8/30/1889 A dinner party that made literary history

August 30, 1889.  A major literary event happened on this night, which had great import for the mystery field.  You see, when Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world in A Study in Scarlet, the world couldn't have cared less.  But when he wrote a historical novel called Micah Clarke it became a best-seller.  Joseph M. Stoddard, the publisher of Lippincott's Magazine, had published Study in Scarlet in America.  He was visiting  England that summer, and noted the popularity of Clarke.  So he invited Doyle to a dinner at the Langhorn Hotel and suggested he give Holmes another shot.  This led to The Sign of Four, and eventually to the short stories that made Holmes a household word.   Oh, Stoddard invited another writer to the event, one who became immediate friends with Doyle - a very unlikely pair.  Stoddard suggested that other man write something for the magazine as well.  So Oscar Wilde produced The Portrait of Dorian Gray.

Must have been quite an evening.

8/20/87 Sherlock opens his last case

August 20, 1987,  Sherlock's Last Case opened on Broadway on this date.  It was Charles Marowitz's take on Conan Doyle.  From the Playbill summary: Dr. Watson gives us the truth about Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective Sherlock Holmes — he is a self-absorbed, egotistical tyrant in private, even as he is tested once again to solve the case of "the perfect murder."

Whatever you think of that it gave the world a chance to see Frank Langella as the Master.  It ran for 124 performances.

6/13/1953 Carr does Holmes

June 13, 1953.  Collier's Magazine, with this cover date, featured "The Adventure of the Sealed Room" by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr.  It was part of a series of stories about the Master all co-written by the original author's son and the master of locked room mysteries.  They were collected under the title The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, which always made me wonder: did they know that one meaning of exploit is "use selfishly for one's own end?"

5/13/1901 Lord Saltire Disappears

March 13, 190?.  This day saw the disappearance of Lord Saltire, ten year old son of the Duke of Holdernesse.  This event sent Sherlock Holmes into action in "The Adventure of the Priory School."  Arthur Conan Doyle's plot involves murder, blackmail, and horses disguised as cows.  Sort of.

5/4/1891 Meet me at the Reichenbach

May 4, 1891.  On this date there occurred the most famous event that never actually happened (well... there are more famous ones, if you agree that all religions can't be be true).  In Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Final Problem" Sherlock Holmes grappled with Professor James Moriarty at the top of Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.  Both fell to their death.
 
But one of those deaths was cancelled, due to popular demand.  How often does that happen?

Illustration by the great Sidney Paget.

3/30/1894 Ronald Adair dies before an empty house

March 30, 1894.  On this date the Honourable Ronald Adair was murdered by (spoiler alert) Colonel Sebastian Moran, formerly the right-hand-man of the evil Professor Moriarty.  This was the case that brought the supposedly dead Sherlock Holmes out of exile in "The Adventure of the Empty House."  And you thought he came back because Doyle needed the money.  Shame on you.

3/16/1897 Sherlock Holmes sees the Devil's Foot

March 16, 1897.  On this date, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, in Cornwall for Holmes's health, encounter a bizarre case of madness and murder.  "The Adventure of the Devils Foot" was one of Conan Doyle's favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.  One stand-out feature: Good old Watson saves Holmes' life.

1/7/1888 The Valley of Fear begins

January 7, 1888.  On this date Sherlock Holmes gets a note from one of Professor Moriarty's henchmen.  Thus begins Arthur Conan Doyle's fourth and last novel about the great detective.  The Valley of Fear was published in 1915.  Not generally considered the best of the books, but it does have a wondErful plot twist.

2/16/1965 Baker Street on Broadway

February 16, 1965.  On this date Sherlock Holmes arrived on Broadway in the form of Baker Street,  a musical.  It was written by Jerome Coopersmith, with most songs by Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessell, and ran for over 300 performances.

Fritz Weaver played you-know-who.  Tommy Tune and Christopher Walken made their Broadway debuts.

1/4/1987 Burgess on Holmes

January 4, 1987.  On this day the cover of the New York Times Book Review featured an essay by famed novelist Anthony Burgess.  "The Sainted Sleuth, Still on the Case," was a love song to Sherlock Holmes.

12/10/1892 A visit to the Black Museum

December 10, 1892.  In the basement of New Scotland Yard in London sat the Black Museum, a collection of relics of true crimes.  It wasn't open to the general public, but on this day three members of a cricket club were permitted in.  One was the editor of The Idler magazine, Jerome K. Jerome, most famous for the comic masterpiece Three Men In A Boat, which inspired Peter Lovesey's mystery Swing, Swing, Together.  The others were friends of his, and  contributors to the magazine.  E.W. Hornung was the creator or Raffles, the first "gentleman cracksman" or hero jewel thief in crime fiction.  This visit led to Hornung's story "The Raffles Relics."

The third member of the party was Hornung's future brother-in-law, a doctor named Arthur Conan Doyle.  Oh yes, he wrote a bit too. 

Jonathan Goodman pointed this event out in The Armchair Detective, in the Fall 1996 issue.

11/27/1937 Sherlock Holmes arrives on the boob tube

November 27, 1937.  On this date Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance on TV, in  an adaptation of  "The Three Garridebs." If that sounds insanely early, you're right.  It was a trial broadcast from the stage of Radio City Music Hall, produced by the American Radio Relay League.  It was a live show with prerecorded links.  

Oh.  Proper format requires that I tell you that the story "The Three Garridebs" was written by  Arthur Conan Doyle.  In case you wondered.

This was reported in Ron Miller's "Sherlock Holmes on TV," in Mystery Scene, issue 93.

9/20/1950 Carr on Doyle wins Edgar

September 20, 1950.  On this date John Dickson Carr, mystery writer and future Grand Master, won a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his biography on an earlier master, The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle.

8/30/1889 Dinner party at the Langhorn Hotel

August 30, 1889.  A major literary event happened on this night, which had great import for the mystery field.  You see, when Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world in A Study in Scarlet the world wasn't much interested.  But when he wrote a historical novel called Micah Clarke it became a best-seller.  Joseph M. Stoddard, the publisher of Lippincott's Magazine, which published Scarlet in America, happened to be  visiting England that summer, and saw the pupularity of Clarke.  So he invited Doyle to a dinner at the Langhorn Hotel and suggested he give Holmes another shot.  This led to The Sign of Four, and eventually to the short stories that made Holmes a household word.   Oh, Stoddart invited another writer to the event and suggested he write something for the magazine as well.  So Oscar Wilde produced The Portrait of Dorian Gray.

Must have been quite an evening.

5/26/1953 The Black Baronet gets suspenseful

May 26, 1953.  On this night the CBS TV show Suspense featured Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventure of the Black Baronet."  This was based on a story by Doyle, sort of, but not that Doyle.

Arthur Conan Doyle's son Adrian had decided to expand the family empire by co-writing a set of new Holmes stories with the great American mystery writer John Dickson Carr.  Each took its starting point from some case mentioned in passing in the Canon, as Holmes fans call the original tales.  The stories were published under the name The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, which causes me to raise an eyebrow.  Did they know that one meaning of "exploit" is to use selfishly for one's own advantage?

Nigel Bruce was not part of this particular adventure, having passed away two years earlier.  Instead the faithful Dr. Watson was played by Martyn Green, who is considered by many Savoyards to be to Gilbert and Sullivan what Rathbone was to Holmes: he was the greatest performer of the principal comedian parts in the light operas.

No copies of the show are known to survive, which is particularly unfortunate because it was apparently Rathbone's last filmed performance as the Master.

5/4/1891 A meeting at Reichenbach Falls...

May 4, 1891.  On this date there occurred the most famous event that never actually happened (well... there are more famous ones, if you agree that all the religions can't be be true).  In Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Final Problem" Sherlock Holmes grappled with Professor James Moriarty at the top of Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.  Both fell to their death.
 
But one of those deaths was cancelled, due to popular demand.  How often does that happen?

Illustration by the great Sidney Paget.

3/4/1881 Holmes teams up with Watson

March 4, 1881.   According to William S. Baring-Gould's  The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, it was on this date that one of the most famous fictional relationships began, when Dr John H.Watson's new roommate invites him to participate in a case.  Illustration by George Hutchinson.

2/28/1830 A major Payn appears

February 28, 1830.  English author James Payn was born on this date in Maidenhead.  He wrote many novels, and books of essays and short stories.  But he owes his place on this page to one accomplishment: as editor of Cornhill Magazine he turned down Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study In Scarlet.  Yup.  He is the man who rejected Sherlock Holmes.

And you thought you were having a bad day.

1/21/1953 Sherlock Holmes (?) dances (?)

January 21, 1953.  It is a little hard to imagine the Master on point, and in fact his name does not appear but who else could be dancing around in a deerstalker cap and carrying a magnifying glass?  On this date Richard Arnell's ballet The Great Detective had its world premiere.  You can find pictures from it on the web, if you try hard enough.