These words, that famous line, are not canon. Meaning that in all 56 short stories and four novels, all written by Arthur Conan Doyle, this famous phrase does not appear anywhere. Sherlockians know this and regular people do not. It's sort of a day one or 'casual' Sherlockian thing but, I'll leave it there. But then again I won't. In that simple case, it is (again) not written in the aforementioned spaces, precluding it from canon. That's the prevailing wisdom, at least (and in redundant recapitulation). To be honest, it's of course not wrong, just maybe a half-tick less right than is typically judged. You see it was, in fact, written...
Where the phrase does come from is an 1899 William Gillette play entitled, succinctly-so, Sherlock Holmes. The play was starred in and re-written by Gillette, from an original idea/draft by Doyle himself, who stayed on to aid in the project. This means that Doyle ::: very ::: well may have penned the famous line after all. (Unless it was ad-libbed and in that case, THE JIG IS UP.) Although seeing as Charles Frohman, a theater producer, considered the ACD script to be no good at all, thus bringing in Gillette, thus again it may be a quite hefty reworking of wordings and the words might well be Gillette's after all.
Still, it isn't hard to think ACD's inclusion brings our phrase at hand something somewhat closer to arguable canon. In fact, much of the play itself is pulled from canon, in a bit here & a bit there sort of manner (A Study in Scarlet, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Final Problem.) Let's also recall Doyle's knack for dialog, which is what this is. But even if he did write it, that quite strangely and actually does not canon make.
Saving stageplays and essays for another day and focusing only on the more familiar terrain of short stories, there are no less than five non-canonical ACD penned Holmes works. Also, depending on how you count them, there could also be no more than four. An unfinished plot only supposedly by ACD and turned into what Peter Haining entitled "The Adventure of the Tall Man," is also another thing for another day. (The Field Bazaar is one of my favorite bits of parody.)
I digress (or perhaps at least drift closer to shore). The famous Calabash pipe Holmes is also erroneously known for is on account of this same William Gillette play. In canon, proper--Holmes owns three pipes: a clay, briar, and cherrywood. No Calabash... which is more casual Sherlockian fodder. This bit of liberty-taken, I pin on Gillette, not Doyle. And I see it as a far further from canon bit on account of that. Simply, I imagine a stage professional has a better sense of what can and cannot be seen by an audience.
All this should beg the question, "Who decided what is and what isn't canon?*" An excellent question I could not find the answer to in any semblance of a timely fashion. Was it you, Finley? Starret? Knox*, maybe? Although 'decided' could be the wrong (past) tense to take. Looking at the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, included are canon-style abbreviations for both How Watson Learned the Trick as well as for the already-mentioned BAZA. Seems like quite a statement on their part, that. What with the still deciding and all.
Online sources for this article include: Wikipedia (Canon of Sherlock Holmes & Sherlock Holmes (Play), and Baker Street Wiki. From Wikipedia, IRL sources include (near as I can tell): Bunson, Matthew. Encyclopedia Sherlockiana: an A-to-Z guide to the world of the great detective | Eyles, Allen. Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration | Starrett, Vincent. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.
Where the phrase does come from is an 1899 William Gillette play entitled, succinctly-so, Sherlock Holmes. The play was starred in and re-written by Gillette, from an original idea/draft by Doyle himself, who stayed on to aid in the project. This means that Doyle ::: very ::: well may have penned the famous line after all. (Unless it was ad-libbed and in that case, THE JIG IS UP.) Although seeing as Charles Frohman, a theater producer, considered the ACD script to be no good at all, thus bringing in Gillette, thus again it may be a quite hefty reworking of wordings and the words might well be Gillette's after all.
Still, it isn't hard to think ACD's inclusion brings our phrase at hand something somewhat closer to arguable canon. In fact, much of the play itself is pulled from canon, in a bit here & a bit there sort of manner (A Study in Scarlet, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Final Problem.) Let's also recall Doyle's knack for dialog, which is what this is. But even if he did write it, that quite strangely and actually does not canon make.
Saving stageplays and essays for another day and focusing only on the more familiar terrain of short stories, there are no less than five non-canonical ACD penned Holmes works. Also, depending on how you count them, there could also be no more than four. An unfinished plot only supposedly by ACD and turned into what Peter Haining entitled "The Adventure of the Tall Man," is also another thing for another day. (The Field Bazaar is one of my favorite bits of parody.)
I digress (or perhaps at least drift closer to shore). The famous Calabash pipe Holmes is also erroneously known for is on account of this same William Gillette play. In canon, proper--Holmes owns three pipes: a clay, briar, and cherrywood. No Calabash... which is more casual Sherlockian fodder. This bit of liberty-taken, I pin on Gillette, not Doyle. And I see it as a far further from canon bit on account of that. Simply, I imagine a stage professional has a better sense of what can and cannot be seen by an audience.
All this should beg the question, "Who decided what is and what isn't canon?*" An excellent question I could not find the answer to in any semblance of a timely fashion. Was it you, Finley? Starret? Knox*, maybe? Although 'decided' could be the wrong (past) tense to take. Looking at the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, included are canon-style abbreviations for both How Watson Learned the Trick as well as for the already-mentioned BAZA. Seems like quite a statement on their part, that. What with the still deciding and all.
::: very :::
The title of this post originally & embarrassingly read "Elementary, My Dear Holmes" ... it has since been corrected. My day is ruined.
* A write-up of Ronald Knox would seem in order (Ed-4/23/22)