December 25, 2009
Robert Downey Jr., who stars in the new movie "Sherlock Holmes," is the latest actor to take on this iconic role. Guy Ritchie, the film's director, says Holmes' persona is an even divide between enigma and accessibility. WNYC's Sarah Montague traces the character's evolution and reveals how Holmes keeps changing to suit the times.
Where would you expect to find the world's largest Sherlock Holmes archive? Try nine stories below Minneapolis, in the rare book collection at the University of Minnesota. Sarah Lemanczyk descends for a visit.
For six seasons, "House, M.D." has been diagnosing patients with the same reason, deduction, and flair that Holmes relied upon to solve crimes. And that's no accident. The show's creator David Shore tells Kurt that his series was originally conceived as a police procedural in a hospital where germs are the suspects.
Ted Riccardi, a retired professor of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages, wrote his own Holmes adventures, set in Tibet, Nepal, India, and Indonesia. His book is The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Produced by Studio 360's Michele Siegel.
Forty-eight years ago, Donald J. Sobol put sneakers on Sherlock Holmes and set him in small-town America. Produced by Studio 360's Derek John.
The "godmother of punk" started out in 1970s New York. But in "Dream of Life," a new POV documentary airing on PBS, Patti Smith shows sides of herself that the public rarely gets to see. Smith tells Kurt that it's also an account of how she rebuilt her life after losing several loved ones.
Our extended cut of Kurt's conversation with Patti Smith, including three things you didn’t know about the rock legend: 1) mother turned her on to poetry; 2) writes detective stories; 3) enthusiastic golfer.
Every year the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress chooses 25 recordings to be preserved for all time. One of this year's selections is a song so sad that George Jones was initially reluctant to record it. Yet it became one of the most popular songs in country music.
Another pick was a guitar instrumental that altered the course of rock music. The story of Link Wray and "Rumble," from 1958, is told by guitarist Steven Van Zandt, bassist James Hutchinson, and writer Brian Wright-McLeod.
>> Listen to all five stories in our series HERE.
The Sounds of American Culture, our series highlighting works in the National Recording Registry, is produced by Ben Manilla and Devon Strolovich. The series receives production support from the Library of Congress.
Studio 360 is a co-production of
Public
Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
Ken and Lucy Lehman, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
