DR. JOHN H. WATSON HAD A CRACKIN’ GOOD literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. How else to explain the numerous ad placements about the World’s First Consulting Detective? Several of these have already appeared here at SimanaitisSays: See tax preparation and motor fuels in “Hypin’ Holmes,” November 25, 2015; and clothing and board games in “Holmes Residuals,” December 4, 2017.
The Pictorial History of Sherlock Holmes, by Michael Pointer, Mallard Press, 1991.
Again I start off by researching my primary source, The Pictorial History of Sherlock Holmes, particularly its portion titled “The Great Amusers and Persuaders.” I gleaned the following tidbits. They’re grouped, more or less, by Conan Doyle’s hot-prospect list.
What follows, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are results of this sleuthing, together with admittedly unrelated things that crop up in diligent gleaning.
The Ad Biz and Sleuthing. As I noted earlier, “I’d be fearful of Holmes getting stiffed on the royalties. Instead, I like to imagine his cottage on the Sussex Downs is equipped with brilliant WiFi, a proper sound system, automatic climate control, and anything else to maintain Holmes in blissful retirement.”
Indeed, thanks to Jim French, we know of Holmes’ subsequent adventure cooperating with another sleuth, Harry Nile. To the extent of my research, Nile’s literary agent has good hookups with the automotive segment.
Sleuths and the Flicks. Holmes has always been hot with the movie industry. Remember when Basil Rathbone even devised a special coif when combating nazis?
Back in 1911, The Champion Film Co. offered “special dashing, laugh-conclusive Comedies. We have the exclusive privilege for this feature.” Judging from other Champion flicks, bandits play important roles in Sherlocko sleuthing as well.
By the way, Wikipedia notes that Robert G. Fowler “was the first person to make a west-to-east transcontinental flight in North America,” albeit in stages: “He left San Francisco, California, in an attempt to win the $50,000 (approximately $1,687,000 today) Hearst prize in a Wright biplane equipped with a Cole Motor Car Company engine. After his first day he crashed in Alta, California [166 miles en route]. His cross-country flight was completed February 8, 1912, in Jacksonville, Florida, after the deadline, and the prize expired without a winner.”
Smithsonian, December 2019, describes how Fowler got himself in a whole lot of trouble in 1914 when photographing the almost completed Panama Canal. Gee, I hope his Champion flicks were less eventful.
Above, the Fowler-Gage aeroplane at the National Air and Space Museum. Below, the infamous photo of a gun emplacement on the Nace Islands in the Bay of Panama. Images from Smithsonian.
Tomorrow in Part 2, we examine Holmes and potables, and see where this leads us. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025