Friday, September 22, 2006

I Was Cuckoo For Nancy Drew Drew


Man, did I love Nancy Drew books; I can tell you I was absolutely crazy about Nancy Drew. Thanks to my Mom, who gave me The Secret of the Old Clock, Volume 1 in the 30-volume series. I have about twelve of them, mine all have the yellow spines which were introduced in 1962. Currently they're molding out in the spare part of the garage and being chewed on and crapped out by mice. Awesome.

Why did I love Nancy Drew so? What about The Secret of the Old Clock got me hooked? Well, let's dissect:
  1. It involves a secret. I like mysteries.
  2. It involves old stuff. I like history.
  3. It involves an old clock. I like antiques.
  4. It involves a smart, smartly dressed broad with chutzpah. I like pancakes.

Then came The Hidden Staircase. Ditto for all the reasons above, save for the clock part. Just look at those friggin' cobwebs:




Then eventually in 1977, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys came out on t.v. and dummed everything down to the shit-kicking, imagination-crushing level that is Hollywood. The Nancy Drew they cast looked nothing like I had pictured her, nor did the Hardy Boys look right; they were supposed to have 1950's crew cuts, not 1970's Hair hair!The only thing good about the Hardy Boys was that it starred everyone's favorite Tigerbeat cover man, Shawn Cassidy, and his on-screen brother, Parker Stevenson, nee Steven Parker and former husband of Kirstie Alley:


Nancy would disapprove about the amount of grass I'd have to smoke to watch this DVD comfortably.

8 comments:

whipcreamy said...

i was a big fan of the hidden staircase...we had it in our basement.

piglet said...

When I was maybe 9, my friend and I saw some possible blood (probable berry juice) on a tree stump, and quickly began writing our own plucky-girl mystery, entitled "The Bloody Stump." We found nothing amusing about that title.

anne altman said...

hahahahahaha

the bloody stump

can i rent that from netflix you think?

hahahahahaha

the bloody stump

i love it

Teri said...

I was a nancy drew FREAK and read every book made.

Berry said...

Hey, do you remember the Hardy Boys episode that guest-starred that little blond man who guest-starred on every show in the 70's,... Paul Williams? It was a two-parter, the very first "to be continued..." episode of the Hardy Boys.

I have no idea why I remember that so clearly, but there you have it.

p.s. - It's Shaun's birthday next wednesday. I have no idea why I remember that either.

Mel said...

Yeah I was a Nancy Drew Geek too. I never did the Hardy thoughs though (hahahaha I crack myself up) but there was a series I loved and I can't remember what they were called. I do remember a character named Jupiter Jones. Is that a great name or what?? They were good reads.

newbluebaby said...

I was more of an Encyclopedia Brown kid.

sheridanlusk said...

i was a huge fan of the hardy boy books. i still have all the blue, hardcover books.
i also got to meet the writer's son brian mcfarlane. his father leslie wrote the first 20 or so books right here in sudbury, ontario, canada, where i live.
they had a big event in haileybury, ontario, where the family lived for a while.