1994 Sixtieth Anniversary Baker Street Irregulars Cocktail Party

A happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! I started the day with a bowl of green oatmeal (compliments of my wife, who has a good sense of humor). We'll see what the rest of the day brings.

Among the Sherlockian world I'm not sure how the day is celebrated, but we might think of lifting a glass to the Doyle and Foley clans who produced Sir Arthur. Although Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh his father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was born in England of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. So there is cause for celebration.

There was also cause for celebration on January 8, 1994 when the Baker Street Irregulars gathered as part of their 60th anniversary weekend. Those festivities were captured in another recording from the Sherlock Holmes Collections that has been added to the U Media Archive. The occasion was the Baker Street Irregular's Saturday-afternoon cocktail party at 24 Fifth Avenue in New York. The agenda included Jon Lellenberg and Clint Gould's "March of Time" report on the history of the BSI, a performance by Paul Singleton and Philip Brogdon of an excerpt from Jeremy Paul's play "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes", poetic reports by Al Rosenblatt and Marilyn McKay on the events of the previous evening, the award of an Irregular Shilling and Investiture to Catherine Cooke ("The Book of Life"), the usual fast-and-furious auction for the Dr. John H. Watson Fund, and a warm tribute to Tom Stix delivered by Bob Thomalen.

The recording is presented in two parts on U Media. The first part runs to about 45 minutes; the second part runs to about 40 minutes. Following the second part on the same tape is another recording from an unidentified location: a short talk by Robert Brodie on Dr. John H. Watson's Finances. (This talk may be found at the time-point 32:23 in the clip.)

However you celebrate St. Patrick, enjoy the day and stay safe. And enjoy these little glimpses into the life and times of the Baker Street Irregulars.