I saw someone reading a modern Nancy Drew hardback like this today.
I've never read any Nancy Drew and know nothing about Carolyn Keene. In fact the whole kid sleuth mystery genre passed me by. Enid Blyton and all that. I missed out.
I did notice a Nancy Drew board game in one of my Desi Scarpone reference books years ago. I loved the simple box art from 1957. Does Nancy always have a torch?
The board graphics too are just wonderful and in a sort of pastel gothic style I really like with names like The Sign of the Twisted Candles and Moss Covered Mansion!
Do you do Nancy Drew readers?
Did my Nancy Drew back in the Seventies, read every book available in Finnish. Still cherish those reading experiences, which had a great influence on youngling me. Never had the board game though!
ReplyDeleteThey do seem popular in Finland Arto, I had a gander! https://www.tori.fi/varsinais-suomi/Neiti_Etsiva_Carolyn_Keene_80926414.htm
DeleteIt seems you have hit the Nancy Drew honeyhole Woodsy!
DeletePs. Found out only later in life that Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym for multiple writers contributing to the Nancy Drew lore, a fact that was a bit of a letdown. Great memories still remain.
ReplyDeleteReally! How interesting Arto!
DeleteNancy Drew was a girl detective, and a female counterpart to such boy detectives as the Hardy Boys (brothers Frank and Joe Hardy). The series began in 1930. Carolyn Keene was not a real person, but a house name used by the publisher, with the books being written by several different writers. She has been immensely popular, and there have been versions of the books for both older and younger readers, as well as movies and TV adaptions. The books get modernised every so often, so keeping them up to date, rather than letting them become period pieces, like an old Agatha Christie story. I am sure the board game is not the only Nancy Drew item available to the dedicated fan.
ReplyDeleteInteresting Paul. I seem to recall a Hardy Boys cartoon when I was a kid and maybe even a doe-cast toy car. I've ever seen anything to do with Nancy Drew on the TV, which is strange.
DeleteThere's some older stuff on Etsy. Mostly books and a magnifying glass https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/vintage_nancy_drew
ReplyDeleteWas Nancy the daughter of the Drews? How old was she meant to be?
ReplyDeleteNancy was a teenage girl (she was old enough to drive), and lived with her widowed father, and a housekeeper. He was a lawyer, and her investigations often involved helping him with cases. They lived in River Heights. There was a series of movies in the 1930s starring Bonita Granville, a TV series in the 1970s called The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries with Pamela Sue Martin, and several later movies. Seems there is also a modern TV series.
ReplyDeleteI remember the 1970s TV series, and I read many of the books. I also have the Bonita Granville films on DVD somewhere - there were four. It is hard to believe you managed to miss seeing anything Nancy Drew related, given how popular she has been since her debut in 1930.
There was a cartoon series based on The Hardy Boys, which transformed the boys into a rock band. Corgi did a model of their classic 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, which came with plastic figures of the main characters. Available 1970-71.
Another vast field to explore.
Thanks for potted history Paul. Interesting.
Deletemy first spy story as a child!! what a flashback!! ew
ReplyDeleteMemories EW eh, memories!
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