John LeCarre's The Night Manager to be BBC production

Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston will star in BBC's television adaptation of John le Carre's The Night Manager, "with WME fielding multiple offers from U.S. networks for a straight-to-series pickup," according to the Hollywood Reporter. Ink Factory (A Most Wanted Man) is producing, with David Farr (Hanna, Spooks) writing the script.

HT: ShelfAwareness

Agatha Christie Lost Diamonds found in old Trunk!

Thanks to Brenda Martin for this story!  I don't know about you, but if I bought a trunk from the Agatha Christie estate and found there was a strongbox bolted inside, I would have knocked it open immediately. I wouldn't have expected diamonds and gold coins, but I would have hoped for an unpublished manuscript.

This article is from ArtDaily.org

A hidden treasure from the home of author Agatha Christie comes to light at the Bonhams, Knightsbridge Jewellery auction on October 8. 

Amongst the trees that line the banks of the sparkling Dart estuary, stands Greenway, the handsome Devon home of Agatha Christie. Even after the murder-mystery writer has long departed, her house continues to reveal secrets of its own: 

When a die-hard Agatha Christie fan, Jennifer Grant, took part in the 2006 house contents sale of the Greenway estate, she paid £100 for an old travelling trunk which had belonged to Agatha Christie’s mother. She had no idea that locked inside lay £10,000 worth of the Christie family jewels. 

When the trunk arrived at her home, she found it contained a heavy strongbox which was locked shut and bolted to the base of the trunk, but no key was to be found. Years passed and the box remained sealed. 

Mrs Grant said: "The strongbox made the trunk a great heavy thing, so it sat at the bottom of the stairs for years. I almost didn't want to open it because then the mystery would be over. When friends came round we would tip the trunk from one side to the other and listen to hear if anything rattled. If you were very quiet you could just about hear something light sliding inside". 

It wasn’t until four years later that the owner of the suitcase was having building work done and saw the opportunity to wrench open the box with a crowbar. To her delight, inside she discovered a purse of gold coins, a diamond brooch and a three stone diamond ring. 

"I had read Agatha Christie's biography and so I knew exactly what I was looking at." Mrs Grant continued, "They matched the description exactly. I was nearly hyperventilating!" 

The jewels are mentioned in Agatha Christie’s biography as pieces that were earmarked for Agatha and her sister Madge to inherit from their mother’s collection. Christie writes: “My mother’s valuable jewellery consisted of ‘my diamond buckle' and ‘my diamond engagement ring’…Madge was to have the diamond crescent, I was to have the diamond buckle…” 

“…my mother sorted amongst an array of odds and ends…all these required hours of sorting before they were packed in the trays in the various trunks.” 

• The diamond 19th century diamond brooch is offered at £6,000-8,000 
• The diamond three-stone ring is offered with estimate of £3,000-5,000

Cartoon of the Day: The Society for Endangered Grammar

INSPECTOR LEWIS returns to PBS Masterpiece

Inspector Lewis returns this Sunday night to PBS Masterpiece with the first of three new episodes. I've seen them all, and I, of course, love them. The first episode, Entry Wounds, is not my favorite, but be sure and watch. Let me know what you think. The second two are fabulous. Wish the season consisted of more than 3 episodes. Hate to wait a year for more.

Kevin Whately stars as Inspector Lewis, the former working-class foil to the erudite Detective Inspector Morse.  Lewis tackles murder and mayhem in the seemingly-perfect academic haven of Oxford. In a partnership forged through loyalty and mutual--though often grudging--respect, Robbie Lewis works ) to untangle lies and murky motives with his combination of instinct and experience while now Inspector James Hathaway (Laurence Fox), with his wit as sharp as his reason, handles handles suspects and classical allusions with the same deft intellect. Together, they struggle with procedural dilemmas and existential questions about their futures--on the force and in their personal lives.

In three all-new cases (Entry Wounds, October 5), The Lions of Nemea, October 12, and Beyond Good and Evil, October 19), the seasoned Inspector Lewis and the newly-minted Inspector Hathaway encounter the future, in new partner DS Lizzie Maddox, and the past, in the reopening of a closed case and the repetition of its grisly murders.

Lost Sherlock Holmes Film Found!

SHERLOCK HOLMES: 100-YEARS-LOST FILM FOUND AT CINÉMATHÈQUE FRANÇAISE
 
Cinémathèque Française and San Francisco Silent Film Festival to Restore!

The silent film version of Sherlock Holmes starring William Gillette has been found! Long considered lost since its first release, the Gillette film is a vital missing link in the history of Holmes on screen. Directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by Essanay Studios in 1916, it was discovered at the Cinémathèque Française a few weeks ago.

By the time the film was made, Gillette had been established as the world's foremost interpreter of Holmes on stage. He gave his face and manner to the detective and inspired the classic illustrations of Frederic Dorr Steele. Dynamic but calm, he played Holmes in the colorful attire-bent-stemmed briar, ornate dressing gown, and deerstalker cap-that has been identified ever since with the character. Just as durable was Gillette's distinctive bearing, preserved in the film: the charismatic, all-seeing detective who dominates scenes with his preternatural stillness.

Booth Tarkington famously wrote after seeing Gillette on stage, "I would rather see you play Sherlock Holmes than be a child again on Christmas morning." For the well-known Chicago bookman, Vincent Starrett, Gillette was beyond criticism. But perhaps the most telling accolade came from Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who had killed Holmes off and thought he was through with the character. After reading Gillette's adaptation for the stage, he said, "It's good to see the old chap back."

"Sir Arthur, you don't know the half of it," says Professor Russell Merritt, the supervising editor of the project and member of the Baker Street Irregulars. "At last we get to see for ourselves the actor who kept the first generation of Sherlockians spellbound. We can also see where the future Holmeses-Rathbone, Brett, Cumberbatch, and the rest-come from. As far as Holmes is concerned, there's not an actor dead or alive who hasn't consciously or intuitively played off Gillette."

The newly found Essanay production is not only Gillette's sole surviving appearance as Holmes. It is also the only film Gillette ever made, a unique opportunity to view the work of a major American actor in the legendary role that he wrote for himself. The film faithfully retains the play's famous set pieces-Holmes's encounter with Professor Moriarty, his daring escape from the Stepney Gas Chamber, and the tour-de-force deductions-and illustrates how Gillette wove bits from Conan Doyle's stories ranging from "A Scandal in Bohemia" to "The Final Problem,"into an original, innovative mystery play.

The film is being restored and will premiere in France in January 2015 and debut at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in May 2015.

HT: Frank Price, Sue Trowbridge & More!

Cartoon of the Day: Punctuation