Blue Carbuncle Question

[Scott Rakowski]

As my favorite story from the Canon, I am always on the lookout for the Blue Carbuncle recording performed by Nigel Bruce and Basil Rathbone on 1944-12-25.  I have heard conflicting stories as to whether this episode is lost.  Jerry Haendiges lists it as "available" on his OTR log site; however, he also writes "aka Louie the Lisper" after the Blue Carbuncle, indicating that this episode is mislabeled and is actually from 1945-12-24 (The Night Before Christmas episode).  Today I came across a site based out of the UK that is selling mp3 CD's of Sherlock Holmes OTR and they claim to have the Blue Carbuncle episode in question.  It has a different number coding than the Louie the Lisper episode, so I am wondering if it is possible that this company indeed has a gem on their hands....an episode thought by many to be lost.  Here is the link to their site.  http://classicworld.devhub.com/sherlock-holmes/
If anyone can be of any help, I would really appreciate it.  I would hate to have to buy the CD just for one episode and have it wind up being merely mislabeled!  Thanks in advance.

-Scott

[Anson (Bob) Roberts]

To my knowledge, that episode is truly missing. (I'd love for someone to correct me!)

I'd be very leery of those OTR "shovelware" sites that bundle a pile of "episodes" without any verification.

[Scott Rakowski]

Thanks for the response Bob. Every Xmas I have this preconceived notion that I will be sitting in my study with a pipe and a beverage, listening to Nigel Bruce & Basil Rathbone's version of The Blue Carbuncle. Figured I would get started early this year on trying to unearth it for the forthcoming holiday season. I am also leery of those sites that you mentioned and am not going to bother buying the mp3 collection just for one episode that is probably mislabeled! However, I did see that the guy who owns the site is on Twitter, so I sent him a tweet yesterday regarding the episode in question. It will be interesting to see if he responds and what he has to say. It is a shame because a lot of sites and various OTR logs claim that this episode exists, but it always turns out to be the "Lisper" episode from 1945. At any rate, I will continue my quest and will certainly update you and all the others on here if I am able to "unearth" it!

-Scott

[Anson (Bob) Roberts]

Best of luck!