June 1, 1927: The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Franchise Begins

June 1, 1927: The Tower Treasure is published, beginning the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew franchise of mystery novels for children, teenagers, and "young adults."

Edward Stratemayer founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which published children's books, including several series, all of them published under pen names, which, essentially, were "franchise" as much as the characters themselves. Among them were the Bobbsey Twins, two sets of fraternal brother/sister twins, perpetually 12 and 6 years old, respectively; in 72 books under the name "Laura Lee Hope" from 1904 to 1979; and Tom Swift, a boy inventor, in 33 books under the name "Victor Appleton" from 1910 to 1941. Among the writers were Stratemayer himself, and his daughter, known after her marriage as Harriet Adams.

The Tom Swift books frequently had plays on words, such as, "'I lost my crutches,' said Tom lamely," and "'I'll take the prisoner downstairs', said Tom condescendingly." Such puns became known as "Tom Swifties," and, eventually, led to singer Taylor Swift's fans being called "Swifties." (So, as you can see, it all comes together, said Mike connectively.)

Eventually, unlike the other characters, the original Tom was allowed to reach full adulthood, was renamed "Tom Swift Sr.," and the adventures followed his son, Tom Swift Jr.

But it was the Hardy Boys, published under the name "Franklin W. Dixon," who caught the most imagination of the public. Older brother Frank starts out as 16 years old, and younger brother Joe as 15, but are later raised to 18 and 17. They live in Bayport, on Barmet Bay (the State is never specified), with their father, Detective Fenton Hardy; their mother, Laura; and their Aunt Gertrude.

In the older stories, starting in 1927 with The Tower Treasure, the Boys' mysteries are often linked to their father's confidential cases. He sometimes requests their assistance, while at other times they stumble upon relevant villains and incidents. The Hardy Boys are sometimes assisted in solving mysteries by their friends, and, less frequently, by their girlfriends.

Writing about them in 1971, Arthur Prager said:

Never were so many assorted felonies committed in a simple American small town. Murder, drug peddling, race-horse kidnapping, diamond smuggling, bank robbing, kidnapping, dynamiting, burglaries, medical malpractice, big-time auto theft, even (in the 1940s) the hijacking of strategic materials and espionage, all were conducted with Bayport as a nucleus.

In other words, people who later said that the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine, home of mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on the TV show Murder, She Wrote had an inordinate number of murders, well, the Hardy Boys stories were something of an inspiration.

Or maybe Jessica was inspired by Nancy Drew, created by Stratemeyer as a feminine counterpart to the Hardy Boys, who could appeal to girls. Her 1st story, The Secret of the Old Clock, was published on April 28, 1930, under the pen name "Carolyn Keene." At the time of the book's premiere, Nancy is 16, giving her a birth year of 1914. Which means, if she were real, she probably would have died early in the 21st Century. That's a lot longer than Stratemeyer lived: He died on May 10, 1930, just 12 days after the 1st Nancy Drew book was published, of pneumonia, at the age of 67.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was taken over by Edward's daughters, Harriet Adams and Edna Squier. From 1959 to 1973, they extensively revised the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, to remove social and ethnic stereotypes, modernize content, and shorten them for easier reading.

Edna lived on until 1974, Harriet until 1982. I was a kid at the time, and had read some of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, and was told that the authors were actually "little old ladies." That urban legend had some truth to it: Edna lived to be 79, and Harriet to 90.

Former First Ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush, and Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Sonia Sotomayor, cited Nancy as an influence on their lives. Without her influence, it's hard to imagine the later creations of such characters as Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, Kinsey Millhone by Sue Grafton, and Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich.

Both the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were introduced in films in the 1930s, and have been occasionally used in film and on television ever since. And the Stratemeyer Syndicate survives, with the most recent Nancy Drew novel published in 2003, and the most recent Hardy Boys novel in 2005.

But it would take until the novel Super Sleuths! in 1981 for Nancy to team up with the Hardy Boys in a published story. Surely, there is fanfiction where either Frank or Joe marries Nancy -- or even where they fight over her.

*

June 1, 1927 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that the Peace Bridge opened between Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario. I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 2-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Myles Thomas outpitched Rube Walberg. Joe Dugan singled Ben Paschal home with the winning run in the top of the 9th inning. Mark Koenig, probably the least powerful of this legendary Yankee team that became known as "Murderers' Row," hit the game's only home run.

Babe Ruth went 0-for-4. Lou Gehrig went 2-for-3 with a walk. For the A's, Ty Cobb went 0-for-4, Eddie Collins went 1-for-4, Mickey Cochrane went 2-for-4, Al Simmons went 1-for-4, and Jimmie Foxx did not play.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves, 6-2 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 6-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 14-1 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals were rained out at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 25. The Cards won the opener, 2-1. The Reds won the nightcap, 10-7. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 40 years old and still in the wake of his World Series heroics the year before, allowed 4 runs over the last 2 innings. Over the 2 games, Frankie Frisch went 5-for-8 with 2 RBIs.

* And the New York Giants, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis were not scheduled.