(no subject)

[cleolinda]

So I've spent the weekend reading the original Nancy Drew books, and I'm maybe halfway through Mom's old collection (except for the books missing here and there, which we think are in a second box somewhere. Thirteen books into the series, I'm just brainwashed enough to wonder if I should go explore the attic for "clues"). Highlights so far include

• The Quest of the Missing Map (Nancy finds buried treasure)


• The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy helps two old spinsters, two young spinsters, two old bachelors and an orphan receive their rightful inheritances, all while making a evening dress torn by her rivals look "better on her than it did new")


• The Password of Larkspur Lane (Nancy rescues a gaggle of rich old ladies from a scam sanatorium and wins a flower show)


• The Secret at Shadow Ranch (Nancy knits, rides expertly, flirts with a cowboy and finds the lost treasure of outlaw Dirk Valentine. Yes, "Dirk Valentine")


• Nancy's Mysterious Letter (Ned wins a championship football game singlehandedly and Nancy hangs out at his frat house. Believe it or not, this was written in the '30s. Also, she wins a costume party competition)


• The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk (Nancy goes to South America on a cruise with Nestrelda Darlington, the most awesomely named minor character to ever exist)


• The Sign of the Twisted Candles (Nancy settles a multigenerational family feud, saves an abused girl, and eats a lot of crackers)


• The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion (Nancy survives a plane crash and is nearly eaten by wild animals)


• The Clue in the Jewel Box (Nancy wins a fashion/modeling competition, discovers a lost formula for uncrackable enamel, and finds the lost prince of Not-Russia)


• The Clue in the Old Album (Nancy prevents a gypsy overlord from becoming King of America)


• The Mystery at Lilac Inn (Nancy goes on multiple "skin-diving" dates, watches her guest cottage get blown up by a time bomb, and is held prisoner on a submarine)


• The Mystery of the Ivory Charm (Nancy brings the boy king of India back from the dead)

You think I'm making these up but I am totally, totally not. Hand to God. And I didn't even mention all the times that Nancy and/or her father get kidnapped, that Nancy (a 16- or 18-year old girl, depending on your edition) is threatened with bodily harm by criminals, that Nancy's expert driving saves her from natural disasters and/or being run off the road by villains, and that Bess complains about being "fat" while taking a second sandwich/cookie/piece of cake. Also, George REALLY LIKES having a boy's name. Did you know that? Because she does, you know.

And speaking of the different editions, they're hilarious. I'm not sure which I like better--the older 25-chapter versions, which are more detailed and effusive but also contain lots of "colored" maids and porters who say dem and dat, or the post-1954 20-chapter versions, which are quicker and less descriptive (but also less cheerfully racist). On one hand, Nancy's kind of high and mighty in the earlier books, not to mention obsessed with fur coats; the newer versions have a gentler, sweeter Nancy. On the other, the newer versions shoo Helen Corning off to marry Jim Archer, whereas in the old versions she's just with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend Buck Rodman. And Nancy's hair color fluctuates from "blond" to "Titian blond" regardless of edition, as far as I can tell; I think I have her in my mind as reddish-blond(e), so I'll stick with that.

Also, current house catastrophe: the air conditioner died. Fortunately, we were able to have Evans come out--yes, on a Sunday--and fix it tout de suite, no charge. "The sweetest words in the English language," said Mom, "are service contract." ("Really? I thought it was refund." "That too.")

Meanwhile, I would appreciate it if someone could explain to my sister that seventy degrees is NOT "cold." And I can't even go sleep down in the rec room where it's actually tolerable, because we seem to be a spring break youth hostel now.

Comments

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

I adore my old Nancy Drews. This post is making me feel a bit nostalgic. I think I might go unbox them. :)

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

Oh man. TITIAN. So many times I lost at hangman before I figured out Dad kept using TITIAN as his word, thinking I MUST know it considering how much Nancy Drew I was reading.

Thirteenth Pearl. I'm all about Thirteenth Pearl. Nancy goes to Japan, stops ring of pearl thieves, learns the art of flower arrangement, stops a cult! Good times.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm getting there! I'm reading them in order (the Old Album one got mixed in with the early ones because I thought it was the Clue in the Diary instead), and that one'll be up soon. Particularly since I seem to be missing several books...

[piratesorka.livejournal.com]

Its amazing to me how many contests Nancy manages to win. I grew bored with Nance as I read The Secret of the Old Clock...which was my first and only Nancy Drew post 1954.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, that was the first book in the series. They get WTFier as you go.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I came across an old Nancy Drew book here at my uncle's house, and I was tempted to read it. I think I just may, now that you've taken the plunge.

I also read the Hardy Boys books, and I remember never knowing what the hell a jalopy was. And how to pronounce "Chet."

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

God! I re-read a Nancy Drew when I was at my mom's over Christmas. I thought it was the Secret of the Old Clock, but it must not've been, because in it Nancy finds pirate treasure buried on an island, which requires chartering a boat and lots of digging. Not on Nancy's part, of course, on those strapping Emerson College alum, Ned, Burt and Dave.

I like how Nancy exists in this crazy limbo world where all she's expected to do is go to college football games with Ned, solve mysteries, take the occasional art class and zip around in her roadster. No job, or college, or anything like that.

I could never figure out if Hannah Gruen was meant to be black. I must've had the later versions. In the early-early Bobbsey Twins books, there's not so much electricity, and Mrs. Bobbsey wears long dresses.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hannah seems to be written as white, particularly compared to Dem and Dose non-white characters. Besides, I have a feeling they'd mention if she was anything other than default white.

The one you read is, I think, the Quest of the Missing Map. The interesting thing is that it was written in 1940 or so, and that's why, if you think about it, they can't get hold of any boats--they've all been pressed into service for war, although the book bends over backwards to not actually say so.

[stepliana.livejournal.com]

Harriet Stratemeyer (one of the Nancy Drew authors) swears that if Nancy had gone to college, she would have been a Wellesley girl.

:D

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee! I can see it. Like someone else here said, though, I love how she has this limbo world of "working" for her dad and solving mysteries and not actually having any kind of commitment to Ned, as opposed to college or jobs or marriage or anything.

[tundraeternal.livejournal.com]

Phooey, all my editions are from the '60s. The early ones sound like fun!
Have you gotten yet to my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE illustration?



(text not original to the book, obviously). I want to meet this artist and shake his hand.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Frickin' awesome.

[saturnianali8r.livejournal.com]

70 degrees is not cold!!!! It is extremely warm if you are just getting out of temperatures that are freezing (which I am).

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Could you come over here and tell her to turn the heat off, then? She yells at me when I do it.

[firefly-ca.livejournal.com]

Wow. Nancy Drew was certainly a busy girl. This kind of makes me want to read them now, which would make my mother tear her hair out, since she spent so many years trying to get me to do that very thing. But she only told me they were good, not Nestrelda Darlington good.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

See, exactly. The book I remembered the best was the first one, the old clock one, and really, that isn't representive of the stupidcrackgoodness of the rest of them.

[edda.livejournal.com]

My mom tried to get me into a lot of mystery series when I was about twelve, including some Nancy Drews retooled for the early 80's and a series set in I think New Mexico starring a character called Linda Craig, but for some reason I just never got into them. The closest I came was the Trixie Belden books, which for some reason I really loved.

[sweetestillness.livejournal.com]

I ADORED Trixie Belden books.

[skyblade.livejournal.com]

It's 55 here, and we consider that hot enough to open the windows.

[count-01.livejournal.com]

No kidding! The hottest days of the year here may (some years) get up over 80. Last year, we had a heat wave and it reached 90 degrees, three times!

My room is the warmest bedroom in our house, because I keep it at a balmy 68. The common rooms are much cooler, which can be a relief from all the sweltering heat.

[elendiari22.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Nancy Drew since I was in middle school, but I used to read those books like they were the last things ever written. I think I read every one in the library, down to the point where I was badgering the librarian for new ones. Good times.

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

Have you read The Whispering Statue yet? If you have (and assuming it's the old edition), what were the potential pseudonyms they bandied about for Nancy? In the edition I read somebody makes a convoluted joke that culminates in suggesting "Carrie Fisher," and when I later twigged this was a name I was supposed to recognize (I was introduced to Star Wars tragically late in life) it was my first realization that the books had been retooled.

And while we're talking aobut things that happened in every damn book, you can't forget Hannah Gruen (always referred to by her full name) making her famous applesauce cake or Nancy's famous lawyer father giving her a new car.

[deililly.livejournal.com]

You know that title jumps out at me and I remember it as being a favourite but I can't remember for the life of me the plotline! Bizarre.

I remember reading loads of Nancy Drew way back and they did a terrible revved up Nancy for the 80's that I ploughed through as well.

[fauxkaren.livejournal.com]

I was raised on Nancy Drew. My mom used to read it to me and my sister before we went to bed everynight.

[rhowan-jane.livejournal.com]

Okay, I love that icon more than any person should love an icon.

[tifaria.livejournal.com]

Aww, now I kinda want to go find my Nancy Drew books too. Although I didn't enjoy her as much as Trixie Belden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden) because.. c'mon, her name is Trixie. She was more tomboyish than girly Nancy, who I kind of had a hard time keeping interest in because I was a tomboy myself.

Seventy degrees is not cold! I'd say it's perfect. Not too hot, definitely not cold. Just right, unless it's windy or something.

[girlalmighty]

Oh, man, I loved Trixie. I got so excited last year when I saw some reprints at Borders.

[girlalmighty]

I'm mad about Nancy Drew. I'm seriously considering doing my senior thesis on her, unless I can get away with just turning in fiction (since I'm majoring in Creative Writing). And my interest revived recently because I'm working on a mystery novel of my own, too. I'm so jealous right now - I wish I had all the books and time to read them!

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Haha, I remember most of those. My sister had a big collection and I read them all. I especially remember Lilac Inn.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Lilac Inn is possibly the best book ever. We got to "time bomb" and I was like THIS IS NOT HAPPENING, THIS IS TOO AWESOME.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Girrrl, don't forget to check out The Bobbsey Twin books, though they may be out of the scope of the YA genre you're researching.

[sea-of-tethys.livejournal.com]

Nancy prevents a gypsy overlord from becoming King of America

OMFG. I have to read that.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

You so do--that one was particularly cracktastic.

[meandstuff.livejournal.com]

Not-Russia is my new favourite imaginary place. I always wanted to read Nancy Drew when I was a kid but people were always giving me Baby-Sitters' Club books instead.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Nancy Drew. I read them not-quite-obsessively when I was young. Er--they never seemed odd to me, so I'm amused at your "Hand to God, I'm not making this up!" I mean, when I was 9 or 10 or whatever, people in books were always doing wierd shit. I can remember going through my editions and coloring all the girls' hair--Nancy got orange, Bess got yellow, and I was mad that the illustrators had seen fit to ink in George's hair so I couldn't take a crack at it.

Although I think I did get tired of the deux ex machina of chloroform. And I thought Ned was a bore.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

So Nancy got a rag to the mouth while the Hardy Boys got a piece of wood to the head. Joy.

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

Has anyone pointed you towards Mabel Maney's Nancy Clue (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/103-1814580-3043807?url=index%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above&field-keywords=mabel+maney) books yet?

[velvet4269.livejournal.com]

And Nancy's hair color fluctuates from "blond" to "Titian blond" regardless of edition, as far as I can tell; I think I have her in my mind as reddish-blond(e),

Maybe because in the 70s versions that I remember reading as a kid, she was a Strawberry blonde? That was the first place I remember reading/hearing that term, so I've always thought of her as a 'strawberry blonde.'

It's funny that you mention "Titan Blonde," with the books being written in the 40s. I'm reading the old Doc Savage books right now (thank you, dougfels ... :\ ), which were written in the early 30s, and go through ... um ... late 40s, I believe (one per month thru 180 or so books). They're horrible, but it's such an interesting snapshot of the time; one of the characters in one of the books is mentioned as being a "titan blonde."

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Hardy Boys, MODERN, a much, much more insane.

The Smuggling Smugglers of Smuggling Cove would inevitably crack them a good one over their heads. And they would wake up later, fine and refreshed.

If the story really fell apart, their dad would come in and save the day.

For drama, in one relaunched series, Joe's girlfriend exploded.

And there was a really crack-addled one where they travel to Not-South-Africa and Frank fires a rear-facing machine gun at pursuers as they drive away. And he has angst because he hopes he didn't hit any of the people who planned to KILL THEM.

[bacardibreezer7.livejournal.com]

The exploding girlfriend and the machine gun made me literally lol.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I've just come to the shattering realization that Nancy Drew was a Mary Sue. I need to rethink my childhood.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Dude? She totally was. There is literally nothing she could not do, and could not do perfectly. I think it says a lot about the writing/storytelliing that we like her anyway.