Ventfort Hall Mansion & Gilded Age Museum, Lenox, MA
through September 5, 2017
by Shera Cohen
The attempt to do away with the world’s most famous
detective, the Irish Bridget, and the ultra-rich Gilded Age family who outdid
everyone else in building urban palaces, estates and summer villas. These
describe just three of thirteen exciting "Tea & Talks" that Ventfort Hall
will offer this summer on Tuesdays at 4:00pm running now through September 5. Victorian teas will be served.
Speakers hail
from around the corner (the Berkshires) to around the world; they include
historians, educators, and authors. One common theme is the era of the Gilded
Age – the late 1800’s and early 1900’s primarily in the U.S. where we see and
learn about the servants of the rich and famous, renovation of the Berkshire
Carousel, the trappings of antiques and jewelry, and a wide range of Who’s Who;
i.e. Edith Wharton, Doris Duke, and the Vanderbilt family.
Two topics have already launched the series. Historian Jan
Whitaker’s subject was “Opulent Emporiums: The Gilded Age of Department
Stores.” With elevators to reach the floor upon floor of merchandise, shopping
became a new, and long-lasting, form of entertainment. The following week,
Steven Pullen’s subject matter was close to home: “Grandpa was a Groomsman and
Grandma was a Housemaid: Two British Servants in America.”
Jeffrey Bradway
 |
| Jeffrey Bradway |
On Tuesday, June 20th, historian/lecturer/actor Jeffrey
Bradway brings his Ventfort audience up close and personal with Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. Most know Doyle as the creator of Sherlock Holmes – whose
popularity has spanned well over a century. However, in an interview with
Bradway, I learned that the author had fun with his sleuth, and thought of him
as an intelligent yet strange man. After decades of spewing out nearly
unsolvable crime after crime, Doyle compared his Holmes stories to great
literature, saying that they were merely cartoons in the world of real
painting, and by no means a masterpiece.
Bradway is a member of numerous Sherlock Holmes clubs and
societies. Little did I know that over 200 groups exist in the U.S. and far
more throughout the world; i.e. Baker Street Irregulars. Readers take their
Holmes extremely seriously, but with a sense of humor. While the topic of
Bradway’s Tea & Talk is “Killing Off Sherlock Holmes,” his one-man play is
more than a narrative on the creation, death and resurrection of the world’s
most famous detective. Doyle is the star. Like Holmes, the author had his own
quirkiness and eccentricities with an unending curiosity in the subjects of the
occult, science, and medicine.
The lecture introduces the character of Doyle through
Bradway, dressed in garb of the era, speaking much of the writer’s actual
language, albeit fictionalized. Sides to Doyle’s personality that few now
realize are his strange mixture of scientific training with belief in the
hereafter.
As for Bradway, he is in awe of Doyle, and has been almost
equally enamored with Holmes since age 5 – before he could read. Shortly after,
his aunt gifted him with Holmes’ sixty stories, all of which he read by age 14.
Bradway explained that Doyle, however, was far more than the sum of Holmes and
that the Ventfort audience will meet and learn about the man as an author of
numerous genres and topics.
Jeffrey Bradway knows his subject extremely well, having
extensively researched Doyle. Just as Sherlock Holmes has intrigued millions of
readers (moviegoers, PBS supporters, and other modes of portrayal), Bradway
continues to remain intrigued by Arthur Conan Doyle.
For reservations and other information call 413-637-3206 or
visit Ventfort Hall’s website at gildedage.org
