Thu 20 Apr 2006
UCH of what the general public regards as the archetypal image of Sherlock Holmes is due to William Gillette, who personified Holmes for many years in his stage play (named, appropriately enough, “Sherlock Holmes”):
Possibly best known in his day for embodying the celebrated character of Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (with whom the actor also became a close personal friend), Gillette imposed his cachet forever on the character’s stereotype: deerstalker cap, cloak, curved pipe and the phrase: “Oh, this is elementary, my dear Watson.” [Wikipedia]
I’ve always loved the posters I’ve seen for the production, but one in particular is a favourite — the one reproduced below.
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I’ve never really found a good reproduction of this poster. The closest I’ve found, I’ve scanned from the wonderful book The Life & Times of Sherlock Holmes by Philip Weller with Christopher Rodin, and then cleaned it up quite a bit in Photoshop.
As a little thank-you to all the readers who have visited my modest site, and the dozens who are sending me so many fascinating materials and links, I thought I’d offer it as a small printable poster. Note that the graphic is not perfect, due mostly to the original source, but it’s significantly better than any other version I’ve seen yet. It should blow up to 8×10 inches without any significant deterioration in quality, and if you bring it to your local Kodak kiosk, you should be able to have it print off a beautiful glossy version worthy of framing. You may have to adjust the brightness and contrast at the machine, so be sure to preview it. (Note that this is intended for personal use only, not for commercial purposes.)
Download: Frohman_Gillette_Lyceum.jpg [1.1 Mb] — Right-click in your browser on the link, and click “Save file (or target) as…”.
If anyone is interested, I can provide a similar download for the other popular Gillette poster later.
9 Responses to “Poster: Gillette at the Lyceum, I”
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April 20th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
>>Gillette imposed his cachet forever on the character’s stereotype: deerstalker cap, cloak, curved pipe and the phrase: “Oh, this is elementary, my dear Watson.”>>
…and, as an aside, was a vehicle for the very young Charlie Chaplin who once portrayed “Billy, the page boy”
Thank you for this
April 21st, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Wow! I’ve always wanted to frame some of those posters for my office wall, and this is a great start! Thanks!
April 22nd, 2006 at 4:58 am
I was interested to see that you attribute the phrase ‘Elementary, my dear Watson’ to Gillette. Having heard the phrase in Orson Welles’s radio version of Gillette’s play (1938), I wondered if it had originated with Gillette himself, but apparently it does not appear in any published version of the script, which says only ‘Elementary - the child’s play of deduction’. I have seen the phrase ascribed to P. G. Wodehouse in a story published in 1915, but I cannot remember any further details. Have you found some additional evidence?
Thank you for a consistently erudite and absorbing site.
April 22nd, 2006 at 10:22 am
Oliver, you’re very welcome.
That was actually the Wikipedia entry I quoted, from whence I also made the Gillette link. Mea culpa — I’ve gone back to make the source more apparent.
As for the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson,” I do believe you’re right about Gillette never using it within the play. The closest line I could find was the one you quoted above.
I have heard that it was the final line of the Clive Brook film “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” in 1929, supposedly the first Holmes film with sound (and the line was subsequently used in several of the Rathbone/Bruce outings, if I remember correctly), and Wodehouse did use it in the book Psmith, Journalist in 1915, which can be read and downloaded in its entirety here (see chapter XIX, In Pleasant Street).
Hmmm. Perhaps another mythbusting post is in order….
dj
April 22nd, 2006 at 7:32 pm
The over-sized calabash is also often attributed to Gillette, but I think it more likely (for convenience) that he probably employed a simple churchwardens (or similar) pipe on-stage. Having said that, the image of Holmes and the calabash go hand-in-glove. Some myths are too good to be “busted”
August 23rd, 2006 at 5:39 am
Thanks for the great Wm Gillette poster. I made a nice framed picture from it. Could you give us any more as you suggested ?
thanks
Doc
PS: A very good web site.
September 9th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Its a great pic (thankyou)and I also, made a small 8×10 size poster from it. Looking good in a plain black frame. Can you give us more as promised. Have you stopped reading the comments ?
September 9th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Oh, I certainly haven’t stopped reading the comments, although my output is rather limited at the moment. (I’m still in the process of moving house, and my family is finally joining me from across the country.) I’ve already started to work on another poster, and it should be finished fairly soon.
dj
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