It has become a fun challenge for me to continue the story of Madison and “Sponsor-Dude” Harry Bartell amidst an actual “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” episode. And I can not stress enough how proud I am of this year’s adventure.
Early on the “B-story” of Madison torturing “Sponsor-Dude” in the Sherlock Holmes episodes was well received by listeners, with requests for more of Harry and Madison. When I was told by a listener about “The Casebook of Gregory Hood” and how it was another show Harry Bartell worked as the Petri Wine spokesman, I jumped on the idea of Madison continuing his torment by surprising Harry at his “other” job. Then I had been looking for a way to make one of the OTR horror/mystery anthologies work in Madison’s world, and sending the two of them into “Inner Sanctum” provided a wonderful third act for what I called the “Sponsor-Dude Trilogy.”
So where to go from there? Harry had lost his job from Petri Wine, and also had softened to Madison. Both of them finding a mutual respect for one another by the end of last year’s adventures. That’s when I remembered the sequel to “A Scandal in Bohemia.”
Year One using “A Scandal in Bohemia” was purely a lark. At that time (the episode being only my 7th) I was still relying on the Generic Radio Workshop for copies of OTR scripts. It wouldn’t be until the next episode of “The Shadow” that I started the practice of transcribing my own scripts. This, of course, giving me much more freedom for finding the best story from any particular show to fit with Madison. So what a very fun call back now to use the sequel!
Of course, Harry had been fired. So how to get him back in the story? I decided that both of them had been kicked off the show (Dr. Watson was home, didn’t need Madison to house-sit) And Madison would not take that lying down. Then the fun of the writing began. In a loose tribute to Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” I wove the real script of Sherlock Holmes around Madison and Harry being outside characters looking in, only interacting with the main plot later in the script as it all came to a head.
Fun moments like the servant, Devers, arriving at Sherlock’s servant’s entrance and speaking with Sherlocks’ man, Richards, was an R&G moment. That beat happens in the original story, but “off stage” and not part of the regular script. But it happened, right? The guy had to arrive, be admitted into the home, and be shown where to go to speak with Sherlock. So I let that action move through the scene with Madison and Harry hiding and eavesdropping on Sherlock and Watson.
Likewise, in the original script, Miss Norton actually comes to Sherlock’s home and her plea for help is all done in his parlor. But Dr. Watson does reference her staying at “The Red Lion,” so I decided to have them meet her at the pub in the Red Lion so it could be a public space that would allow Madison and Harry to approach her. Then having all of her exposition about needing to get her letters back could be told to Harry pretending to be Sherlock with Madison doing her best to avoid detection as a barmaid.
Now we had the fun of both sets of thieves arriving at Lytton Stanley’s house to try and get the box of letters. Madison and Harry clearly have a head start, but Madison isn’t skilled enough to get the locked desk drawer open. So, once again, Harry has to impersonate someone, this time Lytton Stanley upon Sherlock and Watson’s arrival. Since Sherlock had never met his nasty neighbor, in the original story, Sherlock was safe to don a fake persona to meet Stanley. So that meant I could have Harry pretend to be Stanley since Sherlock wouldn’t know what he looked like. And yes, the chloroform was used in the original script on Stanley. Poor Harry!
Lastly was two main beats I felt the original missed. First, they kept mentioning the bee farm, but had zero scenes with bees. So I bookended Madison and Harry’s adventure in the garden with the bees. And of course Harry had to be allergic! The other beat was Miss Norton leaving with the Cellini box. In the original, she does ask Sherlock for the box as a souvenir, and the great detective is completely fooled by her and allows her to take it. Once she’s gone, Lytton Stanley comes to the door to beg Sherlock for help because he’s been robbed, and only then does Sherlock realize he’s been tricked. The original leaves a very unsatisfactory “we’ll have to catch up with her and get it back later” ending. Well! Not with Madison in the adventure! As she says, “Don’t try to play the playa.” She can see through Miss Norton’s manipulation (appreciating her skill) and stops her in the garden to get the Cellini back. Their fight allowed me to anger the bees and give the payoff of Harry being stung. A very Madison ending.
And what of the “new” Sponsor-Dude? There are some ideas brewing already for next year… you’ll have to wait to find out!
-Chrisi (aka Madison)
