More than 170 BSI and invitees gathered to celebrate Sherlock Holmes’s 151st birthday. Great applause greeted Michael Whelan’s announcement of Glen Miranker's generous donation to the BSI Archives. David Weiss, who has attended 50 annual dinners, read the Constitution and Buy-Laws. Toasts were offered by Gideon Hill to Mrs. Hudson, Costa Rossakis to Mycroft Holmes, Ralph Hall to Dr. Watson's second wife, and Charles Meyer to Sherlock Holmes. Francine Kitts led the assemblage in reciting the Musgrave Ritual.
Nicholas Meyer revealed the contents of some of the letters found in a tin box recently acquired by a wealthy sultan. David Stuart Davies and Kathryn White presented a hilarious radio-play of the story “The Musgrave Ritual.” Steven Doyle revealed that he is related to the noted author, including family photos showing him with his Uncle Arthur, as well as with other luminaries, such as Rathbone, Brett, and Morley.
The assembled were informed that, for the first time in the Birthday Dinner’s history, Irene Adler herself would be serenaded with “We Never Mention Aunt Clara.” Inga Swenson, of the musical Baker Street, emerged and was duly serenaded. The Toast to an Old Irregular was replaced this year by a Centenary Tribute to Julian Wolff, with tributes from Peter Blau, Andrew Fusco, Andrew Jay Peck, and Wiggins to the long-time Commissionaire, whose involvement with the BSI spanned a quarter of a century.
Debbie Hall was toasted as The Woman. Six Irregulars received their Shilling at the Dinner. Les Klinger, Julie Rosenblatt, and Steve Rothman were each honored with The Two-Shilling Award "for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty.”
Susan Vizoskie concluded the evening’s program with a reading of Vincent Starrett's sonnet "221B."
At the next day’s Sherlockian Cocktail Reception at the National Arts Club, 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 7, 2005
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 2005 BSI Dinner photo (not available at this time)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:John Bergquist as The King of Scandinavia
Peter Calamai as The Leeds Mercury
Neil Gaiman as The Devil's Foot
Art Renkwitz as The Bar of Gold
Barbara Roden as Beryl Stapleton
Gianluca Salvatori as The Dacre Hotel
Donald J. Terras as The Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant*
* received Investiture at another event during the year
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
Leslie S. Klinger
Julia C. Rosenblatt
Steven Rothman
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Debbie (Mrs. Ralph) Hall
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
Richard Lancelyn Green (The Three Gables, 1985)
Others were not named in the 2005 BSJ report of the Dinner.
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Constantine Rossakis, “Thaddeus Sholto: (Mis)Diagnosed”
The Baker Street Journal v54 n1 (Spring 2004) pp. 51-53 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
The BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture:
Gahan Wilson, “Sherlock Holmes of Howard Street”
The Baker Street Journal v55 n1 (Spring 2005) pp. 32-37 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v55 n1 (Spring 2005) pp. 6-12 (available in the eBSJ).Blau, Peter, Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press, (January 2005): 1.
List of 2005 BSI Dinner Attendees (not available at this time)
Recordings
A recording of portions of the 2005 BSI Dinner is available at Harvard as part of the BSI Archive.Related Material
Meyer, Nicholas, “A Sherlockian Miscellany,” The Baker Street Journal v55 n2 (Summer 2005) pp. 6-12 (available in the eBSJ). A version of his presentation at the 2005 BSI Dinner.Rosenblatt, Albert M., and Betsy Rosenblatt, “The Sherlockian Year In Verse: 2005,” The Baker Street Journal v55 n1 (Spring 2005): 13-14 (available in the eBSJ). The Rosenblatts’ rhyming retrospective, delivered at the January 8, 2005 Sherlockian Cocktail Reception.
Previous dinner: the 2004 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 2006 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 10/31/2016 by Tamar Zeffren
This page last updated 11/12/2016 by Andrew Solberg.
