Sherlock Holmes theatre poster – William Gillette – 1900

Poster: Charles Frohman presents William Gillette in his new four act drama, Sherlock Holmes

In December 1893, the author Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes off to dedicate more of his time to his historical novels that he considered more worthy literature. In the last story ‘The Final Problem’ Doyle had Holmes and Professor Moriarty plunge to their deaths together down the Reichenbach Falls in the story. 

However, due to  public outcry and his need of further income Doyle decided to take Sherlock Holmes to the stage and wrote a play. An adaptation of the play was carried out by Charles Frohman who had combined elements from several of Doyle’s stories, mainly using the plots from ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ and the last novel  ‘The Final Problem’ but also taking elements from the novels ‘The Sign of Four’, ‘The Boscombe Valley Mystery’, and ‘The Greek Interpreter’. In the new stage version Sherlock Holmes was played by William Gillette.

Gillette was an American, actor, playwright, inventor and stage manager. Together with Frohman they had a great deal of success on US and UK stages. However, it is his performances as the famous London detective that he is best know for. Gillette assumed the role on stage more than 1,300 times over thirty years, starred in a 1916 silent motion picture based on the Holmes play, and voiced the character twice on radio. For the play,with the exception of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty, all the characters were created by Gillette. In fact, his creation of Billy the Buttons was later used by Doyle himself in his novel “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone”.

After one performance in England in 1899, the show was taken to America where it was performed at Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, New York, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Sherlock Holmes made its Broadway debut at the Garrick Theater on November 6, 1899. It was an instant success. The show returned to England and debuted the show at London’s Lyceum Theatre, moving to the Duke of York theatre later. Gillette was the first American actor ever to be invited to perform on that illustrious stage, an enormous honor.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and poster for just £22.