Ineffable Twaddle “It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle A monthly publication of The Sound of the Baskervilles

A Scion Society of The Baker Street Irregulars • Since March 31, 1980

Serving the Greater Puget Sound Region of Western Washington

Volume 27, Issue 8 Annual John H. Watson Picnic is Saturday, August 2nd August 2008 Bring your appetite to Seahurst Park in or side dish that needs special utensils, Burien on Saturday, August 2nd, for our An- please bring those as well!! nual Dr. John H. Watson Picnic !! Burien is easy to get to from all points The formal running time is noon to 4:00 north, south and east! And, Seahurst Park is Inside this issue: p.m., but parking can be at a premium, so a gorgeous site, right on the Sound! Annual John H. Wat- get there early!! And, we’ll be in the North PFL David says there will be a game, and son Picnic is Saturday, Shelter—near the bathrooms—this year! last year’s winner—John Nelson—has August 2nd Picnic Committee Chair Paul even added an engraved plaque to the cov- Williams has been laid-up eted roving trophy!! Egads, Holmes! 1 (though he’s optimistic that he Scary, Action, Funny can attend), so PFL David & Getting to Seahurst Park: From I-5, take High- Movies Coming!! Terri will have the barbie fired way 518 westbound (Exit 154, near South Cen- up early and ready to cook ter Mall, where I-5 meets I-405). When you get Sneak Up on The 2 your meat. They’ll also bring into Burien, Highway 518 turns into S. W. 148th Creeping Man at lots of plates, cups and eating utensils! St. As you get into town, look for and turn right August Meeting onto Ambaum Blvd. S.W. Proceed to S. W. This is a pot-luck picnic, so your contribu- nd 144th Street (the 2 light) and turn left. Pro- 3 tions of food—salads, main dishes, chips, 2nd Annual Writing ceed 3 short blocks to 13th Avenue S.W. and Contest Announced!! snacks, sweets—and beverages are antici- turn right. This will take you right into the park. pated and heartily welcomed! Please bring We will be in the north picnic shelter, near the Things to See, Buy , 3 enough to share!! If you’re bringing a salad bathrooms! Do & Know Egads, Holmes! Scary, Action, Funny Movies Coming!! Member News & 4 Compiled from items contributed by SOBs From www.variety.com Updates Margie Deck and Geoff Jeffery and newly- Holmes pic nabs Baron Cohen, Ferrell, renewed SOB Sharon Johnson. 7/1/2008 Columbia Pictures has set an untitled Oh, pu-leeze!! Holmes as action hero? He’s comedy that will star Sacha Baron Cohen as master 2008 “Edgar” Winners a brain, not built for brawn or plastic suits!! detective Sherlock Holmes and Will Ferrell as As announced in January, And, sure as a comedy, when tastefully Watson, his crime-solving partner. Etan Cohen is on the list of nominees for done by the likes of Ben Kingley and Michael writing the script, and Judd Apatow and Jimmy the Mystery Writers of Caine, but not with “Borat” and Will Ferrell!! Miller will produce. The comedy is inspired by America 2008 Edgar®

From www.tvguide.com Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales. Awards was Downey Jr. to Fight More Though the thrust is different, the Baron Cohen- Arthur Conan Doyle: Crime as Sherlock Holmes, Ferrell pairing is the second major studio project A Life in Letters by Jon 7/10/2008 Making his first featuring the supersleuth, as Warner Bros. is prep- Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley professional move since tram- ping the Anthony Peckham-scripted drama “Sher- (The Penguin Press). See pling box offices as “Iron lock Holmes” with director Guy Ritchie. Ineffable Twaddle for March Man”, Robert Downey Jr. has 2008 (Vol. 27, Issue 3) The Columbia project re-teams taken the role of Sherlock Holmes in the upcom- Per MWA’s May 1st press ing, eponymous drama from Warner Bros. Guy Baron Cohen and Ferrell, who release, A Life in Letters Ritchie (aka Mr. Madonna) will direct, leaving fin- played rival racecar drivers in did take the prize in the gers crossed we'll get some “Lock, Stock”-style grit Columbia's 2006 hit comedy “Best Critical/Biographical” and shoot-em-up action. Shooting for Downey's “Talladega Nights,” which Apatow category. and Miller also produced. Continued on Page 2 Contributed by Bill Seil movie will kick off in October.

Page 2 Ineffable Twaddle

Sneak Up on The Creeping Man at August Meeting “The Professor spat The August 11 Meeting of The Sound of the Baskervilles will begin at 6:00 p.m. out some atrocious at T.S. McHugh’s Public House, 21 Mercer Street, Seattle, (206) 282-1910. Come word at me and early to order dinner and catch up with other SOBs! Many arrive as early as 5:00. hurried on down Holmes and Watson have had a quiet summer in 1903, as this case—our 58th— the staircase.” is dated as occurring on September 6—whereas the prior case (MAZA) took The Adventure of place on June 1. Says PFL David: The Creeping Man Our partnership is clearly coming to an end, as Watson says this case was one of the very last cases handled by Holmes before his retirement from practice. Something has come over Professor Presbury...he’s pursuing the young Alice Morphy with relentless ardor; he did what he had never done before...leaving Interesting Facts From CREE: home, giving no indication where he was going; even his faithful wolf-hound, Though Holmes alludes to the part- made a point of trying to bite him. nership of Holmes and Watson as a Did something occur on his trip to Prague? Find out all the strange details by “firm” in SUSS, he gives us a reading The Adventure of The Creeping Man! whimsical title for that firm in this Adventure: the “Busy Bee and Egads, Holmes!...Movies Coming!! Continued from Page 1 Excelsior”, with the motto, “We can but try.” “Just the idea of Sacha and The films are likely to cause a rekindled We also find mention of Watson’s Will as Holmes and Watson interest in the hero and boost the film tour- tin box, in which he kept his notes makes us laugh,” said Col co- ism industry, according to the UK Film of as-yet-unpublished Adventures. prexy Matt Tolmach. “Sacha Council. A spokesperson said: “We’ve Hopefully it still reposes some- and Will are two of the funni- found that many UK locations experience a where in the rubble of Cox & Co.’s est, most talented guys on dramatic rise in visitor numbers when they offices at Charing Cross, which was the planet, and having them are shown on the silver screen.” completely destroyed in the London take on these iconic characters is frankly From Entertainment Weekly Blitz. hilarious.” The Dueling Sherlock Holmes Films: We From www.independent.co.uk Detect a Rivalry, 7/25/2008 There have Sherlock Holmes and the case of the been so many versions of Doyle’s famed Hollywood duel, 7/3/2008 Sherlock fictional detective Sherlock Holmes over the Holmes, the pipe-smoking Victorian super- last century—from Rathbone on the radio to “News of the Weird” sleuth with a penchant for cocaine, is to be- Lt. Commander Data on the holodeck—that Oral B-s Triumph Smart- come the subject of a face-off by two Holly- Hollywood thought, heck, why not two Guide toothbrush, sold in wood studios which are both bringing out more? On July 1, Columbia announced an the U.K. for about $280, films about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's liter- untitled Sherlock comedy starring Sasha uses navigation technology ary hero. Baron Cohen as Holmes and Will Ferrell as to transmit the exact loca- Columbia Pictures, which has announced his tireless assistant. Eight days later, War- tion of the toothbrush to a the making of an untitled comedy starring ner Bros. named Robert Downey Jr. as the base unit so that the user can see Sacha Baron Cohen as Holmes with Will hero of its more action-adventure-inclined which areas in his mouth the brush Ferrell as his sidekick, Watson. Warner “Sherlock Holmes”, which Guy Ritchie will might have missed. The wireless Bros, which has announced a Guy Ritchie direct from a script based on an upcoming LCD mouth display can be mounted project entitled “Sherlock Holmes,” which comic book. That film’s Watson has yet to on a mirror or held in the free hand. will portray the legendary detective as a be cast, but it is set to start shooting in Octo- In February, a court in Cardiff, punching, sword-jousting comic book-style ber with plans for a fall 2009 release. Wales, again released Thelma Den- adventure hero. So the game is now afoot. nis, 50, to get therapy for her addic- tion of making bogus emergency (999) phone calls, even though she How to Study the Canon?? has been prosecuted about 60 times Our 5-year odyssey of studying the Canon in Baring-Gould’s chrono- in 24 years on similar charges. In an logical order comes to an end with “His Last Bow” in October, 2008. earlier case, Dennis agreed to ther- We have a suggestion that our next 5-year journey through the Canon be completely at apy that sent painful shocks through random...by tossing all the story and novel titles into a hat, pulling them out, and publishing her body every time she dialed 999, a list of that order. Does that work for you?? and she remained free for four years, If not, let us know how you would like us to next undertake our study! Give it some but re-offended this year by making thought because we will vote on it at the September Meeting!! So, be there!! up a bomb threat against a store. Volume 27, August, 2008, Issue 8 Page 3

2nd Annual Writing Contest Announced!! From Marge Nelson Q: Why should you buy back PFL David announced Here are the rules: copies of The Baker Street briefly at the July SOB Meet- z The unfinished essay is now 645 words Journal at the SOB auction?? nd ing the launch of our 2 in length. Your final product should be A: Because you can go home and Annual Short Story-Writing no longer than 1,500 words. find another answer to a Contest. zThe title—“A Night of Horror”—and quiz question. The winning entry in this year’s contest first 645 words of the unfinished essay * * * * will, of course, be prominently featured should not be altered in any way, but In the March 1985 issue of The in our 2008 Beaten’s Christmas Annual, your final product may complete the Baker Street Journal, P. 27, and the author may be privy to other mystery in whatever fashion you wish. David Kass dealt with “The Long material rewards. z Your completed essay Island Cave Mystery—Solved”, But the honor of this year’s contest will must be submitted to which we questioned at the April go to our recently departed, good friend Terri not later than Octo- Meeting as part of discussion of Nacho Ospina—who passed away sud- ber 31st but should not “The Red Circle.” Kass dis- denly in May 2008. show your name—your agreed with the conclusion of Nacho’s daughter Patt Jamieson found identity should be pro- David Galerstein—assistant an unfinished essay on his computer, vided separately to Edi- principal at the junior high school which she sent to Editor Terri. The Con- tor Terri. Kass attended and faculty advisor test this year will be to finish this essay. z Judging will be anony- The of their scion, the Long Island Copies of Nacho’s unfinished essay mous, as essays will be Cave Sleuths. nd challenge: will be distributed at the August 2 Pic- identified by number Instead of wedding himself to th To finish nic and the August 11 Meeting, and are only when provided to Nacho’s Galerstein’s premise that the available by e-mail, if you’ll call or e- our judges. unfinished story referred to the New York mail Terri (see contact info on Page 4). essay!! island, which has no known caves, Kass looked up all the Things to See, Buy, Do & Know Long Islands listed in an 1880 gazeteer. He found six: one each • Thanks to Geoff Jeffery for these items: it a good review. in AL, ME, MA, NH, NY and Bouchercon 39 “Charmed to Death” will be in • The Final Problem ($12.99, www.lulu.com/ VA. Then he wrote the Baltimore October 9 to 12, 2008 at the Wyndham content/2735027) is the perfect gift for the Sherlock postmaster of each Long Island, Hotel (410-385-6605). More: Bouchercon 2008.blog. Holmes enthusiast. It contains “The Adventure of the asking if there were known caves spot.com. Final Problem”, with the original Strand Magazine in the area in the 1880s and Watch for the PBS Series, “History Detec- illustrations of Sidney Paget in full colour. Also con- whether any cave involved a tives”. One of the segments involved someone tains extras such as a portrait of Sidney Paget by crime or a mystery. trying to authenticate a book written in the mid- Pablo Carreño, and portraits of Sir Arthur Conan 1800's about Mormonism and the “horrors” of po- Doyle and Sidney Paget by Phil Cornell. In Long Island, Alabama, there lygamy. During the episode they talk to a Mormon • The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes (by historian who tells how popular it was at the time Bruce Wexler, $14.98, Running Press) is for those was a train robbery for well-known authors to write Mormon bashing SOBs who like their Sherlockiana with lots of illus- in the 1870s fol- novels. The example they site, along with pictures trations. It is 192 illustrated pages, many in color, lowed by rumors is—-you guessed it—-Arthur Conan Doyle and “A on such varied subjects as “Dr. Arthur Conan Igna- of gold and money Study in Scarlet.” tius Doyle: An Author’s Life” and “Sherlock Holmes hidden in a cave nearby. The respondent also • From Roger Johnson’s District Messenger: Paraphernalia.” noted that the James Brothers One of the lots offered in the Entertainment were alleged to have robbed a Memorabilia sale at Bonham’s in Knightsbridge on 18 Sherlockian Travel, Anyone? June was “A Victorian style dinner jacket from The government paymaster in Muscle There are still openings for The Baker Street Shoals, AL in March 1881. Hound of the Baskervilles, 1939, as worn by Nigel Irregulars’ “A Study in Scarlet Expedition” Bruce as Dr. Watson, Estimate: £800—l,200.” The Could they have been involved in to Salt Lake City August 30—September 1. provenance seems impeccable. the Long Island Cave mystery A welcome reception is scheduled The Game’s Afoot., edited by David Stuart Da- too? Pinkerton agents would vies, gets high marks for the 20 stories included and for August 29. certainly have been involved its cost at only £2.99. You do not have to be a member of The in either event. Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, No. 1 Irregulars to attend. I salute David Kass for doing ($10, Wildside Press) is a digest-size magazine in For more, contact Ann Bradley, (317) 514- original research that happens to the tradition of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock 8566. Leave a message with your e-mail provide some interesting details available through www.amazon.com. Roger gives address, and she’ll respond in that manner. relating to “The Red Circle.”

The Sound of the Baskervilles is a scion The Sound By appointment society of the Baker Street Irregulars, of the of Her Majesty, serving the greater Puget Sound Region of Western Washington, U.S.A., and has met Baskervilles Queen Victoria monthly since March 31, 1980. $20 per year brings Members the monthly newsletter “Ineffable Twaddle”, a copy of Ineffable Twaddle Beaten’s Christmas Annual, and the incalcu- lable benefits of association with a group of A monthly publication of certifiable Holmes aficionados. The Sound of the Baskervilles Meetings are held at 6:00 p.m., the 2nd A Scion Society of the Baker Street Irregulars since March 31, 1980 Monday of each month. Location of the Serving the Greater Puget Sound Region of Western Washington meetings may vary. Regularly scheduled additional events throughout the year President: David Haugen, PFL, SOB, PSC include: “The Master’s Dinner” celebrating Treasurer: Allen Nelson Holmes’ birthday (January), “The Annual Secretary/Editor: Terri Haugen ([email protected]) Wreath Throw” commemorating Holmes’ Webmaster & Historian: Lloyd Hedberg, WFL loss at Reichenbach Falls (May), “The Dr. ([email protected]) John H. Watson Picnic” (July), and “The Website: www.soundofthebaskervilles.com Will Crakes Memorial Jollifica- tion” (December). Other activities—book Direct correspondence to: crawls, teas, plays and gaming events—are 3606 Harborcrest Court N.W. as announced. Gig Harbor, WA 98332-8981 USA To join, send your check for dues—$20 for Phone: 253-853-5187 individuals, $30 for families (U.S. funds Fax: 253-853-5187 only)—to the address shown at left. Email: [email protected]

• Jean won the story quiz on MAZA. Ed clari- Member News & Updates fied for us how one physically achieves a “steely Presided over once again (!) by PFL David, gaze,” but we all felt keenly the absence of the attending the July SOB Meeting, were: usual reparte between Holmes and Watson.

Dates Stephen Adkins Al Nelson Hank Deck • Paul Williams suffered a heart at- of Margie Deck Joyce Funk Ed Funk tack on June 11th. In hospital he had a Interest Margaret Nelson Jean Macdonald Thom Walls quadruple bypass, but after being ● August 2 Barbara Nelson John Nelson Kat Nelson released he had to return to hospital Annual Dr. John H. Peter Chelemedos Kay Chelemedos Terri Haugen because of an infection. He is now out Watson Picnic Bill Seil Lauran Stevens of the woods and at Lake Vue Gar- Seahurst Park, News & Notes: dens rehab facility. He’s doing well • PFL David presented Margie Deck with a Burien, 12:00 p.m. and is confident that he will be able to make the copy of A. R. Hope Moncrief’s “Victorian & Ed- We will be in the Watson Picnic on August 2. Feel free to call, drop wardian London” as thanks for her efforts in North Shelter (near in to visit, or write Paul at: Lake Vue Gardens, 10101 chairing the April through June Meetings in his th the bathrooms), as NE 120 St., Kirkland, WA 98034; (425) 823-2323. our usual spot is absence. Thanks were also directed to James • If info about Paul is “news” to you, then we not yet ready Romnes for chairing this year’s Wreath Throw, don’t have your e-mail address on file! If you for our use. and to Sam & Louise Fry for again hosting the have access to e-mail, please send your address post-Wreath Throw dessert! to Editor Terri at: terri@soundofthebasker ● August 11 • Stephen made the Dean’s list in his drug re- Regular Monthly villes.com—to keep you up-to-date on SOB news!! hab training program and was inducted into the • Had a good chat with Sharon Sommerseth in Meeting, Phi Theta Kappa Society! Way to go! T.S. McHugh’s mid-July. Her work as piano instructor keeps her • Kay was back and lookin’ good after a 6- ● September 8 super busy, and she’d like to sell her house and month absence, but Margie was headed off for find something new. We sure miss her! Regular Monthly a visit to Dallas to see grandbaby Evan. Meeting, • Cara Cross sent a copy of the poen “To My Pur- • Bill passed around the menu from The British T.S. McHugh’s ple Polyester Pants” (AARP July & August 2008) Pantry in Redmond, which is still going strong; that contains the stanza: “Could you see us strolling ● October 13 Stephen passed around the June 18 issue of Regular Monthly the Champs Elysees, Sitting at the Café de la Paix? Country Life magazine, which shows the original Or sopping up an ale (spilled a little) At The Sherlock Meeting, title page for STUD in its first appearance in Holmes pub in London?” If only!! T.S. McHugh’s “Beeton’s Christmas Annual” for 1887.