The Case of the Shoeless Engineer – January 3, 1955

“… I have lost my thumb, and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I gained!”

– The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb (ENGR)

In 1954, Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford would star as Holmes and Watson in 39 episodes of a syndicated Sherlock Holmes television series. The 30 minute episodes were produced by Sheldon Reynolds, who would later do another Holmes series, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, in 1980 and would reuse many of the same episodes.

Many of the stories in the series had similarities to the original stories of the Canon, but with subtle changes. Episode 12, The Shoeless Engineer, is an excellent example of this. Based on The Engineer’s Thumb, Victor Hatherly only loses his shoe rather than any body parts. The female role of Elisa from the original story is tweaked and that role is called Ruth Connors. In addition, this episode has the criminals being caught, which is the opposite of the original story of Doyle’s.

This episode originally aired on January 3, 1955.