Grindr, 1890
Nov. 22nd, 2022 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
While running an unnecessarily protracted errand, I was listening to my favorite Sherlock Holmes radio adaptation, like I do (the one produced by Bert Coules, honorary fangirl ♥ ). And I am again reminded just how gay the premise of "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" is.
Holmes' client, Mr. Scott Eccles, explains just how he came to be staying overnight in This Guy's house, when the next morning This Guy had disappeared and was soon found dead. And the basics go like this:
So let's see, we have:
* The very important (?) and relevant (??) facts that he's a bachelor, and that Garcia was the most handsome man he's ever seen
* "In some way we struck up quite a friendship"
* "He seemed to take a fancy to me"
* "One thing led to another"
* Now it's time to stay with him for the weekend!
I left the last paragraph in despite the "half-breed" term (yecch), only to say that it does indeed seem a raaaaaather queer household, but Scott Eccles seemed fine with that until people up and vanished...
Holmes' client, Mr. Scott Eccles, explains just how he came to be staying overnight in This Guy's house, when the next morning This Guy had disappeared and was soon found dead. And the basics go like this:
"I am a bachelor," said he, "and being of a sociable turn I cultivate a large number of friends. Among these are the family of a retired brewer called Melville, living at Abermarle Mansion, Kensington. It was at his table that I met some weeks ago a young fellow named Garcia. He was, I understood, of Spanish descent and connected in some way with the embassy. He spoke perfect English, was pleasing in his manners, and as good-looking a man as ever I saw in my life.
"In some way we struck up quite a friendship, this young fellow and I. He seemed to take a fancy to me from the first, and within two days of our meeting he came to see me at Lee. One thing led to another, and it ended in his inviting me out to spend a few days at his house, Wisteria Lodge, between Esher and Oxshott. Yesterday evening I went to Esher to fulfil this engagement.
"He had described his household to me before I went there. He lived with a faithful servant, a countryman of his own, who looked after all his needs. This fellow could speak English and did his housekeeping for him. Then there was a wonderful cook, he said, a half-breed whom he had picked up in his travels, who could serve an excellent dinner. I remember that he remarked what a queer household it was to find in the heart of Surrey, and that I agreed with him, though it has proved a good deal queerer than I thought.
So let's see, we have:
* The very important (?) and relevant (??) facts that he's a bachelor, and that Garcia was the most handsome man he's ever seen
* "In some way we struck up quite a friendship"
* "He seemed to take a fancy to me"
* "One thing led to another"
* Now it's time to stay with him for the weekend!
I left the last paragraph in despite the "half-breed" term (yecch), only to say that it does indeed seem a raaaaaather queer household, but Scott Eccles seemed fine with that until people up and vanished...
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Date: 2022-11-24 01:27 am (UTC)This story does have one of Conan Doyle's interesting pushbacks against the reverse, though! By which I mean, he has one of his characters who's big and fat and given some unattractive connotations in the word choice, Inspector Baynes:
The country detective was a stout, puffy, red man, whose face was only redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow.
Instead of having the lithe Holmes run figurative as well as literal rings around him, ACD ends up showing us that Baynes is very good at his job and gets Holmes's explicit approval. \o/
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Date: 2022-11-22 10:20 pm (UTC)Possibly distant cousins.
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Date: 2022-11-22 11:43 pm (UTC)Definitely cousins. Yes.
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Date: 2022-11-24 07:49 pm (UTC)I think I've heard all the SH radio adaptations, but mostly while falling asleep. I have them categorized by actor rather than producer, although I did begin to notice who the writers were so I could avoid the ones in which Holmes keeps telling Watson to shut up. All of this to say ... I'mma have to dig that one up!
Bert Coules isn't the one with the broad comedy who always works in a reference to "Sherlock Holmes, toffee-nosed ponce" in every episode, is he? I don't think that producer did any straight (as it were) adaptations.
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Date: 2022-11-24 08:07 pm (UTC)The thing about this series, especially the scripts written by Bert Coules, is that they really care about and pay attention to the relationship between Holmes and Watson, and the characters' emotions. Holmes and Watson care about each other, even though they sometimes clash, and conflict comes from deep feeling and specific characterization. These adaptations have Watson get married (twice, going with the canon interpretation of an unnamed second wife), and yet the marriages are the source of some extremely emotional and slashy writing and performance.
I only recently saw a little excerpt from an interview with Andrew Sachs (who has by now also unfortunately died), and it made me extra grateful not just for Bert Coules, but for the director, Patrick Rayner! The excerpt had Sachs saying, "I started out thinking of bumbling old Nigel Bruce but Patrick put me right." And boy, did he ever--Sachs's performance, like Williams', is nothing like the dumb-elderly-bumbler stereotype too many people think of (Nigel Bruce was a talented comic actor, but not an accurate Watson--however, his portrayal really stuck far too hard and dominantly in the public imagination).
At Escapade panels about Holmes adaptations, I am always waving a flag for these versions!
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Date: 2022-11-26 03:56 am (UTC)The Bert Coules ones are the ones originally on BBC Radio 4, starring Clive Merrison & Michael Williams. Yay, I do have those! The stories at least--I'm guessing I probably have the novels somewhere too. Those would be a lot of fun to re-listen to! Holmes and Watson care about each other, even though they sometimes clash, and conflict comes from deep feeling and specific characterization. ♥ ♥ ♥ DEFFO need to re-listen!