Y A lit was redefined by an adventuring set of brothers and one sleuthing young lady. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew created an ideal of teen hood for readers : be smart and aware of your surroundings, be polite, but don't let adults tell you you know nothing because you're a kid. You too can solve mysteries with a bit of pluck and luck. The group united in the 1970s for a TV series, but the girl sleuth edged out the boys to reign as Queen Supreme of the kid lit set. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are some of the best known literary characters worldwide.
Edward Sratmeyer created Frank and Joe Hardy in 1927 (pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.) Wanting to take his boy adventurers further, Sratmeyer added a mystery solving element. True to Sratmeyer Syndicate form the boys were teens : Frank, 18 - Joe, 16. One had dark hair - Frank, one blonde - Joe. Frank was logical, Joe was impetuous. They had a father - Fenton, a police detective. The mother figure role was filled by Aunt Gertrude, and an actual mother, Laura.
Leslie McFarlane was given the task of writing The Hardy Boys books after Stratemeyer's initial run. His Hardy Boys were darker and more cynical ; adults and authorities were corrupt. McFarlane, upon being censured for this disregard for adults, stated he wanted to steer kids away from blind adherence to authority.
(Author opinion - considering the books were written when Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini were rising to power, McFarlane was correct.) The 1950s Syndicate purge expunged any mention of persons of color from The Hardy Boys, instead of correcting the racist and xenophobic portrayals of non-white characters in earlier books. The Hardy Boys were spun off into a series of television episodes aired on the Mickey Mouse club, one of the first kid centered TV shows. The Hardy Boys books were rebooted in 2005 for a generation of modern kids.
Stella Strong - Diana Dare - Nan Nelson - became legendary Nancy Drew in 1930. Stratemeyer wanted a female version of the Hardy Boys. Mildred Wirt Benton won the ghostwriter contract (pseudonym Carolyn Keene.) Stratemeyer died before Nancy Drew and became a phenomenon. One of his last directives was for Wirt to make Nancy "less bold" - thank goodness she didn't listen!
Nancy, in her first books, was 16 - already graduated from high school. Attractive, blonde haired and blue-eyed, Nancy lived in a world where money, and all it bought, was plentiful and seemingly unimportant - quite different from the lives of the depression era teens devouring every page. Nancy was an instant hit. Girl readers finally had a heroine who, of course while remaining a polite, feminine ideal, ran head first into danger. Nancy had two best friends - delicate and feminine Bess, and "Tomboy" George, and a beau - college student Ned Nickerson. Her father Carson Drew was an attorney, and her mother figure was housekeeper Hannah Gruen. The Stratmeyer overhaul of their books in the early 1950s made Nancy Titian-haired (red) and 18.
Nancy Drew sold 80 million books, published in 45 languages. She has inspired films, TV series, and video games. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Sandra Sotomayor count Nancy Drew as an influence. She has been modernized and updated for future generations.
In 1977 The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries debuted on ABC. The stories were original, with only a few episodes coming from the books. The show alternated weeks in its first season, one week the Hardy Boys, the next week Nancy. The Hardy Boys episodes edged out Nancy Drew in popularity, due to Sean Cassidy's (Joe) teen idol status. For the record, if I had been a teen (and not 2 years old,) I would have been all about Parker Stevens / Frank Hardy. Nancy Drew was played by model Pamela Sue Martin. Producers decided the second season should be slightly more Hardy Boys centric, with a few Nancy Drew focused episodes, but should have more Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew crossover episodes. Pamela Sue Martin posed for a Playboy pictorial, causing a great deal of controversy. In the interview Martin said she had decided to leave the show based on the phasing out of Nancy Drew. Martin was replaced with another actress, but the show lost viewers. The third season was Hardy Boys only, but was canceled soon into the season.
Nancy Drew has been the focus of films since 1938. She has been portrayed cinematically by Bonita Granville, Emma Roberts and Sophia Lillis. The CW revived her in 2019, but added a supernatural element and darkened the atmosphere, capitalizing on the success of Riverdale. Nancy Drew has stood the test of time. Girls see her intrepidness, her ingenuity, her intelligence, her inquisitiveness and her kindness as aspirational. For years to come, whenever there's a mystery at a spooky old house, Nancy and Company will pile into her roadster, and head off bravely into danger.
SOURCES :
The Hardy Boys. Wikipedia.
Nancy Drew. Wikipedia.
FURTHER READING :
Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
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