History Theatre / SherlockHolmes

Having his agent Forman in the house posing as butler, Holmes rescues Miss Faulkner and the package from the house, but yields the package to her on account of her possessive attachment to them. Larrabee's old friend, the Cockney crook Sid Prince, places him in contact with Professor Moriarty, king of all criminal enterprise in England. With Holmes slowly working on a chain of evidence that will send Moriarty straight to the gallows, the criminal genius gleefully decides to arrange Holmes's downfall for no fee at all. Holmes, knowing that Larrabee intends to trade him a counterfeit version of the package, hatches a plan of his own, risking his life to obtain the counterfeit package and swindle Alice into willingly giving him the genuine one. It's a dirty trick to play on such a nice girl, he knows.

!!Radio Adaptations:

* In 2006, Blackstone Audio as part of their Hollywood Theatre of the Ear did a production featuring Martin Jarvis as Holmes and the late Creator/TonyJay as Professor Moriarty released on the home market as part of "The Sherlock Holmes Theatre".

This play is responsible for several Holmes tropes that are not found in Conan Doyle. The deerstalker cap [[note]] OK, it had been seen in Sidney Paget's illustrations but only when Holmes was in the country. Here Gillette wears it in the third act set in London just because [[/note]], the calabash pipe, the name "Billy" for the previously nameless pageboy, and finally the now famous phrase: "Elementary, my dear Watson" all originated in Gillette's play.

!!Film Adaptations:

This play is responsible for several Holmes tropes that are not found in Conan Doyle. The deerstalker cap [[note]] OK, it had been seen in Sidney Paget's illustrations but only in the country. Here Gillette wears it in the third act just because [[/note]], the calabash pipe and the name "Billy" for the previously nameless pageboy all originated in Gillette's play.

* A 1916 feature film starred William Gillette himself and other members of a then recent production. This version was believed lost for nearly a century, until a copy was found in France in 2014, and after a year long restoration premiered a year later. In France the film had been edited into four episodes as a serial, and the English translation reflects that.

The Miss Faulkner whose strange case is the story of this play was the sister of an unnamed girl whose heart was broken by a disastrous liaison with an unnamed foreign gentleman. The affair ruined that girl's brief life, and Alice has the evidence to prove it. She was taken in by a couple of confidence artists named James and Madge Larrabee (calling themselves Chetwood for the purposes of the scheme), who bought an OldDarkHouse in London to keep her and her poor old mother in and a desk safe to lock the documents in. But they couldn't twist the documents out of her before Sherlock Holmes got on the case.

Having his agent Forman in the house posing as butler, Holmes rescues Miss Faulkner and the package from the house, but yields the package to her on account of her possessive attachment to them. Larrabee's old friend, the Cockney crook Sid Prince, places him in contact with Professor Moriarty, king of all criminal enterprise in England. With Holmes slowly working on a chain of evidence that will send Moriarty straight to the gallows, the criminal genius agrees to arrange Holmes's downfall for no fee at all. Holmes, knowing that Larrabee intends to trade him a counterfeit version of the package, hatches a plan of his own, risking his life to obtain the counterfeit package and swindle Alice into willingly giving him the genuine one. It's a dirty trick to play on such a nice girl, he knows.

With the timely cooperation of Forman, the butler, Holmes rescues Miss Faulkner and the package from the house, but yields the package to her on account of her possessive attachment to them. Larrabee's old friend, the Cockney crook Sid Prince, places him in contact with Professor Moriarty, king of all criminal enterprise, who agrees to arrange Holmes's downfall for no fee at all. Holmes, knowing that Larrabee intends to trade him a counterfeit version of the package, hatches a plan of his own, risking his life to obtain the counterfeit package and swindle Alice into willingly giving him the genuine one. It's a dirty trick to play on such a nice girl, he knows.

The play was hugely successful. It debuted in 1899 and ran for over thirty years on both sides of the Atlantic with Gillette regular performing the role on and off for decades. His final stage performance as Holmes was in 1932 at the age of ''79'', his final performance as Holmes in any medium was in 1935 at the age of '''''82''''' for a now lost radio dramatization of his famous fellow melodrama. Gillette's numerous performances on stage, film, ''and'' radio [[note]] Two broadcasts: one an adaptation of "The Speckled Band" the other a dramatization of his own melodrama, both have been lost to time. [[/note]] ''made'' him the Holmes of his generation long before Creator/BasilRathbone. As Creator/OrsonWelles once said: "It is too little to say that William Gillette resembled Sherlock Holmes; Sherlock Holmes looks exactly like William Gillette". Illustrator Frederic Dorr Steele used Gillette as his model for Holmes for the American publication of Conan Doyle's stories. A young Creator/CharlieChaplin, then a teenager trying to escape the poverty of the London slums, played Billy regularly for 2 1/2 years, including in one production opposite Gillette.

This play is responsible for several Holmes tropes that are not found in Conan Doyle. The deerstalker cap, the calabash pipe and the name "Billy" for the previously nameless pageboy all originated in Gillette's play.

The play was hugely successful. It debuted in 1899 and ran for over thirty years on both sides of the Atlantic with Gillette regular performing the role on and off for decades. His final stage performance as Holmes was in 1932 at the age of ''79'', his final performance as Holmes in any medium was in 1935 at the age of '''''82''''' for a now lost radio dramatization of his famous fellow melodrama. Gillette's numerous performances on stage, film, ''and'' radio [[note]] Two broadcasts: one an adaptation of "The Speckled Band" the other a dramatization of his own melodrama, both have been lost to time. [[/note]] ''made'' him the Holmes of his generation long before Creator/BasilRathbone. As Creator/OrsonWelles once said:"It is too little to say that William Gillette resembled Sherlock Holmes; Sherlock Holmes looks exactly like William Gillette". The illustrator Frederic Dorr Steele used Gillette as his model for Holmes for the American publication of Conan Doyle's stories. A young Creator/CharlieChaplin, then a teenager trying to escape the poverty of the London slums, played Billy regularly for 2 1/2 years, including in one production opposite Gillette.

''Sherlock Holmes, A Play, wherein is set forth The Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner'' was the popular dramatization of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories, by William Gillette [[note]] Actually Conan Doyle wrote the first draft, but producer Charles Frohman was unhappy with it and convinced Doyle to let Gillette rewrite it -- hence why the two are often given co-credit in modern published editions, despite Doyle having minimal involvement. [[/note]], who also starred as Holmes in the original Broadway production. Rather than being an adaption of any of Conan Doyle's stories it takes elements from "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and "A Study in Scarlet" to weave a completely original though very Holmesian tale.

''Sherlock Holmes, A Play, wherein is set forth The Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner'' was the popular dramatization of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories, by William Gillette [[note]] Actually Conan Doyle wrote the first draft, but producer Charles Frohman was unhappy with it and convinced Doyle to let Gillette rewrite it -- hence why the two are often given co-credit in modern published editions, despite Doyle having minimal involvement. [[/note]] the Holmes of his generation long before Creator/BasilRathbone. Rather than being an adaption of any of Conan Doyle's stories it takes elements from "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and "A Study in Scarlet" to weave a completely original though very Holmesian tale.

The play was hugely successful. It debuted in 1899 and ran for over thirty years, with Gillette giving his final Holmes performance in 1932. A young Creator/CharlieChaplin, then a teenager trying to escape the poverty of the London slums, played Billy regularly for 2 1/2 years, including in one production opposite Gillette.

''Sherlock Holmes, A Play, wherein is set forth The Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner'' was the popular dramatization of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories, by William Gillette [[note]] Actually Conan Doyle wrote the first draft, but producer Charles Frohman was unhappy with it and convinced Doyle to left Gillette rewrite it -- hence why the two are often given co-credit in modern published editions, despite Doyle having minimal involvement. [[/note]] the Holmes of his generation before Creator/BasilRathbone. Rather than being an adaption of any of Conan Doyle's stories it takes elements from "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and "A Study in Scarlet" to weave a completely original though very Holmesian tale.

''Sherlock Holmes, A Play, wherein is set forth The Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner'' was the popular dramatization of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories, by William Gillette [[note]] Actually Conan Doyle wrote the first draft, but producer Charles Frohman was unhappy it and convinced Doyle to left Gillette rewrite -- hence why they are often given co-credit [[/note]] the Holmes of his generation before Creator/BasilRathbone. Rather than being an adaption of any of Conan Doyle's stories it takes elements from "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and "A Study in Scarlet" to weave a completely original though very Holmesian tale.

''Sherlock Holmes, A Play, wherein is set forth The Strange Case of Miss Alice Faulkner'' was the popular dramatization of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories, by ''William Gillette,'' the Holmes for the generation before Creator/BasilRathbone. Rather than being an adaption of any of Conan Doyle's stories it takes elements from "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Final Problem," and "A Study in Scarlet" to weave a completely original though very Holmesian tale.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: Conan Doyle's anonymous pageboy becomes "Billy".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wgholmes.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Gillette as Holmes, with pipe.]]

->-- '''Creator/OrsonWelles''', introducing his own adaptation of Gillette's melodrama for his Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir

->''May I marry Holmes?''
-->-- '''William Gillette''', in a telegram to Sir Creator/ArthurConanDoyle concerning this play.

->''You may marry him, murder him, or do anything you like to him.''
-->-- '''Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's''' reply to the above

* Blackstone Audio as part of their Hollywood Theatre of the Ear did a production featuring Martin Jarvis as Holmes and the late Creator/TonyJay as Professor Moriarty released on the home market as part of "The Sherlock Holmes Theatre".

* A 1939 adaptation starring Creator/OrsonWelles for his ''TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir''.

* BlackStone Audio as part of their Hollywood Theatre of the Ear did a production featuring Creator/MartinJarvis as Holmes and the late Creator/TonyJay as Professor Moriarty.

!!Film adaptations

''Sherlock Holmes'' was twice adapted for silent film. A 1916 feature film starred William Gillette. This version was believed lost for nearly a century, until a copy was found in France in 2014. It was made again in 1922 with Creator/JohnBarrymore in the title role. The 1922 version is probably most notable for its remarkable cast. Roland Young, who made his film debut as [[TheWatson Watson]], would have a very successful career as a character actor in films like ''Film/{{Topper}}'' and ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''. Creator/WilliamPowell, who became a huge star in TheGreatDepression, also made his film debut here as Forman the butler. Hedda Hopper, who would later leave acting to become a very famous newspaper gossip columnist, plays one of Moriarty's employees. Louis Wolheim, who became a pretty big star later in the silent era, plays a {{Mook|s}}. And Carol Dempster, who spent most of TheTwenties as the girlfriend, protege, and leading lady of Creator/DWGriffith, appears in the film as the {{Love Interest|s}}, in one of only two films she ever made that weren't directed by Griffith.

The credits for the 1939 Basil Rathbone film, ''Film/{{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|1939}}'' say that the movie is based off the play, but apart from having Moriarty as the villain [[InNameOnly it has nothing in common with the play.]]

''Sherlock Holmes'' was twice adapted for silent film. A 1916 feature film starred William Gillette. This version was believed lost for nearly a century, until a copy was found in France in 2014. It was made again in 1922 with Creator/JohnBarrymore in the title role. The 1922 version is probably most notable for its remarkable cast. Roland Young, who made his film debut as [[TheWatson Watson]], would have a very successful career as a character actor in films like ''Film/{{Topper}}'' and ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''. Creator/WilliamPowell, who became a huge star in UsefulNotes/TheGreatDepression, also made his film debut here as Forman the butler. Hedda Hopper, who would later leave acting to become a very famous newspaper gossip columnist, plays one of Moriarty's employees. Louis Wolheim, who became a pretty big star later in the silent era, plays a {{Mook|s}}. And Carol Dempster, who spent most of TheTwenties as the girlfriend, protege, and leading lady of Creator/DWGriffith, appears in the film as the {{Love Interest|s}}, in one of only two films she ever made that weren't directed by Griffith.

''Sherlock Holmes'' was twice adapted for silent film. A 1916 feature film starred William Gillette. This version was believed lost for nearly a century, until a copy was found in France in 2014, making it the oldest surviving Sherlock Holmes film. It was made again in 1922 with Creator/JohnBarrymore in the title role. The 1922 version is probably most notable for its remarkable cast. Roland Young, who made his film debut as [[TheWatson Watson]], would have a very successful career as a character actor in films like ''Film/{{Topper}}'' and ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''. Creator/WilliamPowell, who became a huge star in UsefulNotes/TheGreatDepression, also made his film debut here as Forman the butler. Hedda Hopper, who would later leave acting to become a very famous newspaper gossip columnist, plays one of Moriarty's employees. Louis Wolheim, who became a pretty big star later in the silent era, plays a {{Mook|s}}. And Carol Dempster, who spent most of TheTwenties as the girlfriend, protege, and leading lady of Creator/DWGriffith, appears in the film as the {{Love Interest|s}}, in one of only two films she ever made that weren't directed by Griffith.

''Sherlock Holmes'' was twice adapted for silent film. A 1916 feature film starred William Gillette. This version was believed lost for nearly a century, until a copy was found in France in 2014. It was made again in 1922 with Creator/JohnBarrymore in the title role. The 1922 version is probably most notable for its remarkable cast. Roland Young, who made his film debut as [[TheWatson Watson]], would have a very successful career as a character actor in films like ''Film/{{Topper}}'' and ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''. Creator/WilliamPowell, who became a huge star in UsefulNotes/TheGreatDepression, also made his film debut here as Forman the butler. Hedda Hopper, who would later leave acting to become a very famous newspaper gossip columnist, plays one of Moriarty's employees. Louis Wolheim, who became a pretty big star later in the silent era, plays a {{Mook|s}}. And Carol Dempster, who spent most of TheTwenties as the girlfriend, protege, and leading lady of Creator/DWGriffith, appears in the film as the {{Love Interest|s}}, in one of only two films she ever made that weren't directed by Griffith.

''Sherlock Holmes'' was twice adapted for silent film. A 1916 feature film starred William Gillette. This version was believed lost for nearly a century, until a copy was found in France in 2014. It was made again in 1922 with John Barrymore in the title role. The 1922 version is probably most notable for its remarkable cast. Roland Young, who made his film debut as [[TheWatson Watson]], would have a very successful career as a character actor in films like ''Film/{{Topper}}'' and ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory''. Creator/WilliamPowell, who became a huge star in UsefulNotes/TheGreatDepression, also made his film debut here as Forman the butler. Hedda Hopper, who would later leave acting to become a very famous newspaper gossip columnist, plays one of Moriarty's employees. Louis Wolheim, who became a pretty big star later in the silent era, plays a {{Mook|s}}. And Carol Dempster, who spent most of TheTwenties as the girlfriend, protege, and leading lady of Creator/DWGriffith, appears in the film as the {{Love Interest|s}}, in one of only two films she ever made that weren't directed by Griffith.

* CanonImmigrant: Billy, who makes his first appearance as a page in this play, has regularly popped up in Sherlock Holmes adaptations ever since.

This play is responsible for several Holmes tropes that are not found in Conan Doyle. The deerstalker cap, the pipe, the use of "elementary", and the name "Billy" for the previously nameless pageboy, all originated in Gillette's play.