Seventy members and guests, including delegations from Boston, Providence, Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Westchester, attended the 1947 Dinner. Adrian and Denis P.S. Conan Doyle were unable to attend the Dinner, and they sent cablegrams. The latter’s read, “Dear me, Mr. Morley, dear me!” Several attendees delivered scholarly remarks, including Prof. Theo. B. Hunt, Rolfe Boswell, Elmer Davis, and Rex Stout, who expounded upon “The Love-Life of Mr. Moriarty,” in which the evening’s host, the Murray Hill Hotel, as well as 100 maidens, were prominently featured.
Richard W. Clarke, for the Five Orange Pips of Westchester County, presented the Quiz-of-the-Year. It ended in a tie, with Rolfe Boswell and R. G. Harris as victors. C. B. H. Vaill came in second place. Fred Dannay presented those present with copies of the February issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. At the evening’s conclusion, a fifth, uncanonical toast was proposed: “To the Murray Hill Hotel!”
Dinner Details: January 3, 1947
Murray Hill Hotel, 112 Park Avenue at East 40th Street, New York, NY
Dinner Photo Information
Click on the above photo to see a larger version of it, and maximize your browser window to see the most detail.Key to People in the 1947 BSI Dinner photo (digitized image at Harvard)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:None recorded.
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
Not awarded until 1962.
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Mrs. Morris L. Kaplan (Carolyn A. Davis, daughter of Elmer Davis)
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
None this year.
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Not awarded until 1959.
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
Reports on the Dinner
1947 BSI Dinner Minutes (digitized images at Harvard)List of 1947 BSI Dinner Attendees (digitized image at Harvard)
The Baker Street Irregulars, Irregular Proceedings of the Mid ‘Forties, ed. Jon L. Lellenberg, (New York: Fordham University Press, 1995)
Recordings
None available online at this time.Related Materials
1947 BSI Dinner Menu Cover (digitized images at Harvard)Cover, interior, and back. Sequence 20-22.
Five Orange Pips Quiz (digitized images at Harvard)
Quiz given at dinner. 2 pages. Sequence 23-24.
Previous dinner: the 1946 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 1948 BSI Dinner
For an index to all BSI Dinners and photos, see our BSI Dinner Summary list.
The BSI Archive is located at the Houghton Library at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Archival material may be used by any qualified scholar, subject to the normal rules and regulations of the Library. For links to a detailed finding aid and related information, see our BSI Archive at Harvard page.
Page composed on 11/11/14 by Tamar Zeffren.
This page last updated 3/21/15 by Andy Solberg.
