This episode, however, was written by Meiser, for the now titled The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This episode, “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot,” was written during the 1946-47 season when almost all of the episodes were scripted by Denis Green and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction co-founder Anthony Boucher. One of the great unsung heroines of early radio (to the outside world at least), she died in 1993. During the 1950s Meiser also wrote a daily Holmes comic strip, and was considered a great Broadway actress who also starred in films and early television, including appearances on I Love Lucy. The day every year that the BSI would hold its annual dinner, so too would the ASH, with Edith Meiser as its Guest of Honor. However, in part to rectify this situation she was welcomed into the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (ASH), originally an all-female Sherlock Holmes club, though it would later open its doors and become co-ed. Meiser was beloved of Sherlock Holmes fans and members of the Baker Street Irregulars (BSI), but until 1991 the BSI was a male-only organization. She would write the scripts based on Holmes’s original adventures for the next 12 years, sometimes branching out to pen tales in the Holmes tradition.
It was a woman, Edith Meiser (1898-1993), who first brought Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary sleuth to radio in 1930. But the story is so horrifying (I remember as a child being completely creeped out by the idea of a drug that drives the user mad) it’s unforgettable, even though I think anyone who knew what it actually did would prefer being shot or beaten to death by Sterndale versus suffering the same punishment (I’d have run like hell that morning, if my sister’s lover showed up with the powder).The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes aired “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot” (or “The Cornish Horror”) on January 13, 1947. In an ideal world, perhaps the nervous exhaustion Holmes exhibits in the story might be a teeny bit more subtle. Even if he’s never loved a woman, he’s clearly capable of deep and lasting affection–and possibly revenge. I also think the “John” works incredibly well, especially with the later comment “I have never loved.” It sort of highlights the reasons Holmes lets Sterndale go IMHO. It’s unfortunate that some of the weaknesses of the text are more evident when dramatized. I like the episode very much, and love the story’s atmosphere, even though the logistics are shaky.
I’m surprised giving up the drugs was so controversial, because it’s in the canon that Holmes does, eventually, and it’s due to Watson’s influence.
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