The Hardy Boys on TV and Film VS Books

[MacGyver]

I posted this in the Hardy Boys Adventures forum, but I thought it was worth mentioning here too.

WHOA! Just noticed something awesome on page 102 of Into Thin Air (#4 in Hardy Boys Adventures series.) Note that this is Chapter 14, "Trapped"- and it's Joe's chapter. And on page 102, in the course of his narration, he uses a classic Joe Hardy catchphrase- from the 1970s The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries show! The classic line Joe used a good bit on that show- "Not to put too fine a point on it." I guess it could be coincidence, but I think that may be a direct reference to the show on the part of the ghostwriter. Anyway- it's cool to see in any case.

[AlwaysAJoefan]

Very kewl, Mac...

[MacGyver]

Yeah, I thought you all might like it.

[MacGyver]

I ran across a cool blog that detailed some of the highlights from the 2014 Nancy Drew Sleuth Convention, including the day dedicated to The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries series! Pamela Sue Martin, Parker Stevenson, Arlene Sidaris and Joyce Brotman all made an appearance there! (Too bad they couldn't convince Shaun Cassidy to come to the event. But apparently he just doesn't really make public appearances very much anymore.) Check out the blog for some recent pictures of all 4 of these folks from the show as well as some interesting tidbits. For instance, Arlene Sidaris mentioned that someone had been hired to portray Hannah Gruen on the show but the character got cut in order to give more time to the main characters of Nancy, Frank and Joe. (I suppose that may have been a wise choice in the end, but I would have loved to have seen Hannah Gruen show up at Nancy's house, even if just in a small supporting role, much like Aunt Gertrude served for The Hardy Boys, in the first season anyway.)
       That's certainly interesting to learn. And finding out stuff like this makes me wonder if there is an unaired pilot for the show that might feature Hannah's character before she got cut. These kinds of behind-the-scenes things and glimpses of what could have been are always really intriguing to see.

[MacGyver]

Here are a few other interesting things I discovered recently from this site. According to the Stratemeyer archives housed at the New York Public Library, there were plans for a Hardy Boys book called Mystery at Stingray Cove that was apparently very similar to the plot of the "Dangerous Waters" episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries show. (It would be really interesting if it was actually an adaptation of that episode that was being added to the official canon of the Hardy Boys book series.)
      Also worth noting, one of the original titles tossed around for The Sting of the Scorpion was The Scorpion's Sting- and of course, a Season 3 episode of the '70s show was called "Scorpion's Sting". (The episode aired before the book was published and neither really has much of anything to do with the other, but still neat to know.)