Jaunt the Second - and a Queueing Query

[steepholm]

I had a very pleasant Jaunt#2 in London, first with fjm and chilperic (with the former of whom I went to see Howl's Moving Castle), and then with my brother and his partner. In between, I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, and enjoyed its high-paced rompiness. Both Howl and Sherlock featured Stephen Fry (but what doesn't?), first as the disembodied voice of the Castle itself, and then as an all-too-embodied Mycroft Holmes, exhibiting an uncanonical penchant for walking round the house as nature intended-but-then-thought-better-of.

One thing has been bothering me, though. I know that all the costumes in the Holmes film were meticulously researched for period; and I know that a lot of other stuff wasn't. (Lipstick in a tube in 1891? Ha!) Well, that's okay, it's a romp. But one of the features that struck me as most absurd at the time was the sight of Professor Moriarty of Kings College Cambridge (to judge by the establishing shot), on a European book tour, signing copies of his latest book on asteroids in front of an orderly queue of physicists.

Then it struck me that I had no idea when the habit of book signings actually took off. Okay, I don't see it happening with technical works on physics even today, but am I really certain that Dickens, for example, never did such a thing? He undertook reading tours: did people ask him to sign their books? (When did autograph collecting become a hobby, for that matter? I'm guessing it's at least that old, although the oldest date the OED gives for that usage is 1927.) If enough people asked, wouldn't it have occurred to him to set up a table and arrange them in a queue? It seems inevitable, yet it feels anachronistic. On the other hand, I was surprised a couple of years ago to discover how long the word "celebrity" had been applied to people: the OED's earliest date is 1849. Any insights into this would be very welcome.

Meanwhile, I'm off on Jaunt#3 today, to Borth, the village squeezed thin as string between the Cors Fochno and the sea...

Comments

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Autograph collecting dates at least to the 1870s; there's a bit in Susan Coolidge's "What Katy Did At School" (1873) where the girls take up autograph collecting. Mostly they just sign each other's albums, but Rose Red forges an album full of the autographs of celebrities such as the youngest brother of the king of Spain, which greatly impresses the others.

[diceytillerman.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, now I want to pull my three Katy books off the shelf.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Good questions--I know collecting autographs goes back to the album days of the middle and late 1800s, but not sure about book signings.

[sovay]

with the former of whom I went to see Howl's Moving Castle)

I was just reading a review of that! What did you think of it?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Well, it was short, first of all - maybe 80 minutes tops - and the whole thing was performed by three actors (Howl, Old Sophie and Young Sophie/Witch, with recorded voices for the Calcifer and the Castle itself). Obviously, then, in plot terms it was mightily cut down. That's fine, and I expected it, but the way they wound up the plot was rather unsatisfactory in as much as a) it boiled down to Howl rescuing Sophie, and b) the witch was defeated by the Power of True Love (gag).

That apart, I liked it. The set and effects, which your reviewer didn't think much to, impressed me (as a slack-jawed yokel) quite a lot. Howl was good, though only intermittently Welsh, and the Castle was (as fjm pointed out) very much a Tardis, with rooms appearing and disappearing. Howl was manic to match, and there was I suppose a bit of a sense that Sophie was a "companion" at first, though their relationship was convincing as a romance by the end. I do feel that Michael was much missed, though perhaps he'd have been transformed into Rory...

The young Sophie, with red hair and a scarlet skirt, was as unlike a grey mouse as it's possible to imagine. What were they thinking?

Altogether I enjoyed it, but the perfect DWJ adaptation has yet to be made (and I include Miyazake's attempt in that conclusion).

[sovay]

a) it boiled down to Howl rescuing Sophie, and b) the witch was defeated by the Power of True Love (gag).

*headdesk*

I would still almost certainly have gone, just to see what the production was like.

(Does it at least include "Sospan Fach"?)

The young Sophie, with red hair and a scarlet skirt, was as unlike a grey mouse as it's possible to imagine. What were they thinking?

I did see that. I liked the idea of doubling her with the Witch of the Waste, but it didn't sound as though the show really knew what to do with it.

Altogether I enjoyed it, but the perfect DWJ adaptation has yet to be made (and I include Miyazake's attempt in that conclusion).

I have never seen the Miyazaki. I've been told by several people that it's wonderful if one can differentiate it from the book, but the book was so incredibly formative for me, I don't think that's possible; I'm fairly certain I'd spend the entire time thinking of it as inexplicable crackfic at best. I already know a couple of things about the plot that classify themselves as headbangy for me.

Considering that I don't think of myself as a very visual person, it was interesting to realize that I have very definite ideas (for years, apparently) about what Howl looks like, even if I don't think I could draw them.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

No Sospan Fach, I'm afraid. The Welshness was generally toned down. (As I drove through Wales today, I heard an interview with Michael Sheen. Now his is a voice I could imagine for Howl easily enough.

[sovay]

Michael Sheen. Now his is a voice I could imagine for Howl easily enough.

I was lucky enough to see him as Amadeus to David Suchet's Salieri when I was seventeen. (It was a stroke of luck at the time, but I didn't know any of the actors: I couldn't appreciate the full extent. It imprinted me on Suchet and years later I made the connection to Sheen. Karl Johnson was also in the cast, although I wouldn't realize how awesome that was until last fall.). He's not twenty-seven, of course, but he does have an odd face. You might be able to talk me into accepting him as someone who's handsome by force of charm.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

He's currently playing Hamlet, so if he can get away with that, he can probably get away with Howl, age-wise. Handsomeness - well, I'm not sure how handsome Howl actually is. If he were supremely handsome by nature, perhaps he wouldn't be so obsessed with all his unguents and ointments?

[sovay]

Handsomeness - well, I'm not sure how handsome Howl actually is.

Right: "For a plain man with mud-colored hair, he's terribly vain about his looks." Michael Sheen is not a traditional stunner. I'd believe him in the part.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

Autograph collecting goes back quite a ways (Louisa May Alcott makes fun of it and other souvenir hunting in Jo's Boys, in which a funny old lady asks to be allowed to catch a grasshopper in Jo Bhaer's garden), but people used to beg the signatures off letters (lots of authors' letters appear for sale with the signatures cut off). See http://books.google.com/books?id=9CQGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA73 for a general description of autograph collecting up to 1875. Inscribed copies tended to be the author's choice, or a sign of a limited edition.

I've found a 1919 mention of autographing books at the store on Google Books: "Horace Wade, the boy wonder, has been on exhibition at the store in person autographing books and doing simple tricks, and this has drawn enormous crowds who have bought liberally under the influence of Horace's childish prattle."

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thanks - that's very interesting!

I'm ashamed to say I'd not come across Horace Wade before, but Google tells me he'd only have been nine (or possibly 11!) at the time. Doesn't he look like that kid on the cover of Mad magazine?

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of him either. Much cuter than Alfred E. Neuman, imo. He said himself he was 11 at publication, which fits with a birthdate of 1908 (Library of Congress says 1908 or 1909).

Non-celebrities, too

[negothick.livejournal.com]

Like many authors (and musicians) today, some authors who self-published survived on selling copies of their books at readings and on lecture tours. Presumably they autographed them if (as today) anyone wanted an autograph. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is one example. The tiny press runs of her Forerunner books also reminds me of today's small-press publishers.

On the other hand, at the turn of the 20th century, she was given a $100 as honorarium for a library lecture. That's what I get today, in the same part of the U.S.

Re: Non-celebrities, too

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's what I get today, in the same part of the U.S.

Ouch!