The Dinner celebrating the 142nd anniversary of the Master’s birth included the usual traditions and imaginative toasts. Tom Stix was at the podium for the dinner, thankfully looking well after a recent illness. Sherry Rose-Bond toasted Peter Steiler the Elder. Robert Katz’s annual toasts to The Second Mrs. Watson have become legendary, and, once again, he did not fail to outrage the attendees. The theme of the 1996 BSI Dinner was “My collection of M’s is a fine one,” and this was reflected in presentations by Joseph Moran and Shirley Purves. Evelyn Herzog also celebrated Canonical M’s in verse. Tom Stix announced that Bob Thomalen would be stepping down as Cartwright of the BSI, and Mike Whelan would be filling this position. With the sad loss of the BSI’s secretary, John Bennett Shaw, Tom and Ruthann Stetak will officially take over the title of Simpsons, a role that they had been performing during the past year.
Barbara Herbert was honored as “The Woman.” Eight Irregulars received their shillings. The Queen Victoria Medal was awarded to Robert Thomalen for his work as Cartwright on behalf of the BSI. (See the 1969 BSI Dinner for background on the Medal.)
At the next day’s Sherlockian Cocktail Reception, Margaret Nydell was presented with the Morley-Montgomery Award, the first given since 1980. Judge Albert Rosenblatt presented his now traditional and always creative poetic account of the BSI Dinner, the Sherlockian Weekend, and the Sherlockian Year.
Dinner Details: January 12, 1996
24 Fifth Avenue, 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 1996 BSI Dinner photo (PDF)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:Steven T. Doyle as The Western Morning News
Ralph Hall as Smack! Smack! Smack!
Hugh T. Harrington as Wisteria Lodge
Peter Horrocks as The Inner Temple
Katherine Karlson as The Evening Standard
John E. Pforr as Police-Constable Cook
Marsha L. Pollak as A Small But Select Library
Robert J. Stek as The Mysterious Scientist
* received Investiture at another event during the year
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
The Two-Shilling Award was not given in 1996.
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Barbara (Mrs. Paul D.) Herbert
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
Not listed in the 1996 BSJ report.
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Margaret Nydell, "On the Chaldean Influences in Cornish"
The Baker Street Journal v45 n1 (March 1995) pp. 24-30 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v46 n1 (March 1996) pp. 8-14 (available in the eBSJ).Rose-Bond, Sherry, “Toast For Peter Steiler The Elder,” The Baker Street Journal v46 n1 (March 1996) pp. 8-9 (available in the eBSJ). Presented at the 1996 BSI Dinner.
Katz, Robert S., “To The Second Mrs. Watson — 1996,” The Baker Street Journal v46 n1 (March 1996) pp. 9-11 (available in the eBSJ). Presented at the 1996 BSI Dinner.
Herzog, Evelyn, “My Collection Of M’s Is A Rhymed One,” The Baker Street Journal v46 n1 (March 1996) pp. 11-14 (available in the eBSJ). Presented at the 1996 BSI Dinner.
Blau, Peter, Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press, (January 1996), 1.
Key to People in the 1996 BSI Dinner photo (PDF)
Recordings
A recording of portions of the 1996 BSI Dinner is available at Harvard as part of the BSI Archive.Related Material
1996 BSI Dinner Menu (digitized images at Harvard)Two pages. Cover and interior. Two copies. Sequence 163-164.
Rosenblatt, Albert M., “The BSI Dinner, January 1996,” The Baker Street Journal v46 n1 (March 1996) pp. 16-17 (available in the eBSJ). Judge Rosenblatt’s rhyming retrospective, delivered at the January 13, 1996 Sherlockian Cocktail Reception.
Next dinner: the 1997 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 7/23/2016 by Tamar Zeffren.
Page updated 7/23/2016 by Andrew Solberg.
This page last updated 1/11/20 by Randall Stock.
