EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter James Coyne has been tapped to pen a rewrite ofSherlock Holmes 3. This re-kickstarts the threequel to Warner Bros’ franchise, which will return Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law and director Guy Ritchie. Ritchie/Wigram Productions, Team Downey, Silver Pictures, Dan Lin and Warner Bros are producing it.

It was October 2011 when Deadline broke the news that Iron Man 3 scribe Drew Pearce had been set by the studio to pen the next installment of the series. That came just before the second pic, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows bowed. It ended up outgrossing the 2009 original with a $186.8 million domestic haul and a worldwide take of $545.4M.

Coyne reteams with Lionel Wigram and Warners, after he penned last year’s Black List script Treasure Island for them. He is repped by Gersh and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson.

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Also;

While critics didn’t exactly love 2011’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Robert Downey Jr.’s blockbuster sequel snatched up over $545 million worldwide. That’s a number studios don’t exactly ignore, especially Warner Bros.

Which is why they’re still going ahead with a third film. Now, way back in 2011, it was announced that Iron Man 3 screenwriter Drew Pearce was slated to figure out the next mystery for Holmes to solve. Not anymore.

As Deadline reports, they’ve now hired James Coyne to piece together a proper puzzle, which jives with what Downey Jr. said last week about filming starting later this year.

Sadly, Coyne doesn’t have much to his name, which makes this choice seem rather elementary, but at least we’ll have Downey Jr., Jude Law, and director Guy Ritchie back into the fold.

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It's offical . . .

Daughter received her first official investiture into a Sherlock Holmes society this past Friday.
She is now a member of that august group The Chester Baskerville society.

Always a fun night when we go to one of their events. As much social as Sherlockian.

She made sure we framed her certificate the next morning.

Maybe she will beat me to the BSI?

Moriarty seems to still be on the run.

Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer: 'I don't give a f*** what my marathon time is'

Actress Natalie Dormer has completed the London Marathon just 30 seconds slower than her last attempt.

But she told reporters that she "doesn't five a f*** what her time is" because all she wanted to do was to raise money to help the NSPCC.

Natalie Dormer, who was running to raise money for ChildLine, said: "I'm here today because 3,000 children get in contact with ChildLine every day. And we don't have enough money to talk to every single one of them."

She is among 900 others running for NSPCC to raise money for the charity to ensure more children can be heard. 

The actress said she had personally raised over £5,000 for the children's charity.

In total, today's NSPCC runners are hoping to raise over £2.3 million. 

Running the course in three hours and 51 minutes, the actress said she was happy to see her time was at least consistent.

With the marathon over for another year, Natalie said she was looking forward to curling up on the sofa and eating whatever she wants while watching Game of Thrones which premieres tonight.

There was a Holmes in the race also.

Elementary - Season 4, Episodes 21, and 22

While these two episodes have maintained the level of good procedural that has been this season, the noticeable things to make it more Sherlockian as not increase.
'Ain't nothing like the real thing', episode 21 was about a staged murder which acutally turned to into a double murder by a soon to be jilted wife.

Episode 22, 'Turn it upside down', was a triple murder used to cover up the intend target.
Holmes at first suspected that his father my have had something to do with it because the target worked for Morland Holmes.
These two episodes were tied together because the target victim had been someone Joan Watson had been working with to uncover a mole in Morlands empire.

Morlands storyline with the younger Holmes is starting to grow a little stale so I hope they find a way to pick that up a bit.

Combining a story line into these two episodes with them carrying over into the next two episodes makes me wonder, still, why they didn't do such justice to Hound. While I agree with James assestment of Hound, I still don't think they did just to the most popular story in the Canon.

The ending of 'Turn it upside down', along with next weeks previews, suggest Natalie Dormers 'Moriarty' my be coming back. I look forward to that return if it is to be.

The show does however still need to find more Sherlockian spark.

Overall, these two episode have once again helped make this the strongest season so far for Eementary.

Wax on, wax off. . . . . .

Madame Tussauds is swapping its famous waxworks for real-life actors to recreate the Victorian London of Sherlock Holmes.  

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective is being brought to life a stone’s throw from Holmes’s 221B Baker Street address after the venue, one of London’s biggest tourist attractions, teamed up with immersive theatre group Les Enfants Terribles.

The team, whose critically acclaimed Alice’s Adventures Underground took place in the vaults under Waterloo station, are creating a permanent Sherlock Holmes experience and a limited run of evening shows called The Game’s Afoot where the audience becomes the detective to solve a crime.

Producer Emma Brunjes said the venue had given them “a blank canvas” to recreate the Victorian London of Holmes and his sidekick Watson, complete with lamp-lit streets and the misty moor sheltering the Hound of the Baskervilles. She said: “The idea of The Game’s Afoot is that in groups of 40 you are locked in the space for an hour and you are asked to solve the crime.

“You are given key facts and then you can roam through the space, meet different actors, interrogate them, get given clues. It is a sort of human-sized Cluedo.

“Immersive theatre is a really good way for new audiences to get into theatre for the first time.

“The key thing for us is we are putting the audience at the heart of the story. We’re not saying this is Sherlock, this is what he looks like — we’re saying you’re Sherlock, you solve this crime and then maybe you’ll get to meet the man later.”

Madame Tussauds general manager Edward Fuller said: “Sherlock Holmes: The Experience will be the first in Madame Tussauds’ history to tap in to the increasing demand for immersive theatrical adventures.” The rise of this kind of theatre has seen venues set up in unlikely locations including tower blocks, pubs, churches and disused warehouses. 

One current show, called Virtually Dead, sees the audience meet at a secret east London location, to be taken in a blacked-out van to a “military facility” where they fight zombies. Secret Cinema’s recent version of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later sees the audience wearing medical scrubs and lying in hospital beds. Other shows have trapped audiences in laboratories full of man-eating plants or got them caught up in an old-school crime caper. 

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The Adventure of the Creeping Man.

This coming Friday I will once again have the pleasure of attending a meeting with the Chester Baskerville Society in Chester Ill.

One of the cases to be discussed on Friday will being The Adventure of the Creeping Man. And because I am not an illuminating source myself, I some times need to reread the source material to make sure I get most of the things I discuss straight.
And so I did with CREE.

Some of the richest material in the Canon can be found in the first couple of paragraphs. Especially as it pertains to the relationship between Holmes and Watson. Usually those first paragraphs are often my favorite parts of the story. I love Baker St. as the setting and the things that take place there. This also proves to be the case with the Creeping Man.

The story was published in 1923, and Watson states in the first paragraph; ". . .  twenty years ago agitated the university and were echoed . . ." and clearly stating in the next paragraph that in took place in Sept. of 1903. So we can accept the date.

Holmes was not quite 50 years old, and as Watson states, this was one of his last cases. His retirement was not far away.

We have often assumed by various references that Holmes and Watson did not see a lot of each other once Holmes moved to Sussex. Watson even suggests the the relationship between the two men was rather peculiar.

And when you read that line in the third paragraph of CREE, we should probably start wondering if Watson had started to tire of his role. Was the relationship starting to get strained between the two?
In the paragraph that follows, Watson does not describe how he sees himself in that role in a very good light.

Watson says;

"The relations between us in those latter days were peculiar. He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them. As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable. When it was a case of active work and a comrade was needed upon whose nerve he could place some reliance, my role was obvious. But apart from this I had uses. I was a whetstone for his mind. I stimulated him. He liked to think aloud in my presence. His remarks could hardly be said to be made to me—many of them would have been as appropriately addressed to his bedstead—but none the less, having formed the habit, it had become in some way helpful that I should register and interject. If I irritated him by a certain methodical slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only to make his own flame-like intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and swiftly. Such was my humble role in our alliance."

Such does not sound like a man who was thrilled to receive the message; "Come at once if convenient—if inconvenient come all the same. — S. H."
While to most Sherlockians this is one of our favorite quotes from the Canon, it can be suggested that Watson may not have been as excited as we would like to think it recieving it.

In the next paragraph Watson continues; "With a wave of his hand he indicated my old armchair, but otherwise for half an hour he gave no sign that he was aware of my presence."
We are not surprised by this behavior from Holmes, as we have come to expect this posture from Holmes, but one can sense some annoyance in Watsons tone at this dissmissal.
Watson doesn't seem to relish his role as much as we may have once believed.
Was he tired of being expected to come if inconvenient all the same?
Had his practice and his private life made coming if inconvenient difficult? (We know once again that Watson was married.)
Had his priorities changed?
Did he not require the stimulation of the chase as much as he once did?

The reasons are really not all that important to us unless we look at this growing distance between the two as a gradual cooling of the friendship that we as Sherlockians may not wish to consider.

I don't get the feeling in those first two paragraphs that the return to Baker St. was as comforting a ritual for Watson as it had once been.
Like his old armchair, had the relationship become worn and tattered?

A few paragraphs later, after Holmes as some what explained the case to him Watson says; "I sank back in my chair in some disappointment. Was it for so trivial a question as this that I had been summoned from my work?"

This does not sound like the response of a man who is once again excited to be involved with a case with his former room-mate. This does not sound like a man who has come with an open mind, who trusted that his friend would not waste his time.

And in the next line Holmes says; “The same old Watson!”. After all those years had Watson grown tired of being "The same old Watson!"?

From that point on (except while drinking that "bottle of the famous vintage of which Holmes had spoken . . .") Watson keeps suggesting solutions that would allow him to escape as soon as possible.
He is not excited to be involved! 
Has Watson tired of 'The Game'?

Most Chronologies show only two more cases recorded by Watson after CREE. The next would be six years later, with the last one five years after that. And if we are good Sherlockians we might assume that one or two unknown ones still lie in that old tin box, but maybe not as many as we would like to believe.

None of us like to think of friendships drifting apart, and if we are honest, it really unsettles us if it happens to Holmes and Watson, even more so if it is not just because of distance.

Was it an attempt by Holmes to rekindle what once was?

What was their relationship like at the time of CREE?

Maybe I have read too much between the lines. But, hey! That's what playing the game is all about.

Another wonderful quote from this case would be; "It’s surely time that I disappeared into that little farm of my dreams." 

And I leave you with one thought; Did no one think to talk to the coachman earlier?
"The uproar had brought the sleepy and astonished coachman from his room above the stables. “I’m not surprised,” said he, shaking his head. “I’ve seen him at it before. I knew the dog would get him sooner or later.”"



But to leave on a happier note, here are two images that may make us imagine where Holmes and Watson stayed on this adventure. Possible locations for the Chequers.

Looking for a good read?

Finding Sherlock Holmes in Toronto

The Toronto Reference Public Library, like Rem Koolhaas’ Seattle Public Library, is architecture that makes library use a community activity, yet affords privacy, while showcasing the tremendous archives and resources available to all who visit the library. The library’s open yet futuristic interior design makes is so that no matter where you are in the library you can see the rest of it, and it’s impressive. However, I was not visiting the library for the architecture, instead I was there on a more arcane mission: I was in search of Sherlock Holmes, or to put it another way I was there to investigate the strange case of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the library.

On the library’s fifth floor, among their special collections behind glass doors sits a complete room, one that seems transported from a Victorian home, book lined floor to ceiling shelves, a desk, benches to sit on, a high-backed chair and a mantel place – and it is all devoted to the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. All of his works: his novels, his plays, his journalism, his non-fiction on subjects from spiritualism to true crime. And yes, much of it is devoted to Sherlock Holmes. Outside the room is a curved wall which, itself, houses first and other editions of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales. Appropriately the Conan Doyle Collection has been referred to as “Room 221B.”

How this extensive and ever expanding collection of Doylesiana came to be is a story all its own. In 1969, the library acquired some 200 volumes from the estate of Toronto rare book collector Arthur Baillie, as well as over 1500 items from Harold Mortlake of London, England. The following year the Library acquired a vast trove of Sherlockian material from Toronto collector Judge S. Tepper Bigelow, as well as over 200 editions of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story, “The Sign of the Four” from American collector Nathan L. Bengis.

 During his tenure Cameron Collyer, the first Curator of the Collection (who retired in 1991), grew the collection substantially. Today it includes, the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print in Beeton’s Christmas Annual for 1887, William Gillette ’s Sherlock Holmes play, letters and notebooks of Doyles’ and many, many editions of works relating to Doyle and to great detective Holmes. The collection is constantly updated new critical, biographical works about Doyle as well as new pastiches of Sherlock Holmes. In recent years, Doyle himself has become a character in fictions and those works are collected as well.

There are handsome slipped case first editions, and slip cased copies of the Strand, there are minutes of meetings of the Baker Street Irregulars, and the menus from their annual dinners, that are books and books about Doyle and his works, and Sherlock Holmes tales from every imaginable place, including Japan, (the work of Holmes expert Leslie Klinger is well represented). On the mantel place there is even a meerschaum pipe and a horn-handled magnifying glass with the inscription “Sherlock Holmes, 221B Baker Street, London”.

And here’s the thing, you are allowed to browse and handle any and all, no special gloves, no person looking over your shoulder, for as long as you like, as much you like. You can lose yourself in this amazing assembled collection of Conan Doyle. At most other places, you would see a selection of items behind class, and not really be able to explore the collection, and hold in your hands the originals the way you are here. All in all, it is quite delicious, an unexpected jewel, right there on the fifth floor of the remarkable Toronto Reference Library.

The collection can be seen during regular library hours, for more info visit the library website.

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It's not time to hold your breath yet. . . .

'Sherlock Holmes 3' movie news indicates that a script could be nearing completion

Virginia D'Cruz

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Monday, April 18 2016

With the last two "Sherlock Holmes" movies starring Robert Downey Jr. doing better business than expected and helping build interest in the film franchise, there have been rumors that the third movie is in the works.

The last concrete news about "Sherlock Holmes 3" was during 2015, and since that time, the movie has not been green lit. During that time, there was talk that the script was being crafted for the third movie, but since then, official news about the movie has been scant. IGN also quoted the producer of the film series Lionel Wigram stating that a script was being worked on. Right now, this could mean the script is possibly finished and more details pertaining to it could be released soon.

Importantly, the two "Sherlock Holmes" movies that Robert Downey Jr. has been part of were directed by Guy Ritchie and they managed to reboot the franchise successfully and make it more interesting. There has been a lot of interest in series and films around Sherlock Holmes recently; in fact, the TV series "Sherlock," which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor John Watson, has also been doing very well, but as with the film franchise, most of the interest is focused on the two central characters.

Therefore, if the "Sherlock Holmes 3" is announced, it will have to include Robert Downey Jr. playing Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law once again stepping into the shoes of John Watson. Right now, however, there are no indications that Robert Downey Jr. has enough time to devote to a third "Sherlock Holmes" movie as he is tied down with the superhero flicks in the Marvel franchise.

Meanwhile, the news that the script for the movie is being developed is welcome and there are indications that it could be based on one of the original stories penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who created the books. Law and Downey Jr. have expressed interest in working on the third film so it is likely that if and when it is announced, both these actors will be on board.

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Will he end up doing all the classics?

From Doctor Strange to Dr Seuss: Benedict Cumberbatch is new Grinch

Sherlock star to voice the curmudgeonly festive party pooper previously portrayed on screen by Jim Carrey and Boris Karloff

Benedict Cumberbatch is to take the starring role in a new animated adaptation of Dr Seuss’s classic children’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! from the makers of Despicable Me.

The news was announced by Illumination Entertainment, the animation studio offshoot of Universal which produced the supervillain movies and last year’s spin-off Minions.

Marvel's Doctor Strange: Does Benedict Cumberbatch have you under his spell?

 

Read more

Cumberbatch succeeds Jim Carrey, who played the role in the live-action 2000 film. Horror icon Boris Karloff voiced the cave-dwelling curmudgeon in an earlier 1966 animated adaptation.

“We were determined to make a choice that would not only define this version of The Grinch as absolutely singular, but most importantly, we were looking for a voice to express comedic wickedness while embodying vulnerability,” Illumination Entertainment CEO Chris Meledandri told delegates at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. “It is that vulnerability that allows us to create a character that is not only highly entertaining, but also has an irresistible appeal.” Meledandri said the film, which is due in November 2017, would be “both modern and classic”.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is about a moody monster who steals all the presents and festive accoutrements from the home of a family who live near his cave, but is amazed to note that his victims do not lose their Christmas spirit. Dr Seuss, real name Theodor Geisel, published the book in 1957 and it remains among the American author’s best-known works.

Cumberbatch is hoovering up the high profile Hollywood roles, having recentlydebuted as Doctor Strange in the first trailer for the forthcoming Marvel comic book epic. He will also voice the tiger Shere Khan in Andy Serkis’s version of The Jungle Book for studio Warner Bros in 2018 – Disney’s rival version, out this weekend, features Idris Elba as the vengeful big cat – and is tipped to portray famed illusionist Jasper Maskelyne in period drama The War Magician.

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Elementary S4, E19 and 20, The Two Hour Elementary Event!

Well, that's kind of the way it was hyped.
When in fact it was just two seperate episodes with a back story connecting story, which is kind of what these shows do on a weekly basis anyway.
The two episodes were; 'All in', about an illegal poker game that is robbed to coverup the real purpose for the games interruption.
And, 'Art imitates Art', about a murder to cover up a previous murder.
And mixed in with these two stories was Joan finding out she has a half sister.

Both episodes continued in the solid epsisodes that have become the norm for this season.

In 'All in' there were some good Sherlockian connections.
 - While bouncing Sherlock comments on how slow crime is in New York with no murders over the last week.
- He also commented on how he does not retain useless information in his mind.
-He also complimented Bell for seeming to be picking up on what Holmes is teaching him. (With Bell noticing the camera in the ceiling)

While other observations were well done, I would have to question the bullet casing burn on the dealers arm (unless it was a plant). Nothing in the video of the robbery would suggest her falling on the casing took place anywhere close to when the shot was fired, or that the caing would remain that hot for that long.

'Art imitates Art' was again a solid episode with some good twists and turns, and again a commentary on modern society.

The only thing that still bothers me about the series is the shows need to make Holmes seem like he is hung up on sex, pertaining to himself and others.

We also once again find out Watson is not Joans real last name. I our image of Watson, does that matter?

Two, once again, solid episodes. This show will always have the problem of creating the 'atmosphere' of a Sherlock Holmes story, and I do not think that is its goal.

So I once again give these episodes;

And while we are on the subject . . . .

A Female Sherlock Holmes? It Ought to Be Elementary!

Sherlock Holmes Has Been a Mouse and a Muppet, but Never a Woman?

Posted May 16, 2015

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most beloved characters of the last 100+ years. From a media psychologists’ perspective, the love of all things Sherlock is no mystery at all. I consider Holmes a super hero. Sure, he doesn’t fly or wear tights.  Rather, he’s a sort of intellectual superhero who saves the day, makes thing right and protects the people.

There are so many reasons to love Holmes. He’s so damned smart. He sees readily what other people miss. He’s discerning. He’s wise. When you watch or read Sherlock Holmes, part of you is enjoying the ride he takes you on, and part of you – admit it now – part of you wants to BE him.

I want to be Sherlock Holmes. But, wait! I forgot. I can’t be Sherlock Holmes. Because I’m a woman.

A Mouse or a Muppet? OK. A Woman? No Way! 

Holmes has been played on the stage and screen so many times by so many people. Heck, he’s been stretched and squashed into the Great Mouse Detective and the Muppet’s Sherlock Hemlock and the Firesign Theatre’s Hemlock Stones. Now there’s an animated series in Japan called “Sherlock Gakuen.”

[BTW, the Japanese love Holmes. They have nicknames for the BBC Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. They call Benedict “Curly Fu” and Martin “Peanut”.]

Now, I know what you’re saying…but Lucy Liu! Yes, Lucy Liu plays the John Watson character on ABC’s Elementary. And that’s great!

So, answer me this. While we’ve watched so many boys and men play Sherlock Holmes from the West End to Hollywood, from the High School stage to the Saturday morning cartoon – and while there have been any number of animal and even alien Sherlocks – why not a female Sherlock Holmes?

Beyond that, if you tally up the percentage of female superheroes who play the lead and who are not depicted as inferior to the men or as sidekicks, girlfriends or other supporting roles  -- you’ll see that the women who get to suit up and show up are in the minority still by a pretty wide margin.

Oh, Who Cares?

You may ask, “Oh, come on! Who cares?” Some people say that nothing we see on screens matters at all – that it is merely entertainment and therefore is completely unrelated to how we think and feel. Maybe it would make us feel more comfortable about our choices if this were true. But the research tells us that it does matter what stories our culture tells us about girls and women.

For Our Daughters

When you take your little girl to the movies and time after time, the hero is a boy, it tells her that she can never be the hero of the story. It tells her that boys are in charge and that the best she can hope for is to play a supporting role. It tells her she’s “less than” --that she’s a second-class citizen.

When I was a little girl, most of the heros I read about and watched were boys and men. I had really hoped that by the time I had a daughter, this would be a laughable thing of the past. With all the strides we’ve made towards equality, how can we sit here in 2015 and still be facing this kind of underrepresentation? The kind of disrespect through marginalization and stereotypical representation? 

The glimmer of hope I feel right now is that there seems to be a ground swell of movement among those of us who have had enough of the old school rules and who want something better for their daughters. Currently, for example, in the comic books, Thor is a woman. There are lively conversations about Black Widow and her depiction in theAvengers movies. There are some good female lead roles for detectives such as onBones or Veronica Mars. We're showing our little girls that a woman can run for president and maybe even win. Can't she win on the screen and on the page as well?

Is it time for a woman to play Sherlock Holmes? Heck, yeah! Where can I find a female Holmes – someone who is not afraid to be the smartest woman – the smartest person – in the room? Someone who’s ready to take on criminals andstereotypes too? Someone who wants more out of life than to be relegated to the supporting cast?

Well, I know where you can find her. If you, like me, hungered for a girl Sherlock. A girlock? If you hungered for…Herlock. Well, she’s ready for you to check her out. A year ago, I gave this idea to my husband, playwright and screenwriter Lee Shackleford (who starred as Holmes off Broadway in a play he also wrote called Holmes & Watson). Lee wrote the script for a TV pilot with a female Holmes and Watson. . Then he teamed up with his Hollywood colleague David Duncan who found us our actresses – Gia Mora as Sheridan Hume (get it?) and Alana Jordan as Jonny Watts.

Click here: http://www.herlock.us if you want to watch our pilot for free. And if you like what you see, join the movement to bring Herlock to life again. And thank you…for my daughter and for yours.

This blog entry is dedicated to my daughter, Regan Sophia, and her friends.

Credit where credit is due.

Karen E. Dill-Shackleford Ph.D.How Fantasy Becomes Reality

Was it, and I quote from Brad, a ". . .male-dominated Sherlockian culture" back in the day?

Well, sure it was! Remember, 'back in the day' society was still very use to private clubs that catered to a certain audience.

Probably most, defiantly many would have been like the Diogenes Club, you hung out with those of like mind. If you loved fishing with a worm and cane pole, you probably would not join a fly-fishing group as it were.

Mostly male represented activities would be run mostly by males. Likewise, mostly female represented activities would be run by mostly females.

It wasn’t a matter of whether that was fair or not, it was just the way society was. And thankfully that is changing.

And since Holmes and Watson were, well, male, it would seem most likely that, well, males would form a club about them.

While there have probably always been men who have wanted to join a Jane Austin club, it is true that there have always been women who enjoyed the stories of Sherlock Holmes.

Put since, up till recently, society has usually separated the genders in clubbable situations; Sherlockians groups have mostly been male dominated by males.

But for at least as long as I have been a Sherlockian (the late 70’s) there have been very knowledgeable and active women in Sherlockian society. But still a limited number compared to now.

And that brings up two good points.

One; How much of this surge in female Sherlockian popularity is because of how handsome Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are and the fact that ‘Sherlock’ is set in modern times?  And how fashionable the coupling of these two is with this modern incarnation of that dynamic duo.

Second; how much of this new mass female participation will survive when the show comes to an end?

I am not against a group of men, or women, who chose to want to hang out in groups with only their own gender. And I also am okay with groups that want to remain exclusive. . . even if I don’t want to belong to any of them.

And I am equally glad of the contribution women make to the world of Sherlock Holmes.

But I think, in a while, when all the fascination over ‘Sherlock’ goes away we will see, once again, a decrease in female participation.

I do however hope that is not the case because they have so much to offer.

Now, actually running a Sherlock Holmes club. . . . . . ;)

IHOSE made me think of it.

I few years ago I wrote about how I missed the use of coins in everyday life. And how coins of an English nature made much better visuals in stories than say American coins.
Just a few English coins seemed ( I said seemed) to represent a lot of money in English movies and stories.
Most things seemed to be able to be purchased with what ever coins the 'gents' had in their pockets.
This of course is an over-simplification, but it did seem to be the case.
IHOSE's discussion on the Guinea Coin made me think also of another coin that is no longer around.
The Half-Penny. I remember the half-penny, and have a few pre-decimal ones as well as the newer ones. They came out of circulation in 1984.
Of course it was always the pre-decimal ones that were the best. The ones we didn't actually call a half-penny, but were always referred to as a "hayp'nny".
I know over here coins aren't used nearly as much as they once were ( a fine example of that is watching cashiers actually having to count out change ).
Ah, well. At least we don't have to wear suspenders anymore to keep our coin ladened pants up.

Well, I think it is neat to watch Holmes (Brett or anyone else) pay the cabbie in coins. Or pull a few coins out of a pocket to pay for a pint.

My mom still tells my daughter this poem;

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
Please to put a penny in the old man's hat;
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you!

Jeffrey Hatcher Brings Sherlock Holmes Back to the Stage. The plot sounds fun.

The original new stage show is from the Mr. Holmes screenwriter.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary season, Arizona Theatre Company has commissioned a new Sherlock Holmes mystery, titled Holmes and Watson, which will have its world premiere in Tucson April 15-May 6, 2017, and in Phoenix May 11-28, 2017.

The play is being written by Jeffrey Hatcher, who is familiar with the characters: He wrote the screenplay to the 2015 film Mr. Holmes, which starred Ian McKellen as the sleuth in his 90s. He also wrote the libretto for the non-Holmesian 2003 Broadway musical Never Gonna Dance.

No casting for Holmes and Watson has been announced.

According to Holmes and Watson production notes, “Following Holmes’ ‘death’ at Reichenbach Falls, Dr. Watson is called upon to disprove the many frauds, fakes and charlatans who have popped-up claiming to be Holmes all over the world. Then…a newspaper clipping arrives. A remote mental asylum on an island off the coast of Scotland reports that three men have recently been admitted, each claiming to be the late detective.”

For tickets and for more information about Arizona Theatre Company's complete 2016-17 season, visit Arizonatheatre.org. 

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