We Stood and Talked Like This Beforeby Steven Rothman, Editor
New voices are being heard in the Sherlockian world, speaking out from quarters either previously silent or unknown. Not since the "young Sherlockian" movement of the 1960s has so much been produced about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Much of it is a reflection of the excitement of viewers of the current films and television shows.
This excitement is no different from that created by previous in-carnations of Holmes among earlier generations of Sherlockians. William Gillette created a stir when he attended the Irregulars' first Annual Dinner in 1934. Vincent Starrett fawned over Gillette's Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce were given membership in the Irregulars. Many BSIs attended Rathbone's ill-fated Broadway appearance as Holmes. A former editor of this Journal refused to even take phone calls when Jeremy Brett was on the television.
The '60s Sherlockians sent their enthusiasms to the world in the form of mimeographed newsletters that reached dozens. The current crop uses the Internet and is read (or heard) by many thousands. Professional-looking blogs mix prose, illustration, and video to communicate Baker Street thoughts. Podcasts allow us to hear authors, actors, and scholars on all manner of Holmesian thought. All of this is helping more people than ever to consider themselves Sherlockians. Few may choose to write scholarship or attend the BSI Weekend, but all of them play the Game in their own way and deserve the title Sherlockian.
The Editor's Gas-Lamp, Spring 2013, Vol. 63, No. 1.
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