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"If I show you too much of my method of working, you will come to the conclusion that I am a very ordinary individual after all." - A Study in ScarletIn March of this year I auditioned for a local production of "The Day the Earth Stood Still." During auditions I overheard a comment by the artistic director that they were looking to do a production of The Hound of the Baskervilles, but that they did not have a script yet. Being the life-long Holmes fanatic I am, I boldly (foolishly?) volunteered to adapt the script for the Post-Meridian Radio Players. The major caveat was that I had to bring the script in under an hour.
One of the great benefits of being a member of the Baker Street Irregulars is that we get to meet a lot of interesting and famous people. Chief among them are the literati, such as Michael Dirda, BSI ("Langdale Pike"), the Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for the Washington Post, who makes his living by writing about the literati.
and Norwood
- stood a giant of the stage: William Gillette. Gillette was a respectable gentleman who made a respectable living from the stage, not least of which were his 1,300 appearances as Sherlock Holmes, after close contact with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1890s.
. Mr. Zecher is a former award-winning sports journalist and editor who has written on a wide variety of topics. He has had a lifelong love of Sherlock Holmes and has followed his passion in writing about William Gillette over the last 14 years. You can read his full bio on his website.
. Spend 30 minutes or so with Fritz to hear his perspectives on on the making of the musical, his co-stars and a fairly impressive knowledge of the Canon.
But where there's a challenge, there's also an opportunity. We've just learned of an effort by AudioFile to educate those new to the great detective by creating a Listeners' Guide to Sherlock Holmes. From December 16 - 29, 2009, you'll be able to download three short stories, listen to narrator interviews and more - all for free. Their release explains all of the details.
AudioFile, the magazine and Web site devoted to audiobooks, is offering a free audio collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories as part of its Listeners’ Guide to Sherlock Holmes. The Listeners’ Guide is an online multimedia event where visitors can listen to exclusive conversations with Holmes narrators and experts, read AudioFile Editors’ audiobook reviews and recommendations, and discover more remarkable Sherlock Holmes resources on the Internet.
Visitors can easily download and listen to David Timson reading “Silver Blaze,” “The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk,” and “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans,” courtesy of Naxos AudioBooks. In addition, listeners are invited to discuss their favorite Sherlock Holmes audiobooks on AudioFile's Facebook page.
This Listeners’ Guide also offers free, behind-the-scenes conversations with AudioFile’s Editors and narrators David Timson, Simon Prebble, and Ralph Cosham, plus an interview with award-winning audio dramatist and AudioFile contributing editor Yuri Rasovsky. The actors share their favorite scenes and give unique perspectives on being the voices of Sherlock Holmes. Visitors will learn about the iconic detective and discover how the voices of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and other memorable characters are created by talented narrators and actors.
“With the 150th anniversary of Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth this year and the release of the Sherlock Holmes film starring Robert Downey, Jr., it's an appropriate time to encourage a new generation of fans to discover the voices of Sherlock Holmes,” said AudioFile Editor and Founder Robin Whitten. “The atmospheric settings, intellectual puzzles, and intriguing characters of Arthur Conan Doyle make perfect audio listening. This Listeners’ Guide also acknowledges the dynamic work of Holmes interpreters from Basil Rathbone to today’s best audiobook narrators.”
The Sherlock Holmes Listeners’ Guide is AudioFile’s latest celebration of the audio works of great writers. Recent Listeners’ Guides have focused on the audiobooks of Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Sign up to receive AudioFile’s Listeners’ Guides at http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/enews_signup.html
The founder of the Baker Street Irregulars, Christopher Morley,BSI ("The Sign of the Four") was a man of many interests and talents. And while he may be known in these parts for his whiskey-and-sodality through the BSI, he was more widely known and appreciated than that in his time.
He was probably most widely known for his novels Parnassus on Wheels
and Kitty Foyle
If you'd like to hear Morley's voice, it's available on an old-time radio recording of Information, Please. Click on the link and scroll down until you find Morley's name on the Sept. 18, 1942 show (it's a .ram file, so you'll need the free version of Real Audio to listen).
"Information, Please" was a radio quiz show that was extremely popular in the Golden Age of radio. The fact that it was hosted by Morley's contemporary, Clifton Fadiman, the book review editor for The New Yorker, made Morley's appearance a near certainty. It probably didn't hurt that Fadiman was an early attendee of the BSI dinners, either.
What makes this find even more interesting is that the Irregulars are hosting a mini-excursion to Morley's cottage "The Knothole" on Sunday January 11, 2009. The radio program above should put his life into that much more perspective.
