Where to start . . . hmmm . . . when reporting upon a Sherlockian weekend event, when does it actually begin? Is in when you walk into the hotel lobby, see your first Sherlockians as you check in, and know you're in the right place? Or is it when you sit down to a pre-conference dinner with a fellow Sherlockian and start chatting all things Holmes? Or simply at the welcome reception, which is where the organizers place the first item on their agenda?
Sitting with the morning's program due to start in fifteen minutes is a good time to reflect on the night before. (Sits and reflects and forgets to type.)
The thing about a Sherlockian weekend that brings us here might nominally be the program, and maybe the first trip one makes, it does. But after that one comes to see all the distant friends and make a few new ones. My warm-up act was running into Josh Harvey at Skyline Chili next door to the hotel, but the Friday welcome reception up the road was where things kicked into high gear. "Social butterfly" is not a phrase anyone would use to describe me anywhere else in my life, but running into all the Sherlockians I know from their writings, Zoom, or previous events makes it a little impossible not to be such. People I've known for a year or two and people I've known for thirty years, all chatting away, swirling around -- it's not at the scale of a New York cocktail party in January (which can be a bit overwhelming) but as one attends these over time, it can be quite a thing.
After a few hours of catching up with a big room full of Sherlockians and nibbling on snacks, a number of us headed to our hotel bar to continue the socializing, do a little drinking, and . . . hope upon hope . . . get some karaoke going. Last year, I attempted that and failed, beyond someone drafting an unwilling Monica Schmidt to rap some Eminem. This year, however, a little Facebook chatting had prepared Ira Matetsky to come ready to vocalize, which he did, kicking things off with a lively rendition of "Baker Street." Rudy Altergott boldly stepped in next, I took my turn, and past that, I will not reveal all the names of those who picked up the microphone and sang their hearts out. (But trust me, we had some well known Sherlockians boldly going where they might not have gone before.) It was a great, lively evening, and I am pretty sure I'd have come to Dayton just for Friday evening alone.
This morning because with Lorraine Reibert welcoming us all to the conference proper, and Dan Andriacco introducing our first speaker, Johanna Draper Carlson talking about the history of Sherlock Holmes in comics, starting in "the 1940s, when comics were thought of as something for kids and idiots, basically." That got a good laugh, and Johanna's talk and slideshow was a lively kick-off to the program, as we moved from early depictions of Holmes and Watson as "just guys in suits" to later, more intentional adaptations, often influenced by movies. and onward through Holmes facing monsters, comics for educational markets, and manga. A lot of good questions followed, as ever, with all the knowledgeable and interested folks in the audience.
Writer Terence Faherty was up next, with an appreciation of the Rathbone/Bruce movies titled "The Top Ten Reasons to Love the Universal Sherlock Holmes." Reason ten: It was the most enduring mystery series of the 1940s. Reason nine: Sherlock Holmes took on the Nazis. But Basil Rathbone's hair styles quickly come up, and not as one of the top ten reasons. A clip of one of his stirring, end-of-the-movie speeches brings applause. A few technical details interrupt the talk, as we transition to the post-war group of movies, and how they got better in that middle section of the Rathbone films. Then with The Woman in Green, Terence gets to the last phase of the films -- and we're still only at reason seven!
There's a lot to talk about in the movies of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and Terence Faherty makes the most of that data. He theorizes that the movie duo brought more people to Sherlock Holmes than any other person besides Conan Doyle, via their movies, their radio shows, and the legion of television reruns of their movies as many local stations used them as Sunday afternoon and other timeslot filler. He points out Rathbone's visual choices that seem to pay tribute to previous Sherlocks, and completely defends Nigel Bruce's contribution to our lore and the general public's acceptance of the character due to Bruce.
Is Rathbone "the big screen's greatest Sherlock Holmes" as Terence Faherty states? Well, twelve theatrical features does make a statement. (And, seriously, Downey may have made some box office, but c'mon. Since "The Abominable Bride" got shown in theaters for one night, can we call Benedict Cumberbatch a big screen Holmes?) The talk closes with a montage of classic Rathbone/Bruce moments that is quite heartwarming. A few good questions about Rathbone, and we're on to the break.
So I will go ahead and post this for now. More to come.
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