Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Little Gray Cells
When I was a lot younger, Dad and I had a tradition every Wednesday. We would turn on the T.V. change the channel to A&E and watch an episode of Poirot and an episode of Sherlock Holmes. Consequently the two actors and their portrayals of these famous literary detectives are probably the best that have ever been done. Dad always preferred Jeremy Brett's Sherlock but I in my pretentiousness always preferred the little Belgian (Consequently Poirot always reminds me a little bit of Dad, I don't know why but when I think of Dad I think of a Hercule Poirot/Siegfried Farnon hybrid). David Suchet is amazing as Poirot. Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney have nothing on him. Those nights watching our favorite detective shows is one of my favorite memories of me and my dad. In English class yesterday, my professor brought up Comedia del Arte, which is the Italian comedies featuring the stock characters such as Harlequin, Columbine, Pierot, and Pierette, etc. I was only familiar with these characters because of a Poirot episode, in fact it was the first Poirot episode I had ever seen. The Affair at the Victory Ball. I went home, found a video on the internet and watched it. It was nice to remember those nights when Dad and I would watch our mysteries together, and try to solve them using as Poirot calls them, the little gray cells.
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3 comments:
I can hardly watch a non-Jeremy Brett Sherlock! I was lucky to get to join you and dad on some of those Poirot nights. I an hear dad's tight-lipped "Hercule Poirot" pronunciation thinking about it.
Good luck with finals!
Nice post Mister Twister.
The Jack/Dad bachelor pad was good times indeed.
Now you can use those little gray cells in the testing center. Just think of those exams as Mysteries with a number 2 pencil.
We also read all of Agatha Christie's Poirot and all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and discussed the relative merits of the film adaptations of the stories.
I think my preference for Holmes goes back to my appreciation of the late Victorian period in England. I had read Conan Doyle way before the series came out. Plus, I always thought that Poirot was a bit too prissy for me to really like him, although I must admit that he was a terrific character. Jack always liked the art deco furnishings of Poirot's modern London.
However, I don't know how in the world I became a Hercule/Sigfried combo in Jack's mind, but with Travis's Higgins view of me (from spending too much time watching Magnum P.I. while flaunting the house rules) thrown in, I cut quite a figure.
By the way, my favorite memory of the "bachelor pad days" was the sign we put up above the commode off the laundry room: "Please put the seat back up when you're finished."
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