The public life of Sherlock Holmes

Here, at last, is a chronicle of the many dramatizations of the exploits of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world-renowned sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. During the past eighty years or so, the character of Holmes has appeared in stage plays, silent and sound films, comedies, musicals, radio plays, television shows, revue sketches, commercials, and even a ballet. The public's great attraction to Holmes began in 1891 when Conan Doyle's short stories first appeared. After two years (and twenty-four stories), however, the author had become bored with his hero and attempted to kill him off in The Final Problem. The general public was incensed by the demise of Holmes because their appetite for Holmes's adventures was insatiable. Conan Doyle's ennui, however, was turned to great advantage by Charles Rogers, a minor late nineteenth century playwright. For in 1893, he attempted to fill the vacuum in the realm of new Sherlock Holmes narratives by writing a four-act play, appropriately entitled Sherlock Holmes. This was one of the first plays based on the character of Holmes, and in it the playwright depicted Holmes as having been a woman's rejected suitor! Rogers' Sherlock Holmes was only an early episode in Holmes's life outside of Conan Doyle's stories. As early as 1903, there was a film entitled Sherlock Holmes Baffled. It ran for only forty-nine seconds, however, and was intended for viewing at peep shows. Of course, since then many an actor has had great success playing Holmes. William Gillette, Eille Norwood, and Basil Rathbone all became quite associated with the role of the great detective. For a number of years, in fact, producers would not hire Basil Rathbone for any other role because they thought he was too identified with the role of Holmes in the public's mind. In addition to the serious (and semi-serious) dramatic realizations of Holmes, there have also been numerous burlesques, among which was a 1902 entry called Sheerluck Jones. Both the avid Sherlockian and the occasional Conan Doyle admirer will be fascinated by this "dramatic" history of the public life of Sherlock Holmes.