The Hardy Boys

I know I've been yammering on about the eternal, timeless quality of so many characters. Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Batman, Captain Kirk, James Bond, and even certain cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse. One set of characters that don't seem to have this eternal quality is the Hardy Boys.


I would like to tell you that I loved the Hardy Boys as a kid. Truth be told, I don't really remember if I loved them or not. I read a lot of their books. A LOT. But loved them? They were just there. It was an easy series to go to. And I don't remember there being a lot of book series aimed at kids the way there are today. I remember the Hardy Boys. I remember reading the Chronicles of Narnia series of books. I remember the Black Cauldron series. That's about it.


Today, my son Ashton is into several series of books aimed at his age group. Harry Potter. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Last Apprentice. Series of Unfortunate Events. Spiderwick Chronicles. Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. Vampirates. And many more. Ashton has proven to be a very prolific reader.

In 1977, the Hardy Boys came to television in Glen Larson's the Hard Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The show made immediate stars out of floppy haired, dreamy gazed Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. I watched the show as much as I could. It obviously didn't have the effect on me that Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man or Buck Rogers had. But I do remember looking forward to the show and thinking it was somewhat popular.


In the summer of 1979 my mother laid down the law about library book consumption and summertime reading rules. The specifics of which are lost to my memory. But I stocked up on Hardy Boys book at the library to fulfill my required reading goals.

This was in an age before my time planning exercises ruled my life and the iPhone to do list told me what to do and when. Therefore I would often find myself fighting a deadline for when to complete my summer reading.

One afternoon I asked my mother to time me and let me know when an hour had gone by. I took my Hardy Boys book and headed out to the front porch of our Rochester, New Hampshire house. My logic was that the TV show was an hour long. So reading one of the books should only take me an hour. I was pretty sure.

It ended up being one of the longest hours of my life. It actually kick-started one of my sub-obsessions concerning the way time works. I honestly enjoyed reading the Hardy Boys. But now that I knew a clock was ticking towards a goal, the book became miserably long. And with each passing moment it became more obvious that I would not complete the book in an hour. And how long had I been on this porch anyway? And was it always this hot? And what's with all these insects? And what time was it?

After having gotten a ways through the book, I broke. I ran inside and asked Mom how much time had passed.

15 minutes.

So yeah.... time and the brain can play tricky tricky together. Which can make 30 minutes on the treadmill LOADS of fun if you're not in the right place, mentally. So a big 'thank you' to Jack Benny.

I've really digressed.

Remembering how much fun I had as a kid watching the show and reading the books, I've made several attempts to introduce the characters to my family. Ashton finds the Hardy Boys "boring and slow moving". I think Katie has read one Nancy Drew book. She gave me a smiling nod and said she 'really liked it', which I can use my Daddy-powers to know on a Katie level that it bored her senseless and she spent the time picking her toes.


Netflix streaming has the TV show, so we gave that a shot. The kids like the opening theme, and they like to see the outdated clothes and hair that will eternally date the show, but then the novelty wears off and the toe picking begins. I had to physically remove Ashton's electronics from the room and separate Alex and Katie. I declared the hour of time to be a family moment and device-free. Lorie supported this notion by sitting at her desk and playing Tiny Tower on her iPhone. A fact which Ashton was quick to point out.

So the characters aren't really gaining any ground in our house.


I don't see them as eternal. I remember thinking how 1950's they were even when I read them as a kid. They always seemed too wholesome and had way too much expertise in a wide range of subjects. Their hobbies were endless! This same character problem never seems to bother me in comic book super-heroes.

In researching this article, I came across this enticing line from wikipedia.

"The Hardy Boys have evolved in various ways since their first appearance in 1927. Beginning in 1959, the books were extensively revised, largely to eliminate racial stereotypes. The books were also written in a simpler style in an attempt to compete with television. Some critics argue that in the process the Hardy Boys changed, becoming more respectful of the law and simultaneously more affluent, "agents of the adult ruling class" rather than characters who aided the poor."


A mystery is afoot! I feel myself compelled to do more research. Maybe the pre-1950's Hardy Boys were actually interesting from a historical perspective.

Thanks,
DCD