The Constant Creation

Who created Sherlock Holmes?

An easy question, that, and I'm sure you have an answer for it Now, a more interesting question — who created you?

Most of us know the answer to that one as well. We all have our creators, usually two people who come together and give something of themselves to produce a totally new human being. From our creators, we get our start in life.

But the act of creation doesn't stop there. A child must be raised and taught. A child picks up things along the way. His environment changes him, and the process of creation continues. If we're very lucky, it never stops.

Ask yourself who created Sherlock Holmes, then ask yourself who creates Sherlock Holmes today. And who was it that lent a hand along the way.

For example, a favorite bit of trivia that Sherlockians like to throw at the unwashed masses is the business about the curved pipe.

In all of the sixty stories originally written about Holmes, he never uses a curved pipe. Yet Sherlock Holmes uses a curved pipe. Everybody knows that! Does that make it true? Well, when we're speaking of legends, maybe it does. As Vincent Starrett once wrote, "Only those things the heart believes are true." And a whole lot of hearts believe that Sherlock Holmes smoked a curved pipe.

Where did those hearts get this knowledge? From William Gillette, the first great Holmes impersonator, and the artists and actors he influenced.

Apparently Gillette found the curved pipe easier to hang out of his mouth on stage. Little did he know -— or perhaps he did -— that he was participating in the creation of Sherlock Holmes, too.

A lot of hearts believe Holmes liked to say "Elementary, my dear Watson."

I'm not sure who said that one first, but I got it from Basil Rathbone, another great Holmes impersonator and creator. Don't tell me Holmes never said those words; I've heard him say them. Listen to your own heart; you may hear them there as well.

But then there are the heaxt-breaking parts of our man Sherlock.

Nicholas Meyer took what I always thought was a minor detail (the cocaine thing) and turned Holmes into a crazed drug addict for a time. A lot of people can't get that image out of their head, and it's become quite a persistent sub-current of the Holmes legend. We may not agree with it, but its existence cannot be denied.

William Gillette, Basil Rathbone, Nicholas Meyer...all of these men participated in the creation of the Sherlock Holmes we know today. Gillette did it with the blessing of Holmes's seminal creator, but that doesn't mean he was any more or less effective than the others. The line doesn't stop with those three, either: Michael Hardwick, Jeremy Brett, Eve Titus, Sidney Paget, William S. Baring-Gould, Peter Cushing . . . I could go on all day.

Over a hundred years past his birth, Sherlock Holmes has had the benefit of literally thousands of creators. Anyone who claims the Sherlock they hold in their head is purely the result of the sixty stories is either an out-and-out liar or something akin to a feral child. You cannot be a Sherlockian without having encountered, and been influenced by, some latter portrayal of Holmes, in a
poem, in a novel, or even in a cartoon. It could even be argued that Conan Doyle
himself was writing Sherlock Holmes pastiches in his later years, subtly influenced by William Gillette, John Kendrick Bangs, and others.

Like any other living being, Sherlock Holmes has not been sitting still since the death of his original parent. He can't, won't, and never will. That's how life operates. His development in future years could be good, or, as we saw in the case of Nicholas Meyer, not so good. As Sherlockians, it's not just our duty to follow that life-form we call Holmes and see where he winds up—we should also be helping make sure the place he winds up is a good one.

Sure, there are certain limitations to having Sherlock Holmes stories published in the United States. That still doesn't mean you can't write them. Or enact them. Or tell them to your friends. Or simply discuss the Holmes you believe to be true. There are as many ways to get your view of Holmes across as there are Sherlockians. As Sherlockians, we should all be helping carry the Holmes we love best into the future.

And that doesn't mean we have to fight it out over whose idea of the master detective is the true one. We needn't all support one well-defined vision, elected by unanimous ballot or divine inspiration. The legend will take its own path, whatever we do.

Our best bet is to guide Holmes's course like the wild and divergent bunch we are.

Who created Sherlock Holmes?

A lot of people.

Who is creating him now?

A whole lot more, one of whom should be you,