The Scintillation of Scions hosted their annual symposium today (Saturday June 13, 2020) for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle online via Zoom. Called A Scintillation of Scions XIII aka SOS At Home the event had some wonderful talks, a running of the Silver Blaze (Southern Division), and then a screening of “The Return of the World’s Greatest Detective” (1976). It’s a toss up which was better – the talks or the commentary by attendees (I think someone said there were 400+ viewers from around the world) in the Zoom chat which was often hysterically funny. I was not able to watch the whole movie, but the first few minutes I saw were ‘interesting’.
Here was the lineup of talks:
12:00 pm
Welcome and Announcements
12:15 pm
“Sherlock Holmes as a patient”
Julie McKuras, a former ICU nurse, Julie offers a nursing assessment of Holmes and what it would be like to deal with a sickly Holmes.
12:40 pm
“Hey, Where’s the Fire?”
Steve Mason discusses firefighting in the Victorian era, with a very short history of fires in England.
1:00 pm
“Petri Wine and Sherlock Holmes”
Dana Richards discusses the history of Petri Wine, sponsors of the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes radio broadcasts in the 1940s.
1:20 pm
A Running of the Silver Blaze (Southern Division) – well, sort of
The fastest two minutes in horse racing and Sherlock Holmes.
1:30 pm
“One of Several International Spies and Secret Agents”
Dan Stashower offers reflections on an unexpected find at the Library of Congress.
1:50 pm
“The Hound of the 1930s: Looking Forward, Looking Back”
Ashley Polasek tells of 1931’s The Hound of the Baskervilles—and how the history of Sherlock Holmes on screen might look if this forgotten film hadn’t been completely eclipsed by the beloved Rathbone/Bruce Hound later in the decade.
2:10 pm
“Whatever Happened to Baby Rucastle? A Tale of Canonical Lycanthropy”
Ray Betzner looks at the least likely explanation for Eduard Rucastle’s life (and death) and try to make a case for it anyway.
2:30 pm
“The Case of The Vitagraph Holmes Or, Cowboy in a Deerstalker”
Howard Ostrom tells us about a modern-day TV Sherlock wanting to be a pirate and became a consulting detective; the first Sherlock of film, a consulting detective, wanted to be a cowboy…and actually became “THE” Cowboy.
2:50 pm
Closing Announcements
3:10 pm
Movie Viewing: “The Return of the World’s Greatest Detective” (1976)
Starring Larry Hagman. Howard Ostrom will offer some introductory comments before the screening.
