Hardy Boys, The
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Wikipedia-Article "The Hardy Boys"
- For the professional wrestling tag team, see Hardy Boyz.
The Hardy Boys is a popular series of detective/adventure books for boys chronicling the fictional adventures of teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy. The original Hardy Boys series was produced between 1927 and 1979 under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon.
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History of the series
The Hardy Boys was a creation of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the creators of dozens of successful book series such as the Rover Boys, the Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift, and later, Nancy Drew. Edward Stratemeyer conceived of the Hardy Boys in 1926, with the creation of plot outlines that would become the first volumes of the series. Various ghostwriters were employed, under contract of secrecy, to pen the actual stories. The first author was Leslie McFarlane, whose writing defined the literary style of the series, as well as the personalities and nuances of its characters. McFarlane authored volumes 1-16 and 22-24, which are generally regarded as the best works of the series.
Substantial revisions to the first 38 titles began in 1959. Over the course of 15 years the series was revised to modernize outdated vernacular, reduce story length, and remove the racial stereotypes prolific in many of the early books. The result of this process varied from one book to another. In some cases only minor changes resulted, while in others the entire plot and storyline were thrown out, resulting in an entirely new book bearing no resemblance to the original.
In 1979, after 52 years and 59 titles (which includes Detective Handbook), Grosset & Dunlap lost the rights to publish any new Hardy Boys tales in a protracted court battle with the Syndicate. They did retain the right to continue publishing these 59 titles (referred to by some Hardy Boys enthusiasts as the canon or "blue spines") and continue to do so to this day, despite several changes in ownership. In the meantime, Simon & Schuster continued the series in the Hardy Boys Digest series of paperback books. In 2005 the venerable Digest series was ended with volume 190 and a new series, The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers, was started. The Undercover Brothers series is supplemented by a series of graphic novels and, initially, a now-discontinued series of comic books. Also in 2005 Grosset & Dunlap got permission to continue publishing more titles in hardcover, starting with Digest volumes 59 to 66.
The Hardy Boys also appeared in several spin-off series: The Casefiles (127 volumes), the Clues Brothers (17 volumes), with Tom Swift in the 2 volume Ultra-Thriller series and with Nancy Drew in the 36 volume Supermystery series.
Hardy Boys books have been issued in over 25 languages, including Spanish, Dutch, French, German, Sinhala, Japanese, Russian, Malay, and Afrikaans. For more information on the international translations, see Hardy-Boys.Com's Foreign Section.
Story background
The Hardy Boys are brother amateur detectives. Frank is the elder of the two, and Joe is the younger brother. The stories are an unageing series as, despite their hundreds of adventures totalling far more than a year, they are always 17 and 18 years old (and it is always, approximately, the present day).
The two boys live in Bayport with their father Fenton Hardy, a private detective formerly with the NYPD, their mother Laura, and their Aunt Gertrude, a character often used for comic relief. Frank's longtime girlfriend is Callie Shaw, while Joe is often linked with Iola Morton, the sister of the duo's good friend Chet Morton, another comic relief character. Other friends who assist the brothers include Phil Cohen, Biff Hooper, Jerry Gilroy and Tony Prito. The Bayport Police Department is represented by Chief Ezra Collig, Detective Oscar Smuff, and Patrolman Con Riley. In the older stories, the Hardy Boys' cases often are linked to the confidential cases their detective father is currently working on. He sometimes asks them for help, while at other times they stumble upon villains and incidents that are connected to his cases.
In 1987, the series was revised with the "Hardy Boy Casefiles" series. Consisting of 127 volumes, these stories were much darker in tone and featured plots involving espionage, governmental conspiracies, cults, militia groups, and organized crime. They also featured a level of violence unseen in previous Hardy Boys stories, a fact that was hammered into readers in the opening pages of the first "Hardy Boys Casefile" novel as longtime Hardy Boy supporting cast member Iola Morton was murdered via a car bomb planted under her car.
TV appearances
The Hardy Boys have appeared five times on television, including programs on The Mickey Mouse Club in 1956 and 1957 starring Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk. In 1967, NBC aired a pilot called "The Mystery Of The Chinese Junk" starring Tim Matthieson (later Matheson) as Joe Hardy and Rick Gates as Frank. Two years later, in 1969, ABC ran a Saturday Morning cartoon series (produced by Filmation) and later an ABC prime time series starring Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy from 1977-1979. There was also a syndicated 13 episode Canadian series in 1995 with Paul Popowich.
The Mickey Mouse Club series, the animated series and the 1970's ABC-TV series were responsible for the creation of many items of Hardy Boys memorabilia such as board games, comic books, jigsaw puzzles, dolls and other items. The teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy was featured on many of the 1970's items of memorabilia.
Other
The Hardy Boys, popular as ever, are still being reinvented in new ideas and products. September 2005 will see the release of the first ever Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew "Supermystery" PC Game. In 2002-3, Random House issued the first seven volumes on audio cassette.
See also
External links
- The Hardy Boys Casefiles - website with current series information and cover art.
- Hardy Detective Agency Fanfiction - fan site with series information and fan art.
- The Hardy Boys Unofficial Home Page - website with information on series and memorabilia.
- Hardy-Boys.Com Homepage - extensive fan site with historical, international, and television series information, as well as an ezine, The Bayport Gazette.