray: James F. Jerger (Alice's Looking Glass (Box 974, Saugatuck, MI 49453) hand- crafts Sherlock Holmes in stained glass. Designs, sizes, and colors to order, and prices range from $20 to $2,000. His latest panel (shown here from a photograph) measures about 22 x 28 inches, and was a commission assignment that cost less than $700. Jim's phone number is 616-857-2363. The new reprint of THE EXPLOITS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr (from Marboro's Dorset Press) is listed at $6.95 in the new catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011). The catalog also has ($3.95) Ruth Lake Tepper's THE SHERLOCK HOLMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE BOOK II (published by Norton); with summaries of twelve stories, accompanied by well-crafted puzzles (blurbed as "new" but probably a reprint, since the book was first published in 1979. Robert C. Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718) has sent his new sales list; statues, comic strips, the Charlie McCarthy Spoon, etc. And Cathy Childs (1510 Lake Drive, Grand Island, FL 32735) offers a flier on her Sherlockian artwork. Deen and Jay Kogan, who chaired Bouchercon in 1989, will chair the second annual Mid-Atlantic Mystery Book Fair and Convention at the Holiday Inn- Independence Mall in Philadelphia on Nov. 6-8. Advance registration costs $35.00, and additional information is available from the Kogans at Detecto- Mysterioso Books, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Caliber's BAKER STREET #10 is now in the comic-book shops ($2.50), with the finale of the story "Children of the Night" (non-Sherlockian except for the title-page artwork taken from one of Sidney Paget's illustrations for "The Copper Beeches". For those who missed the earlier report (Sep 91 #8), there's another source for the imaginative and amusing soft-sculpture Sherlockian jack-in-the-box: Aries Fine American Crafts (attn: Brenda L. Rizzo), Box 1702, Ogunquit, ME 03907; $70.00 plus shipping. Further to the report (Sep 90 #3) that Steven Spielberg and Andrew Lloyd Webber were collaborating on a full-length animated film of "Cats", the latest news is that the two principals could not agree on how to proceed with the project, and that Spielberg's studio in London has laid off most of its staff. So it will be some time, at the very least, before we get to see an animated Macavity. Jul 92 #5 The summer 1992 issue of The Armchair Detective has a detailed report on the January birthday festivities, by Sherry Rose-Bond and Scott Bond, and a nice tribute by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Mertz and Barbara Michaels) to her series heroine Amelia Peabody Emerson (with an acknowledgement of her debt to the Canon). Quarterly at $26.00 a year; 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. Dee Snyder died on June 16. An avid miniaturist, she was the sparking-plug for The Mini Tonga Scion Society, founded in May 1979 and named in honor of the smallest man in the Canon. Dee was for many years the editor of the society's newsletter (The Tonga Times), and the many creators and keepers of miniature Sherlockian houses, rooms and other displays owe a great debt to Dee for her enthusiasm and energy. The Simon & Schuster audiocassette THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #17 is in