Leslie McFarlane article

[MacGyver]

I don't know if this has been posted before, but I just ran across it online and thought someone might be interested.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/farini/peacock/pages/Aexcerpts/FatherOfTheHardyBoys.html

[JoeHardyRocks]

Ooh, that was fascinating Thanks for the link, I've never seen that before!

[MacGyver]

You're welcome.

[hardygirl847]

Very interesting. I just can't  keep reading this article though. Frank and Joe are much more than just fictional characters to me. I've used them in stories so I feel like I know them in a way. I know that sounds really strange but it hurts my heart to know that Leslie didn't even care about them...or know how famous they were...until much later.

And to think that some big time company just "made them up" also seems heart breaking. I love their books because of how real the characters are...even if the situations they're in aren't.

I just don't get how he could have been so ....almost ashamed....or whatever you want to call it about something he brought into being and has been a classic ever since.

It's like a parent not loving a child...in a small way. He created it but could care less.

(that might be an extreme example but I think you get my point. )

[MacGyver]

To be technical, Leslie McFarlane didn't create The Hardy Boys. Edward Stratemeyer did. Leslie McFarlane was the first of many ghostwriters hired to flesh out the storylines that Stratemeyer had already come up with. So for him, they weren't really his characters and he viewed it as bringing someone else's ideas to life (which is what he was doing.) I guess it's kind of like the same pride you might feel over helping your kid with their homework. The child is taking credit for it when perhaps the parent really did a lot of the work- they don't get any credit, but they're just glad it's done with and that the child did well with the assignment.
   I think McFarlane was disappointed because he viewed this juvenile writing as being beneath him and it was not the serious works he wanted to write. I can understand that to a degree. You have to remember that in 1927, the whole concept of children's literature was still really new and it wasn't really viewed all that favorably or at least not all that seriously. Edward Stratemeyer really helped revolutionize that whole industry and tapped into a market that had not been reached very well before then. (I mean- sure, you had Grimm's Fairy Tales [though that was really more appropriate for adults than children], The Water Babies, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Peter Pan and Wendy- but no ongoing series like Stratemeyer was doing. He essentially made dime novels for kids and that's probably what McFarlane was decrying. I think he learned to appreciate Frank and Joe a little more in the later years because he could at least acknowledge them as paying his bills. So maybe he developed a soft spot for them eventually, but overall he didn't view them as "his" so much and that shaped his enthusiasm for writing them, I'm sure.
       But I do agree that he probably would've gotten much more out of it if he could have learned to love it and really adopt the characters as his own and appreciate the high moral standards and quality entertainment The Hardy Boys provided for children.

[hardygirl847]

Mac, I forget how old you are...but did you or are you majoring in writing??? Gosh...you write so wonderfully.

As for what you said, yes I know Leslie didn't create them. He used an idea but ultimately created them in a fashion that would lead them to what they are today. If I said I thought of Microsoft but Bill Gates actually made it...Well, I wouldn't get as much credit, would I? Yeah I thought of it in theory, but he brought it to life.

That's not the same exact thing here, but similar. Leslie brought to life what Stratemeyer thought of. I'm not sure if it's well known or even written anywhere how much Leslie had to work with before starting the Hardy Boys, but he still wielded the pen that created the books.

I also understand that the times were different and I'm sure he looked down on his own work because he figured others would too. He might have not been considering a "true writer" because he wrote for children. And of course, no one could fathom how big they would become over the next 80+ years.

I guess I just wish he had had more passion and love for his characters. Also, if he had more pride (despite the time period), he might have felt differently.

Perhaps if he had lived long enough to see how loved the Hardy Boys are, he would have been able to feel more pride in hindsight.

I know he became more aware as time went on that people liked the Hardys and it sold well. I just don't know how much he knew, if he knew how it would lead to television series, comic books, games, etc. Thus, gaining him a pride he may or may never have felt before he died in the 70s.

If you know of any of that, I'm interested in knowing. I didn't finish the article so I don't know if it said so in there.

[MacGyver]

Mac, I forget how old you are...but did you or are you majoring in writing??? Gosh...you write so wonderfully.

Well, thank you very much, hardygirl847. That's so nice of you to say. I guess writing just seems to be something God's gifted me with. I did get a journalism degree in college, but writing has always been an interest since I was a kid- I trust God can continue to show me ways to use it for His glory.

   I did read all of the article and it did say that Leslie McFarlane was shown some of the revised versions of his original Hardy Boys books- and I don't think he was real happy with that. As he said, "Even ghosts have feelings."
  But yeah- it mainly came down to the fact that it just wasn't what he wanted to do- he saw himself as a "serious" writer only and he pretty much just wrote the books for the paychecks- though he certainly added a lot to the outlines he was given and helped make them his own. The article does say that he was particularly grateful for the Hardy Boys books when the stock market crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression hit America- and I guess affected at least Canada as well (and probably the rest of the world to some degree.)
       I think he gained something of a love-hate relationship with the books in later years (just my opinion there)- it would probably help to read his memoirs though- Ghost of The Hardy Boys, released in 1976 and really hard to find nowadays (at least for a cheap price- I have run across a copy before at an antique store, so I've flipped through the book before anyway.)

[hardygirl847]

You are quite welcome Mac. I'm not surprised at all you were a journalism major! Is that what you do now??

I think it's interesting and reading his memoirs might be enlightening. I just don't know though...I love the Hardy Boys for Frank and Joe. I don't know if I want to "ruin" that with knowing everything else I can about how they came to be.

I'd rather think of them as real people out there somewhere with their stories in books. Keeps them alive for me.

Maybe I will get around to looking more into it ater. I can't even get motivated to write my third story. There is too much going on personally to truly focus.

At least I can read and escape into HB world for awhile. One of my favorite places to be is anywhere with Frank and Joe.

Wow, I sound dorky. lol

[JoeHardyRocks]

At least I can read and escape into HB world for awhile. One of my favorite places to be is anywhere with Frank and Joe.

Wow, I sound dorky. lol

I know what you mean lol... Frank and Joe feel like my friends. I try to hang out with them a few times a week.

[MacGyver]

At least I can read and escape into HB world for awhile. One of my favorite places to be is anywhere with Frank and Joe.

Wow, I sound dorky. lol


I know what you mean lol... Frank and Joe feel like my friends.  I try to hang out with them a few times a week.

Haha- that's okay- I totally understand. I think this is one reason why I like so many of The Hardy Boys books that others don't care much for- if nothing else, the book is still another adventure with Frank and Joe Hardy and that's always fun- I can't blame them for the plot of their story.   And honestly- they are all good entertainment and if a book has entertained me- then at the end of the read, it's a good book because that's all I expect the books to do. So thus I enjoy all of them, at least to some degree.

I think it's interesting and reading his memoirs might be enlightening. I just don't know though...I love the Hardy Boys for Frank and Joe. I don't know if I want to "ruin" that with knowing everything else I can about how they came to be.

Being a fan of The Muppets, this reminds me of the scenario Muppets fans have with not wanting to see the puppeteers and ruin the magic.   But most adult fans don't have an issue with that so much, but there is more of a concern with not ruining it for kids watching Sesame Street and such. And Jim Henson's productions are generally careful about that- although not to the extreme extent Paul Fusco tends to be with ALF- but that's a different story. lol

[MacGyver]

You are quite welcome Mac. I'm not surprised at all you were a journalism major!  Is that what you do now??

Not currently- but I have worked with some newspapers in the past (in a limited fashion.) And I've written for a Christian publication some amongst other things. I still work on writing stuff all the time for fun, and I hope that I will be able to get some things published eventually.

[hardygirl847]

I know what you mean lol... Frank and Joe feel like my friends. I try to hang out with them a few times a week.

Glad I'm not crazy. I try to hang out with them as much as I can too. They just seem so busy all the time. lol

Haha- that's okay- I totally understand. I think this is one reason why I like so many of The Hardy Boys books that others don't care much for- if nothing else, the book is still another adventure with Frank and Joe Hardy and that's always fun- I can't blame them for the plot of their story.   And honestly- they are all good entertainment and if a book has entertained me- then at the end of the read, it's a good book because that's all I expect the books to do. So thus I enjoy all of them, at least to some degree.
Being a fan of The Muppets, this reminds me of the scenario Muppets fans have with not wanting to see the puppeteers and ruin the magic.   But most adult fans don't have an issue with that so much, but there is more of a concern with not ruining it for kids watching Sesame Street and such. And Jim Henson's productions are generally careful about that- although not to the extreme extent Paul Fusco tends to be with ALF- but that's a different story. lol

I tend to like ones other people don't too! I like how you said they can't be blamed. Hehe...It's not their fault they get into those situations, right? And some are less than stellar.

I can totally understand with the Muppets not wanting to see "behind the curtain". I loved Alf! He's real though...so I don't know what you're talking about. 

Not currently- but I have worked with some newspapers in the past (in a limited fashion.) And I've written for a Christian publication some amongst other things. I still work on writing stuff all the time for fun, and I hope that I will be able to get some things published eventually.

Well, definitely do it for fun or otherwise. You rock.

[MacGyver]

Haha- thanks. And of course, I meant according to the government, ALF is merely a puppet on a TV show. We all know he's real- it's all a cover-up.

[hardygirl847]

Yeah...so shhhhh