William Gillette was an American actor and playwright, born in 1853.  He portrayed Sherlock Holmes more than 1,000 times on stage, but only once on film. This film had been lost for almost 100 years, and was recently discovered in a film archive in Paris, France.  Great news for Sherlockians! The re-discovered film has been restored and the film made its US debut in San Francisco in May. Among the attendees was Sonia Fetherston BSI, award-winning author.

sherlock_holmes_1916-full-still[1]The Stormy Petrels are honoured and very pleased to have Sonia in Vancouver to treat us, and anyone wishing to join us, to a talk about William Gillette and the re-discovered and newly-restored film. She will answer questions on its actors, when and where it was made, how it came to be lost and how it came to be found and everything in between. The talk will take place at our usual meeting location, Hampton Place (UBC) at 7:00 pm on Thursday, July 16th. Please join us and meet Sonia and learn all about William Gillette and his film.

Published by Fran Martin

Fran Martin became a member of The Bootmakers of Toronto in 1987 and The Stormy Petrels of B.C. in 1988. She has attended several Sherlockian conferences including: In 1992 "Aspects of Holmes" in Bradford, England (hosted by The Northern Musgraves); In 2006 "ACD at 35" in Toronto (hosted by The Bootmakers of Toronto); 2013 "Sherlock Holmes Through Time & and Place" in Minneapolis (hosted by The Norwegian Explorers); 2014 "Gillette to Brett IV" in Bloomington (hosted by Wessex Press); 2015 SherlockCon in Seattle; 2015 "A Scintillation of Scions VIII" in Baltimore (hosted by Watson's Tin Box); 2016 "The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes" (hosted by The Norwegian Explorers); in 2018 in Dayton, Ohio for the "Holmes, Doyle & Friends" conference (hosted by the Agra Treasurers). Fran has held several positions with The Stormy Petrels of B.C. including secretary, vice-president, special events coordinator and is currently president and editor of the "Petrel Flyer". She was honoured with being awarded the title of "Master Bootmaker" in 2014. She was very pleased to present a paper to a meeting of Sir Hugo's Companions in Chicago in 2017. Fran has contributed articles to Canadian Holmes magazine, the Watsonian and Chris Redmond's "About Sixty" and "Sherlock Holmes is Like...". In May, 2018 she attended the 78th annual Speckled Band of Boston dinner. She was very honoured to have been one of the first women invited.

One thought on “Special Guest Speaker – on William Gillette Film!”

  1. Hi, I only discovered The Stormy Petrels of BC about a month ago and subscribed to your website immediately. I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and was trilled to find your group. I had planned on joining The Stormy Petrels for the picnic at Shannon falls but due to a family illness was unable to attend at the last minute. Attached is a picture of the Souvenir Banknote that I had produced in a limited edition of 30 notes for the event to share with the group. Barring unforeseen circumstances I am going to to attend the July 16th , Gillette Film talk and will bring the notes along at that time. Please let me know what you think of the idea.

    Fellow Sherlockian Eugene (Gene) Simms New Westminster BC

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