Soufflé, Sherlock, and Six Soldiers
Soufflé, Sherlock, and Six Soldiers is an article published in The Bystander on 26 june 1934.
Only one part of the article is dedicated to Sherlock Holmes :
Sherlock
There is a perpetual interest in the exploits and personality of the immortal Sherlock. The latest addition to the saga is The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, by Mr. Vincent Starrett (Ivor Nicholson and Watson; 8s. 6d.). Actually, it is less a private life of the great detective than a series of essays on various aspects of the epic. Mr. Starrett discusses the actual whereabouts of the house in Baker Street, Number 221b, and describes the remarkable work of Dr. Briggs, of St. Louis, in locating the actual site. He touches on Holmes' musical taste, and gives a list of the cases which are mentioned by Watson but not chronicled. He wonders about Holmes' ancestry. But the true Sherlockian will disapprove of Mr. Starrett for including chapters on Conan Doyle. Indeed, the true Sherlockian will not admit that Conan Doyle ever existed. At the first annual dinner of the Sherlock Holmes Society], which took place the other day at a restaurant in Baker Street, the name of Conan Doyle was never mentioned. I think Mr. Starrett makes a great mistake in introducing chapters on how Doyle fought for Oscar Slater, and where he lived in Southsea, and his success in freeing an innocent man who had been convicted of cattle-maiming. These things are very interesting, but they have nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. Nor has the chapter on Sherlock in burlesque and parody, nor the chapter on the actors who have played the part on the stage and the films. But the rest is admirable. There is one detail upon which I join issue very warmly with Mr. Starrett. I simply refuse to accept Robert as the Christian name of Mr. Moriarty. Not only was the sinister ex-professor called James, but, as I think Mr. Frank Morley proves somewhere, he had a brother who was also called James. Mr. Starrett has accepted Robert simply because some hasty theatre-manager put Robert on the programme of a play about Sherlock.
