“Elementary, my dear Watson“, sometimes quoted as, “Elementary, dear Watson“,
is one of those phrases that everybody knows the character of Sherlock Holmes said.
You know, just like everyone knows that Kirk said “Beam me up Scotty” and Darth Vader
said, “Luke, I am your father”.
The thing is, none of those characters ever said any of those things.
They said things that were similar, sure, but they never actually said those exact words,
despite the fact most think that they did.
Like “Luke, I am your Father“- which was actually, “No, I am your father“- Holmes
never said “Elementary my dear Watson” in any of the original 56 short stories or
4 novels starring his character.
The closest he comes is in, The Adventure of the Crooked Man.
In this story, Holmes uses both the word “Elementary” and the phrase, “my dear Watson“, in somewhat
close proximity.
The two, however, are not uttered together:
“I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson,” said he.
“When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long one you use a hansom.
As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that
you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom.”
“Excellent!”
I cried.
“Elementary,” said he.
Beyond that, there are only 7 other instances of the word “elementary” being uttered
in the official Sherlock Holmes works, though he does say “my dear Watson” numerous
times, with the phrase appearing in about 2/3 of the stories, sometimes several times
within a given story.
It’s noted by Sherlockian.net, one of the foremost sources on everything to do with
Sherlock Holmes, that although Holmes never uses the oft misquoted phrase, “elementary,
my dear Watson“, he does use the phrase, “exactly, my dear Watson” in 3 different
stories.
For example in His Last Bow, where Holmes uses the phrase in a shoddy attempt to mask
the obvious sexual tension between himself and his man servant…
Or, you know, to agree to Watson’s point.
So where did the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson” come from?
Well the first known, or at least recorded use of the phrase was in the 1915 novel, Psmith,
Journalist written by P.G.
Wodehouse.
We should point out that the book in no way shape or form stars Sherlock Holmes (in fact,
the Sherlock Holmes stories were still being published at this point).
We should also point out that, though Psmith, Journalist was published as a novel in 1915,
it was a serial before that, putting the date of the first known usage of the phrase as
1909.
The exact first known instance of the “Elementary, my dear Watson”, which appears in that work
is as follows:
“I fancy,” said Psmith, “that this is one of those moments when it is necessary
for me to unlimber my Sherlock Holmes system.
As thus.
If the rent collector had been there, it is certain, I think, that Comrade Spaghetti,
or whatever you said his name was, wouldn’t have been.
That is to say, if the rent collector had called and found no money waiting for him,
surely Comrade Spaghetti would have been out in the cold night instead of under his own
roof-tree.
Do you follow me, Comrade Maloney?”
“That’s right,” said Billy Windsor.
“Of course.”
“Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” murmured Psmith.
Wodehouse’s work was noted to have taken obvious cues from Doyle’s, as you probably
guessed from the fact that Wodehouse ended up writing one of the most enduring quotes
for a character he didn’t create.
So when was the first time someone playing Sherlock Holmes actually said this?
That isn’t completely clear.
The first well documented actor playing Sherlock Holmes to use the phrase was one, Clive Brook
in a 1929 film, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Another theory sometimes put forth is that it was perhaps the stage actor, William Gillette
in 1899, preceding not only Clive Brook’s 1929 film, but also the P.G.
Wodehouse serials quoted above.
Though this could potentially be true, evidence that has survived to today points to Gillette
using a slight variation on the phrase in one of his stage productions, rather than
the exact phrase.
The production, aptly called, Sherlock Holmes: A Drama In Four Acts which was written in
part by Gillette in 1899, features a line that read as follows, “Elementary, my dear
fellow!
Ho!
(*Sneer) Elementary“.
This is noted as being a bastardized version of the “Exactly, my dear Watson” line
Doyle used in his own work several years earlier and the line used by Brook 30 years later
is noted to be a natural evolution of Gillette’s own line.
So just to make sure you’re following this.
“Elementary, my dear Watson“, was never once uttered in the accepted canon of Sherlock
Holmes, the line as we know it is actually a bastardized version of a bastardized version
of a similar line used in an earlier Sherlock Holmes story.
Does the fact that Sherlock Holmes never actually said this line make it any less quotable?
Probably, yes.
But what the hell, the story of how it came to be is so convoluted it’s kind of fitting
for a Sherlock Holmes fact, don’t you think?