Newspapers can be a wonderful source of information, and it's surprising how often Sherlockian scions received attention. As my home scion, I found myself wondering about the earliest articles on Red Circle. There's a good history of the Red Circle on its web page.
Quick Watson, The Irregulars Will Needle Holmes Tonight
There are mystery fans who naively believe Sherlock Holmes is merely a fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but any member of the Baker Street Irregulars could set them straight at the drop of a gasogene.
To the Irregulars Sherlock Holmes is a real person who still is very much alive. And the tales of his sleuthing exploits they explain were actually written by his assistant Watson, Arthur Conan being only a pen name.
Organized many years by Christopher Morley and a group of friends the Baker Street Irregulars are members of probably the largest fan club of its kind in the world. It Is certainly the most unique: sole requisite for membership is a sincere devotion and loyalty to the Baker Street detective.
Chapters of the parent organization are to be found in nearly everv maior American city. Each chapter is named for some incident or episode in the Sherlock Holmes saga. In Washington the Irregulars call their chapter the "Red Circle" named for the story in which Holmes deals with a branch of the Sicilian "Black Hand" gang.
The Baltimore chapter is called the "Six Napoleons" after the story in which a jewel thief hides his loot jn one of six statues' of Napoleon (Holmes of course solved the case). And tonight at the Army Navy Club Farragut Square and I St NW the Washington and Baltimore chapters will meet in the first formal dinner to be held by the Red Circle group.
The name of the parent organization is taken from the name given by Holmes the street urchins whom he often employed to aid him in capturing criminal quarries. He referred to his modest little army as "Baker Street Irregulars".
They're Irregulars. And they still are. The only thing most members have in common is a love of literature in general and of Sherlock Holmes in particular. In the Washington chapter for example are such men as Stephen F. Crocker, Professor at the University of West Virginia; Dr. David C. Mearns, assistant librarian of Congress ; Walter Trohan, chief of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau ; and Robert Wrigley, geografer for the census bureau.
As to the "gasogene" mentioned above that is the title conferred on chapter presidents. A gasogene as explained in one of the Holmes books is the old English version of the American seltzer siphon. Gasogene of the Red Circle chapter is Sven Petersen. National head of the Irregulars is Edgar W. Smith of New York vice president of General Motors Corp in charge of exports. He will attend the meeting tonight. Chief diversion at meetings of the Irregulars is - you guessed it - talking about Sherlock Holmes. Members take great pride in their ability to recognize almost any quotation from the Holmes books.
Where to Find It. "Tell me" one member might ask "who referred to The Star Spangled Banner as 'Columbine's Bannock"? "That's easy" would probably be the reply "that was a British bobby who heard a man singing the American national anthem and in identifying it got the name twisted up".
There are some standing arguments however which may never be resolved but which supply constant fuel for conversation in any Holmesian group. One is the question of whether Watson while serving in the army was wounded in the shoulder or the leg. References to both wounds are found in different places in Holmes stories and one argument seems as strong as the other. The controversy rages and a quarterly magazine The Baker Street is published for the express purpose of keeping Holmes fans up to date on the latest developments in this and other arguments.
Among other Washington members at tonight's meeting will be Col Ross L Hunter (ret.), Dr. Gordden Link, adviser at the Pentagon; Felix Morley brother of Christopher Morley; John O'Donnell of the Washington bureau of the New York News; and Isaac George, secretary of the St Vincent de Paul society.
Washington, District of Columbia ยท Sunday, March 08, 1953
THE WHAT CIRCLE?
There is an item of news that no man in his right mind would hesitate to pass along in these times. As Hank Fort's witty song says, don't tell Joe - but an organization known as the Red Circle will assemble here tomorrow night. It will be no clandestine meeting either. Members of the Red Circle are planning to hold their brazen gathering right out in public, in the Caribar Room of the Sheraton Park Hotel.
Some of the names associated with the Red Circle might surprise you. Among those listed to attend this function are John O'Donnell, anti-FDR columnist of the New York News; Walter Trohan, Chicago Tribune; Felix Morley, Dean Henry Grattan Doyle and Elmer Davis. There will be less surprise, however, if you will stop laughing at the thought of Mr. O'Donnell being a member of the Red anything, long enough to learn what the Red Circle really is.
It is the local outpost of a law-abiding and highly respected organization known as the Baker Street Irregulars and you know who the Irregulars are. The meeting of the Washington group tomorrow will be for the purpose of inspecting a couple of installments in a new TV film series, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." The detective yarns, filmed in England by Producer Sheldon Reynolds ("Foreign Intrigue") already have been approved by the Baker Street Irregulars. The WRC management hopes the Washington segment of the group will do the same for the series before it starts next Monday at 7 on WRC-TV.
Mon, Jan 24, 1955
The New Sherlock Laughs It Up
BASIL RATHBONE can hang up his deerstalker and magnifying glass if he so desires, and I think he does. A compelling and eminently satisfying new Sherlock Holmes is in our midst, as of 7 o'clock tonight, WRC-4.
As a matter of fact, if Ronald Howard didn't bear such an uncanny resemblance to his late father, Leslie Howard, he could pass for a distant kin of Rathbone's (taking after the fair side of the family).
How does the new Sherlock differ from the others? Basically, I'd estimate that the contribution of young Howard and Yank producer-writer Sheldon Reynolds to the classic concept of the super sleuth is a contemporary sense of humor. If memory serves, and it better, as the Baker Street Irregulars will promptly roar into action, Sherlock wasn't exactly a man given to happy talk.
In fact, he was pretty much a cold fish.
His few sallies were on the academic side, but sly, and usually 20,000 leagues over the heads of his associates.
In the first two installments, which were "previewed" here last week, I caught Sherlock laughing out lead at least twice. The local chapter of the Irregulars, called the Red Circle, remained reasonably calm during this umseemly display and, indeed, applauded loudly at the conclusion, so I guess it's okay.
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