Discussion Post: The Speckled Band

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week, the canon story we’re looking at is The Speckled Band, and the chosen topic is Exotic Animals in Victorian England.

A few facts:

🐯 The reign of Queen Victoria saw a surge in the construction of all manner of places where exotic animals could be viewed. ...as well as formal, educational settings - private and public zoos, natural history museums - the period brought animals for entertainment to the masses. Travelling menageries would tour towns and cities, featuring performers and their animals. [John Simons, 2012]

🐯 London Zoo was opened to the public in 1847. (It opened originally in 1828 as a collection for scientific study.)

🐯 In the Victorian era there were exotic pet shops. Most were in London - by 1895 there were 118 wild animal dealers in London alone - but there were also shops in Liverpool, Bath and Bristol. People could walk into a shop and purchase anything, from an elephant to a bear to a kangaroo. [John Simons, 2012]

🐯 Charles Jamrach was a leading dealer in exotic animals and birds in Victorian London. In 1857 a tiger being delivered to him escaped and prowled down St George's Street, picking up a small boy named John Wade as it went. Jamrach himself went after the tiger, grabbing it by the throat and, with one of his men, attacking it with a crowbar. Happily, child—and tiger—survived. In 1857, England was in the grip of a panic caused by the Indian Mutiny and so a tiger - the symbol of India - was an especially frightening thing, especially when it was loose in the heart of the Empire's capital. One contemporary newspaper account linked the event explicitly to what was going on in India. [John Simons, 2012]

🐯 The nineteenth century saw vast improvements in the protection of both domestic and wild animals. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed in 1824 and in 1900 "An Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Captivity” was passed. But although there were major improvements and an increased concern for the protection of animals, the overall movement was slow, at best. [Dr Bruce Rosen, 2012]

🐯 After studying natural sciences at Cambridge, Lionel Walter Rothschild was given money and land by his father to establish a museum. He opened this to the public in 1892 when he was 24. It remains one of the largest private natural history collections ever assembled. Walter employed dozens of collectors who travelled the world to bring back new specimens for display and research, and live animals for study and breeding. He was particularly fascinated by cassowaries and giant tortoises, and even trained zebras to draw his carriage. [nhm.ac.uk] If you click the link below you can see a photograph of the zebras with the carriage.


Some useful resources:

Victorian London - Entertainment and Recreation - Zoo's and Menageries - London Zoo / Zoological Gardens on victorianlondon.org

A photograph of Obaysch the hippopotamus at London Zoo in 1855 This hippopotamus was the first to be seen in Britain—at least, since prehistoric times [British Library bl.uk]

When wild beasts roamed the UK by Professor John Simons on bbc.co.uk

Charles Jamrach’s Exotic Menagerie and the Victorian Wild Animal Trade by Elle Larsson on animalhistorymuseum.org

Travelling Menageries by Dr Bruce Rosen on vichist.blogspot.co.uk

Natural History Museum at Tring on nhm.ac.uk



Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.

Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for those facts and links. Jamrach and the tiger - wow!

Very much a sidebar, but I'm inclined to think the gypsies were probably very glad to hear no more Roylott. Or most of them. He might have had one or two like minded bullying friends in the tribe. But he probably used their mobility for his own purposes, and got them an even worse reputation for it.

Also, I bet the cheetah was a sad disappointment to Roylott. They sound pretty gentle, for cats. Here's hoping it found a good home, with the gypsies, who'd probably like it for coursing, or otherwise. The baboon would be less likely to find a good home. Still, the Ancient Egyptians did use them to help with donkeys and market stalls.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

He might have had one or two like minded bullying friends in the tribe. But he probably used their mobility for his own purposes, and got them an even worse reputation for it. That's an interesting point. The gypsies are presented to us as a like-minded group of people but of course every group is made up of individuals with their own points of view. And maybe most of the gypsies tolerated Roylott because he allowed them somewhere to camp, but didn't consider him a friend and would have rather he didn't travel with them. They may have loathed his behaviour as much as the villagers.

The baboon would be less likely to find a good home. Still, the Ancient Egyptians did use them to help with donkeys and market stalls. You can't just leave us with that statement and run away ^_^ More details, please!

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I can't remember details. Indeed, an Egyptologist would probably say the artist might have been making a rude point about merchants and donkeymen.

rather belated about baboons

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

More than you needed, I should think.

It's from Ivan Sanderson's 1957 'The Monkey Kingdom':

Hamadryads...'were regarded as entities somewhat superior to mere men and with a direct line to the gods - a sort of nonhuman priest class...three degrees of mummification according to class...Despite their holiness, the Hamadryads were put to work...certain religious duries, whhich included morning prayers...sweeping out temples, fetching and carrying for the priests, and even serving at table...Lower class Hamadryads had to slave for lay aristocrats...picking fruit, stacking cordwood, apparently weedig gardens, turning irrigation treadmills, helping to dock river boats and sorting trays of unidentified small objects."

Re: rather belated about baboons

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Crikey - fascinating stuff ^^" You live and you learn.

Thank you very much!

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

All interesting. Thank you.

I just want to say in writing what a wonder David Burke is. I watched the Granada version of this story this week and between Brett standing at the foot of his bed SMOKING and staring him awake and the whole scene with Helen Stoner and the breakfast bit and the poker in front of Mrs. Hudson with Brett bit and how his eyes twinkle when he says he was part of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, it's so much, much funnier than Doyle wrote it.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

The Granada episode I've seen most recently is the SOLI one - and I'd completely forgotten at that point how wonderful David Burke was. If you'd asked me beforehand which Watson I preferred I would have said Edward Hardwicke, but they are equally brilliant.

I hadn't been so aware of the humour in the episode when I was younger - and I hadn't yet read the stories, so I wasn't aware of the little improving touches the writer and director had made. (In this case the writer was Alan Plater. I think for SPEC it was Jeremy Paul.) It's so lovely to have these reworkings of the stories, done with love and admiration for the originals, but the producers unafraid to change or add things if necessary.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I like Hardwicke too and I think his friendship with Brett was evident in their work together, but for sheer humour, Burke nailed it, just nailed it.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Random thought for the day: I've always been sad that Watson implies that Helen Stoner dies young. She is one of my favorite of Holmes's clients, she strikes me as so brave and self-possessed, and she's been through so much.

Speaking of the Granada episode, I very much like the actress who played Helen -- she has the most beautiful voice, and comes across as very intelligent and self-possessed. I like a little scene that they added between her and Roylott that last evening before Holmes and Watson snuck in for their vigil. It's true that it must have been a terribly tense evening for her. He knows she has called on a detective, and she knows that he knows, but the two of them sit together reading and they coolly pretend to discuss their day with each other. Then Roylott mutters, very casually, "You always were a good little liar." And she looks at him, calm and collected, and says flatly, "Pray excuse me. I have the most terrible headache." And walks out. It's a striking picture of domestic misery in very few words, and the actress makes it so clear that he has not killed her self-respect, however hard he tried.

The Speckled Band, for me, is one of those stories - like Hound of the Baskervilles - that just cannot be realized on screen in a way that measures up to the spine-tingling excitement and fear of the story on the page. Doyle was so good at creating those amazing moments, making you feel the terror of the long night vigil and the unseen, unknown, but deadly threat. He got almost every detail of the actual clues wrong (the whistle, the milk, the safe, the leash -- none of them would have worked with a real snake), but I can see why this remains one of the most famous and highly regarded stories. Atmosphere wins over plot or logic. Holmes would be appalled :)

In the Granada series I'm personally a much bigger fan of Hardwicke than Burke, but this episode has one of my favorite scenes of Burke's in the whole series. It's the quiet talk he and Holmes have in the cottage while they are waiting for Helen's light in the window. I love the way he says, "I begin to see dimly what you're driving at. We're only just in time to prevent some...subtle...and horrible crime." Beautifully shot, beautifully acted.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Sorry for taking a while to reply. I wanted to watch the episode again first.

...she strikes me as so brave and self-possessed, and she's been through so much. Absolutely. I realise it's just ACD trying to come up with a reason why it's only now the full story can be told - but it's a bit hard on the former Miss Stoner.

I very much like the actress who played Helen -- she has the most beautiful voice, and comes across as very intelligent and self-possessed. Must admit I had a bit of a crush on Rosalyn Landor when I was a teenager ^^ I first saw her in a TV version of Rumpole of the Bailey - round about the same time as the Holmes episode. It's funny you mentioning her voice. I've just been looking up what she's up to now - and she narrates audiobooks ^^

It's a striking picture of domestic misery in very few words, and the actress makes it so clear that he has not killed her self-respect, however hard he tried. I was saying to okapi about the producers being unafraid to add things. And that's something that's an improvement on the story. In canon, Holmes tells her to immediately go to her room and avoid her stepfather altogether - but having that tense scene between them first is far more dramatic.

The Speckled Band, for me, is one of those stories - like Hound of the Baskervilles - that just cannot be realized on screen in a way that measures up to the spine-tingling excitement and fear of the story on the page. It has to be said that the scene in the cottage is far more tense and atmospheric than the scene in the bedroom. (It's so odd - the scene in the cottage had really stuck with me over the years in a general sense. But before rewatching the episode just now, I couldn't have told you which adventure it came from ^^")

He got almost every detail of the actual clues wrong... Minor thing, which must have been mentioned elsewhere - in both the original story and in the episode, Roylott dies in a few seconds but Julia takes somewhat longer to die...

The scene between Julia and Helen stood out for me in particular. You can really believe these two women are sisters, and there's that heartbreaking poignancy of them discussing Julia's happy future. Makes her a human being rather than just a plot point. Watching that scene, I so wanted them to have that alternative future.