Inner Circle Archive 2023 – RedCircleDC.org

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Getting Away with Murder in "The Red Circle" The amiable Michigan lawyer and avid Sherlockian Rich Krisciunas devotes his December "Sherlockian Law 101" talk to our namesake story, and discusses how the law might treat the devilry described therein. Rich looks at the story through an attorney's eyes for an enjoyable 12 minutes of video. You're invited to view the video here.

Screening a Masterpiece Whenever we watch William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes in the 1916 film that was lost until it was found in Paris almost a decade ago, we're transfixed by the remarkable screen presence of this pioneering Sherlockian actor. And when we watch it projected perfectly on the big screen at the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre, enriched by a live score played by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton, the package could not be more complete or more enjoyable. Great thanks to the AFI's Todd Hitchcock for scheduling the film on November 4 and for inviting your webmaster to introduce it, which I was very happy to do. The AFI is always looking for good Sherlock to showcase, so watch this space for more news! 11/6/23 AR

Sherlock Walk debuts in Toronto The superb collection of priceless Sherlockian books is reason enough to visit the Toronto Reference Library, but now everyone can "tread in the footsteps" of the Great Detective on the brand new Sherlock Walk next to the stunning building. Our friend Peggy MacFarlane sends along this photo of the new mural that lines the walk, the work of multiple Toronto artists. Kudos to Cliff Goldfarb and Peggy for championing the project! 12/9/2023 AR

The Show Must Go On A throng of Red Circle stalwarts was on hand at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg for the September 30 performance of R. Hamilton Wright’s play Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem. Even so, the meeting of the Red Circle, scheduled to coincide with the performance, was cancelled at the last minute. Peter Blau was under the weather (nothing serious) and was unable to attend. Upon learning this, Carla Coupe and your webmaster made a dramatic decision just before the house lights dimmed: we formally cancelled the Red Circle meeting, thereby preserving Peter’s record of never having missed one since he reconstituted our merry band more than a half century ago. Despite our decree, the Kentlands Community Players proceeded with the performance, and all in attendance were very glad they did, agreeing unanimously that both the play and the performance were very enjoyable indeed. After the curtain calls, the evening concluded with a lively talkback among the cast, director Vanessa Markowitz and the enthusiastic audience. 10/2/23 AR

Red Circle Mugs Available at March Meeting The Red Circle's new coffee mug will debut at our March 11 meeting. As you can see from the mug shots, the cup features a red interior and handle, and an attractive rendering of our famous graphic design on both sides. There's even a QR code that will take you right here to our website! The mugs can be yours while supplies last for $10 each, and will only be available at the meeting. No mail orders. They're bound to become collectors' items, so be sure to get yours! For a larger look, click on the mug shots. 2/7/2023 AR

Glen Miranker featured speaker at March 11 meeting The renowned Sherlockian collector Glen Miranker joined us at our March 11 luncheon meeting, and answered the question, "Why (Does Glen Miranker) Collect Books?" The meeting was well attended and Glen's talk was enjoyable and much appreciated by all. Read Peter Blau's meeting notes here. With great thanks to Matt Hall, the video of Glen's presentation is available. It's highly recommended for those who weren't at the meeting--and for those who were there and would like another look! Just click the video button.

Paxton Whitehead to join The Red Circle for its June meeting We are looking forward to welcoming actor, theatre director and playwright Paxton Whitehead to the Red Circle's June 24 luncheon. On the boards since 1956, Mr. Whitehead joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1958. Among his countless roles on stage, screen and television is his Broadway run as Sherlock Holmes in Paul Giovanni's Crucifer of Blood in 1978 and 79. Two decades later, he did another turn as the great detective in The Mask of Moriarty at New Jersey's acclaimed Paper Mill Playhouse. He was nominated for both Tony and Drama Desk awards for his role as Pellinore in the 1980 Broadway revival of Camelot. You won't want to miss this opportunity. Full details are here. For reservations email Peter Blau or call him at 301-229-5669.

"Art in the Blood is liable to take the strangest forms," said Sherlock Holmes in "The Greek Interpreter." He went on to reveal that his roots trace back to the multi-generational French family of artists named Vernet. Among them was Carle Vernet (1758-1836), the detective's second grand uncle. Mary Burke alerts us that an exhibition of Carle Vernet's work will be on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through August 27. Information here. 3/3/23 AR

AFI Celebrates Barrymore's 1922 Sherlock Holmes with Centennial Screening The American Film Institute's Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland was the perfect place to present John Barrymore's star turn in the classic silent film Sherlock Holmes on the 100th anniversary of its release. A number of Red Circle members joined other film fans at the AFI's showcase theatre for the November 13 event, which was greatly enhanced by a live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton. Your webmaster was also on hand to introduce the film. The AFI's programming director Todd Hitchcock was a gracious host, and tells us that he's aiming for more Sherlock Holmes programming at the Silver in the near future. Watch this space! 11/14/22 AR

"Operation Sting" remembered. Peter Blau is not the only Red Circle veteran who remembers the mid-70s law enforcement operation that resulted in more than 100 arrests of theives who fenced their plunder to FBI and DC police officers posing as wise guys of the Italian mob. FBI agent Bob Lill and DC lieutenant Bob Arscott adopted comical (not to say offensive) "noms de sting" like Rico Rigatone and Angelo Lasagna to front the operation. Later, Arscott was a featured speaker at Bouchercon at the National Press Club, with many from the Red Circle participaing in the festivities. A humorous four-minute video from WETA details the operation. Watch it here. 9/20/23 A

The Red Circle Redux Some of us--like Peter Blau--remember the days when movie theaters used multi-part serials to encourage customers to come back every week, and one of them was Daredevils of the Red Circle, a 12-part serial released by Republic Pictures in 1939. It's not at all Sherlockian, but there's a mad killer involved and of course it has a very nice title! If you don't mind spoilers you can read all about it here and watch it on YouTube here. 4/10/23 PB

Rare (but not stuffy) Books Rebecca Romney and Brian Cassidy are rare book sellers here in the Washington area. They're the proprietors of Type Punch Matrix in Silver Spring, and Rebecca has been the rare book guru on TV's Pawn Stars since 2011. Both Rebecca and Brian are Sherlockians and Red Circle members. Washingtonian magazine has just published a very nice article about the duo and their book emporium. It's a delightful read. Punch it up here. 2/7/23 AR

A "Red Circle" Compendium A lasting Sherlockian legacy of the COVID plague is The Legion of Zoom, an amalgamation of Sherlockians who have participated in more sciontific Zoom meetings than ought to be permissible under international humanitarian law. The Legion, via sparklug Steve Mason, is providing its members cannily curated compendiums of canonical chronicles, and has graciously allowed us to share with you the edition devoted to “The Red Circle.” It’s great fun to see “our” story’s story, with characters, plot points, publication history, artwork and more wrapped in a handsome package. Have a look for yourself, and enjoy! 2/6/23 AR

The Red Circle meets Artificial Intelligence With all the commotion about artificial intelligence lately, your webmaster decided to see what the now-famous online guru called ChatGPT has to say about us. On one hand, it's amazing that it got some things right; on the other, well, maybe it needs a little work. See for yourself. ChatGPT's "term paper" is available for you to peruse. Click here to share the fun. 2/3/23 AR

Archive 2023

Here are items that have appeared on our front page feature section, "The Inner Circle," in 2023. We have included those items that may have some continuing interest; however, some of the links in the items may no longer function due to the removal from the internet of the underlying material.

To review the archives of other sections of our website, click here