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All times US prevailing Eastern
2024
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July 11 – 21 The Call of Cthulhu The Red Circle’s Greg Bodine stars at the Capital Fringe in a solo performance of the stage adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s classic horror story. Spooky stuff! Full details and ticket info are here.
- August 10 Open House at Denny Dobry's Sherlockian sitting room in Reading PA. See Inner Circle at left for information and to rsvp.
- November 16 A Saturday with Sherlock Holmes The 45th annual edition of this staple of the Sherlockian calendar will once again grace the auditorium at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. Save the date and watch this space for details.
2025
- January 15 -- 18 Sherlock Holmes Birthday Weekend As always, January will feature the longest "weekend" on the Sherlockain calendar, with legions of the devoted descending on midtown Manhattan to celebrate. The annual dinner of the Baker Street Iregulars--the sole invitation-only event of the weekend--will be held on Friday, January 17. We'll alert you to the many other events which are cordially open to all as information becomes available.
For a much more comprehensive list of Sherlockian meetings and events around the United States and beyond, see Ron Fish's
Sherlockian Calendar.
The Slavering Hound by Frederick Dorr Steele is an unpublished drawing for the 1939 Basil Rathbone Hound of the Baskervilles film. It was shown in the program for the film and featured in the 1951 Festival of Britain exhibition
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The Red Circle’s June 22 meeting featured Burt Wolder’s fine presentation, “Arthur Conan Doyle: Adventurous Life, Enduring Memories.” Read Carla Coupe’s Meeting Notes here.
The end of an era approaches The Red Circle's own Denny Dobry has for many years welcomed fellow Sherlockians to visit his splendid recreation of the sitting-room at 221B Baker Street in his home in Reading, PA. Now, as Denny prepares to move his amazing room to a place of safekeeping, he has invited his Red Circle friends to an open house on Saturday, August 10, beginning at 11:00 am. When you visit, you'll be able to purchase books and other Sherlockiana that have been donated to the BSI Trust. Plan now to take advantage of what may be your last chance to enjoy this remarkable homage to The Great Detective. Contact Denny directly to rsvp and get directions to Reading. 7/1/24 AR
Holmes manuscript brings record price at auction June 26 saw five Sherlockian lots go under the hammer at Sotheby’s. The star of the show was the manuscript of the second
Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four, which sold for $960,000, making it the most valuable Sherlockian item ever sold at auction. Next up was the breathtaking original Sidney Paget illustration called “The Death of Sherlock Holmes,” which was an accurate title for the work when it was created. It shows Holmes and Moriarty grappling on the path above the Falls of Reichenbach just before the tumble into the abyss. Perhaps the most well known of Paget’s Sherlockian illustrations, it sold for $384,000, about 10% above the top end of the pre-auction estimate. Two of the other items brought more “down-to-earth” prices, and bidding on one didn’t reach the reserve. Detailed information about the auction is in Peter Blau's Scuttlebutt here. Our friend Randall Stock, who keeps careful track of the whereabouts and provenance of manuscripts and other significant Sherlockiana, confirms that the highest price ever paid for a copy of Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887—the pulp magazine that first carried the first Holmes adventure written, A Study in Scarlet—was $156,000. That sale was back in 2007. Considered by many the brass ring of Sherlockian collectibles, your webmaster’s mind boggles at what one of the few surviving copies of “The Beeton’s” might fetch today. 7/8/24 AR
It ain’t just for Shakespeare anymore Washingtonians are delighted that the glorious Folger Shakespeare Library has just re-opened. Folger docent and Red Circle stalwart Sarah Rosenbaum reports that the celebration features a look at some treasures from the Stuart and Mimi Rose collection, including works by Jonathan Swift, Charles Darwin, Voltaire, James Joyce, L. Frank Baum, and—oh yes—the manuscript of The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. Not to be missed, the exhibition will be open until January 5. The library is on East Capitol Street, between 2nd and 3rd Streets, SE. Be sure to say hi to Sarah if she's there when you visit. 6/25/24 AR
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The Thing’s a Play! What really happened when Holmes returned from The Great Hiatus and greeted Mrs. Hudson at 221B? Sherlockian Ray Betzner has penned a seven minute solution to that question in the form of a suitably irreverant drama, performed at the 2024 William Gillette Luncheon in New York. Carrying on Gillette’s pioneering work as Sherlock Holmes was Curtis Armstrong, himself a celebrated actor (Revenge of the Nerds, Risky Business). Opposite Curtis as Mrs. Hudson was Dr. Ashley Polasek, possibly the only Sherlockian who holds a Ph.D. in Holmes adaptations. Rounding out the cast in the role of the dummy (OK, the bust) was multi-award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig, who proved conclusively that there really are such things as small roles. Thanks to the recording made by the Red Circle’s Matt Hall, and permission to use the “intellectual” property from all involved, you’re invited to enjoy Mrs. Hudson and the Return of Sherlock Holmes here. Have fun! 1/31/24 AR
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- Be an Inner Circle Contributor We welcome submissions from all quarters for this page. Please direct materials to the webmaster, alan@redcircledc.org
- For earlier, archived items from The Inner Circle, click here.
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