Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Sherlock Holmes: The Six Napoleons (EP0948)
Transcript
- 0:28Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise Idahome. This is
- 0:35your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it to
- 0:39meet Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio
- 0:45Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com slash
- 0:52Radio Detectives. Well, before we do get started, I want to encourage
- 0:56you to pick up the ebooks that we've put out here. We have.
- 1:02The most recent one is What Made the Golden Age Shine. In it,
- 1:07I take a look at what truly makes Golden Age entertainment so wonderful and why
- 1:15I am interested in it and enjoy it. It's a question I get asked
- 1:19a lot because of my age, and I think we give a pretty interesting
- 1:23answer here, and i'd encourage you to pick that up. It's that one
- 1:29is available for the kindle. We also have my previous e book, All
- 1:33I Needed to Know I Learn from Colombo, in which we examine the life
- 1:38and history of seven great detectives, as well as life lessons that can be
- 1:44drawn from their careers. That one is available for the kindle as well as
- 1:49the Nook, in I Pad and any other format. You can download direct
- 1:53from smashwords dot com, and we also have an audiobook version. Now of
- 1:59all I need to know, I'll learn from Colombo. All right, Well,
- 2:01now it's time for today's episode of Sherlock Holmes. The Six Napoleons,
- 2:22The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Original and Immortal Stories of Sir Arthur Conan
- 2:28Doyle dramatized Daniel, with Sir Ralph Richardson as Doctor Watson and Sir John Gielgud
- 2:35in the role of Sherlock Holmes. I think I remember the Six Napoletans made
- 3:10live because it was such a triumph for my friend Sherlock Holmes, the one
- 3:15time when his old rival less Strade of Scotland Yard, unashamed less spoke his
- 3:22praise. It hadn't always been like that, of course. In the early
- 3:25days the strade had more than once been inclined to jeer at my friend's original
- 3:30methods. But by the time of this particular adventure he'd lost some of his
- 3:35old enmity. He'd taken to looking inners in the evening at Baker Street and
- 3:39talking about old times, and generally keeping homes up to date in everything that
- 3:45was going on at police headquarters. But this particular evening, as Holmes improvised
- 3:51on his violin, less Strade, fell curiously silent and puffed thoughtfully at his
- 3:57cigar for a moment or two, were illustrate anything remarkable on hand? Oh
- 4:12no, nothing in particular our mister Holmes. Just so then, hadn't you
- 4:16better tell me all about it? Oh? Well, I suppose there's no
- 4:21use denying it, accept that it's such a peculiar business. And I hardly
- 4:28wanted to bother you with a mister Holmes. The fact it's really more in
- 4:31the doctor's line than ours. I suppose what's some illness of some kind,
- 4:35mental illness, madness at the very least, and a queer kind of madness
- 4:42at that. Now, you wouldn't think there was anyone living in this day
- 4:46and age who must hate holding a Poleon so much that he smashes to bits
- 4:50any image of him he can lay hands on, a hatred of the banion.
- 4:55That's a very curious obsessions, hardly in my line, by the I
- 5:00love it, Watson, I defer to you. Thank you, yes.
- 5:02But the only thing is, of course, while artless stage is still chewing,
- 5:06you know, well, this maniac fellow adds a bit of burglary too,
- 5:13Jersey burglary. So as he can get hold of these images, he
- 5:15wants to smash surely to just past the tobacco, would you, my dear
- 5:18fellow, Yes, of course, thank you. It must be Napoleon.
- 5:21I take it less say well, seems, sir doctor. First case came
- 5:26in four days ago shop of a man called Morse Hudson, who sells pictures
- 5:30and statuettes and such in the Kennington Road. The assistant was in the back
- 5:33shop and he heard a sudden smash, and when he rushed through, somebody
- 5:36had thrown down a plaster bust of Napoleon and broken into smithereens. Oh valuable,
- 5:41no worth a few shillings, maybe not much more anyway. The shop
- 5:46fellow ran out to the street, but there wasn't any trace of anybody by
- 5:48that time. But something's happened since, obviously, Yes, last night.
- 5:55There's a well known doctor called Barneycot who lives only about a couple of hundred
- 6:00yards from Miss Morse Hudson's shop. Yes, I've heard of him. One
- 6:01of the biggest practices south of the Thames. They say he's a bit of
- 6:05a collector too, isn't he antiques? And so forth? Same man,
- 6:10gentlemen. Well, he'd got hold of a couple of plaster cast of the
- 6:14famous head of Napoleon by some French sculptor or other called Devine. He put
- 6:18one of them in the hall of his private house, and the other in
- 6:21his surgery at Lower Brixton. And when he came down this morning, doctor
- 6:27House burgled. And yet there wasn't a thing taken by the bust from the
- 6:30hall. Good I believe it or not. It had been carried outside and
- 6:34smashed against the garden, more same as the other one in the shop.
- 6:38Ah, this is certainly very novel less trade. I thought it would please
- 6:42you, mister Holmes. And it isn't the end yet either. The other
- 6:46bust in the surgery exactly the same doctor smashed to smitherines in the place where
- 6:51it stood. Doctor Barnicott discovered it the minute he opened the door. And
- 6:57that's the whole story, mister Holmes, as far as it goes. Oh
- 7:00well, it's curious certainly, now, Watson, come pray give us your
- 7:05diagnosis. There are no limits, my dear Holmes, to the possibilities of
- 7:10monomania. A man who would read deeply about Napoleon, for example, or
- 7:15a man who would receive some hereditary family injury through the Peninsula War, for
- 7:20instance. I mean a man like that very well might conceive some kind of
- 7:25obsession. Come, come, my dear Watson. Well, considering how many
- 7:29examples of Napoleon's busts, that must be no amount of monomania would explain why
- 7:33such a promiscuous iconoclast should chance to begin on three examples by the same sculptor.
- 7:40As I take it as trade, these three are all copies of the
- 7:43same original, and all bought at this man Hudson's shop, Everyone, mister
- 7:46Holmes identical. Why then the fellow may have an obsession against the sculptor.
- 7:51Possibly, Yet, even if it is madness, there's still method in it.
- 7:56You see, he carefully takes the bus that was in the house outside
- 7:59this because the noise might awakened the people upstairs. But in the other case
- 8:03he smashes the bust in the surgery just where it stands. That's too trifling,
- 8:07my dear Watson. One can never be quite sure. Some of my
- 8:11most classic cases have had the least promising beginning. Yes, but you'll remember
- 8:16how that dreadful business of the Abernethi family was first brought to my notice by
- 8:20the depth to which the parsley had sunk into the butter. On a very
- 8:22hot days, less trade, another cigar, my dear fellow, and ring
- 8:28for some whiskey and soda. I have a notion that we may hear more
- 8:31of our friend of the statue. And we did, of course, or
- 8:35there would be no story to tell. Next morning, as we finished breakfast
- 8:39a telegram arrived from less Strade himself. Come instantly one three one pitt Street,
- 8:46Kensington, with holmes usual energy, we did go instantly. There we
- 8:52found the railings outside the house all lined by a curtious crowd by George Watson.
- 9:01It must be attempted murder at the very least, there's nothing else will
- 9:03a whole the interest of the London Messenger. Boy, here's the trade waiting
- 9:07for us, Holmes. I'm onning, inspector, Horning, gentleman, come
- 9:09in, come in, Yes, Napoleon business again, mister Holmes, I
- 9:15guessed as much? What is it? This time? Less trade? Murder?
- 9:18Sir splendid, do close the door, My dear Watson, has this
- 9:22confounded crowd. This is mister Horace Harker, gentleman, the owner of this
- 9:28house, mister Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Mister Harker, good morning.
- 9:33Mister Harker is a reporter for the Central Press Syndicate. Mister Holmes, I'd
- 9:35gathered so much already, less straight, Well, mister Harker, will you
- 9:39kind of tell us exactly what has happened? Well? Do my best set.
- 9:43It all seems to center around a bust of Napoleon I bought for the
- 9:48spending room about about four months ago. Where did you buy it, mister
- 9:50Harker, Oh, Harding Brothers. You know, few doors up from from
- 9:56the High Street Stationary. I don't know what that's good to do with it?
- 10:00Anyway. Most of my writing works done at night, you know,
- 10:03habit of mine. And I was sitting upstairs in my den about three o'clock
- 10:07this morning when when I suddenly had the most horrible yell from down here on
- 10:11the most dreadful sound, mister Holmes, lamely news on your own doorstep.
- 10:15Mister Harker, as a reporter, I should have thought you would have welcomed
- 10:18such a diversion. Oh, I couldn't. I was too unnerved a hand
- 10:20on my telling you, I see anyway, I pulled myself together a bit,
- 10:24and I got hold of a pokon and came down. And when I
- 10:28got in here, the window was open, son, And the first thing
- 10:31I saw was that the Napoleon burst had gone from the mental piece. Intriguing,
- 10:37most intriguing. I'm sure my monomaniactually is the only possible one, Hole
- 10:41says, of course. And the murder, mister Harker, well, I
- 10:46rushed to the front doorn and saw it open, and there on the doorstep,
- 10:52well, and then he fell over a dead man who was lying there.
- 10:56Good gracious me, bessy. He had a great gash in his throat,
- 10:58and the whole place was swimming in blood. But who was this murdered
- 11:03man? You? You've made inquiries less trade, of course, there's nothing
- 11:07to show who he was. We've got the body in the mortuary. You
- 11:09can see it if you want. What does he look like? Tall,
- 11:13thin, sunburned, poorly dressed, artisan of some kind, I'd say,
- 11:16obviously a foreigner. There wasn't any name on his clothing. There was nothing
- 11:18in his pocket except an apple and some string or a shilling map of run
- 11:22and a man's photograph. Here it is, mister Holmes, plainly not a
- 11:28picture of the fellow himself, judging by your description. What do you make
- 11:31of this Watson? Oh, let's seem somewhat similar in Taipei. Yes,
- 11:37thick eyebrows you see, Holmes, very peculiar projection on the lower part of
- 11:43the face. M Altogether, I should say Southern you'd a pim, I'd
- 11:46get admirable Watson and the bustless trade. What happened to mister Harker's bust of
- 11:52Napoleon? We had news of it five minutes before you came, smashed a
- 11:56smitheringe in the front garden of an empty house in Camden Hill Road. I'm
- 12:00going around to shit now, I want to camp. But of course,
- 12:03of course we leave you in peace. Now, mister Harker, I'm sure
- 12:07you must be impatient to write up your own story for one of your newspapers.
- 12:09Oh it's it's too late now. I'm afraid the first editions probably out
- 12:13with it already. Oh that's too bad, that's my luck. Oh but
- 12:18perhaps a can of tea and too confused to write to write things so far
- 12:22well, at any Rachel must try, and you can quote me if you
- 12:26like, say that I believe my friend Watson's theory is almost certainly the right
- 12:31one. Ah, my dear Holmes, you're ready things. He is convinced
- 12:33that the crime was the work of a dangerous, homicidal lunatic with Napoleonic delusions.
- 12:37Oh oh, thank you, mister Holmes. Yes, certainly, here's
- 12:43that you're ready to do. Believe at homes, Why not, Watson?
- 12:48Why not? It'll serve for the moment and for the press. Come less
- 12:50trade. Let us view the remains. Ah, yes, the body,
- 12:54mister, No, no, no, the bust. I propose to indulge
- 12:58in a little jigsaw work. See if all the fragments fit together to make
- 13:01the head complete again? What then, Holmes, Well I may be able
- 13:05to well you and I will have some interesting work to do. Watson,
- 13:11Good morning, mister Harker, Come gentlemen. With some little trouble, Holmes
- 13:18succeeded in reconstructing the whole bust from the splinters scattered over the garden of that
- 13:24empty house. Why he did this? I didn't know the straight and I
- 13:30obediently but mystified fetched and carried at his direction. Holmes face was enigmatic as
- 13:37he and I next drove to the premises of Morse Hudson, the supplier of
- 13:41the first three busts that had been broken from him. We learned the name
- 13:48of the original manufacturers of the articles, Messrs Gelder and Company of Stepney.
- 13:54In rapid succession we drove through the fringe of fashionable London theater to London Literary
- 14:01London, Commercial London, and finally many time London, where the tenement houses
- 14:07swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe. There in a side street we
- 14:15found the statuette factory, and we learned from the proprietor, oh Sargans Ris
- 14:22the homes. We took susans of casts to the Divine Napoleon. I've no
- 14:26doubt it's a noble work. But this batch of six noted down in these
- 14:31books of yours which I have before me. You see the entries Watson,
- 14:33all dated about a year ago, yes, and marked in two consignments,
- 14:37yes, one set of three to mors Hudson and the other three to Harding
- 14:43Brothers of Kensington. Now who does the casting work on these statuettes of yours?
- 14:48Mister Gilder. We usually Italians with the homes we find they work.
- 14:52And you recognize this particular Italian, this obvious Italian, Watson, pray shure
- 14:56him the photograph of the strade gave us yes, yes, yes, Curtis
- 15:00Ah, the rascal Peppo Peppo? Indeed, well, what was his other
- 15:05name? I never knew it? She even though he used to work here.
- 15:09Oh, he was a madman, Sir, I never knew a man
- 15:11was such a temper. He knifed another Italian in the street one day,
- 15:16and then he came running into the works for the priest in his heels,
- 15:18and he arrested him in this very work room. Well, and what sentence
- 15:22did he get? The man he had text lived since we got off with
- 15:24a year. Uh huh. I must be out by now, of course,
- 15:30if you wanted to know where he is, we have a cousin of
- 15:31his here who could tell you. No, no, not a word to
- 15:35the cousin. I beg of you. No. The matter's most important,
- 15:39mister Gelder. Indeed, the further I go with it, the more important
- 15:41it seems to grow. Watson, my dear fellow, where have you got
- 15:46to Are you ready? Yes? Yes, yes, I'm here, Holmes.
- 15:48I was just come along and come along. There's no time to lose.
- 15:50I don't think we need intrude upon you then anymore, mister Gelder,
- 15:54I'm much obliged to you. I'm not at all, and it will greater
- 15:56help you. We have one more visit to make Watson to Harding Brothers back
- 16:04in Kensington. Then luncheon I suggest, and a telegraph illustrate to come to
- 16:10Baker Street this evening, and then Watson and then home. Well, that
- 16:14invaluable army revolver of yours may once more be pressed into service, old friend,
- 16:18we have some dangerous work ahead of us. If I'm not mistaken,
- 16:21there are two of them still at large. Two criminal's home. No,
- 16:25no, only one criminal, but two busts of Napoleon. My dear Watson,
- 16:30come along, m and so as always I had to be content.
- 16:56Sherbrock Holmes was it is most mysterieous, and i'd you so well. I
- 17:02darely. He loved the mistery and would tell me nothing of his conclusions until
- 17:06his own time was ripe. I waited as best I could, Yet as
- 17:11the slow late summer day wore on, I've felt a constantly rising excitement within
- 17:17me, and I saw that Holmes tool was febrile and impatient, until at
- 17:22last, in response to our telegram, the good less trade appeared a less
- 17:30trade, my dear less trade. You weren't busy, I hope you see,
- 17:33mister Holmes, I'm always busy, shall motto at the yard. Of
- 17:37course you will be happy to hear by the way that I've sold a mystery
- 17:41what you have. Of course, sir, we have our methods too.
- 17:45You know I've identified the dead man, my dear lest ray. Oh yes,
- 17:49doctor woman inspector who makes a speciality of Saffron Hill on the Italian Quarter,
- 17:55and he knew our corpse the minute he set eyes on him. His
- 17:57name was Pietro Venucci from Naples. He was, and he was one of
- 18:00the most notorious cutthroats in London, Nuchi the last link. He was connected
- 18:07with the old secret Society of the Matthew Dcy And it's perfectly clear that he
- 18:11must have broken the rules in some way, so this fellow of the photograph
- 18:15is sent to kill him, or even perhaps the other way round. You
- 18:17know how fiendish they are in these vendetta things. At any rate, one
- 18:21is shadowing the other. There's a scuffle outside Harker's house, and in the
- 18:25struggle for Nucchi gets his death wound. How's that, mister Holmes, perfect
- 18:30perfect, I confess that he was to hang together admirably, except of course,
- 18:33for Napoleon. Ah. The basts are only a coincidence where on the
- 18:38murderous trail. Of course, as I expect, you are too from your
- 18:41wire. So all we need to do is to make our way to the
- 18:45Italian Quarter, where I've no doubt we'll be able to find him. No,
- 18:48no, no, my dear fellow, Chizi, Chizick's a highly irrespectable
- 18:52residential district and therefore the most likely neighborhood for spectacular happenings. If who've ever
- 18:56trusted me before, my dear est, trade trust me now. I promise
- 19:00to go with you tomorrow to the Italian Quarter. If I fail, you
- 19:03now for your part, come with Watson and me tonight to Chisick. Is
- 19:06that a bargain whirm by take you on? Trust? Mister hope you do
- 19:11very wisely. You will have to know with us first. That's trade,
- 19:12now, that's very nice. Have you ordered the four wheeler Watson for eleven
- 19:17to take us over to be on the other side of Hammersmith Bridge dirt good
- 19:19and you have the address, of course, the one we got from the
- 19:22fellow at Harding Brothers Ses. Laburnum Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chick admirable.
- 19:27You'll never fail me, Watson. Oh would you pass me my hunting crop
- 19:30there? Last trade? Listen, yeah, thank you. The handle is
- 19:34weighted with lead, the most useful weapon, as I've proved before. Now
- 19:38let us address ourselves to the important process of nutrition. It may be a
- 19:44long time before we eat again. Elms the leaves a laburnum. Watch well,
- 20:00Holmes, here we are excellent and with this particularly tall fence for our
- 20:06concealment. They've gone to bated scenes, old places in darkness, And I
- 20:11said mister Brown a personal message asking him to co operate. Mister Brown,
- 20:15mister Josiah Brown has said whose name we obtained as the purchaser of the fifth
- 20:19Napoleon? You and your Napoleon's Mister Holmes. I've told you that all that
- 20:26part of its only coincidence. It's this Mapia business dis the real cracker.
- 20:30Well, if you say so, Les straight now, then Watson do you
- 20:33crouch down here close to the hedge. You better lie down in the long
- 20:37grass. Watson here? Yeah, and the strange you stay here beside me?
- 20:41Yeah? Good, good, Look nay, mister Holmes. The open
- 20:45window, Ah, that's so long after are then? Yes, that's him.
- 20:52He must have been inside when we arrived our luxem. There's a light
- 20:56there flickering. Do you see? Yes, we've got him and didn't respectable
- 21:03chissick too. Less trade. He's climbing out. Oh, thank heaven for
- 21:06the moonlight. Look, he's carrying something white under his arm, the fifth
- 21:10Napoleon. No waitless straight, wait, wait, man, let's see what
- 21:14he does. He's coming closer, as you see. He stopped there by
- 21:18the street lamp. Holmes, I do believe he's going to He's going to
- 21:23exactly smash to smithereens like all the others. And while he's busy examining it,
- 21:30less trade on him. What's don't doctor? Ah? He's safe enough
- 21:52now, I reckon? What's your name? My man won't speak? Heh
- 21:57his name is. Let's straight at least if I follow Holmes? Right,
- 22:02Holmes, didn't you say that? Goo on? Heaven's where is her homes
- 22:06Watson, I'm over here with the bust. Ah, well, let's straighte
- 22:11you've got in there. For my own part, I've been attending to our
- 22:14friend, the good Napoleon, but with no good results so far. I
- 22:17fear it seems the final secrets still lousus on my soul. Mister Holmes,
- 22:22you'll beat me a doo really, still harping on about these statues. Yes,
- 22:26I'm almost one of Watson's monomaniacs on the subject list. Will you please
- 22:32take the prison at the Bow Street? Now, let's trade, And if
- 22:34you'll kindly come round to Baker Street at about six o'clock tomorrow evening, I
- 22:38think I shall then be able to show you that even now you've not grasped
- 22:42the entire meaning of this affair. Come Watson, come back to Baker Street
- 22:47in our four wheel. What time is it, Watson? Six o'clock Holmes,
- 22:56And here comes our man dead on time? Ah? That straight.
- 23:02Good evening to you, Good evening, good evening, well, mister Holmes,
- 23:07you were right, of course, of course, of course, how
- 23:08I mean about the Felipeppo. I've been able to check everything. I have
- 23:12a name unknown pretty celebrated as a neodle Well in the Italian colony, Temper
- 23:18of the field. Used to be a successful sculptor, but felling evil ways,
- 23:22Watson, that's the street bell, I believe, Ah, yes,
- 23:26and I hear footsteps on the staircase. Would you prepare to receive our visitor?
- 23:30Suddenly Holmes suddenly, Ah, good evening, sir, mister Sandleford,
- 23:36and reading I suppose, yes, sir, mister Sherlock Holmes is expecting me.
- 23:40I had a letter from him by special messenger. Yes, yes,
- 23:42come in, mister Sandleford, this is mister Holmes. Yes, good evenings.
- 23:47Let me let me take your bed carefully, carefully. I beg you,
- 23:48my dear Watson, that bed contains the whole object of our search.
- 23:52That's right, isn't it, mister Sanderford? What if you mean the Napoleon
- 23:56buss? Yes it does, sir. It beats me how you knew I
- 23:59had. But we had your name from mister Harding of Harding Brothers, mister
- 24:03Sandiford. He told us that they've sold you their last copy and they gave
- 24:07us your address. It's quite so. Now, then, sir, do
- 24:10you agree to my terms as I set them out in my letter? Where
- 24:14you said you'll be prepared to pay me ten pounds for it. Ten pounds
- 24:18it is, mister Sandford. I'm an honest man, mister Holmes. Of
- 24:21course the money attracts me, but I think you ought to know. I
- 24:23only paid fifteen shillings for it. I've named my price, mister Sandiford,
- 24:27and I intend to stick to it. There you are, sir, ten
- 24:32pounds. It's an in return. I shall only ask you to sign this
- 24:34paper in the presence of these witnesses. It's simply to say that you transfer
- 24:40all possible rights you ever had in the purchase to me. Thank you so
- 24:44much. Good evening, mister Sandiford. The landlady downstairs will show you out.
- 24:48I'm much obliged to, I'm sure, mister Hanes. Good evening,
- 24:51gentlemen. What's now? Lestray the bust on the table there and my celebrated
- 24:57loaded hunting crop in my hand, and so home? Great heaven sir,
- 25:06Oh what are you doing? You see? They're the perfect hiding place.
- 25:11That's what I was looking for when I fitted the other bus together in the
- 25:14garden. See that fragment that was the Emperor's ear embedded like a plum in
- 25:21a pudding. Let me introduce you, gentlemen, for the famous black pearl
- 25:26of the Borgers. Nothing less what we're bravo home, bravo, sir,
- 25:36bravo, bravo. Indeed, thank you, gentlemen, thank you. But
- 25:41what made you link it all together? Elementary, My dear Watson, you'll
- 25:45remember this trade that at the time when the pearl disappeared, some suspicion fell
- 25:48on the princess's maid, who was an Italian girl named Funucci. Of course
- 25:56Nucci. It was believed that she had a brother in London who worked with
- 26:00her as a jewel thief, a fellow who was murdered two nights ago.
- 26:03As you say, Watson, I then recollected that the pearlit disappeared just two
- 26:07days before the arrest of the man Beppo for some crime of violence. The
- 26:11police were after him. He had the pearl in his possession. He may
- 26:15have stolen it from Venucci, or he may even have been Venucci's confederate.
- 26:18At any event, before the police arrived, he hid it in the only
- 26:22place he could think of in the moment. One of the wet plaster casts
- 26:26of a Napoleon head which were at that moment being molded in the factory,
- 26:30and he's been in prison for a year. So and when he came out,
- 26:33he found from his cousin in the factory where that consignment of that day's
- 26:36napoleons had gone, and somehow or other chased the address of each purchaser.
- 26:41But how did he run across Venucci? Again, we'll never know that less
- 26:44to head unless he decides to talk. I take you that they may have
- 26:47quarreled, if they were confederates, or that Fernucci was out for revenge,
- 26:49if Beppo Hoods tol him the gem from him. At any rate, he
- 26:52also got on the trail. They met outside Harker's house. There was a
- 26:56scuffle, and behold your murderless trade. And you knew the pearl must be
- 27:00in the Sanderford busto or naturally, when I saw last night that it wasn't
- 27:03in the fifth one at Laburnum Lodge, I wrote to mister Sanderford, as
- 27:07you know, bought the pearl in your presence from the owner for ten pounds,
- 27:11and there it lies in all its glory. Well, I've seen you
- 27:17handle a good many cases, mister Holmes, but I don't know that I
- 27:21ever knew a more workmanlike one than that. Who are not jealous of you
- 27:25are the Scotland yard owner, Sir. We're very proud of you. And
- 27:29if you come down tomorrow there's not a man from the oldest inspector to the
- 27:33youngest constable who wouldn't be glad to shake you by the hand. Thank you,
- 27:37less straight, thank you. And as he played that evening with less
- 27:51trade tributes still ringing in his ears, it seemed to me who knew him
- 27:56so well as he was more nearly moved by the sun after emotions that I'd
- 28:00ever seen him so ended. Then the case of the six Napoleons in the
- 28:07year nineteen hundred, when I was back once more after the death of my
- 28:12wife in those old rooms in Baker Street, which I shared with the men
- 28:18I most revered in all the world, mister Sherlock Owned. The Adventures of
- 28:56Sherlock Holmes, based on the original stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, have
- 29:02been dramatized on You, with original music composed by Sydney Torch. Sir Ralph
- 29:07Richardson played the part of Doctor Watson and Sir John Gielgud that of Sherlock Holmes.
- 29:12The program was produced by Harry Allen Towers. Welcome back. One other
- 30:00of what I think are the greatest home stories played absolute perfection by our stars.
- 30:11Really, the Six Napoleons is just such a great mystery and such a
- 30:17great home story because things turn out almost exactly the opposite of what Watson and
- 30:26Lestrade we're thinking at the beginning. And I just love the way this turns.
- 30:33You know, there's so much, you know, it's just so much
- 30:40that makes you marvel at homes, and that that can make just for the
- 30:45best type of home story. All Right, Well, we turn now listener
- 30:51comments and feedback, and I'll actually start with Michael, who sent me a
- 30:57comment through Facebook that kind of covers some things I was going to talk about,
- 31:03so I'll go ahead and read what he had to say. I love
- 31:07the new Sherlock Holmes episodes. Rathbone. Holmes has always bothered me, mostly
- 31:12because of his belligerence towards Watson, treating him like a complete buffoon. I
- 31:17don't remember the books being that bay, but it has been several years since
- 31:21I've read one. It never made sense to me that someone would recount the
- 31:23memoirs of another who had treated him so callously. Gil Goods Holmes is brilliant
- 31:30and works wonderfully with Richard Watson's He's incisive, but not at Watson's expense.
- 31:34This seems like a true team that Watson would follow. The exploits of the
- 31:38Mastermind detectors makes total sense in these episodes. Thanks for bringing them into your
- 31:44program. Well, thanks, Michael. I wouldn't go as far to say
- 31:49that the Rathbone Holmes was too hard on Watson. What to me make made
- 31:59the rath Bone Bruce stories work both on radio and the movie is the real
- 32:06chemistry between the actors. And I didn't think that with Rathbone, with Rathbone
- 32:16playing homes that he I don't think he ever or rarely ever went too far
- 32:28in kind of poking fun at Watson and that sort of thing. I do
- 32:32think that as this passed from Tom Conway to John Stanley, you kind of
- 32:38had this real focus on homes as kind of a you know, kind of
- 32:49just showing off on the police and you know, looking down on basically everyone.
- 32:58What'd you get here is a lot more refreshing with the John Stanley,
- 33:07not John Stanley, but the John Gielgood version of Holmes. Now, obviously,
- 33:13particularly we take this case we just listened to. You know, obviously
- 33:20he was on the right trail at least knowing that it wasn't some really bizarre
- 33:27fixation on Napoleon. But he did not have the sense that he had to
- 33:34you know, butt heads with the police and be difficult with Lustrade and Watson.
- 33:40He just you know, kind of played along and boted his time,
- 33:45waited for the evidence to come forward, and really just gives you an entirely
- 33:51different feel than you know in John Stanley episodes, where it's again, you
- 34:00know, much more belligerent towards the police, much more belligerent towards Watson right
- 34:06from the beginning. And to be honest, I have been reading through the
- 34:09books kind of it as we've listened to the show. I've read through all
- 34:15of them now except for except for the Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, and it
- 34:24really, when I read the stories, it has much more the feel of
- 34:30these Gilgad episodes, where Holmes is a lot more good natured and less bitingly
- 34:37sarcastic. He does have his moments, but I think other adaptations have kind
- 34:43of over emphasized those moments, so thanks so much for your comments. Michael
- 34:50Joel says, I'm enjoying these performances. Such distinguished actors, do a great
- 34:54job, and I don't miss the commercials for Clippercraft clothes, and Patricius says,
- 35:02well, we've never heard this one, thought we had heard them all
- 35:06through the years. What a wonderful surprise. Well, I hope maybe we'll
- 35:08surprise you a little bit more when we get to the end of the program
- 35:14in the series. We also have a tweet from Alexei who writes, are
- 35:20you going to do the Basil Rathbone and Nigel of Bruce once again? Great
- 35:25question. We're going to look a little bit in season five at doing at
- 35:35doing one repeat of a series, So it's going to be quite a bit
- 35:39shorter than the about a year's worth of Basil Rathbone Nigel Bruce material we have,
- 35:47and it'll tie into another show that we're doing. But in terms of
- 35:55in terms of doing a longer show again, I definitely I think I like
- 36:05the Rathbone Bruce episodes. I definitely wouldn't want to do all of Sherlock Holmes
- 36:09again, but I would consider I would consider at some point redoing the Rathbone
- 36:17Bruce episodes, but it'd have to be quite a ways down the road.
- 36:22Taking a year's time to go through episodes we've already played through. Isn't something
- 36:30I'd take a look at now when we have so many series I think fifty
- 36:35odd programs that we still haven't gotten to yet. But maybe in a few
- 36:39years, who knows. Thanks so much for the question that will actually do
- 36:45it for today. Join us tomorrow we'll be bringing you a new Carter Brown
- 36:51mystery starting and the end of the Lorco Diamond matter on Yours truly, Johnny
- 36:54A. Doller and the Meanwhile, send your comments to Box thirteen A Right
- 36:59Detective dot net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become one
- 37:04of our friends on Facebook, Facebook, dot com. Slash Radio Detectives from
- 37:07Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson and Off