Mr. Pizza's Hardy Boys Forum

General Hardy Boys Discussion => General Hardy Boys Discussions => Topic started by: 9 zero on January 03, 2016, 07:36:45 PM

Title: changes from old cannon to revised
Post by: 9 zero on January 03, 2016, 07:36:45 PM
so ive been a fan of the hardy boys books for a long time but a new member here. lots of good info ! anyways, i recently picked up a few old copies of the tower treasure one in red two in a brown tweed. i read them and they were great but seems to be a large change in stories in things like the attitudes of the boys toward police and police to the boys and fenton hardy as well. is it like that in all the original versions of the books or just the first couple ahead of the boys being welcomed by collig and the military etc. most of the ones ive read the police and coast guard seem to love the hardy family but not so in the books i just picked up.
Title: Re: changes from old cannon to revised
Post by: MacGyver on January 04, 2016, 11:01:51 PM
Hey 9 zero! Welcome to the forums! :) 8) Glad to have another Hardy Boys fan here!
You'll notice a lot of those kinds of changes from the original text Hardy Boys books to the revised versions. As you may well know, the first 33 books were revised (starting in 1959, I believe) to update the books to more modern times and settings and slang, etc. but also to eliminate older prejudices and stuff that were present in the original books. (From the ones I've read, the intention is generally mild- i.e. [not to excuse the terms I've seen used by any means- but I understand that when I've seen such things in the original text books, it doesn't seem like they were intended as malicious. The books are a product of their times, of course. Sad to see it, but it's how a number of people thought then.])
You are definitely right about the changed attitudes of the boys towards authority, going from disregard and disrespect to a much more respectful attitude. There are other such changes throughout. In some cases, the entire plot of the revised text is totally different from the original text, but other times,  only some minor revisions that happen.
Title: Re: changes from old cannon to revised
Post by: tomswift2002 on January 05, 2016, 08:03:41 AM
Well the boys attitude toward the police even changed in the original texts, since at first Leslie McFarlane, the first Franklin W. Dixon, was inspired by the running comedy film series "The Keystone Kops" when he wrote the first three books, and then for "The Missing Chums", while he thought it was funny to see the cops in that light, Edward Stratemeyer told McFarlane to tone it down, since he wanted kids to be able to look up to police in a respectful way, and not assume that police were as bumbling as they were portrayed in the Keystone Kops. 

But 9 zero, you mention you have two copies in brown tweed?  You might want to double check, but the Tower Treasure had both the original and revised texts issued that way, as Treasure was Rd used in 1959, but the change to the current picture cover versions did not occur until 1962.