JTR Exhibition in Docklands

[Mike Covell]

I would love to see an exibition in a giant warehouse, all the murder scenes recreated, as well as several locations and you are guided around by Mary Kelly.
She takes you past each scene were you learn about different suspects, but dissapears towards the end of the tour were an Abberline guide takes you to Millers court and you see the remains of Kelly.

That would kick ass

[Monty]

Guys,

My opinions, no one elses.

Having had private correspondence with one of the 'contributors' to this project, I must confess to feeling a tad agrieved with the lack of vision by the museum.

When you hear that the name Luukanen is involved then you would expect them to pay heed to his thoughts and opinions. However it seems to me that they are restricting him to a few pages on the website, to be launched next month I hear. Anyone who saw his work at the conference knows the potential there. So blind.

There also seems to be a certain degree of lethargy regards this project.

I sincerely hope Im wrong.....on all aspects.

Monty


PS They are also holding Jake, Gavin and my next piece of work up by comandeering our pics man....so I aint happy with them anyway

[Suzi]

Hmmmmmmmmmm I do too Mont.....what a chance missed if they have!

Just been perusing the 'events' list........interesting image of 'books based on Jack the Ripper' there......

Another Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Suz x

[George Hutchinson]

They've got the tools to work with. If they decide to not bother and come out with a pile of crap, I shall have to draw parallels with SPE being taken out to the Czech Republic during the filming of 'From Hell' as an historical advisor, whose information on the realities of the case were almost totally disregarded.

PHILIP

[Monty]

Ah but Phil,

Some would say that From Hell was based on the Graphic novel as opposed to the realities of the case.

And some would say From Hell was the reality of the case.

The fact that they wanted to use one of Jakes Mitre Square images (a city venue) as opposed to a Dorset Street one (an East End venue) doesnt bode well for what is essentially a museum for the East End. Especially as the creator of said images pointed this fact out.

However, things may have changed. I hope they have, I hope they have paid heed to someone who knows what they are on about.

Cheers
Monty

[Chris George]

Oh God. I've just seen the cover for the exhibition book. This is one of the worst JTR covers of all time. Why, why, why???!!!



I was told they were keen to stock TLoJtRTaN but I've not heard anything more on that one.

PHILIP

Hello Philip

Well it looks as if he is walking with one foot in the gutter and he only has one ear, but apart from that, I suppose my main objection might be that they with this image they are pushing the tired old myth that the killer was a "gentleman Jack" when you might think that an East End museum might explore the possibility that he was a local man or at least a working man, a slaughterer or a sailor, etc.

Chris

[George Hutchinson]

Monty - well, if Julia is aware of what's what, that's at least something - even if she is battling against the odds.

Chris - Don't forget the fog!

PHILIP

[Jana Oliver]

The guy on the cover is the ringer of Jack. They've gotten the top hat and the fog spot on! (They seem to have forgotten his gladstone bag and cape....ah well!)

yours
Nicky

Not to worry. They'll have the capes and Gladstones available in the gift shop. (Jack action figure sold separately, of course.) Oh, and the little knives, as well, just for the kiddies.

Lord, am I cynical.

Jana

[m_w_r]

Hi all,

A kind of preview article re: the coming-soon exhibition at the Museum in Docklands appeared in last Thursday's (06 March 2008) East London Advertiser. I hadn't noticed it until I saw the billboards outside East End newsagents' shops mentioning the possibility of "more murders" in the JtR case.

The article seems to me to be replete with errors, none of which are likely to bother the average visitor, but which would trouble any JtR specialist. It fairly closely follows the version currently on the paper's website.

Perhaps most worrying is the claim that "It was more to allay public panic that prompted the authorities at the time to formally ascribe just five killings to 'Jack the Ripper' who was never caught". I don't think that I have heard of this nuance before; and, if the curators of the exhibition have been through the surviving HO and MEPO files, as they say they have, I would have thought it difficult to have come to the conclusion that there was any cover-up or spin or prestidigitation of the sort suggested. It's all very tantalising, but it does make you wonder about the historical accuracy of the forthcoming exhibition.

There are other difficulties with the article (I had to read it a few times to check whether they were really adding seven to five and coming up with eleven, which, it turned out, they were); and no doubt I'll go to the exhibition when it opens. Unfortunately I don't think that the newspaper article does much to allay some of the quite proper concerns already raised on this thread.

Regards,

Mark Ripper

[John Bennett]

Oh dear, oh dear

I've just looked at the ELA site and apart from saying that JTR 'mudered' 11 women, it also suggests that Martha Tabram was killed after Alice MacKenzie.

I'm still going to see the exhibition anyway. It would be churlish not to.

[Dan Norder]

Hi Mark,

Yeah, I laughed when I saw that article. I think the vast majority of the errors have to be chalked up to an incompetent reporter and not anything the museum said, as there have been other reports that were a lot, lot better.

Regarding the claim that was made in it that it "was more to allay public panic that prompted the authorities at the time to formally ascribe just five killings to 'Jack the Ripper' who was never caught", I think that it may just be slightly poor wording and not an indication of a full cover up. Certainly we know from Anderson's actions that he tried very hard to deny that the victims after Kelly could have been by the Ripper, even ignoring multiple doctors' reports and an inquest verdict that ruled murder when he insisted it had to have been natural causes (what, other than wishful thinking and ego, do you suppose he thought he possessed that would trump all the doctors' opinions?), so I do think the general idea is valid as one interpretation.

[robhouse]

I was just looking at the Docklands website scheduled events for the exhibit. So on May 17 at 2PM there is a talk called "Who was Jack the Ripper" with a "panel of experts and Ripperologists". Anyone know who these experts and Ripperologists are? I am thinking of attending... is anyone else going to be there?

Rob House

[Suzi]

Hi Rob-

I've been looking at this too with some 'trepidation'

Hmmmmmmmmmm 'experts'...IF I knew for a fact that someone I respected or someone who knew the subject would be there...then so would I....

Interesting....but who are these 'experts'....if they are experts count me in!

Suzi x

[m_w_r]

Certainly we know from Anderson's actions that he tried very hard to deny that the victims after Kelly could have been by the Ripper, even ignoring multiple doctors' reports and an inquest verdict that ruled murder when he insisted it had to have been natural causes (what, other than wishful thinking and ego, do you suppose he thought he possessed that would trump all the doctors' opinions?), so I do think the general idea is valid as one interpretation.

Hi Dan -

Yes, it did occur to me that the journalist who wrote the piece may not have been totally conversant with some of the intricacies of current Ripper arguments, and that the idea which came across in the article was perhaps a blunter version of a more sensitive one which might have emerged in interview with the exhibition's curators. It will be interesting to see how this aspect of the investigation is developed through the narrative of the exhibition itself.

Regards,

Mark Ripper

[Suzi]

I've just looked at the ELA site and apart from saying that JTR 'mudered' 11 women, it also suggests that Martha Tabram was killed after Alice MacKenzie.

I'm still going to see the exhibition anyway. It would be churlish not to.

Hi John-

Yep churlish (great word) I guess..

.and I s'pose I will totter along too to see the 39 (Ooh!) victims of JTR!-
I think it'll be one of those Ooooooooooooooh dear/big sigh moments though...........
I may be doing 'em an injustice I guess, but.........

Suz x

Bet JPDL's outside offering cheap tours tho! (Allegedly!)