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Gathering of Southern Sherlockians
III
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On April 14, 2007, the Sharaton Read House and
the friendly city of Chattanooga, TN once again welcomed The Gathering
of Southern Sherlockians. The Gathering is hosted by the membership
of Birmingham's Genius Loci; Nashville's Scholars of the Three-Pipe
Problem, Atlanta's Confederates of Wisteria Lodge and,this
year, the consortium was joined by Greenville, SC's Survivors of
the Gloria Scott. This addition to the hosting organizations renders
The Gathering of Southern Sherlockians the fastest growing aggregation
of cooperating Sherlockian scions in the southern United States.
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Kent Ross, originator, organizer, and manager of
The Gathering persons the registration desk while Carolyn Senter seeks
out her convention name tag.
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 And we were there!! |
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Each particiant at The Gathering 3 received
a gift package (left) with a personal note of welcome from His Honor,
Ron Littlefield, Mayor of Chattanooga! The welcome package contained
a wealth of information about Chattanooga and the surrounding area PLUS
one genuine Moon Pie. Now, for our readers from other-than-southern-USA
areas of the world might not be familiar with this confection. The Moon
Pie is a pastery made with a layer of marshmallow sandwiched between
two large graham cookies and topped with frosting (originally chocolate,
but now the frosting comes in various flavors). The Moon Pie
is a well know confection in the Southern US and is often consumed in
the company of a beverage called Royal Crown (RC) Cola. Moon Pies
were first created in Chattanooga and are still baked in, and distributed
from, that city and are, therefore, almost as symbolic of Chattanooga
as is the historic Choo-choo. For more information about Moon
Pies, we invite you to visit their web site at http://www.moonpie.com.
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THE WELCOME
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Left: Kent Ross opens the proceedings at Right, Billy Fields, representing Nashville's Scholars of the Three-Pipe Problem, joins Kent in the opening welcome. |
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David Milner joins Kent in offering welcome on the behalf of Greenville's Suvivors of the Gloria Scott. Although members of the Greenville scion have been in attendance at previous Gatherings, the 2007 event was the first in which the Survivors were co-hosts. |
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The Genius Loci's Richard Green began the
program with his most interesting "Peter Cushing: The Forgotten
Holmes." His presentation was well illustrated through the use
of his remarkable collection of items related to Peter Cushing's portrayal
of Sherlock Holmes.*
*We were reminded of a meeting of The Illustrious Clients of Indianpolis we attended some years ago at which Steve Doyle actually arranged a live telephone interview with Peter Cushing. During the interview Mr. Cushing asked, "Now where in the United States are you holding your meeting?" Steve replied, "We're in Indiana." To which Mr. Cushing replied with a very British, "Oh, how charming!" |
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Kenneth Carr (Atlanta's Confederates of Wisteria
Lodge) really made us all think with his remarkable presentation "Winston
Churchill and Sherlock Holmes."
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This is well-known Sherlockian, Brad Keefauver,
BSI. Brad is from Peoria, IL! Peoria isn't in The South!! But, wherever
Sherlockian scholarship abounds, you can expect to find Brad. He both
amazed and amused those assembled withhis paper "The Sherlock Holmes
Way of Life" in which he put a new light on "the world's worst
roommate."
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Those assembled at The Gathering 3 were
most privileged to be greeted and welcomed by His Honor, Ron Littlefield,
Mayor of Chattanooga!
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A table full of celebrities! Fore to background:
Gael Stahl, Audrey Hammer, David Hammer, and Brad Keefauver.
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The Gathered are welcomed and addressed by His
Honor, Ron Littlefield, Mayor of Chattanooga.
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During mid-day break, Sherlockians do what Sherlockians
do best - talk!
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The afternon session of The Gathering of Southern
Sherlockians 3 was headlined by the legendary Michael Elliott, the
Sherlock Holmes of Thought who mystified those assembled with
incredible feats of mentalism. Professor Elliott's audience volunteers
are (L to R) Gord Shriver, Richard Green, and Carolyn Senter
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Ira Block presented cogent documentation through
which he identified the real personalities behind a number of Sir Arthur's
canonical characters.
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The importance and dignity of The Gathering
of Southern Sherlockians 3 was further exeplified by the esteemed
presence of a second northern BSI! Dubuque, Iowa's prominent Sherlockian
and prolific Sherlockian author, David Hammer, BSI honored the group
with his famous defense of October 10 as Sherlock Holmes's actual birthday.
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EVENING SESSION
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In the evening festivities were opened by Kent
Ross (left) suitably attired for the occasion; (right) Kent presents
Mayor Littlefield with a bottle of wine taken from a cask recovered
from the sunken hull of The Gloria Scott. (The wine was provided
by David and Karen Milner of Greenville's Survivors of the Gloria
Scott.)
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Those assembled were treated to a sumptuous prime
rib banquet held in honor of "The Master, Mr. Sherlock Holmes."
The pre-dinner toasts were offered by Josiah Baker (Murry, the Orderly);
John Howard Oxley (The Speckled Band); Dennis Sullivan (Dr. John Watson);
Jerry Abbott (Professor Moriarty); Irene Adler (Carolyn Senter); and,
finally, Sherlock Holmes (David Milner).
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The highlight of the evening was a dramatic theatrical
presentation offeed by Nashville's Scholars of the Three-pipe Problem
entitled "The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes."
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The most talented cast of "The Misadventures
of Sherlock Holmes" included: Dean Richardson (Sherlock Holmes);
Gael Stahl (Dr. Watson); Kay Blocker (Mrs. Hudson and Mary Morstan Watson);
Anita Feller (Jenny Lind); Tom Feller (Bob Ford); Jerome Boynton (Jesse
James); Billy Fields (Sam Houston); David Hayes (Professor Moriarty);
Billy Fields (sound director); David Hayes (Cue Cards). Right, above,
Bob White exhibits his talents as a thespian with his remarkable portrayal
of the sinister Professor Moriarty.
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Sunday morning began with an "ad lib"
visit to the Hotel's buffet breakfast bar. We were expected to assemble
our breakfast plates and return to the meeting hall for the early morning
Sherlockian quiz. Through a sequence of mistunderstandings and poor
scheduling, we had a most satisfying breakfast somehow missed the quiz.
We have no idea how we could have done that.
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Next on the agenda was "Colonel Elias Openshaw:
the Man Who Never Was" by Greenville's Suvivor of the Gloria
Scott, David Milner in which he presented evidence indicating that
the geo-political circumstances in the US were not consistent with Colonel
Openshaw's alleged history in "The Colonies" at the time.
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For various logistical reasons, we reluctantly
had to leave The Gathering before the scheduled noon adjournment,
so we missed Birmingham's Genius Loci's dramatic presentation
of "The Adventure of the Black Baronet." If any reader here
has a review, and, perhaps some photos, of the group's presentation,
we'd appreciate your emailing it over to us at <sherlock@sherlock-holmes.com>
and we will be pleased to add it to this report of The Gathering
3.
Kent Ross brought a most interesting and entertaining Gathering to its close with a benediction via his reading of Vincent Starrett's 221B. |
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Pursuant to our request above, our good friend,
Richard Green from the Genius Loci, sent along this photo of the entire
cast of their production, The Adventure of the Black Baronet.
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Elise Bodenheimer (sound engineer, just off camera,
left), The actors are, left to right:, Tyler Hollis, Barbara Tanner,
Jerry Abbott, Steven Sears, Beverly Keith, Richard Green, and Joshua
Green
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Thank you very much for joining us, albeit
vicariously, at The Gathering of Southern Sherlockians 3. |
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The distinguished and/or beautiful attendees pictured
here are, on your left (l to r) Greenville's David Milner, the brilliant.
lovely and talented Carolyn Senter, and Joel Senter. On your right,
the guy who makes the great Chattanooga Gathering possible, Kent Ross.
(Thanks to our good Alanta buddy, Gord Shriver for the photo of the
trio above, left.)
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BTW (as they say on the internet these days) we were
most gratified to see, on display during the Gathering, a needlepoint
rendering of the speckled band's bell pull created, we were told, by
Mrs, Jerry Abbott. The original of this snake-infested bell pull was
knitted and produced by Carolyn Senter circa 1990. Mrs. Abbott's rendering
was obviously the product of remarkable artistic ability and a lot of
patient work. It was a truly striking object de art.
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