Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys------------------------------------------------------
BY MY VERY GOOD FRIEND AMRIEL:
Ode to a Tonner Nancy Drew Doll
by Amriel Simpson age twenty sixteen ~
the crisp orange and cinnamon tweed
so authentic, the pleat
Tonner Tonner Tonner ND
an idealization that's neat ~
the Weekend Togs of Hermione
Detective Essentials mini~books
the trench of Hardy's "Stakeout" so div-i-ney
cross~dressing bringing strange looks ~
but when in "Girl Detective" suit so rare
only the 500 understand
that 2,380 birds in the bush
could not compare to you in my hand ~
1930s: Tv and Radio
Just as the 1930s produced some of the best American movies, it also produced some of the best radio programs, making the decade the golden age of both cinema and radio. More than just a source of news and entertainment, radio provided listeners with a chance to escape their troubles. Popular shows like Amos 'n' Andy offered comfort, as did broadcasts like the "fireside chats" of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945). Social workers observed that some poor families would give up their iceboxes before giving up their radios. By the end of the decade, nearly 80 percent of American households had a radio.
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Comedy shows were among the most popular entertainment on radio, especially Amos 'n' Andy. The show was broadcast for fifteen minutes every evening. The show was so popular that for those fifteen minutes, telephone use dropped by 50 percent and films were stopped so that movie theaters could play the show for audiences throughout the country. Comedians Gracie Allen (1906–1964), George Burns (1896–1996), Jack Benny (1894–1974), and Fanny Brice (1891–1951), who had had successful vaudeville careers, were guests on various variety programs and made listeners smile. Another successful radio comedy program was Fibber McGee and Molly. It starred the husband-and-wife team of Jim Jordan (1896–1988) and Marian Jordan (1897–1961), two vaudeville veterans.
More serious programs also entertained audiences. Serial melodramas called "soap operas" became favorites of both women and men across the country. Shows such as Guiding Light offered dramatic stories of family crisis and romantic entanglements. Other dramas offered audiences stories of mystery and crime. Suspenseful programs including The Shadow, Charlie Chan, and Sherlock Holmes kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Younger listeners and those interested in fantastic adventure could hear stories of superheroes, including Buck Rogers in the Year 2430, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Superman, and The Green Hornet. These stories had spectacular sound effects that mimicked creaking doors, mysterious footsteps, and the galloping hooves of Silver, the Lone Ranger's trusty horse, as well as crunching bones and even the monstrous spilling of blood and guts.
Regulation became the most important aspect of radio broadcasting during the 1930s. At the beginning of the decade, the airwaves were a bit chaotic. Stations interfered with the programs of other stations by broadcasting on the same bandwidth. By 1934, the U.S. government, as a part of its plan for controlling various parts of the economy, created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC sought to organize stations so that radio broadcasts could be efficiently played across the country without overlapping. The FCC also foresaw the danger of having a company or an individual in control of too many stations in one area. An individual in control of the radio stations in a certain area, or of a network of stations reaching a large number of people, could have too much control over what information the listeners heard. Fearing that the American public would have access only to one opinion or one point of view, the commission sought to limit the number of media outlets (in this case, radio stations, and later, TV stations) a company or an individual could own.
While radio dominated the airwaves of the 1930s, television received its first dramatic public debut in 1939 at the New York World's Fair. At the fair, President Roosevelt addressed audiences and became the first president to appear on TV. Although those who had enough money to buy the $200 to $600 TV receivers clamored to place their orders, TV did not become a popular medium until after World War II (1939–45). After the war, the economy had rebounded and Americans had more cash for luxuries.
THE NANCY DREW NOVELS
Although I believe the titles now number over a hundred, here's a listing of the “original†Nancy Drew Mystery Stories by Carolyn Keene (the Stratemeyer Syndicate Pseudonym). In fact, the novels were written by Mildred Wirt (1-7, 11-25, 30); Walter Karig (8-10); George Waller (26); Margaret Scherf (27); Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (31, 33, 35-56); and a cast of thousands.
1: The Secret of the Old Clock (1930)
2: The Hidden Staircase (1930)
3: The Bungalow Mystery (1930)
4: The Mystery at Lilac Inn (1930)
5: The Secret of Shadow Ranch (1931)
6: The Secret of Red Gate Farm (1931)
7: The Clue in the Diary (1932)
8: Nancy's Mysterious Letter (1932)
9: The Sign of the Twisted Candles (1933)
10: The Password to Larkspur Lane (1933)
11: The Clue of the Broken Locket (1934)
12: The Message in the Hollow Oak (1935)
13: The Mystery of the Ivory Charm (1936)
14: The Whispering Statue (1937)
15: The Haunted Bridge (1937)
16: The Clue of the Tapping Heels (1939)
17: The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk (1940)
18: Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion (1941)
19: The Quest of the Missing Map (1942)
20: The Clue in the Jewel Box (1943)
21: The Secret in the Old Attic (1944)
22: The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (1945)
23: The Mystery of the Tolling Bell (1946)
24: The Clue in the Old Album (1947)
25: Ghost of Blackwood Hall (1948)
26: The Clue of the Leaning Chimney (1949)
27: The Secret of the Wooden Lady (1950)
28: The Clue of the Black Keys (1951)
29: The Mystery at the Ski Jump (1952)
30: The Clue of the Velvet Mask (1953)
31: The Ringmaster's Secret (1953)
32: The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (1954)
33: The Witch Tree Symbol (1955)
34: The Hidden Window Mystery (1956)
35: The Haunted Showboat (1957)
36: The Secret of the Golden Pavilion (1959)
37: The Clue in the Old Stagecoach (1960)
38: The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (1961)
39: The Clue of the Dancing Puppet (1962)
40: The Moonstone Castle Mystery (1963)
41: The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes (1964)
42: The Phantom of Pine Hill (1965)
43: The Mystery of the 99: Steps (1966)
44: The Clue in the Crossword Cipher (1967)
45: The Spider Sapphire Mystery (1968)
46: The Invisible Intruder (1969)
47: The Mysterious Mannequin (1970)
48: The Crooked Banister (1971)
49: The Secret of Mirror Bay (1972)
50: The Double Jinx Mystery (1974)
51: Mystery of the Glowing Eye (1974)
52: The Secret of the Forgotten City (1975)
53: The Sky Phantom (1976)
54: Strange Message in the Parchment (1977)
55: Mystery of Crocodile Island (1978)
56: The Thirteenth Pearl (1979)
Nancy Drew never lacks for anything thanks to Carson Drew, a successful criminal attorney. During the Depression, Nancy's wealth made her an especially intriguing character for less fortunate readers. Whether buying the gas for her lovely blue roadster, or flying in a jet as she does later in the series, Nancy Drew foots the bill without a moment's hesitation. And when the day's work is done, she returns home to her lovely brick colonial house in suburban River Heights where she lives with her often-absent father and their full-time housekeeper, Hannah Gruen.Nancy's mother died when she was just three years old. This circumstance provides her with an essential element of her appeal to young readers -- her freedom from parental supervision. Nancy can investigate an abandoned mansion in the middle of the night without fear of getting grounded. With the full permission of her indulgent father, Nancy hops into her blue roadster or Mustang convertible and drives right into the shadowy underworld of crime.