Twenty-one Stormy Petrels and guests were treated to a talk by Sonia Fetherston, BSI who happened to be in Vancouver. We were very delighted when she accepted our invitation to discuss the recently-restored silent William Gillette movie. A film that would impact Sherlockians 100 years later! Sonia had been to the debut screening of the restored film last May in San Francisco and was able to inform us about how it was made, lost, found and painstakingly restored. (The film was not found in one reel but several and had to be put into sequence. Also,the title cards were originally in French and had to be translated). The movie, based on the play “Sherlock Holmes” written by William Gillette and featured Gillette in the title role who had played Holmes 1,300 times on the stage, but this was the only time he played Holmes in film. Sonia was able to answer many questions, and her enthusiasm was definitely contagious! Several of our group, who were not familiar with William Gillette’s work and his impact on the Holmes image, were all very anxious to see the movie. 
We thank Sonia for a wonderful evening! Hopefully we will see her again!
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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.
View all posts by Fran Martin
We thank Sonia for a wonderful evening! Hopefully we will see her again!
