Cool finds from The Hardy Boys cartoon and '70s show

[MacGyver]

This isn't really related to the cartoon of '70s TV show, but I thought I'd point out that Nancy Drew also received her own board game back in 1957, I believe it was.  (I've actually seen this in person at a bookstore before, but I definitely didn't have the money for this...quite an expensive collectible!)

[MacGyver]

And there were also these kinds of activity books released for Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys- mainly around the '70s, I believe- I don't know if all of them were necessarily meant to tie in to the 1970s show...






but these definitely were...

[MacGyver]

The Hardy Boys Adventure Activity Books also came in a boxed set.

[MacGyver]

Here are some pictures of the cover and some of the pages of The Hardy Boys Secret-Code Activity Book-
link.

[MacGyver]

This seemed like the most appropriate thread for this- I just happened to run across a brief article catching up with Parker Stevenson to hear about what he's been doing lately. He apparently has been doing photography work as of late and has a Web site here (http://www.parkerstevensonshadowworks.com)
The article is pretty recent- from October 19, 2012.

[MacGyver]

Well, I got another Hardy Boys collectible book in the mail the other day! It's one of the activity books I posted pictures of above- this one.

It's a pretty fun little book- it has a lot of codes to crack based straight out of the original 58 classics. And of course, since this book was published in 1977, it was neat to see an order form for Hardy Boys books in the back that only listed 56 titles, since The Firebird Rocket and The Sting of the Scorpion would not have been printed yet. (Hardy Boys #58 was printed in 1979.) And of course, this activity book was meant as a tie-in to The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries

[tomswift2002]

Well Tempo Books was an imprint of Grosset & Dunlap (they are well known in Tom Swift area for reprinting 10 different Tom Swift Jr.  Books in paperback in North America, first in 72 and then in 77), so the order form is no surprise, since it's the same company.

[MacGyver]

Yeah- Tempo Books did a lot of these activity books- didn't realize it was an imprint of Grosset & Dunlap- thanks for that tidbit.

Also, for anyone interested, the book has codes based on the following books- The Tower Treasure, The Secret of Pirates' Hill, The Secret of Skull Mountain, The Clue of the Broken Blade, The Twisted Claw, The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, The Flickering Torch Mystery, and The Secret of the Lost Tunnel. There are also random black and white pictures from the show throughout the book- including 3 of Joe either playing the guitar or singing. [Shaun Cassidy should forever be grateful for this show, as The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries definitely played up his singing career quite a lot. Though to be fair, it seems that Joe has more of the personality of a rock star lead singer than I could see Frank doing. I could see him more in the background as a keyboard player or bass guitarist maybe though. Or running the sound board.] Don't worry- Frank shows up in some of the pictures with Joe too.
     All of the 16 short chapters give very brief and condensed versions of some of the events of the books listed above. (Namely the events involving the Hardy Boys deciphering a code, of course.) So there are some short snatches of dialogue throughout the book and since this book is obviously trying to keep in continuity with the TV series, some elements of the books are altered a bit. For instance, Frank and Joe call on Callie Shaw to help them in The Tower Treasure- which definitely doesn't happen in the book. But this activity book was published in 1977, which is when the first season of the show was on- and Callie Shaw was a recurring character in that season and played more of that kind of helping role. Fenton Hardy is also mentioned and Aunt Gertrude shows up as well- so it's all in keeping with the first season of the show. The Secret of Pirates' Hill part even has Aunt Gertrude joining Frank and Joe in their detective work- which seems funny, as I can't picture her doing that in the books.
Chet Morton shows up as well in The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, which is in keeping with the book.
It's a fun and interesting little collectible.
     

[tomswift2002]

You have to remember that when the show premiered, Shaun Cassidy was rocketed to teen idol status, and for anything even remotely connected to the show, Shaun was the selling token for marketers, hence why Cassidy was seen more (not to mention, but Cassidy was on the cover of "Tiger Beat" for something like 32 months at one point).

[MacGyver]

I figured this was the best place for this. I just ran across an interview with Parker Stevenson from 2012. It mainly talks about his photography work that he's doing now, but it also mentions some about the McTaggart's Fortune movie he worked on with Pamela Sue Martin. And it asks a little bit about The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. I thought it was really cool that Parker mentioned that he's continued to maintain a good friendship with Pamela Sue Martin. (I had actually read this somewhere before.) What I hadn't read before was this bit about Shaun Cassidy. Parker said that he and Shaun were still good friends too and try to see each other at least once a year to catch up on life. I thought that was so cool! He had nothing but nice things to say about both Pamela and Shaun and I thought that was really nice to see. All three of them could be classified teenage/young adult stars who continued to grow in their careers from there. It's nice to see that all three have kept out of trouble and all seem to be really nice and doing pretty well.

[MacGyver]

WOW! Had a great Hardy Boys collectible find at a local Goodwill thrift store the other day!
I found this book (along with some others), all for 50 cents. (It's a clearance center that goes by weight of the books for prices- you never know what you might find- if you're willing to dig in the bins long enough.)

Sure- the book is all written in with people's names all in it and such- but it's rather hard to find one of these kinds of books in unused condition, since it's a word search book made to be used and thrown out when completed. It was certainly a nice and unexpected find. And the word searches are based on the books in The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories series (the classic original 58 titles.) And of course, there are also the pictures of Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson to tie it back to the 1970s show that was current at the time.
Anyway, I was ecstatic to find this.

[MacGyver]

There are 24 word search puzzles in this book and while most of them have already been done or at least started, there are still a few that haven't been done at all and don't have any markings on them! That's pretty neat to find, considering that this is definitely the kind of book that most likely would have been thrown out after the puzzles were completed. It does contain some pictures from the TV series- one of Joe singing, of course- but at least 3 that I can recognize as being from "The Mystery of the Haunted House" episode. This book was released in 1977, right when The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries series started, so it would definitely be aiming to promote the series- I don't know if it was released ahead or during the first season though. (Since the first season started in January 1977 as a mid-season replacement, it may have come later after the series picked up some steam.)
    Anyway, the puzzles feature words taken from generic terms related to the Hardy Boys books- like "police words" or mystery words". But there are other specific categories based directly on the books. (These took words and terms from the actual stories.) Other categories, like "Hardy Boys Mysteries I", had words from the titles of the books [all 56 at the time! The order form in the back of the book only lists up to #56 The Jungle Pyramid, since #57 The Firebird Rocket and #58 The Sting of the Scorpion hadn't been released yet!)
Here is a rundown for each one.

1. The Secret of the Old Mill
2.  Police Words
3. The Great Airport Mystery
4. Hardy Boys Mysteries I (puzzle contains titles of #1-16)
5. What Happened at Midnight
6. The Hardy Boys' Family and Friends
7. Chapter Titles: The House on the Cliff (just as it sounds- this one utilizes chapter titles from this book)
8. The Hardy Boys on Water
9. The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge
10. Hardy Boys Mysteries II (puzzle contains titles of #17-32)
11. The Hardy Boys Are...
12. The Mystery of Cabin Island
13. Mystery Can Be Anywhere
14. The Disappearing Floor
15. Chapter Titles: The Yellow Feather Mystery (just as it sounds- this one utilizes chapter titles from this book)
16. Detectives' Tools
17. Wheels (Hey- this is the name of the second album The Hardy Boys band from the cartoon series released! But this puzzle is talking more about actual wheels and vehicles in The Hardy Boys series- not Wheels the album. )
18. The Secret of the Caves
19. Hardy Boys Mysteries Are...
20. The Melted Coins
21. Hardy Boys Mysteries III (puzzle contains titles #33-53 and The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook)
22. A Taste Of The Yellow Feather Mystery
23. Mystery Words
24. The House on the Cliff

Another fun book to add to the collection. These are the kind of books I'm not terribly worried about seeking after too hard, but I'm certainly happy to pick them up when I run across them at such cheap prices! It is a pretty cool book that serves as both a Hardy Boys collectible in general and specifically a collectible for The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries show as well and that's pretty cool with me. These activity books and such are definitely somewhere on my radar...but there are other titles I'm trying to find as well.

[MacGyver]

I knew the 1950s Hardy Boys serials from The Mickey Mouse Club had a coloring book released based on the likenesses of Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk, but I didn't know another coloring book was released in the late '70s, most likely as a tie-in to The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries- I just saw this book on Amazon.com - While the cover art does not look like the likeness of Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy, it still seems like the book may have been released due to the popularity of the TV show at the time.

[MacGyver]

For anyone interested, I found a place selling Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys by Peggy Herz and it includes some picture scans of some of the book pages, as well as the back cover and front cover. I thought those who haven't checked this book out yet might like to take a look. (And for 7 bucks, it's a pretty decent price.)

[MacGyver]

I'm pretty sure I posted the lunchbox released for The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries a while back. Here is the thermos that came for The Hardy Boys.
(Nancy Drew got her own lunchbox as well.)