The Art Of Deduction That Put Silent Sherlock Back Together

A Sherlock Holmes movie from the silent era that was feared lost for many years is to be released on region 1 DVD this July.

American video distributor Kino International will be releasing a reconstructed version of Sherlock Holmes (1922) on its own and as part of a four-disc John Barrymore collection alongside Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), The Beloved Rogue (1927) and Tempest (1928).

The film, titled Moriarty in the UK, was believed completely lost until, in the mid-1970s, a number of negative reels were located at the George Eastman House film archives and pieced back together by film historians Kevin Brownlow and the late William K. Everson, with the aid of director Albert Parker.

The task required deductive powers the great detective would have been proud of, as William K. Everson explained in program notes for the Theodore Huff Memorial Film Society back in September 1975:

“Far more astounding than the film itself  are the conditions under which it was preserved. A few years ago all that existed of this film were rolls and rolls of negative sections, in which every take – not every sequence, but every take – were jumbled out of order, with only a few flash-titles for guidance, and the complications of Roland Young with a moustache in some scenes, without in others and a script that in many ways differed from the play, adding to the herculean task of putting it all together.

“However, with the limited help of director Albert Parker, who remembered but little of the film and who died while the reconstruction work was in progress, Kevin Brownlow… did piece it together, replaced titles and generally made sense out of an impossible jigsaw.”

Kino’s release, mastered from the 35mm George Eastman House Motion Picture Department restoration, is still incomplete – an estimated one and a half reels of footage are still missing – but the gaps are plugged by intertitles and production stills.

Click here to pre-order Sherlock Holmes from Amazon.com, or here for the John Barrymore Collection. N.B. These DVD releases are Region 1 only.

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Next Kaleidoscope Event Promises To Be A Reet Good ‘Un

Details of the next Kaleidoscope event, scheduled for June, have been announced.

According to the classic television organisation’s Adrian Petford, the themes for the day are ‘Yorkshire Television – A Tribute to the End of an Era’ and Television Continuity.

Writing over on the Mausoleum Club forum, Adrian gave the following details.

“Celebrating all the bits before, after and during the programmes we will be joined by guests Maurice Kanarek (former Presentation Director for BBC and ATV), Norman Tozer, Mike Prince and Wes Smith who worked as in-vision continuity announcers and presenters at ATV, Thames and others.

“Often overlooked and now a forgotten art, this area of television history is as fascinating as it was crucial, giving a unique insight into the attitudes and styles of the day as well as important historical events.”

Kaleidoscope, which is supporting the Royal National Lifeboat Institution throughout 2009, has also published a full schedule for the event, to be held in Stourbridge, West Midlands.

THE MAIN ROOM

* 12:00 pm ATV start-up film voiced by Norman Tozer.

* 12:05 pm The Big Show – from the opening night of Tyne Tees Television, this show features Dickie Henderson, Bill Maynard, Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. Also including part of the advert breaks before, during and after the programme.

* 1:00 pm Rest Assured – an untransmitted pilot episode for a seventies sitcom derived from Coronation Street.

* 1:30 pm Jackanory – “The Dribblesome Teapots” part 2, read by Kenneth Williams.

* 1:45 pm Break

* 2:00 pm Guest Panel – And Coming Up Tonight – Maurice Kanarek and Norman Tozer are the first guests on our Continuity Panel. Maurice was a Presentation Director for both the BBC and ATV. Norman was a continuity announcer for ATV. This panel will include examples of their work rescued from skips and house lofts, including some wonderful trailers for It’s a Knockout, Detective and Juke Box Jury.

* 3:00 pm Our Finest Idents – Kaleidoscope has trawled the broadcaster archives to find master tapes of surviving idents and continuity never seen before. Highlights include ITV’s 1969 Christmas promotion and brand new 35mm transfers of specially made closedown features.

* 3:15 pm Guest Panel – Later On… We Will Be Joining – Our Continuity Panel continues with guests Mike Prince and Wes Smith. They worked for ATV and Thames Television. They bring with them favourite moments from their personal collections including the final broadcasts of ATV.

* 4:30 pm Afternoon Tea

* 5:00 pm Dramarama – “The Secret of Croftmore”. A young unknown actor called David Tennant makes his first outing into the genre of sci-fi…

* 5:30 pm New Zealand Censor Clips – recovered from New Zealand in 2009, this short reel of 16mm clips – censored from the original programmes due to content – contains previously missing footage from The First Lady and Emergency Ward 10 amongst others.

* 5:45 pm Man of Destiny – the sole surviving reel of the earliest ITV play to be recovered, previously presumed lost. It was located by our very own Simon Coward in 2008. This adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play features James Donald, Elizabeth Sellars and George Colouris.

* 6:00 pm The Masterspy – William Franklin and the late Clement Freud star in the classic mystery quiz game, the only edition that survives on original Quad tape (TX: 14/07/1979).

* 6:45 pm Thank You and Goodnight – Spike Milligan reads a closedown thought for the end of an evening.

SECOND VIEWING AREA

A Tribute to the End of an Era at Yorkshire Television

* 12:05 pm The opening ceremony of Yorkshire Television – the opening of Yorkshire Television’s new studios in Leeds is attended by John Stonehouse and wife, the Earl of Scarborough, Harold Wilson, Stuart Wilson, Laurie Higgins, Sir Richard Graham, the Duchess of Kent and Donald Baverstock. This was the first programme broadcast by Yorkshire Television and was followed by Test Match Cricket from Headingley.

* 12:10 pm First Night – Bob Monkhouse hosts the variety spectacular that launched YTV, also featuring Frankie Vaughan, Daniel Remy, Toni Lamond and David and Marianne Dalmour.

* 1:00 pm Made in Yorkshire. It’s 1968 and Yorkshire, the largest county in England, is to get its own television station. Michael Parkinson pays his own personal tribute to his home county, which is entering a new era of growth and development. The programme includes specially shot footage of various Yorkshire landmarks, cities and landscapes, plus filming of the new television studios being built on Kirkstall Road (including interiors of the new offices and studios, with staff at work).

* 1:30 pm Castle Haven – from Emmerdale Farm’s creator Kevin Laffan, the sole surviving part episode of this seventies YTV soap opera stars Jack Carr, Gretchen Franklin, Arthur Hewlett, Roy Barraclough and a pre-Tiswas Sally James.

* 1:45 pm Break

* 2:00 pm Funeral Games – Michael Denison, Ian McShane and Bill Fraser star in this play by Joe Orton.

* 3:00 pm Daddy Kiss It Better – starring Michael Craig, Dilys Laye and Hilda Braid, this play was directed by former Kaleidoscope guest Christopher Hodson.

* 4:00 pm The Root of all Evil? – “What’s in it for me?” From the pen of Anthony Skene, this play features Jean Marsh, Ronald Allen and George Layton. The theme music was composed by Ron Grainer and the programme ends with two YTV end captions, one of which was never used on air.

* 5:00 pm Dear Mother… Love Albert – “The Delegate” – comedy series starring Rodney Bewes (TX: 16/05/1970).

* 5:30 pm Mr Moon’s Last Case – based on a book by Brian Patten, this fantastical children’s drama stars Stratford Johns and is narrated by Alun Armstrong.

* 6:00 pm Starring John Moulder-Brown… chosen by Sue Tibbles, winner of our Christmas auction in 2007, we present Victorian Scandals – “Skittles”. John Moulder-Brown heads a cast also featuring Maureen O’Brien, Julian Fellowes, Jonathan Coy and Simon Callow in this historical drama.

* 7:00 pm Closedown

The event  runs from 12pm – 7pm, Saturday, June 6th, at the Amblecote Room, Stourbridge Town Hall, Crown Centre, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY8 1YE. Admission is free and for more details visit the Kaleidoscope website here.

• All material at Kaleidoscope events is screened with the permission of the copyright holders. Programmes and timings may be subject to change before the day. Guests appear subject to professional and personal commitments.

Massive Haul Of Clitheroe Kid Episodes Rounded Up

He might have been just 4ft 3ins tall, but Lancashire entertainer Jimmy Clitheroe was a big star of the airways with his hugely popular BBC radio show: The Clitheroe Kid.

More Time With The Kid Himself

Clitheroe took advantage of his diminutive stature to play a cheeky schoolboy who lived with his family at 33 Lilac Avenue in an unnamed northern town.

The Kid was always getting into trouble for his schemes and sharp tongue, or for listening at the keyhole and getting the wrong end of the stick. Often his only reward was the right end of Grandad’s slipper.

The Clitheroe Kid ran for 17 series (a pilot series and 16 subsequent series) between 1957 and 1972, totalling 290 30-minute episodes. But of those, only 15 unedited shows (on open reel magnetic tape) and a further 28 edited editions, from BBC transcription discs, still reside in the archives, according to Missing-Episodes.com.

But there are many more episodes floating around in the ether and since January 2006 Derek Boyes of clitheroekid.org.uk has been hot on their trail.

To date he has managed to round up over 100 officially missing episodes from various sources. You can see a list of his finds here.

Speaking to Wiped about his amazingly impressive haul, Derek said:

“I was first introduced to The Clitheroe Kid on the radio when I was eight years old. My father was a keen radio comedy listener and said ‘I think you might enjoy this ‘ and brought me from elsewhere in the house to listen to the radio.

“I was captivated by Jimmy’s cheeky comedy and for a few weeks listened to the show religiously. It was extremely popular in it’s heyday – attracting 10 Million listeners at its peak

“Then being a boy, football or something else took it’s place. But deep down a love of the character (and the memories) remained and I re-discovered him on MP3s in this computer age.

“That’s when, impressed by what an OTR (Old Time Radio) enthusiast had already achieved in preserving the show, I decided to do my part.

“I believe the BBC only have around 13 complete (as in un-edited shows) and they regularly air about 31 shows on BBC Radio 7. Lots of shows are missing.

‘When I started my search in 2006, 132 shows from poor to good quality were then doing the MP3 circuit. I was impressed by what another collector had achieved with the show so I joined an OTR forum and contacted him.

“We became a partnership on this project and spurred each other on. I set up a website (www.theclitheroekid.org.uk); started writing to letter columns in local and regional newspapers informing readers of the search; trawled the net and contacted anyone and everyone that may have had tapes of the show.

“Those episodes available on the net had been accumulated by the time I joined the search. My finds came via reel-to-reel recordings, cassettes and BBC transcription discs.

“Some missing shows turned up on home-recordings given to the North West Sound Archive and others were sent to me by people who had read of the search in their local paper.”

Derek says the sound quality of the recordings varies from ‘good’ to ‘poor’. “We simply do the best we can with what we have,” he continued, “but we have released all finds from abysmal quality to good.

“People want to hear the shows whatever they are like but the search is endless. We are always looking for better quality on those we have, and to find more missing shows.

“I have got a share in 14 transcription discs. These are not yet all released. They are not new shows to MP3 collectors but will provide good quality recordings.”

Considering his favourite discoveries, Derek said: “I really enjoyed ‘The Loving Neighbour’, a 1966 episode with Molly Sugden. It’s very funny and would have been a shame if  it had never surfaced.

“We also completed the run of 1970s episodes when we found an episode called, ironically, ‘The Not-So-Artful Dodger’.”

For more information on the hunt for lost episodes of The Clitheroe Kid, click here.

• If you help Derek with his search to find more missing episodes of The Clitheroe Kid, email him at: thekidhimself@hotmail.co.uk

Photos From The Celestial Toymaker Discovered

The current issue of Doctor Who Magazine (issue 408) features some never-before-seen photos from missing ’60s story The Celestial Toymaker.

For the latest issue, the long-running magazine’s regular ‘The Fact Of Fiction’ feature looks at the classic William Hartnell adventure –  broadcast in four parts from April 2nd – 23, 1966, and starring a young Michael Gough as the eponymous villain.

It includes revealing set-photos and publicity pictures from the serial taken from negatives located in the BBC’s Photo Library a few months ago by regular DWM contributor Derek Handley.

The new images are important as only episode four, ‘The Final Test’, still resides in the BBC archives, though soundtracks to all episodes exist and have been released by the BBC as part of their Radio Collection series. You can buy it here.

Doctor Who Magazine #408 (cover date 27 May, 2009) is available now, priced £3.99.