A Life of a Sherlockian (1)
Ryoichi Ando
In October of 1988, I visited Professor Lester A. Mitscher at University of Kansas. During talks at lunch time, I revealed that one of my hobbies was study on Sherlock Holmes. Just after my words, he suddenly said "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" with a smile. I was very surprised and happy to know that he was also interested in Holmes.
He also informed me the newest topic. He had seen a TV program to introduce a new movie of Sherlock Holmes. He said that in that movie Holmes was just only an actor who had played the role of a detective and that the man who had really solved problems was Watson.
On our way to his laboratory after lunch, I found a big building whose name was "Watson Library". He explained that this Watson was not John H. Watson. In spite of his word, I took pictures of this Library. Professor was smiling beside me.
Next morning, I bought a newspaper and found the advertisement of the movie "Without a Clue".
In this my business trip, I had some free time in Los Angeles. I went a movie theater in Hollywood and took many pictures of posters and front stills. Of course I saw the movie there. Although it was difficult for me to understand the story because of a fast talk at important points, I felt that all other audience was very satisfied with it. There were loud laughs at many scenes.
After a few years, I purchased a video of this movie with Japanese subtitles and I fully understand the story.