A Scandal in Bohemia
Encyclopedia
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was the first of Arthur Conan Doyle
's 56 Sherlock Holmes
short stories to be published in The Strand Magazine
and the first Sherlock Holmes story illustrated by Sidney Paget
. (Two of the four Sherlock Holmes novels – A Study in Scarlet
and The Sign of the Four – preceded the short story cycle). Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories.
It transpires that the King is to become engaged to Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, a young Scandinavian princess, but the King's in-laws-to-be would not allow the marriage should any evidence of his former liaison with the opera singer, Irene Adler, originally from New Jersey, be revealed to them. Adler herself is threatening to reveal the relationship upon the announcement of the King's betrothal by sending a photograph of the King (then the Crown Prince) and Adler together to the newspapers. The King's agents have tried to recover the photograph, attempting to buy it, breaking into her house to try to find it, and waylaying her outside her home to retrieve it.
The photograph is described to Holmes as a cabinet (5½ by 4 inches) and therefore too bulky for a lady to carry upon her person. The King gives Holmes £1,000 (£ today) to cover any expenses, while saying that he "would give one of [his] provinces" to have the photograph back. Holmes asks Dr. Watson to join him at 221B Baker Street at 3 o'clock the following afternoon.
The next morning, Holmes goes out to Miss Adler's house dressed as a drunken out-of-work groom and discovers from the local stable workers that Irene Adler has a gentleman friend, the lawyer Godfrey Norton, who calls at least once a day. On this particular day, Norton comes to visit Miss Adler, and soon afterwards, takes a cab to the Church of St. Monica in Edgware Road. Minutes later, the lady herself gets in her landau bound for the same place. Holmes follows in a cab and, upon arriving, finds himself dragged into the church to be a witness to Norton and Adler's wedding. Curiously, they go their separate ways after the ceremony.
's 1899 stage play Sherlock Holmes is based on several stories, among them "A Scandal in Bohemia." Films released in 1916
(starring Gillette as Holmes) and 1922
(starring John Barrymore
), both titled Sherlock Holmes, were based on the play, as well as a 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air
radio adaptation titled The Immortal Sherlock Holmes, starring Orson Welles
as Holmes.
The 1946 film Dressed to Kill
features several references to "A Scandal in Bohemia," with Holmes and Watson discussing the recent publication of the story in The Strand Magazine, and the villain of the film using the same trick on Watson that Holmes uses on Irene Adler in the story. In addition, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, who played Holmes and Watson in the film, did the story for their radio series, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
. The episode was followed by a sequel, "Second Generation", featuring Irene's daughter hiring Holmes in retirement.
The 1965 Broadway musical Baker Street
was loosely based on the story, making Irene Adler into the heroine and adding Professor Moriarty
as the villain.
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was adapted as the first episode of the 1984-1985 television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The episode featured Jeremy Brett
as Holmes, David Burke as Watson, and Gayle Hunnicutt
as Irene Adler.
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was featured in a season 1 episode of the PBS
series Wishbone
, entitled "A Dogged Exposé". In the episode, the supporting human characters search for an incognito photographer at their school who has been publishing embarrassing photographs of students. Intermingled with the plot, the title character Wishbone portrays Sherlock Holmes in a slightly modified adaptation of the original story to compare with the events of the "real-life" plot.
A series of four TV movies produced in the early 2000s starred Matt Frewer
as Sherlock Holmes and Kenneth Welsh
as Dr. Watson. One of these films, The Royal Scandal
, adapted "A Scandal in Bohemia" and combined its story with "The Bruce-Partington Plans."
"A Scandal in Bohemia" will be the basis for "A Scandal in Belgravia", the first episode of the second season of the TV series Sherlock, to air in early 2012.
n tales, Conan Doyle chose to place a fictional dynasty in a real country. The Kingdom of Bohemia
was at the time of writing a possession of the House of Habsburg and had no independent monarchs of its own. Similarly, there had never been a Kingdom of Scandinavia.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's 56 Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
short stories to be published in The Strand Magazine
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
and the first Sherlock Holmes story illustrated by Sidney Paget
Sidney Paget
Sidney Edward Paget was a British illustrator of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand magazine.- Life :...
. (Two of the four Sherlock Holmes novels – A Study in Scarlet
A Study in Scarlet
A Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new character of Sherlock Holmes, who later became one of the most famous literary detective characters. He wrote the story in 1886, and it was published the next year...
and The Sign of the Four – preceded the short story cycle). Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories.
Plot summary
While the currently-married Watson is paying Holmes a visit, Holmes is called upon by a masked gentleman introducing himself as Count Von Kramm, an agent for a wealthy client, but Holmes quickly deduces that he is in fact Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and the hereditary King of Bohemia. The King admits this, tearing off his mask.It transpires that the King is to become engaged to Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, a young Scandinavian princess, but the King's in-laws-to-be would not allow the marriage should any evidence of his former liaison with the opera singer, Irene Adler, originally from New Jersey, be revealed to them. Adler herself is threatening to reveal the relationship upon the announcement of the King's betrothal by sending a photograph of the King (then the Crown Prince) and Adler together to the newspapers. The King's agents have tried to recover the photograph, attempting to buy it, breaking into her house to try to find it, and waylaying her outside her home to retrieve it.
The photograph is described to Holmes as a cabinet (5½ by 4 inches) and therefore too bulky for a lady to carry upon her person. The King gives Holmes £1,000 (£ today) to cover any expenses, while saying that he "would give one of [his] provinces" to have the photograph back. Holmes asks Dr. Watson to join him at 221B Baker Street at 3 o'clock the following afternoon.
The next morning, Holmes goes out to Miss Adler's house dressed as a drunken out-of-work groom and discovers from the local stable workers that Irene Adler has a gentleman friend, the lawyer Godfrey Norton, who calls at least once a day. On this particular day, Norton comes to visit Miss Adler, and soon afterwards, takes a cab to the Church of St. Monica in Edgware Road. Minutes later, the lady herself gets in her landau bound for the same place. Holmes follows in a cab and, upon arriving, finds himself dragged into the church to be a witness to Norton and Adler's wedding. Curiously, they go their separate ways after the ceremony.
Commentary
At the start of the story Watson says he has seldom heard Holmes call Irene Adler anything but The Woman'. However, the other stories in which he calls her 'Irene Adler'("A Case of Identity," "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," and "His Last Bow") were all written by Conan Doyle after "A Scandal in Bohemia" and take place after the time represented in "A Scandal in Bohemia."Adaptations
William GilletteWilliam Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
's 1899 stage play Sherlock Holmes is based on several stories, among them "A Scandal in Bohemia." Films released in 1916
Sherlock Holmes (1916 film)
Sherlock Holmes, was a 1916 silent film made by Essanay Studios and was one of the earliest American film adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. It starred William Gillette as Holmes, based on his 1899 stage play, which is based on not one case, but takes inspiration from "A Scandal...
(starring Gillette as Holmes) and 1922
Sherlock Holmes (1922 film)
Sherlock Holmes is an American silent film starring John Barrymore as Holmes and Roland Young as Watson. The film was titled Moriarty in the UK.-Production background:...
(starring John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
), both titled Sherlock Holmes, were based on the play, as well as a 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
radio adaptation titled The Immortal Sherlock Holmes, starring Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
as Holmes.
The 1946 film Dressed to Kill
Dressed to Kill (1946 film)
Dressed to Kill , is the last of fourteen films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson....
features several references to "A Scandal in Bohemia," with Holmes and Watson discussing the recent publication of the story in The Strand Magazine, and the villain of the film using the same trick on Watson that Holmes uses on Irene Adler in the story. In addition, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, who played Holmes and Watson in the film, did the story for their radio series, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was an old-time radio show which aired in the USA from October 2, 1939 to July 7, 1947. Most episodes were written by the team of Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher....
. The episode was followed by a sequel, "Second Generation", featuring Irene's daughter hiring Holmes in retirement.
The 1965 Broadway musical Baker Street
Baker Street (musical)
Baker Street is a musical with a book by Jerome Coopersmith and music and lyrics by Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel.Loosely based on the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle, it is set in and around London in 1897, the year in which England celebrated the Diamond...
was loosely based on the story, making Irene Adler into the heroine and adding Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
as the villain.
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was adapted as the first episode of the 1984-1985 television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The episode featured Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
as Holmes, David Burke as Watson, and Gayle Hunnicutt
Gayle Hunnicutt
Gayle, Lady Jenkins , known by her birth name Gayle Hunnicutt, is an American actress.-Personal life:Hunnicutt was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicutt and Virginia Hunnicutt, and attended the University of California, Los Angeles. She worked as a fashion model...
as Irene Adler.
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was featured in a season 1 episode of the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
series Wishbone
Wishbone (TV series)
Wishbone is a television show which aired from 1995 to 1998 and reruns from 1998 to 2001 in the United States featuring a Jack Russell Terrier of the same name. The main character, the talking dog Wishbone, lives with his owner Joe Talbot in the fictional modern town of Oakdale, Texas...
, entitled "A Dogged Exposé". In the episode, the supporting human characters search for an incognito photographer at their school who has been publishing embarrassing photographs of students. Intermingled with the plot, the title character Wishbone portrays Sherlock Holmes in a slightly modified adaptation of the original story to compare with the events of the "real-life" plot.
A series of four TV movies produced in the early 2000s starred Matt Frewer
Matt Frewer
Matthew "Matt" Frewer is a Canadian American stage, TV and film actor. Acting since 1983, he is known for portraying the 1980s icon Max Headroom and the retired villain Moloch in the film adaptation of Watchmen.-Life and career:...
as Sherlock Holmes and Kenneth Welsh
Kenneth Welsh
Kenneth Welsh, CM is a Canadian film and television actor . He is known to Twin Peaks fans as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle, and has more recently played the father of Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.In 1984 he was nominated for a Genie Award as Best Actor for his...
as Dr. Watson. One of these films, The Royal Scandal
The Royal Scandal
The Royal Scandal is a non-canonical Sherlock Holmes film which is an amalgam of "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Bruce-Partington Plans". The film was produced in 2001 for The Hallmark Channel as part of an on-going series of Hallmark Sherlock Holmes films....
, adapted "A Scandal in Bohemia" and combined its story with "The Bruce-Partington Plans."
"A Scandal in Bohemia" will be the basis for "A Scandal in Belgravia", the first episode of the second season of the TV series Sherlock, to air in early 2012.
Fictional monarchies
Rather than create a fictional country for the King in his story, as in the RuritaniaRuritania
Ruritania is a fictional country in central Europe which forms the setting for three books by Anthony Hope: The Prisoner of Zenda , The Heart of Princess Osra , and Rupert of Hentzau...
n tales, Conan Doyle chose to place a fictional dynasty in a real country. The Kingdom of Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
was at the time of writing a possession of the House of Habsburg and had no independent monarchs of its own. Similarly, there had never been a Kingdom of Scandinavia.