I'm not known as a big fan of traditions or ritual. There are some I feel quite kindly toward, like Vincent Starrett's wonderful poem "221B." And then there's another Sherlockian tradition that originated in Chicago that I'd be quite okay if it faded into history as it should. So let's talk about that one for a minute.
The song "We Never Mention Aunt Clara" got promoted last month at the Canonical Conclave as a grand tradition exemplary of what we needed to pass on to future generations. But let's think about that for a moment. a.) It's not a great song. Even the B.S.I. got tired of it for awhile at one point and dropped it from the program. And b.) Our Sherlockian connection to it is the theory that it's about Irene Adler from "A Scandal in Bohemia," basically playing into her ex-boyfriend's slander of her as "an adventuress."
It was written by a Chicago lawyer John D. Black in the 1920s according to one source I found. The A.S.H. website places it in 1936, being written by a couple named Willis. It got sung around some male-only East coast clubs in the late forties and early fifties, because . . . well, oooo, boy, guys! Hotsy-totsy, woo-woo-woo! The wives aren't here, so let's sing about the naughty lady! (Look, that's the way they talked in the 1940s, don't blame me!)
So, Irene Adler, whom Holmes had in his book as "Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto -- hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw -- yes! Retired from operatic stage -- ha! Living in London -- quite so!" Holmes liked the opera, and seemed impressed by her credentials before he'd even seen the woman. But nothing in that book about partying her way into lavish gifts from her lovers, as seems to have been Aunt Clara's career. (Inevitable side note: Aunt Clara could more properly identified as Mrs. Hudson for those of us familiar with the movie Holmes & Watson.)
Taking a woman who properly earned her place by work in the arts and going "Yeah, she really got everything she had from dudes!" is some real 1950s men's club thinking. One message of the song is "Hey, mom, don't slut-shame your sister-in-law!" (The fact she couldn't just take the picture off the wall entirely implies that her husband was making her keep it on the wall.) -- a message that seems more feminine than masculine. And was this song even meant to be sung by guys? I mean, the singer is kinda going, "Yeah, I'm gonna seduce me some rich and powerful men in Europe and make bank!" Not saying a guy couldn't do that, with the look, make some abs . . . but not most Sherlockian males I know.
It's just a weird thing all around when you start actually thinking about it. And siding with a royal villain about a Canonical character who has been more maligned than any other over the last hundred years. The B.S.I. brought it back to their annual dinner the same year they started letting women into the club, too, which might not be something we want to call out as time moves on. Am I being too "awokened" upon this topic? Back to poking bears, as I've been wont to do on occasion?
I dunno. Just seems a little problematic when we could just find a better song for group sing-a-longs. (Nobody ever does "Aunt Clara" on karaoke nights. "Baker Street" works just fine.)
No comments:
Post a Comment