The Hardy Boys
Created by Franklin W. Dixon
(pseud. of Edward Stratemeyer, 1862-1930, and others)

World-renowned private detective, and former ace NYPD sleuth FENTON HARDY seemed to always be off somewhere working on some important case, so that left his two teenage sons, FRANK and JOE, to watch over things in Bayport, a thriving town on the north-eastern seaboard. Fortunately, for generations of adolescents, they share their dad's zeal for bringing criminals to justice. You can sneer all you want. This was pulp for kids, and I'll bet a lot of us were prepped for Marlowe, Spade et al, by this stuff.

And it looks like they're still being prepped. Originally created in 1927 by Edward Stratemeyer, (whose New Jersey-based Stratemeyer Syndicate, founded way back in 1906, was also responsible for The Bobbsey Twins, and nouveau-feminist icon Nancy Drew, as well as Tom Swift, the Rover Boys and dozens of others, the Hardy Boys remain the all-time best-selling series of books for boys, with well over 300 titles published, including three series of paperback books. They've also begat television series, games, toys, comics, records, coloring and puzzle books and more merchandise than you can shake a stick at. 

Of course, there was no Franklin W. Dixon. He was merely a house name for a long, long string of rotating authors working for the syndicate, a kind of literary sweatshop, working from supplied plot outlines, and following some strict guidelines: -- low death rates, as many action verbs as possible and a ban on kissing. Supposedly, Edward Stratemeyer discreetly scheduled his appointments so writers would not bump into or recognize one other.

In fact, although the syndicate took credit for the house name of Franklin W. Dixon, the actual writer of the first sixteen novels (for a flat rate of a hundred bucks apiece) was Canadian novelist Leslie MacFarlane, who named Dixon after two of his brothers, Frank and Wilmot, who was also known as Dick (hence, both the W. and the Dixon). MacFarlane has also claimed to have had a hand in writing a few of the first Nancy Drews as well.

Starting in 1959, the first thirty-eight stories were revised and somewhat abridged (gutted, bowlderized, bleached of colour) and white-washed are other terms that come to mind) much to the dismay of long-time Hardy fans. Revisions ranged from slight tinkering to, in some cases, completely new stories. The stories were also reduced in length, had out-of-date prose updated ("roadsters" became "cars," stuff like that) and had racial stereotypes (okay, maybe those should go) removed. But the slam-bang action and danger-packed, thrill-a-minute atmosphere of the original stories was also too often replaced by sometimes-annoyingly cautious, polite, non-offensive prose. Hey, these were supposed to be pulp!

But, whether you read the originals, or the new, good-for-you revisions, or ended up like me reading a mixture of the two, you probably can look back with fond memories to the crotchety rantings of mother-figure spinster Aunt Gertrude; Chet Morton, the boy's plump, good-natured, constantly-eating best friend, his sister Iola, Joe's occasional romantic interest (who unexpectedly and rather inexplicably gets blown to smithereens in The Hardy Boys Casefiles #1: Dead On Target in 1987!); Callie Shaw, Frank's girlfriend, Chief Ezra Collig, Chief of the Bayport PD, and other favorites.

And on it goes. In 2005 the boys were re-imagined and re-introduced to yet another generation of young readers as "Undercover Brothers," special undercover operatives for a clandestine American government agency called ATAC (American Tenns Against Crime) in a new series of books and manga-style graphic novels.

Stratemeyer began his career writing dime novels, and actually wrote several of them under the name of Jim Bowie (well, Jim wasn't using it, having been killed at the Alamo and all...). Upon his death, his daughter took over his company.

UNDER OATH

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REFERENCE

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Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Portions of this were adapted from material from R.W.'s Finnan's Unofficial Hardy Boys Home Page, with much gratitude. And thanks to Steve Bridge for the hot lead on a great site.

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