An inescapable guest at the 148th anniversary of the Master’s birth in New York was the somber memory and resonance of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The BSJ’s account movingly notes:
The Baker Street Irregulars reaffirmed the ties of Sherlockians around the globe, a welcome opportunity in the wake of the tragic events of the past few months. At the start of the program, Mike Whelan pointed out a symbol of this shared sense of unity—a small stand adorned with the flags of the nations represented in the room that night.
The dinner’s theme, a celebration of international Sherlockians, could not be more fitting. Such attendees were well-represented in the various rituals and rites, from the rendition of the Buy-Laws by Mia Stampe from Copenhagen, the toast to Dr. Watson's Second Wife by Jean Upton of England, the delivery of the Musgrave Ritual, in Italian(!) by Enrico Solito of Italy, a toast to old Irregular Lord Donegall by Catherine Cooke of England, the toast to Mrs. Hudson by Douglas Elliott of Australia, the toast to Mycroft Holmes by Yuichi Hirayama of Japan, and the toast to Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies of England. Michael Ross reported on the history of Holmesian activity in Germany. Hartley Nathan spoke of the Bootmakers of Toronto. The history of Sherlock Holmes in Japan was given by Masamichi Higurashi. Roger
Johnson spoke of Anthony Howlett, the Festival of Britain, and the advent of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.
Jon Lellenberg was honored with the “Silver Penguin Award”—an engraved silver-plated penguin shaped cocktail shaker, its origins shrouded, perhaps, in myth—in appreciation of his editorship of the BSI’s History Series.
Joyce (Mrs. James B.) Saunders was heralded as The Woman. A sizable class of ten Irregulars received a Shilling. The Two-Shilling Award was presented to Susan Rice.
The evening ended with Philip Brogdon's moving recitation of Vincent Starrett's "221B."
At the next day’s Sherlockian Cocktail Reception, Donald Yates presented a paper offering a closely reasoned alternative reading of The Hound of the Baskervilles in honor of what has come to be known as the Year of the Hound. Judge Albert Rosenblatt and his daughter Betsy Rosenblatt, once again performed their remarkable summation of the previous year and of the Festivities in verse.
Dinner Details: January 11, 2002
Union League Club, 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 2002 BSI Dinner photo (not available at this time)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:Pasquale Accardo as Gorgiano of the Red Circle
Henry W. Boote as Meyers, Toronto
Mary Campbell as Brenda Tregennis
Michael Dirda as Langdale Pike
Mark Gagen as Sir James Damery
Marilynne McKay as Violet de Merville
Christopher Roden as Sir Henry Baskerville
Robert S. Schultz as The Gloria Scott
Enrico Solito as Gennaro Lucca
Richard J. Sveum as Dr. Hill Barton
* received Investiture at another event during the year
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
Susan Rice
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Joyce Saunders
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
Dee Alexander, the second of Edgar Smith's secretaries at GM, and the first Secretary General of the BSI, Inc.
Poul Anderson (The Dreadful Abernetty Business, 1960)
Wayne B. Swift (The Giant Rat of Sumatra, 1978)
Bill Ward (Major Prendergast, 1984)
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Thomas Cynkin, "James Watson, M.D."
The Baker Street Journal v51 n4 (Winter 2001) pp. 25-29 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
The BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture:
Bert Coules, “Making a Drama Out of a Canon”
The Baker Street Journal v52 n3 (Autumn 2002) pp. 5-14 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v52 n1 (Spring 2002): 5-10 (available in the eBSJ).Blau, Peter, Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press, (January 2002): 1.
List of 2002 BSI Dinner Attendees (not available at this time)
Recordings
A recording of portions of the 2002 BSI Dinner is available at Harvard as part of the BSI Archive.Related Material
Rosenblatt, Albert M., and Betsy Rosenblatt, “The Sherlockian Year In Verse: 2002,” The Baker Street Journal v52 n1 (Spring 2002): 11-13 (available in the eBSJ) The Rosenblatts’ rhyming retrospective, delivered at the January 12, 2002 Sherlockian Cocktail Reception.Previous dinner: the 2001 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 2003 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 9/26/2016 by Tamar Zeffren
This page last updated 10/1/2016 by Andrew Solberg.
