The Mystery! of Edward Gorey

A few months back, this post popped into my NotGoogleReader®. Like so many of my memories — lying dormant ’till rudely awoken by the triggers of unexpected images and sounds — it instantly reminded me of my mostly-misbegotten youth. And of one of my all-time favorite TV show openings: the animated sequence from PBS’ Mystery!

I suppose it’s no surprise, given my fascination with animated things (and with title sequences). But the recollection was so instantaneous and so powerful, I decided to dig a bit deeper. An embarrassingly brief search later, I realized why that handful of “Dracula” images and my macabre childhood memories were so closely tied.

The drawings are from Edward Gorey — the illustrator whose strikingly simple yet effective (and, frankly, strange) works served as the inspiration and driving creative force behind the show’s opening and closing credits. (Why, yes. I am just a trifle slow on the uptake. But only on days ending in “y,” thank you very much.)

I was thinking of posting this clip, featuring Gorey’s artwork, the mesmerizing mellifluence of host Vincent Price, Patrick Gowers’ music, and the first episode of Granada’s wonderful “Sherlock Holmes” series. But I was worried that my head might explode from the awesome. I’m savin’ lives here.