The Suicide Club (Stevenson)
Encyclopedia
The Suicide Club is a collection of three 19th century detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...

 short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

 by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

 that combine to form a single narrative. First published in the London Magazine
London Magazine
The London Magazine is a historied publication of arts, literature and miscellaneous interests. Its history ranges nearly three centuries and several reincarnations, publishing the likes of William Wordsworth, William S...

 
in 1878
1878 in literature
The year 1878 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*January 28 - The Yale News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States.*Guy de Maupassant becomes an employee of the Ministry of Public Instruction....

, they were collected and republished in the first volume of the New Arabian Nights.

The trilogy introduces the characters of Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his sidekick Colonel Geraldine. In this cycle they infiltrate a secret society of people intent on losing their lives.

It has been described as: "The Prince’s investigation of the macabre club and its criminally inclined president makes for one of Stevenson’s most exciting and suspenseful tales."

The cycle has been adapted for stage, film and television on a number of occasions.

Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts

The first story in the cycle is set in the gas-lit streets of Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 where Prince Florizel of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 and Colonel Geraldine roam in search of adventure.

The story begins with Prince Florizel and Colonel Geraldine dining incognito in a London oyster bar
Oyster bar
The term oyster bar describes either an amenity within a restaurant or bar, or a category of restaurant that specializes in serving fresh oysters. The oysters are shucked on site and normally behind a counter, within sight of the customers....

 where they are surprised to be accosted by a young man distributing cream tarts
Tart
A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard....

 for free. Intrigued by this idiosyncratic behaviour they invite him to dinner where he reveals the existence of the Suicide Club. Upon gaining entry to the club Florizel and Geraldine are appalled by what they find going on inside and vow to bring justice to the insidious president of the club. The first story ends with Florizel disbanding the club and dispatching the president abroad in the custody of Geraldine’s younger brother.

Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk

The second story in the cycle is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris where an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 tourist finds himself embroiled in a dastardly plot.

In the story, while lodging in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 naïve young Silas Q. Scuddamore is lured away by a beautiful young lady who promises a secret assignation but fails to appear. Returning to his hotel dejected he is shocked to discover a dead man in his bed. Kindly neighbour Dr. Noel arranges for Scuddamore and the body (concealed in a Saratoga trunk
Trunk (luggage)
A trunk, also known as a travelling chest, is a large cuboid container for holding clothes and other personal belongings, typically about wide, and each deep and high. They were most commonly used for extended periods away from home, such as for boarding school, or long trips abroad...

) to be smuggled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in the company of Prince Florizel. Once in London, Florizel discovers the plot and reveals the victim to be Geraldine’s younger brother who has been murdered by the President of the Suicide Club in his escape from custody.

The Adventure of the Hansom Cab

The third and final story in the cycle is set in the gas-lit of streets of Victorian era London where a retired British soldier looks for adventure.

In the story, former Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich is beckoned into the back of an elegantly appointed Hansom by a mysterious cabman who whisks him off to a party. There the host continuously assesses his various guests and asks them to depart until only a handful are left. The host then reveals himself to be Colonel Geraldine and invites Rich to join him on a secret mission. They travel to a discreet location where Prince Florizel, with the assistance of Dr. Noel, has finally ensnared the President of the Suicide Club. The Prince challenges the President to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...

 to the death and emerges victorious.

Literary significance and reception

Stevenson’s stories inspired the name of the Suicide Club, a secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...

 active in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 from 1977 to 1983, whose members were far from being suicidal but instead had a predilection for light-hearted practical jokes.

Allusions and references

The main character in this cycle is Prince Florizel of Bohemia. A character of the same name appeared in The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...

 by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

.

Adaptations

1909
1909 in film
The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Matsunosuke Onoe, who would become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.*James Joyce opens the Volta, the first cinema in Dublin....

:
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, and for two decades was one of the most prolific, releasing over three thousand short...

 acquired the film rights in 1908 and director D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...

 used the concept of the suicide club as the basis of his 4-minute short The Suicide Club but the plot bore little resemblance to Stevenson’s stories.

1913
1913 in film
The year 1913 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Squaw Man, the first Hollywood feature film, is made.* December 29, Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.* D. W...

:
A 40-minute German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 version Der Geheimnisvolle Klub

1914
1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....

:
A British version The Suicide Club (1914
1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....

) starring
Montagu Love
Montagu Love
Montagu Love , also known as Montague Love, was an English screen, stage and vaudeville actor.Born Harry Montague Love in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and educated in Great Britain, Love began his career as an artist and military correspondent. His first important job was as a London newspaper...

 as Prince Florizel.

1919
1919 in film
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...

:
Richard Oswald
Richard Oswald
Richard Oswald was an Austrian director, producer, and screenwriter.Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began his career as an actor on the Viennese stage. He made his film directorial debut at age 34 with Das Eiserne Kreuz...

 directed another German movie version as the fourth segment of Unheimliche Geschichten (1919
1919 in film
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...

) starring Anita Berber
Anita Berber
Anita Berber was a German dancer, actress, writer, and prostitute who was the subject of an Otto Dix painting. She lived during the Weimar period.-Early life:...

 and Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...

 as Club President.

1929: Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 and theatrical manager
Theatrical company management
Company management in a theatre or a traveling company entails all of the traveling, accommodation and day-to-day needs of the acting, design and technical company members. In regional theatres it often includes renting apartments and hotel rooms, booking plane tickets, orchestrating furnishings...

 Hugh Abercrombie Anderson
Hugh Abercrombie Anderson
Captain Hugh Abercrombie Anderson MBE was a Canadian writer.Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Anderson was the son of politician John Anderson. Following and education at Bishop Feild College and Edinburgh Academy, the first few years of his career was at the family business in St...

 successfully adapted the work for the stage, receiving good reviews.

1932
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....

:
Oswald remade his film of 1919 retaining the title Unheimliche Geschichten
Unheimliche Geschichten
Unheimliche Geschichten is a 1932 German horror/black comedy film directed by the prolific Austrian film director Richard Oswald, starring Paul Wegener, and produced by Gabriel Pascal....

but with a new cast led by Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener was a German actor, writer and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.-Stage and early film career:...

. Footage from this film was later edited into Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1943
1943 in film
The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....

).

1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...

:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 adapted the story for Trouble for Two
Trouble for Two
Trouble for Two is a 1936 film starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell. It is based on The Suicide Club, a short story collection by Robert Louis Stevenson...

starring Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery (actor)
Robert Montgomery was an American actor and director.- Early life :Montgomery was born Henry Montgomery, Jr. in Beacon, New York, then known as "Fishkill Landing", the son of Mary Weed and Henry Montgomery, Sr. His early childhood was one of privilege, since his father was president of the New...

 as Prince Florizel, Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan
Frank Morgan was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of the title character in the film The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...

 as Colonel Geraldine, Reginald Owen
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen was a British character actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American movies and later in television programs.-Personal:...

 as President of the Club and with the addition of a female love interest played by Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...

.

1946
1946 in film
The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...

:
A Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an movie entitled La Dama de la muerte directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen
Carlos Hugo Christensen
Carlos Hugo Christensen was a major Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer....

 and starring Guillermo Battaglia
Guillermo Battaglia
Guillermo Battaglia was a prolific Argentine film actor of the classic era of Argentine cinema.Born in Buenos Aires, he began his film career in 1937 in Melodías porteñas. Battaglia starred in over 100 films between then and 1987...

 and Carlos Cores
Carlos Cores
Carlos Cores was an Argentine film actor, and film director.Cores entered films in 1939 and starred in over 60 films between then and his retirement in the early 1980s...

. Footage from this film was later edited into Curse of the Stone Hand (1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....

).

1947: CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 Escape
Escape (radio program)
Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense, it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although Richfield Oil signed...

 on November 12, 1947. Adapted only "The Young Man With the Cream Tarts" portion.

1950: CBS Television series Suspense season 2, episode 24, on 14 February 1950;

1956: ABC Radio ABC Mystery Time on June 7, 1956. The Suicide Club Adapted only "The Young Man With the Cream Tarts" portion.

1956: NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 TV series Lilli Palmer Theatre
episode 12, directed by Dennis Vance
Dennis Vance
Dennis Vance was a British television producer and director.Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, he began his career as an actor in the late 1940s, appearing in small parts in various films before switching to become a producer with BBC Television in the early 1950s...

 on 12 December 1956;

1960: NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 TV series The Chevy Mystery Show episode 17, starring Cesar Romero
Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...

 and Everett Sloane
Everett Sloane
Everett Sloane was an American stage, film and television actor, songwriter, and theatre director.-Early life:...

 on 18 September 1960;

1970: Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

 series Mystery and Imagination
Mystery and Imagination
Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology series of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 by ITV and featured plays based on the works of well-known authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, M. R. James, and...

season 5, episode 1, starring Bernard Archard
Bernard Archard
Bernard Joseph Archard was an English actor.Born in Fulham, London, he was a tall, imposing actor with a distinctive face. He was a conscientious objector in the Second World War and worked on the land...

 as President of the Club on 9 February 1970.

1970
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....

:
A Mexican adaptation entitled El Club de los suicidas starring Enrique Guzmán
Enrique Guzmán
Enrique Guzmán is a Mexican singer. He is the father of Mexican singer Alejandra Guzmán by his former wife, actress and politician Silvia Pinal....

.

1974: CBS Radio Mystery Theatre “The Suicide Club.” Episode #87, broadcast May 7, starring Barry Nelson, Marian Seldes, John Baragrey, Dan Ocko, Lloyd Batista. Adapted by George Lowthar.

1979
1979 in film
The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....

:
A Soviet adaptation entitled Priklyucheniya printsa Florizelya starring Oleg Dal
Oleg Dal
Oleg Ivanovich Dahl was a Soviet actor.He acted in films, from classics of drama to fairy tales and adventures. His most popular works included Zhenya, Zhenechka i 'Katyusha , Khronika pikiruyushchego bombardirovshchika , Staraya, staraya skazka , Na Dne , Korol Lir...

 as Prince Florizel and Donatas Banionis
Donatas Banionis
Donatas Banionis is a Lithuanian and Soviet actor. He is best known in the West for his performance in the lead role of Tarkovsky's Solaris as Kris Kelvin....

 as Chairman of the Club.

1988
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...

:
An independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 version: The Suicide Club starring Mariel Hemingway
Mariel Hemingway
- Early life :Hemingway was born in Mill Valley, California, the third daughter of Byra Louise Hemingway and Jack Hemingway, a writer. Her sisters are Joan Hemingway and Margaux Hemingway...

 updated the story to modern times.

2000
2000 in film
The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....

:
The Suicide Club starring Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...

 chose a more traditional setting but abandoned much of the original story.

2003: A Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 TV movie entitled Bankrotáři was broadcast by Česká televize
Ceská televize
Česká televize is the public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting four channels.- Czechoslovak Television :Television in Czechoslovakia started to take its first steps before World War II. However, before visible results could be achieved, all activities were interrupted by...

 on 26 December 2003.

2007
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

:
Roberto Santiago directed a Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 adaptation entitled El Club de los suicidas starring Fernando Tejero
Fernando Tejero
Fernando Tejero Muñoz-Torrero is a Spanish actor who spent his childhood and adolescence in Córdoba, Andalucía.Since he was very young, Tejero knew he wanted to be an actor. However his father wanted Tejero to become a bullfighter...

 and Lucía Jiménez
Lucía Jiménez
Lucía Jiménez , is a Spanish actress.She started with a David Trueba movie, La Buena Vida, and she became very popular thanks to the TV series Al salir de clase.-Movies:- TV :- External links :...

.

Publication history

  • 1878, UK, London Magazine, Pub date Jun-Oct 1878, Periodical
  • 1882, UK, Chatto & Windus, Pub date 1882, Hardback
  • 1985, UK, Puffin ISBN 0-14-036764-0, Pub date Aug 1997, Paperback
  • 1991, USA, Carroll & Graf ISBN 0-88184-741-0, Pub date Sep 1991, Hardback
  • 2000, USA, Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-41416-7, Pub date 2000, Paperback

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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