VISIT TO SHERLOCK HOLMES AT 221B BAKER STREET
A few years back my wife, Carla, and I visited in London 221B Baker Street where the plaque on the outside wall says Holmes lived from 1881 to 1904. Some people continue to believe that he really existed and letters are still mailed to his former address. At the time we visited, so many letters were still coming in a secretary was still on duty to answer them.
In the old movies the apartment was spacious; but as we walked up the narrow 17- step staircase to the rooms, we found that they were cramped and overcrowded with memorabilia. Set up to show how the fictional detective lived, each room features items described in Sir Conan Doyle’s stories.
The upper rooms have manikins dressed as Holmes, Dr. Moriarty, and other characters in the stories shown in critical situations. It was clear to us that whoever designed the scenes had not consulted anyone from Madame Tussaud’s since the setups had an amateurish look. The displays in five rooms include the famous props of the stories--the violin, deer stalker’s hat, pipe, disguises and a hypodermic needle for injecting cocaine.
All of this would have been somewhat disappointing except for true Holmes aficionados like us, but for the re-enactor who is present at the museum in the role of Dr. Watson. Since it wasn’t crowded the day we were there, he had time to chat about some of the cases he had worked on with Holmes. His explanations of his adventures with Holmes and his descriptions of which case each memento is involved made the visit memorable. How fun it is to drop back into a fictional history and pretend it was all real.
I meet with Dr. Watson to discuss one of his old cases.
The nature of Holmes has changed in the movies over the years. I suspect most of us old timers see Sherlock as looking and acting like Basil Rathbone’s characterization in the continuously running early 40s movies. A very different Holmes was presented to us in the movie, Sherlock Holmes by Robert Downey, Jr. who is more like a comic book super hero. As part of publicity for the movie Downey made a visit to 221B Baker Street. Although I enjoyed both visions of the super sleuth, I’m afraid I have to stay with the Rathbone character as being closer to the Holmes I visualize when I read the stories. Despite my reservations the word is that Downey’s Sherlock will be the one shown at the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum, which is just a five-minute walk away from Holms home and office.
A recent biography of Arthur Conan Doyle by Russell Miller says that despite the great success of the Holmes stories, Doyle killed him off in one story so that he could get on with his serious writing. The demand was so strong for the character that he had to bring him back to life and went on to write a total of 60 stories about Holmes. Although we have taken many of the walking tours in London, we still have not taken the “In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes” walking tour that takes place on Fridays and covers the various sites in London where the stories take place. Next time we’re in London as true fans of the detective, we will even finish the day with a pint at the Sherlock Homes Pub.
Holmes real apartment is more cluttered than the one is the old movies.
Carla poses with a Manikin of Sherlock Holmes
