The 1979 Dinner marking Sherlock Holmes’s 125th birthday was “a great success and a new attendance record was made.” Julia Rosenblatt was honored as The Woman. Twelve Irregular shillings were bestowed.
Short talks were proffered by Mark McPherson, Will Oursler, Ed Clark, Al Rosenblatt, and Isaac Asimov. The Baker Street Journal notes that “the contributions of Clark and Asimov were especially brilliant.” The Irregular reception at The Grolier Club, which took place the following day, January 6, was also termed “an unusually enjoyable (and crowded) affair, attended by 200 Irregulars and their ladies.”
Dinner Details: January 5, 1979
The Regency Hotel, 540 Park Avenue, New York
Dinner Photo Information
Click on the above photo to see a larger version of it, and maximize your browser window to see the most detail.Key to People in the 1979 BSI Dinner photo (not available at this time)
BSI Honours List
Investitures:James Brewer as Josiah Brown
Frank A. Hoffmann as Altamont
Richard L. Katz as Jean Baptiste Greuze
Michael H. Kean as General Charles Gordon
Ely M. Liebow as Inspector Gregory
Mark McPherson as Cecil Barker
Jeffrey Montgomery as Inspector Montgomery
Harold E. Niver as The Man on the Tor
William P. Schweickert as Cox and Co.
Blaine Simons as The Strange Old Book Collector*
George Sturm as Neil Gibson
Benton Wood as A Scandal in Bohemia**
* received Investiture at another event during the year
** in absentia
What is an Investiture?
Two-Shilling Award:
None listed
What is a Two-Shilling Award?
The Woman:
Julia (Mrs. Albert M.) Rosenblatt
What is The Woman honour?
"Stand with me here upon the terrace..."
(as named at this Dinner, not their year of passing)
Not listed in the 1979 BSJ report.
What is the origin of “standing on the terrace?”
Morley-Montgomery Award:
Richard Luman, "The Second Hand in The Second Stain"
The Baker Street Journal v28 n3 (September 1978) pp. 132-136 (available in the eBSJ).
What is the Morley-Montgomery Award?
Reports on the Dinner
The Baker Street Journal v29 n2 (June 1979) pp. 114, 116 (available in the eBSJ).List of 1979 BSI Dinner Attendees (not available at this time)
Recordings
Julian Wolff at a BSI Dinner
In the following 4-minute vignette from the 1979 BSI Dinner, Commissionaire Julian Wolff announces the BSI Investitures for that year.
Click to play this recording
A recording of the entire 1979 BSI Dinner is available at Harvard as part of the BSI Archive.
Related Material
1979 BSI Dinner Menu (digitized images at Harvard)Two pages. Cover and interior, two copies. Sequence 74-75 and 77-78
Kean, Michael, Toast to Sherlock Holmes (digitized image at Harvard)
At the BSI Dinner at which he was invested in 1979, Michael Kean presented the Toast to Sherlock Holmes. One page. Sequence 76.
Previous dinner: the 1978 BSI Dinner
Next dinner: the 1980 BSI Dinner
For an index to all BSI Dinners and photos, see our BSI Dinner Summary list.
The BSI Archive is located at the Houghton Library at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Archival material may be used by any qualified scholar, subject to the normal rules and regulations of the Library. For links to a detailed finding aid and related information, see our BSI Archive at Harvard page.
Page composed on 12/13/2015 by Tamar Zeffren
This page last updated 1/29/16 by Andrew Solberg.
