The dinner celebrating Sherlock Holmes’s 158th birthday was another evening of recognition, celebration, and scholarship. The dinner's theme was "His Last Bow" in celebration of the centenary of the beginning of Holmes's involvement in the case. Wiggins (Michael Whelan) began the evening by lauding the large number of presentations that the BSI has published over the previous decade.
Lyndsay Faye toasted Mrs. Hudson. Andrew Solberg gave the toast to Mycroft Holmes. James Saunders had us raise our glasses to Watson's second wife, and Donald Novorsky toasted Sherlock Holmes. Costantine Rossakis read the Constitution and Buy-Laws. Vincent Brosnan led the responsive reading of the Musgrave Ritual.
As the dinner's theme was "His Last Bow," Burt Wolder, Robert Katz, and Barbara Rusch all gave related presentations. Paul Singleton and Scott Monty gave a Sherlockian rendition of the Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks “2,000 Year Old Man” (who sounded very much like Peter Blau). Otto Penzler spoke of tales of book selling and sellers, including the old Irregular Lew David Feldman. Henry Boote led us in singing the BSI’s anthem, “Aunt Clara.” Francine Kitts, once again, performed a moving “Standing upon the Terrace” ceremony, remembering those whom we have lost.
Eight deserving Irregulars received their Shilling. The BSI Trust presented its Benefactor’s Award to Glen Miranker in recognition of his outstanding generosity to the BSI’s archives. Wiggins presented The Two-Shilling Award to Henry Boote for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty. He presented an Eddy Award to Mary Ann Bradley for editing the 2011 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual.
Constance Kean was toasted as The Woman.
Marsha Pollak concluded the evening’s program with her recitation of Bill Schweickert’s “A Long Evening with Holmes.”
At the next day’s Sherlockian Cocktail Reception at the New York City Bar Association, Judge Albert Rosenblatt and his daughter, Betsy Rosenblatt, once again performed their remarkable rhyming summation of the previous year and of the Festivities. In addition, Henry Boote and James Saunders gave an adapted version of “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Sheen.”
Dinner Details: January 13, 2012
The Yale 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 2012 BSI Dinner photo (not available at this time, but see the 2012 Table Seat Assignments (PDF)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:Peter X. Accardo as Thorneycroft Huxtable
Phillip Bergem as Birdy Edwards
Mary Ann Bradley as Mary Morstan
Helen F. Dorey as Helen Stoner
Akane Higashiyama as Baritsu
Donald J. Hobbs as Inspector Lestrade
Mark Schwartz as Thucydides
Donald Zaldin as John Hector McFarlane
* received Investiture at another event during the year
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
Henry Boote.
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Constance (Mrs. Michael H.) Kean.
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
James H. Bready (The Disappearance of James Phillimore, 1955)
Dr. Bryce L. Crawford, Jr. (The Solitary Cyclist, 1985)
Dr. George L. John (“Sir Jasper Meek, 1969)
Jason Pierre Rouby (Vanderbilt and the Yeggman, 1968)
J. Warren Scheideman (Count Von und Zu Grafenstein, 1982)
Peter Harry Wood (The Second Stain, 1985)
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Sonia Fetherston, "I Met Harry Murcher: Getting Acquainted with Holland Grove’s Elusive P.C."
The Baker Street Journal 61.1 (Spring 2011): 6-13 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
The BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture:
Dr. Lisa Sanders, “Is Holmes as Crazy as a Fox, or Just Plain Crazy? Diagnosing Mental Illness in Sherlock Holmes”
The Baker Street Journal 62.2 (Summer 2012): 6-15.
What is the BSI Distinguished Speaker Lecture?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal 62.1 (Spring 2012): 55-67.Blau, Peter, Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press, (January 2012): 1-2.
List of 2012 BSI Dinner Attendees (PDF)
Recordings
A recording of portions of the 2012 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: 2012,” The Baker Street Journal 62.1 (Spring 2012): 67-69. The Rosenblatts’ rhyming retrospective, delivered at the January 14, 2012 Sherlockian Cocktail Reception.Previous dinner: the 2011 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 2013 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 12/5/2016 by Tamar Zeffren
This page last updated 3/11/2017 by Andrew Solberg.
