HerlockSholmes

I bet you do Pseudonym👍

No matter how good my intentions are I remain the worlds untidiest man. I try not to be but it never works. I put things down thinking ‘I’ll move it later.’ Nope. I’m always forgetting where I put things and then when I find them I can never work out how they got there. It’s an illness I think☹️

How did you get a photograph of my study?😀

I can’t bring any to mind Hikari but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t exist. Doyle would certainly not have approved though.

In addition, baring in mind the conversation about ‘Johnlock’ there is one postcard where Holmes and Watson are kissing! It has a title ‘The Unrecorded Adventure Of Sherlock Holmes’. No other info though.

I’ve just taken delivery of 35 Sherlock Holmes related postcards that I bought from eBay for £6.99. I know have around 50 Holmes postcards and I want to collect more. Amongst the 35 there was one that intrigued me. It was an old photograph of Groombridge Place which is a moated Manor House near Tunbridge Wells in Kent in the south of England not too far from London. I could see any Holmes/Doyle connection though until I checked Wikipedia. Apparently it was the house that Birlstone was based on in The Valley Of Fear (the moat was a clue that I should have spotted.) The house has quite a colourful history. At one time it was used by a gang of smugglers. It also has something called ‘The Drunken Garden’ (I don’t know why) which was a favourite of Doyle’s. On the reverse side of the card there is a message in small neat writing. Just general family stuff. It’s impossible to read the name of the sender but it’s addressed to a Miss GL Whelpton. I googled it and there was an artist of the same name who sold work at auction rooms like Bonhams (one of the top auction rooms alongside Sotheby’s and Christie’s ) Her name was Gertrude L. Whelpton, she exhibited between 1913 and 1921 (but she was still painting in 1927) and she lived in Eastbourne in the south of England. The card is dated August 1921 and the address is Miss GL Whelpton, Clive Cottage, Furness Road, Eastbourne. So it must surely be her? It’s a pity that it wasn’t written by her rather than to her. Nice little bit of history though.🙂

You’re right though, it does. To be honest it doesn’t sound like a great film but.....a collectors lot👍 I might be pleasantly surprised. At least I haven’t spent a lot of cash on it. It was less than £10.

I recall the scene J.P. but I couldnt picture the actor so I looked on IMDb and found that his name is Tim Barlow which rung no bells (there was no photograph). So I googled him and up came a picture and I immediately recognised him as he’d played a criminal masquerading as a Russian nobleman man in the Grenada Holmes episode The Resident Patient.

I also know (well knew) someone that didn’t really like TPLOSH. It’s all subjective of course. It probably is my favourite alongside the Rathbone/Bruce Hound Of The Baskervilles. If anyone wants to see a truly mind-numbingly contemptible Holmes movie look no further than the excreble Hounds Of London starring unquestionably the worst Holmes ever Patrick Macnee. I watched it again a few months ago just to see if it was as awful as I remembered it to be. It was☹️

Thanks J.P 👍

More Holmes nerdiness. I’ve just found a 1932 Czech movie called ‘Lelicek In The Services Of Sherlock Holmes’ which I’ve just ordered👍 I’d never seen it listed anywhere.

As I’ve said before I really do need to re-watch Sherlock. I can’t recall the character of Wilder☹️

You need to watch the movie T.o.b.y, it’s brilliant👍

There is a scene in the Brett series when they walk arm in arm in the street but this was just ‘of the time.’ No one would have thought anything about it. Doyle was a very conventional conservative who would never have countenanced any homosexual overtones. It reminds me of a documentary I saw about British comedy duo Morecambe and Wise. The producers were a little worried about scenes that they were going to film where they shared a flat and a bed. They felt that people might read something in the scenes that weren’t intended. Eric Morecambe put it well though. He said ‘if it was ok for Laurel and Hardy then it’s ok for us.’ About the girl who said ‘I’ll just have to kill myself.’ It’s a strange one. I would have taken her statement with a pinch of salt but that would have been due to me thinking ‘no one would seriously consider suicide for such a trivial reason therefore she wasn’t being literal.’ But who would actually know? Maybe Gatiss reacted in a way that I might have done and maybe we might both have been wrong; not knowing the girls true state of mind. So a more tactful response would have been more appropriate. Let’s hope that she’s ok. I agree with you though Carol that if Moftiss had been a bit less ambiguous and mysterious these misunderstandings would not have occurred and they would have nothing to complain about. They were surely aware at how ‘obsessive’ some fans can be. I, on the other hand, can never be accused of being obsessed with Sherlock Holmes😀

So that’s about as clear as it could be. Not the best way to encourage Moffat and Gatiss to do another series really. Dont you just wish that people would read what people actually say and not what they want them to say?

Thanks J.P. Im just heading out. I’ll read it when I get back👍

As you’ve rightly said, in the movie Holmes pretends that he and Watson are ‘together’ purely to get out of a tricky situation with a Prima Ballerina who wants to have Holmes’ baby because she wants a child that is beautiful like her and brilliant like Holmes. You only have to see Watson’s furious reaction to see that there’s not a grain of truth there. Holmes adds to the comedy of the situation, when Watson says that he’ll have to move out of 221b, by suggesting that they will have to meet on park benches and in deserted railway station waiting rooms! Watson then makes it worse by suggesting ‘we’ll have to get married’ meaning both of them separately to which Holmes replies, ‘then they’d really talk!’ If the movie infers anything it infers that Holmes falls, in some way, for the leading lady. He also, in a quiet moment, talks about his fiancée that died. So I really think that it’s a case of some people jumping on a bandwagon. And you’re right Arcadia, Colin Blakely who played Watson was hardly a looker. As far as going back in time is concerned I can’t recall a single movie, tv or radio series that implies any hint of Holmes and Watson being gay.

Thanks T.o.b.y 👍

Sorry but what’s a ‘gif?’

Thanks for that Arcadia👍 I can see how The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes might have influenced the way that they portrayed the Sherlock/Mycroft relationship as it was definately ‘problematic’ in the movie. Christopher Lee’s Mycroft was quite a cold character unlike Charles Grey’s portrayal for eg. As I’ve said, this whole ’Johnlock’ thing has surprised me. I can’t conceive how anyone could get into a position where they felt that they had a right to demand a say in the script and plot of a show. It looks like Billy Wilder is to blame then? Perhaps the ‘Johnlockists’ should have just read the Canon to see that ACD never hinted, suggested or alluded to Holmes and Watson being gay? And that’s not an anti-gay statement it’s an anti-agenda statement of fact. Anyway, it’s all part of the fun I suppose and I have nothing against new interpretations as long as they respect Doyle’s characters and ideas. Saying that of course everyone is free to discuss anything. Nothing wrong with a few ‘hypotheticals.’😀

Thanks for the explaination Janyss. Not having read much about this particular subject I was wondering if Gatiss had made any wild leaps of imagination. As I said earlier I’d never realised that there was a ‘movement’ who felt that Sherlock and John ( I still have to stop myself typing Holmes and Watson🙂) should be in a relationship. If I recall correctly didn’t they say that they wanted to be as faithful to the original’s as they could within a modern setting. Using the storyline to make a political/sexual statement would definitely not have fallen within that aim. The relationship between Sherlock and his brother is one that I think they’ve handled well. Obviously they’ve read more into things than Doyle intended but it hasn’t been to the detriment of the series or to Doyle’s characters. If you’ve seen the Grenada episode ‘The Golden Prince-Nez’ there’s a scene between Holmes and Mycroft where Mycroft pulls out a small magnifying glass. Holmes observes ‘isn’t that father’s?’ ‘Yes,’ replies Mycroft. Holmes follows with ‘he gave it you you?’ I think that he then says something like ‘how ironic.’ These aren’t the exact words as I’m quoting from memory but it does speak of a definately rivalry. Im not with my books at the moment and so to be honest I can’t recall if this scene is in the actual story or whether it was an addition. I suppose that one difference in the relationship of Holmes and Mycroft compared to that of Sherlock and Mycroft is that in the Canon Holmes fully accepts that Mycroft is his superior in observation and deduction whereas in Sherlock the level of rivalry wouldn’t allow Sherlock to admit to this. In fact Mycroft actually mocks his ‘slower’ younger brother. I think that Gatiss is brilliant as Mycroft. I can even imagine him playing Holmes in a traditional series. There would be something of the Robert Stephens about him. Wouldn’t that be a twist🤔

He’s everywhere! http://www.radiotimes.com/news/film/2018-02-22/heres-benedict-cumberbatch-doing-a-dramatic-reading-of-im-a-little-teapot/amp/

Excellent portrait. I didn’t know that Mark Gatiss could draw?

Hi Janyss, Id like to ask an open question based on the part of your quote that I’ve emboldened and underlined. Out of curiosity what does everyone feel that these implied suggestions are?

As for Star Trek, it’s a strange fact that I can watch and enjoy different actors playing Holmes but for me Kirk and Spock will always be Shatner and Nimoy. I can’t really appreciate others in the role. Just me I suppose🤔