Show Notes:

Host Cynthia Bemis Abrams revisits The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries that aired on Sunday nights from 1977 to 1979. She shares the background of Carolyn Keene, the woman writer of teen fiction in the 1930s. Keene’s life is a feminist tale of ingenuity and persistence. Cynthia also revelas the stringent standards that were placed on further depiction of the girl detective character, as Warner Brothers attempted to put Nancy Drew on the silver screen. Cynthia concludes the backstory of the under-valued Nancy Drew franchise by detailing how Pamela Sue Martin bolted for Playboy and wound up as Fallon, on the primetime soap, Dynasty.

Resource: Melanie Rehak’s 2005 “Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.”

Pamela Sue Martin, Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew Hardy Boys mysteries, girl detective, Warner Brothers, representation, young women TV characters, Fallon Carrington, Dynasty TV series, TV history podcast