A record 84 attendees gathered to commemorate Sherlock Holmes’s 110th Birthday. After Lisa McGaw had been toasted as “The Woman,” Rex Stout called the assembly to order. Departed members were memorialized, and messages of greetings from absent members and Sherlockian societies at home and abroad were acknowledged. It was announced that the late Jay Finley Christ had received the highest Irregular honour, the Two-Shilling Award, in November. An unusual award, “a medal as large as a soup plate,” was presented to one of the waiters for long and faithful service. (“They also serve who only stand and wait.”) Irregular Shillings with Investitures were bestowed upon seven new members.
It was announced that Edward F. Clark, Jr. had won the Morley-Montgomery Award. Herbert Brean then presented a vivid and hilarious account of the difficulties encountered by two budding authors (Poe and Doyle) in their attempts to break into print. The Five Orange Pips Quiz was next on the agenda. The formal part of the programme ended with Lord Donegall's message from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the reports of our Scion Societies.
Dinner Details: January 10, 1964
Cavanagh’s Restaurant, 258 West 23rd Street, New York
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 1964 BSI Dinner photo (PDF)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:James L. Anderson as Inspector Baynes, Surrey Constabulary
Herman Beerman as Sir James Saunders
George F. Burrows as Dr. Grimesby Roylott
Eugene F. Carey as Dr. James Mortimer*
Philip C. Duschnes as The Martyrdom of Man
Douglas Guthrie as The Field Bazaar*
Michael Harrison as The Camberwell Poisoning Case*
Samuel R. Meaker as Sir Jasper Meek*
Peter A. Ruber as Camden House
William R. Smith as The Red Circle
Ben Wolf as Vernet, the French Artist
* received Investiture at another event during the year
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
Jay Finley Christ*
* received award at another event during the year
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Lisa McGaw.
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
None listed in the 1964 BSJ report.
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Edward F. Clark, Jr., “Study of an Untold Tale.”
The Baker Street Journal v13 n4 (December 1963) pp. 217-228. (available in the eBSJ)
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v14 n1 (March 1964) p. 60. (Available in the eBSJ)List of 1964 BSI Dinner Attendees (PDF)
Key to People in the 1964 BSI Dinner photo (PDF)
Recordings
None available online at this time.Related Material
1964 BSI Dinner Menu (digitized image at Harvard)Interior and cover and back. Sequence 15-16.
Previous dinner: the 1963 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 1965 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 8/14/15 by Andrew Solberg
Page updated 8/15/15 by Andrew Solberg.
This page last updated 6/23/19 by Randall Stock.
