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.

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.

iven the fact that Sherlock Holmes was one of the “great” smokers of all time –witness his Persian slipper, his three-pipe problems, the William Gillette posters with cigarettes, the famous profile with the calabash pipe, and so on– and the fact that tobacco companies have always been some of the major sponsors of almost every media form, it’s no surprise to find a proliferation of advertisements featuring the Great Detective. Indeed, many of these ads are now collectors’ items. Below are two of the better known. The first poster, with a Gillette-esque character in dressing gown, hails from 1907. The second is, of course, Basil Rathbone, then appearing in Dressed to Kill (1946), another of the “modern-day” Holmes series from Universal. I don’t know about you, but Rathbone here resembles the creepy guy that once hung out beneath the streetlamp down my block, who giggled uncontrollably whenever women walked past. It doesn’t exactly sell me on the idea of lighting up.

Note: Of course, I would be remiss in my civic duty not to remind you that cigarettes cause cancer, mouth sores, fetus problems, bad teeth, and a million other nasty things that prevent tobacco companies from getting rich. None of which hinders my secret desire to walk around with a calabash pipe, even if it does blow soap bubbles.