History of The Baker Street Breakfast Club..

Since its founding in 1990, The Baker Street Breakfast Club has accomplished a great deal and developed its own traditions such as a celebration of the Master’s Birthday on January 6th, a brunch with the Goose Club of the Alpha Inn in June, a pool party in July, our annual meeting in October and the reading of a musical version of the Blue Carbuncle at our December meeting. We have gone as a group to London, seen many plays, visited Gillette’s Castle several times and of course had our conference in 1994. Papers from the conference, Sherlock Holmes Victorian Sleuth to Modern Hero, were published in 1996. Our newsletter, Groans, Cries and Bleatings began in 1997.

The Birth of the Baker Street Breakfast Club

By Sally Sugarman

In the early 1980s, Tony Carruthers Molly Rahe and I found that we had a mutual interest in Sherlock Holmes. Molly was the daughter of Josie Rahe who ran the college bookstore so the three of us had plenty of time to plot and plan when Molly worked in the store. We decided that we should start a group. On a cold January 6, we planned a birthday celebration for the master at the Park McCullough House. Although well attended, the event was also cold since the Park McCullough House did not supply any heat. There were some exhibits, mostly from my beginning collection. Good spirits and lots of wine warmed us up while Tony read The Red Headed League. He had more red in his hair then. Among the toasts Irving Adler proposed one to that great mathematician, Professor Moriarity.

When we didn’t have another meeting in February, Bob warned me that the enterprise was dead because one needed to have consistency. He seemed to be right, but the enterprise was only dormant. In 1987 to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet we invited some friends over on January 6 to celebrate the master’s birthday. I still have the menu, properly framed in my study. After three years of this our friends said, “Enough of this. Let’s form a group.”

I contacted William Wicker, the Gasogene of The Goose Club of the Alpha Inn who had been written up in the local paper at some point in time. He was most gracious and told me whom to contact to become an official scion society.

We then had discussions about what to call ourselves. There was a great deal of alliteration in some of the suggestions. The Holmes’ Hounds, The Bennington Bohemians, The Reichenbach Regulars, the Mountain Moriarities, The Bennington Beekeepers, The Bennington Bakers, The Shaftsbury Sleuths, Watson’s Watchers. There was also The Resident Patients of Bennington, Holmes Cooking, The Hounds of Basketville among others. However, since we knew eating would be an essential element in our club and that we would probably be meeting evenings, we decided that The Baker Street Breakfast Club was appropriately irregular.

After we got our approval as a scion society on May 12, 1990, we were in full swing with stationary and a logo and a pattern of meetings. I don’t remember when we got our T-shirts. In 1991 at a dinner we had at Moriarity’s in Saratoga Springs, we thought that 100th anniversaries from the canon would soon be disappearing and we should have a conference to celebrate one. (Earlier Tony and I had spent hours trying to set up a weekend conference at the Park McCullough House, before Joe was director there.) The Committee was Chuck, Joe, Tony, John Swan and myself and we had great breakfast meetings at All Days and Onions when it still opened at 7 am and you could get your coffee and pick out your muffin by yourself. We had great plans, most of which came off quite well in terms of involving the community. Somehow, we contacted Peter Blau and invited him to a brunch for advice. The Conference was planning, improvisation, luck and a lot of chutzpa.

Our son, Paul, said that we should contact Nicholas Meyer since The Canary Trainer was just being published and he might be interested. We asked him to be our keynote speaker and he said yes. John Swan has a contact at Scarecrow Press and got us a contract to publish the papers from the conference. I read Edward Hanna’s The Whitechapel Horrors and noticed he lived in the Berkshires. Chuck did the follow-up on that. Then I read David Payne’s Myth and Modern Man in Sherlock Holmes and tracked him down in Kentucky. I said we only had money to pay for his plane fare, but he had friends in Bennington that he wanted to visit. One contact led to another and we put on quite a fine conference. People still comment on it to me at the Popular Culture Conference where we had distributed our call for papers and got many of our speakers.

Sadly John Swan died before the conference he worked on so hard came to fruition. We dedicated both the conference and the book to John.

At the conference everyone pitched in and worked. Joe was a tireless registrar. Bernie and Henry Arbor spent hours at the merchandise tables. Members introduced the speakers and monitored the paper panels. When Peter Blau arrived, I asked him how he thought we were doing. We had 177 people registered. He said in Minneapolis they had 75 and in Montreal they had 85. I felt we did pretty well even though I gathered that there were people in the Sherlockian world that thought an upstart club only four years in existence was taking on a lot. Maybe we were but it was fun. The rest as we say is History.

We have had a remarkably consistent membership, given people who have moved away and more sadly, those who have gone beyond the Reichenbach Falls as Sherlockians say about those who have died. Besides John Swan, Henry Arbor, Tony Carruthers and Addie Fine have left us. We raise our glasses in gratitude for the fellowship we shared with them.

After ten years, we look forward to the future with new members, old friends and our shared enjoyment of the adventures of the Master and his faithful narrator.
2000

Ten Years On

In the spirit of celebrating anniversaries The Baker Street Breakfast Club developed a conference From Victorian Sleuth to Modern Hero to honor Holmes return from a three-year hiatus. What was he doing during that time? Many of us thought he spent at least part of that period in Vermont.

The genesis of the conference came over a dinner the group had at Moriarty’s in Saratoga Springs. The committee was Tony Carruthers, Joseph Cutshall King, Chuck Putney, John Swan and Sally Sugarman. We met for breakfast planning meetings at All Days and Onions. We were a new club, barely three years old when we started our plans, much to some old Sherlockians’ dismay. We contacted Peter Blau who had a sister who lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He came to a breakfast meeting to give us advice.

One of the unique features of our conference was the idea that it would be a community wide affair. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored a story contest based on the idea that Holmes had been in Bennington and environs. We had a contest for young people as well as a reading series at the library. We received a grant from the Vermont Council on the Humanties, thanks to the wise guidance of Chuck Putney. If you want money for a conference, be sure to have Chuck around to supervise the grant writing.

Once we got started, things cascaded. My son Paul called to tell me that Nicholas Meyer had just published The Canary Trainer and might be interested in coming to publicize the new book. As it turned out, Meyer was recovering from the death of his wife and this was the first time he was willing to do a public event. I read The Whitechapel Horrors and noted that Edward Hanna lived in Massachusetts. Chuck contacted him. Later in the planning, I also read Myth and Modern Man in Sherlock Holmes by David Payne and tracked him down in North Carolina. By that time we only had enough money to offer him plane fare, but he had friends in North Bennington and was willing to come. We put out notices at the Popular Culture Conference calling for papers. John Swan used his contacts to get us a contract with Scarecrow Press to publish the proceedings. The people from Classic Specialties came. They were just getting started then and although they told us that long-time Sherlockians were skeptical of us, they came anyway. They were really nice people. We even had a publisher call and ask if one of their writers could come at their expense. We said yes, even though it was Sherlock in Love that she had written.

Joe Cutshall-King took on the responsibilities of being the registrar. Everyone in the club helped in some way. Henry and Bernie Arbor spent hours at the registration desk during the conference.

During the planning for the conference John Swan became ill. He had Lou Gehrig’s disease. This did not keep him from participating in the plans. John was a remarkable human being, never more so than in the dignity and courage with which he faced his illness. He inspired us all. When he died the February before the conference, we knew that his spirit would still be with us and we dedicated both the conference and the book to John.

The conference was a great success. Michael Whalen soon to be the Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars was there, noting that the current Wiggins Tom Stix had said we weren’t even a scion society. Indignantly, I brought the letter to show him that we were. I asked Peter Blau how we were doing in terms of registration. We had 171 participants. He noted that a conference in Minneapolis had 85 and one in another city 75, so we were doing okay.

There was a whirlwind of wonderful papers with Breakfast Club members moderating them. I recommend our book as a record of some exceptionally thoughtful insights into the Canon. Lea Newman asked, as she had asked during all of the library meetings, “But is it literature?” and the local sightseeing trip, planned by a community historian who shall remain nameless, was the kind of disaster that people enjoy remembering, though not experiencing. We got some of our current members through the conference, which was a wonderful bonus.

Nicholas Meyer gave the keynote speech on Saturday afternoon. He has since been asked to many Sherlockian conferences since then, so we launched him on a new phase of his varied career as writer, director and Holmesian expert. At the costumed dinner on Saturday, Susan Swan sang Victorian songs and we had quizzes at all the tables as well as menus. Sunday brunch was when Edward Hanna gave his interpretation as to the location of Watson’s wound.

I have been to a number of Sherlockian conferences since and there is always someone who comes up to me and says how fondly they remember our conference. We did it because we thought that we would soon run out of Sherlockian anniversaries, but here we are with Holmes 150th birthday and the tenth anniversary of our conference.
2004


	Home Meetings Meeting Information Meeting Archives Conference Wrap-up Photo Gallery About Us Club History Newsletters Sherlockian Events Sherlockian Events Book Discussion Series Fun Information Chat Room Articles Quizzes Book Reviews Mysteries Links Contact History of The Baker Street Breakfast Club.. Since its founding in 1990, The Baker Street Breakfast Club has accomplished a great deal and developed its own traditions such as a celebration of the Master’s Birthday on January 6th, a brunch with the Goose Club of the Alpha Inn in June, a pool party in July, our annual meeting in October and the reading of a musical version of the Blue Carbuncle at our December meeting. We have gone as a group to London, seen many plays, visited Gillette’s Castle several times and of course had our conference in 1994. Papers from the conference, Sherlock Holmes Victorian Sleuth to Modern Hero, were published in 1996. Our newsletter, Groans, Cries and Bleatings began in 1997. The Birth of the Baker Street Breakfast Club By Sally Sugarman In the early 1980s, Tony Carruthers Molly Rahe and I found that we had a mutual interest in Sherlock Holmes. Molly was the daughter of Josie Rahe who ran the college bookstore so the three of us had plenty of time to plot and plan when Molly worked in the store. We decided that we should start a group. On a cold January 6, we planned a birthday celebration for the master at the Park McCullough House. Although well attended, the event was also cold since the Park McCullough House did not supply any heat. There were some exhibits, mostly from my beginning collection. Good spirits and lots of wine warmed us up while Tony read The Red Headed League. He had more red in his hair then. Among the toasts Irving Adler proposed one to that great mathematician, Professor Moriarity. When we didn’t have another meeting in February, Bob warned me that the enterprise was dead because one needed to have consistency. He seemed to be right, but the enterprise was only dormant. In 1987 to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet we invited some friends over on January 6 to celebrate the master’s birthday. I still have the menu, properly framed in my study. After three years of this our friends said, “Enough of this. Let’s form a group.” I contacted William Wicker, the Gasogene of The Goose Club of the Alpha Inn who had been written up in the local paper at some point in time. He was most gracious and told me whom to contact to become an official scion society. We then had discussions about what to call ourselves. There was a great deal of alliteration in some of the suggestions. The Holmes’ Hounds, The Bennington Bohemians, The Reichenbach Regulars, the Mountain Moriarities, The Bennington Beekeepers, The Bennington Bakers, The Shaftsbury Sleuths, Watson’s Watchers. There was also The Resident Patients of Bennington, Holmes Cooking, The Hounds of Basketville among others. However, since we knew eating would be an essential element in our club and that we would probably be meeting evenings, we decided that The Baker Street Breakfast Club was appropriately irregular. After we got our approval as a scion society on May 12, 1990, we were in full swing with stationary and a logo and a pattern of meetings. I don’t remember when we got our T-shirts. In 1991 at a dinner we had at Moriarity’s in Saratoga Springs, we thought that 100th anniversaries from the canon would soon be disappearing and we should have a conference to celebrate one. (Earlier Tony and I had spent hours trying to set up a weekend conference at the Park McCullough House, before Joe was director there.) The Committee was Chuck, Joe, Tony, John Swan and myself and we had great breakfast meetings at All Days and Onions when it still opened at 7 am and you could get your coffee and pick out your muffin by yourself. We had great plans, most of which came off quite well in terms of involving the community. Somehow, we contacted Peter Blau and invited him to a brunch for advice. The Conference was planning, improvisation, luck and a lot of chutzpa. Our son, Paul, said that we should contact Nicholas Meyer since The Canary Trainer was just being published and he might be interested. We asked him to be our keynote speaker and he said yes. John Swan has a contact at Scarecrow Press and got us a contract to publish the papers from the conference. I read Edward Hanna’s The Whitechapel Horrors and noticed he lived in the Berkshires. Chuck did the follow-up on that. Then I read David Payne’s Myth and Modern Man in Sherlock Holmes and tracked him down in Kentucky. I said we only had money to pay for his plane fare, but he had friends in Bennington that he wanted to visit. One contact led to another and we put on quite a fine conference. People still comment on it to me at the Popular Culture Conference where we had distributed our call for papers and got many of our speakers. Sadly John Swan died before the conference he worked on so hard came to fruition. We dedicated both the conference and the book to John. At the conference everyone pitched in and worked. Joe was a tireless registrar. Bernie and Henry Arbor spent hours at the merchandise tables. Members introduced the speakers and monitored the paper panels. When Peter Blau arrived, I asked him how he thought we were doing. We had 177 people registered. He said in Minneapolis they had 75 and in Montreal they had 85. I felt we did pretty well even though I gathered that there were people in the Sherlockian world that thought an upstart club only four years in existence was taking on a lot. Maybe we were but it was fun. The rest as we say is History. We have had a remarkably consistent membership, given people who have moved away and more sadly, those who have gone beyond the Reichenbach Falls as Sherlockians say about those who have died. Besides John Swan, Henry Arbor, Tony Carruthers and Addie Fine have left us. We raise our glasses in gratitude for the fellowship we shared with them. After ten years, we look forward to the future with new members, old friends and our shared enjoyment of the adventures of the Master and his faithful narrator. 2000 Ten Years On In the spirit of celebrating anniversaries The Baker Street Breakfast Club developed a conference From Victorian Sleuth to Modern Hero to honor Holmes return from a three-year hiatus. What was he doing during that time? Many of us thought he spent at least part of that period in Vermont. The genesis of the conference came over a dinner the group had at Moriarty’s in Saratoga Springs. The committee was Tony Carruthers, Joseph Cutshall King, Chuck Putney, John Swan and Sally Sugarman. We met for breakfast planning meetings at All Days and Onions. We were a new club, barely three years old when we started our plans, much to some old Sherlockians’ dismay. We contacted Peter Blau who had a sister who lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He came to a breakfast meeting to give us advice. One of the unique features of our conference was the idea that it would be a community wide affair. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored a story contest based on the idea that Holmes had been in Bennington and environs. We had a contest for young people as well as a reading series at the library. We received a grant from the Vermont Council on the Humanties, thanks to the wise guidance of Chuck Putney. If you want money for a conference, be sure to have Chuck around to supervise the grant writing. Once we got started, things cascaded. My son Paul called to tell me that Nicholas Meyer had just published The Canary Trainer and might be interested in coming to publicize the new book. As it turned out, Meyer was recovering from the death of his wife and this was the first time he was willing to do a public event. I read The Whitechapel Horrors and noted that Edward Hanna lived in Massachusetts. Chuck contacted him. Later in the planning, I also read Myth and Modern Man in Sherlock Holmes by David Payne and tracked him down in North Carolina. By that time we only had enough money to offer him plane fare, but he had friends in North Bennington and was willing to come. We put out notices at the Popular Culture Conference calling for papers. John Swan used his contacts to get us a contract with Scarecrow Press to publish the proceedings. The people from Classic Specialties came. They were just getting started then and although they told us that long-time Sherlockians were skeptical of us, they came anyway. They were really nice people. We even had a publisher call and ask if one of their writers could come at their expense. We said yes, even though it was Sherlock in Love that she had written. Joe Cutshall-King took on the responsibilities of being the registrar. Everyone in the club helped in some way. Henry and Bernie Arbor spent hours at the registration desk during the conference. During the planning for the conference John Swan became ill. He had Lou Gehrig’s disease. This did not keep him from participating in the plans. John was a remarkable human being, never more so than in the dignity and courage with which he faced his illness. He inspired us all. When he died the February before the conference, we knew that his spirit would still be with us and we dedicated both the conference and the book to John. The conference was a great success. Michael Whalen soon to be the Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars was there, noting that the current Wiggins Tom Stix had said we weren’t even a scion society. Indignantly, I brought the letter to show him that we were. I asked Peter Blau how we were doing in terms of registration. We had 171 participants. He noted that a conference in Minneapolis had 85 and one in another city 75, so we were doing okay. There was a whirlwind of wonderful papers with Breakfast Club members moderating them. I recommend our book as a record of some exceptionally thoughtful insights into the Canon. Lea Newman asked, as she had asked during all of the library meetings, “But is it literature?” and the local sightseeing trip, planned by a community historian who shall remain nameless, was the kind of disaster that people enjoy remembering, though not experiencing. We got some of our current members through the conference, which was a wonderful bonus. Nicholas Meyer gave the keynote speech on Saturday afternoon. He has since been asked to many Sherlockian conferences since then, so we launched him on a new phase of his varied career as writer, director and Holmesian expert. At the costumed dinner on Saturday, Susan Swan sang Victorian songs and we had quizzes at all the tables as well as menus. Sunday brunch was when Edward Hanna gave his interpretation as to the location of Watson’s wound. I have been to a number of Sherlockian conferences since and there is always someone who comes up to me and says how fondly they remember our conference. We did it because we thought that we would soon run out of Sherlockian anniversaries, but here we are with Holmes 150th birthday and the tenth anniversary of our conference. 2004