The Dinner celebrating the 144th anniversary of the Master’s birth featured a wealth of diverse presentations and toasts. Among the array of familiar names in the latter, were Mrs. Hudson (by Marsha Pollak), Mycroft Holmes (by Donald Izban) (see Related Material), Watson’s Second Wife (by Steven Rothman), and Sherlock Holmes (by Donald Yates).
Mike Whelan, presiding over his first BSI Dinner as Wiggins, resurrected the old tradition of including a toast to “An Old Irregular,” this year given touchingly by Judge Andrew Peck to William S. Baring-Gould (see Related Material). Bruce Montgomery and members of the Penn Glee Club performed selections from the late Harvey Officer's Sherlockian songbook. Fritz Sonnenschmidt provided a demonstration of just how a master chef prepares pheasant livers with orange on toast points.
Mary Schulz was toasted as “The Woman.” Five Irregulars received their Shilling at the Dinner. Wiggins also announced two new BSI office holders. Peter E. Blau was dubbed “Simpson,” as befits the BSI’s official secretary, and Jon Lellenberg was named “Thucydides” as the BSI’s official historian. Lellenberg also offered a moving tribute to the late Dame Jean Conan Doyle.
At the next day’s Sherlockian Cocktail Reception, Susan Rice received the Morley-Montgomery Award for her piece entitled “Watson’s Hidden Addiction.” Judge Albert Rosenblatt presented his now traditional and always creative poetic account of the BSI Dinner, the Sherlockian Weekend, and the Sherlockian Year.
The BSJ’s report ends by affirming: “This was Mike Whelan’s first BSI dinner as “Wiggins” and it was judged by all to be a magnificent success. Congratulations to Mike; we look forward to many more.”
Dinner Details: January 9, 1998
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 1998 BSI Dinner photo (not available at this time)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:John F. Baesch as State and Merton County Railroad
Pamela Bruxner as The British Government*
Susan Z. Diamond as The Great Mogul
Masamichi Higurashi as Baron Adelbert Gruner*
Lou Lewis as William Whyte
Ronald Mansbridge as A Case of Identity
Thierry Saint-Joanis as Monsieur Bertillon
James E. Smith II as Winner of the Jackson Prize
* received Investiture at another event during the year
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
The Two-Shilling Award was not given in 1998.
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Mary Schulz
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
Stafford G. Davis (Horace Harker, 1980)
Dame Jean Conan Doyle (A Certain Gracious Lady, 1991)
Orval C. Graves (Whitaker's Almanack, 1982)
Robert G. Harris (The Creeping Man, 1952)
Constance Montgomery (The Woman, 1961, Wife of James Montgomery)
Donald P. Musgrave (Reginald Musgrave, 1976)
Eleanor Wolff (The Woman, 1965, Wife of Julian Wolff)
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Susan Rice, "Watson's Hidden Addiction"
The Baker Street Journal v47 n2 (June 1997) pp. 30-36 (available in the eBSJ)
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
The BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture:
Nicholas Meyer, "Sherlock Holmes, Wine Bottles, and the Catholic Mass"
The Baker Street Journal v48 n1 (March 1998) pp. 20-25 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v48 n1 (March 1998) pp. 7-14 (available in the eBSJ).Blau, Peter, Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press, (January 1998), 1.
List of 1998 BSI Dinner Attendees (not available at this time)
Recordings
A recording of portions of the 1998 BSI Dinner is available at Harvard as part of the BSI Archive.Related Material
1998 BSI Dinner Menu (digitized images at Harvard)Two pages. Cover and interior. Sequence 169-170.
The Musgrave Ritual (digitized images at Harvard)
Distributed to attendees at the 1998 BSI Dinner. Recited at the 1998 Dinner by Paul Singleton.
One Page. Sequence 171.
Peck, Andrew J., “Toast to William S. Baring-Gould.” (digitized images at Harvard)
Presented at the 1998 BSI Dinner.
Eight pages. Sequence 172-179.
Izban, Donald S., “A Toast to Mycroft Holmes.” (digitized images at Harvard)
Presented at the 1998 BSI Dinner.
Two pages. Sequence 180-181.
Rosenblatt, Albert M., “1997: The Sherlockian Year in Verse,” The Baker Street Journal v48 n1 (March 1998) pp. 14-19 (available in the eBSJ). Judge Rosenblatt’s rhyming retrospective, delivered at the January 10, 1998 Sherlockian Cocktail Reception.
Previous dinner: the 1997 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 1999 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 7/31/2016 by Tamar Zeffren
This page last updated 8/6/2016 by Andrew Solberg.
