William Gillette

Tonight, Broadway's and radio's most celebrated theatrical producing company brings to life the best-known character in detective fiction, the immortal Sherlock Holmes.

The play is Orson Welles' own adaptation for radio of William Gillette's enduring melodrama, based on the famous stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Before the performance begins, here is the director of the Mercury Theatre, the star and producer of these unique broadcasts, Orson Welles.

Good evening.

Punch and the Charlies, Chaplin and McCarthy, Coyote, Sir John, and Sherlock Holmes.

Now irrelevant as this may seem, we of the Mercury Theatre are very much occupied these days with rehearsals for a revival of a fine old American farce a lot of you will remember, if only for its lovely title, which is Too Much Johnson.

Its author was William Gillette, which reminded us, as it reminds you, of Sherlock Holmes.

As everybody knows, that celebrated American inventor of underacting lent his considerable gifts as a playwright the indestructible legend of the Conan Doyle detective and produced the play which is as much a part of the Holmes literature as any of Sir Arthur's own romances and as nobody will ever forget.

Really?

I mean, I've seen photographs of William Gillette, I mean, I'm sorry, this is so off track, but it's an interesting question, but I've seen photographs of Gillette, who appears to be injecting himself with something.

Right, in the wrist, right? That famous picture, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, that is a postcard display rack that they have under glass there.

This would have been the early 1900s and was a little reminiscent of the, uh, the world exposition there in Chicago, but it displays all these period postcards.

Um, Oh, there were letters from Conan Doyle, some William Gillette programs, a Hound of the Baskervilles play, Acts 1, 2, and 3, unique play typescript, unpublished, unrecorded from Conan Doyle from about August 1902.

It was the original typed manuscript for that play.

Oh, this one has a little extra special magic, though.

So it's part of the show is that this show is set in the mansion of William Gillette, who is a real

person.

I thought I recognized the name when I looked at the cast list, so I looked it up, and who was he known for playing on stage? Sherlock Holmes.

The Games Afoot or Homes for the Holidays.

So it's a Sherlock Holmes Christmas play.

Now, William Gillette was famous for playing Sherlock Holmes on Broadway.

Yeah.

Long story short, he goes to visit a friend of his mother's who is also a historian, and she's in Connecticut.

And some of the action takes place on the Connecticut River near Gillette Castle, because one of the main characters in this book is an actor who is very famous, kind of like William Gillette.

For those of you who are into history and film history, he is one who originated the role of Sherlock Holmes.

And he does have a castle here in Connecticut called Gillette Castle that he built.

fiction, the immortal Sherlock Holmes.

The play is Orson Welles' own adaptation for radio of William Gillette's enduring melodrama based on the famous stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Before the performance begins, here is the director of the Mercury Theatre, the star and producer of these unique broadcasts, Orson Welles.

Good evening.

A lot of people remember it only for its lovely fact, which is

too much Johnson.

Its author was William Gillette, which reminded us, as it reminds

you, of Sherlock Holmes.

Tonight, Broadway's and radio's most celebrated theatrical producing company brings to life the best-loved character in detective fiction, the immortal Sherlock Holmes.

The play is Orson Welles' own adaptation for radio of William Gillette's enduring melodrama based on the famous stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Before the performance begins, here is the director of The Mercury Theatre, the star and producer of these unique broadcasts, Orson Welles.

Good evening.

Now, irrelevant as this may seem, we at The Mercury Theatre are very much occupied these days with rehearsals for a revival of a fine old American play.

A lot of people remember it only for its lovely title, which is Too Much Johnson.

Its author was William Gillette, which reminded us, as it reminds you, of Sherlock Holmes.

As everybody knows, that celebrated American inventor of underacting lent his considerable gifts as a playwright to the indestructible legend of the Conan Doyle detective and produced the play, which is as much a part of the Holmes literature as any of Sir Arthur's own romances.

We, we think of, of acting-- Ev-everything we see on television, in fact, or in, in movies, almost everything developed from that period.

So actors began to leave the tradition where they would, where they were individuals declaiming, um, making speeches, even stepping to the front of the stage to give a monologue, and it turned into, "You said something to me, and I need to look as if I'm hearing it for the first time." And actually, that was something the actor William Gillette developed and wrote about in American theater in, at the time.

"But I need to look like I'm reacting to you, and he, and that all this is happening for the first time, and not because I learned a Shakespeare monologue and I can say it beautifully." So that was very striking to me.

We take that completely for granted, don't we? I mean, that's-

That's amazing.

Um, it must've been very, very violent.

So the, um, you know, this is a good point about, about the reputation of actors, and I did a lot of, um, research, even though Brogan is very much fictional character, I did a lot of research about the actors, um, William Gillette, whom I mentioned just now, American actor, who m- made the role of Sherlock Holmes famous, um, and was a beloved member of the, of the literary community in the US.

But I also did a lot of research on Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, who were acting partners at the Lyceum in London for decades.

But at the center of the book, there's a kind of anti-hero or villain, really, Gail Brogan, who is an actor.

in the in the gilded age and we can talk about him more in a little um but he he uh builds a castle which is something that rich and famous people like to do in the u.s in the late 19th century because it gave them european creds and um there is a castle built by a famous actor who also appears a real actor who appears briefly a mystery play and his name was william gillette And he became famous playing Sherlock Holmes all over the American stage and even in London.

And he made a fortune playing Holmes.

And he was also a playwright and an incredibly versatile actor.