The Bram Stoker Society

THE BRAM STOKER SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
October 2004

LESLIE SHEPARD 1917-2004

It is a sad day when the life and career of Leslie Shepard, founder of and driving force behind the Bram Stoker Society, falls to be rounded off by the ominous ultimate colophon of a second date after the hyphen which follows the year of his birth.

Leslie passed away, at his home in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, on the morning of Friday 20th August. It seems that life left him, quietly and quickly, as he sat at his breakfast table awaiting the arrival of a package by special mail delivery. The delivery man, who had come to know Leslie from many earlier dispatches, on failing to receive response to repeated ringing of the doorbell, raised the alarm. Some caring neighbours, with a key to the house, entered and found him.

When Leslie, in conjunction with accountant Seán Leahy and librarian David Lass, founded the Bram Stoker Society, at a special meeting of the Trinity College Philosophical Society, in January 1980, at the age of 62, he had already achieved widespread renown as a folklorist, documentary film producer, editor, author, and an active enthusiast of comparative religions. He had also just completed the supplement to his enormous three-volume Encyclopaedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, published by the Gale Research Institute in Detroit.

Although the Leslie Shepard who founded the Bram Stoker Society, in January 1980, was a spry and energetic man, few coming to know him then would have guessed the remarkably active life he had led only twenty years earlier.

During a recuperative spell in Switzerland following World War II, Leslie discovered an interest in yoga and Indian philosophy. In 1958 he went to India, to study Hindu metaphysics, yoga and Indian music, living for a year in an ashram - an old temple on the bank of the Ganges in the foothills of the Himalayas. In 1959 Leslie and two others tried to repeat the voyage of the Vikings to the St. Lawrence Seaway, but were almost shipwrecked during a gale half-way between Orkney and the Faroes. Their journey, on the "Maid Nellie", a 28-foot sailing cutter, to the new world, ended in Stromness, Orkney. Leslie's role on this ill-fated voyage was as chef, carpenter and cinematographer. Anyone who saw the intricate shelving in his house in Blackrock will testify to Leslie's carpentry skills. Since Leslie was vegetarian, one wonders what he gave his fellow crew members to eat!

Throughout the 1960s, Leslie wrote prefaces to almost a hundred books, as editor for University Books and the Gale Research Institute. Many of these were on themes of philosophy, fantasy and metaphysics. His own literary career commenced, to acclaim, in 1962, with The Broadside Ballad: A Study in Origins and Meaning. Subsequent productions from Leslie's pen included John Pitts, Ballad Printer of Seven Dials, London (1969), The History of Street Literature (1973) and Bram Stoker: Irish Theatre Manager and Author (1994). Throughout the 1980s, in addition to unrelenting efforts to promote appreciation of the writings of Bram Stoker, Leslie worked assiduously on the second and third editions of his Encyclopaedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, the latter appearing in 1991. Leslie also compiled and edited The Dracula Book of Great Vampire Stories (1977) - selected in July 1977 by the Book-of-the-Month Club in the United States - How to Protect Yourself against Black Magic and Witchcraft (1978) and The Dracula Book of Great Horror Stories (1981). A joint issue of The Dracula Book of Great Vampire Stories and The Dracula Book of Great Horror Stories, in one volume, appeared in 1991, with the title The Book of Dracula.

His last published work was the commemorative collection, Dracula: Celebrating 100 Years (1997), which he co-edited, and for which he wrote most of the contributions.

As chairman of the Bram Stoker Society, Leslie was at the cusp of virtually every initiative taken over the past twenty five years to encourage appreciation of the writing of Bram Stoker - from promoting Ivan Stoker-Dixon's one-man performance of Maureen Charlton's play From Clontarf to Castle Dracula (1980), to the unveiling of a plaque over Bram's student lodgings at Kildare Street (1983); the presentation of material for Bram Stoker exhibitions at the Philosophical Society (1986) and the Dublin Writers' Museum (1989); the inaugural lecture for the Bram Stoker Summer School in Clontarf (1991); and a personally guided screening of Kevin Brownlow's meticulous restoration of Murnau's Nosferatu at the Dublin-based Gothic Literature Symposium (1998).

Leslie and the Bram Stoker Society were fortunate in the friendship and support, over many years, of Dr. Jeanne Youngson of the Count Dracula Fan Club in the United States. Founded in 1965, the Count Dracula Fan Club boasted membership of several thousands, with many active volunteers led by the indefatigable Jeanne. Indeed, without Jeanne's personal support for Leslie and his activities for over two decades, much of the Bram Stoker Society's achievements would not have been possible and its international profile very much lessened. In 1985 Jeanne set up the Bram Stoker Memorial Association which enjoyed reciprocal membership with the Bram Stoker Society. Now that Leslie has passed from us, in his memory and in recognition of their ongoing staunch support, profound thanks and tribute are due from the Bram Stoker Society to Jeanne Youngson, and Jennie O'Casey, and their other colleagues, which I, on behalf of us all who have benefited, am only too happy to express.

Particularly apt also in this regard is respectful mention of the bibliophile, collector, editor, anthologist, researcher, writer and book dealer, Richard Dalby, who befriended Leslie at an early stage in his Bram Stoker enthusiasm and is himself a world authority on all matters connected with Bram Stoker, the various editions of his books and supernatural literature generally. He has had a major role to play, since its first appearance, in the Bram Stoker Journal, initially as editor, then as consultant editor.

In his later years, Leslie returned to his early love - the classic silent film. Assisted by the emerging medium of video, and operating an informal world-wide network, Leslie in the last eighteen years of his life acquired an enviable collection of extraordinary works of cinematic art, most noticeably from the silent period. In many respects this painstakingly built up collection remains Leslie's unsung magnum opus, an achievement of dedication, love and enduring commitment no less tangible in its way than the mammoth three editions of the Encyclopaedia of Occultism and Parapsychology.

Most of us have, and will cherish, our own personal memories of Leslie. One could only marvel at the range and depth of his interests and the sheer energy of his many enthusiasms. He was a man whose own intensely sympathetic nature seemed to leap forth to nurture the enthusiasms of others. Though with never a spare moment, he was unhesitatingly generous with his time. He derived joy from any occasion of eagerness shared with others for the marvellous and the profound. He was, in a word, without a scintilla of exaggeration - unique.

On Sunday 5th September, a small group of us linked to Leslie in various capacities met for a commemorative reception hosted by Leslie's daughter, Jill Shepard Glenstrup. Also present were her brother, Rod Shepard, and her son, Arne Glenstrup. Jill concluded thus a written presentation made on the occasion. "He died quickly, alone - just the way he wanted to go. God rest his soul." For myself and for all of us, I can only add - Amen.

DAVID LASS DEPARTS

In one of those bizarre combinations of misfortune which life too frequently hurls at us, it falls to my melancholy lot also to report that Leslie's surviving co-founder of the Bram Stoker Society, in 1980, David Lass, has taken early retirement from his post of cataloguer at the Trinity College library, to return to his native England.

David, who for many years held the post of honorary secretary of the Bram Stoker Society, was a particular enthusiast of the gothic and supernatural tradition in the dramatic arts. At the society's inaugural meeting in January 1980 David delivered a fascinating paper on the history of Dracula in the movies. In 1986, following the establishing of a Bram Stoker memorial exhibition (donated by Leslie Shepard) in the graduates memorial building at Trinity College, David set up and single-handedly ran a Bram Stoker Club to facilitate the presentation of video films on supernatural and horror themes for members of the college Philosophical Society and the Bram Stoker Society. Though the permanent Bram Stoker exhibition at Trinity College did not endure beyond 1989, the Bram Stoker Club has kept going, uninterruptedly, right to the present.

In addition to regular film screenings, David organised twice annual commemorative lectures, to mark Bram Stoker's birth and death - in November and April respectively. David was and remains an active member of the UK Dracula Society. In 2002, to the considerable appreciation of the Dracula Society, as recorded in their newsletter, Voices from the Vaults, David hosted a tour for their members of the many attractions of Bram Stoker's alma mater, culminating in a feast in the Commons dining room. Over the years, David also maintained close contact with the officers of the Philosophical Society.

While far from departing this life, we reluctantly acknowledge that David's return to England brings to a close a long and cherished chapter of his active involvement with the Bram Stoker Society. We wish him well in his chosen future, while recording our heartfelt thanks for his thirty years of tireless dedication to the cause of promoting in Ireland Bram Stoker's work, career and literary associations.

THE FUTURE

Now, more so than ever before, is it needful to ponder where we go from here. Almost two years ago, in a newsletter which accompanied the last journal issued by the Bram Stoker Society (No. 13, for 2001), I drew attention to the then depleted state of our finances and urged that a future journal was only possible if sufficient members expressed a willingness to be invoiced for it in advance. While some members replied with both alacrity and enthusiasm, regretfully the overall response rate was not such as to justify a new journal in the meantime. While Leslie Shepard held the fort in Blackrock, and David Lass in Trinity College, and I in Killiney, one could still retain the veneer of the Bram Stoker Society as a "more or less loose association of individuals interested in Bram Stoker". Sadly, however, Leslie's death and David's departure represent an enormous depletion of the already slim resources. The unavoidable reality is that any ongoing activity by the Bram Stoker Society necessitates a vital investment of new volunteer energy. Otherwise the society will lapse. Among the matters that need to be considered are the proper re-establishing of the role of treasurer, the identification of a competent cadre of enthusiasts who will help in replying to the many queries that come the way of the Bram Stoker Society, and a panel of helpers willing to aid in the chore of packing and posting journals.

Some may ask - and it is a pertinent question - whether a Bram Stoker Society is actually needed any more. Insofar as the principal original objective was the promotion of an appreciation of Bram Stoker and his works in Ireland, surely this has now been done?

After all, in 1980, public awareness in Ireland of Bram Stoker was not unlike that recorded by Harry Ludlam, on a visit to Dublin in the late 1950s, in his book My Quest For Bram Stoker (2000). Nobody knew. Nobody cared. Getting a plaque put up on premises briefly occupied by Stoker as a young man in Kildare Street was the highlight of the 1980s. I recall spending many a long hour, with Leslie Shepard, during the late 1980s, trying to interest Dublin and East Regional Tourism in the purchasing of Bram's birthplace in Clontarf, only to be told, having completed a detailed form and attended an interview, that they didn't fund acquisitions, only refurbishments of premises already acquired.

A ray of hope dawned in the early 1990s, with the setting up of the Bram Stoker Summer School by Dennis McIntyre, in Clontarf, in 1991. The following year, Francis Ford Coppola's lurid but evocative movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula, broke upon a world which had not seen a decent new Dracula film since the late 1970s. The arrival of the film in Ireland in early 1993 prompted a renewal of interest in Dracula, and this time also in Bram Stoker. Word seemed to filter out that Bram Stoker was Irish and that a small group of people had been trying to so something about him for years. Leslie Shepard and Ivan Stoker Dixon appeared on Irish television, ostensibly to talk about the new film, but also to beat the drum for its Irish-born progenitor. The Bram Stoker Summer School became a dependable annual event. A supernatural Dublin bus tour was set up.

Then came 1997 and the centenary and a week-long summer school and an exhibition at the Dublin Writers' Museum. Now if you rode upon an ordinary open-topped bus tour of Dublin, and passed by Trinity College, you were told about Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, whereas in earlier times attention focused on the splendid statues of Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith inside the entrance gates. It could be said that Bram Stoker had finally arrived.

But what sort of Ireland had he arrived in? And what did arriving actually mean? A much publicised documentary film about Stoker, made by Irish director Sinéad O'Brien in 2002, and screened on Irish television in 2003, turned out to be visually impressive and technically adroit, but featured in large part an uneven assemblage of 'talking heads' edited into a questionable concentration on the author's alleged sexual uncertainties. The Bram Stoker Summer School has seen better days. The Bram Stoker Society has not issued a journal since 2002.

Yet there has been progress. In June 2003, Bram Stoker's Dracula Experience opened, in an enormous media-covered burst of glory, at the Westwood Centre in Clontarf. In terms of rooting Dracula in the Irish homeland of its author, nothing like this was ever seen before. Stoker's birthplace is just across the road. The Dracula Experience, now styled Bram Stoker's Dracula Museum, is managed by summer school director Dennis McIntyre. It is immensely popular with school tours and young people generally. But it has to be admitted that this is in the main a pyrotechnic Dracula extravaganza, which can scarcely proclaim itself a definitive memorial to the life and career of its author.

The issuing, earlier this year, by Clive Leatherdale's Desert Island Books of Richard Dalby's and William Hughes' Bram Stoker - A Bibliography (which builds upon Richard's earlier bibliography of 1983) and the appearance, more recently, of Paul Murray's richly researched From the Shadow of Dracula - a Life of Bram Stoker, published by Jonathan Cape, are welcome milestone events which go to show that all is yet well in the world of Stoker scholarship. That the Bram Stoker Society has still an active role to play, even in the afterglow of the Westwood Dracula Museum, Leslie Shepard himself firmly believed - he told me so last year. I shall be interested to learn from as many of you as choose to contact me how you believe that ongoing role can best be played. I can be found at 43 Castle Court, Killiney Hill Road, Killiney, Co. Dublin or