Calling All Sleuths! Who
doesn’t know about Carolyn Keene, the pseudonym for the popular Nancy Drew
Mystery Stories series and also used on the Dana Girls Mystery Stories? But are
you familiar with this pseudonym being used for a serialization of a novelette
called, Mystery at the Lookout?
Let me clue you in! Calling
All Girls magazine was a popular magazine for girls published by Parents’
Magazine. It debuted in 1941 and by 1950 was renamed “Senior Prom”
magazine. By the mid-50s it was back to being called Calling All Girls
and then in the mid-1960s it became “Young Miss.” One of Nancy Drew’s
ghostwriters from the Nancy Drew Files era, Susan Wittig Albert, got the chance
to write for Calling All Girls. In regard to writing for Calling All
Girls, she reminisced, “I think fondly of Calling All Girls, where a
kind editor guided me through the mysteries of story-telling and helped me
believe in myself as a writer—a full 60 years ago!” This was in 1964 and she
wrote a story titled, “The Art of Christmas.”
However, coincidentally, two
decades before, there was another infamous Carolyn Keene who blazed the trail
with Nancy Drew in 1930 and beyond, who wrote for Calling All Girls in
1942. Mildred Wirt Benson, writing a story under the pen name of Carolyn Keene,
was hired to write, Mystery at the Lookout to be serialized over six
issues. Judy Bolton’s Margaret Sutton also serialized 3 stories, the first of
which was The Haunted Apartment that ran after Lookout.
How did Mildred come to write
this story? It all began with a January 23, 1942 letter from New York City to
East Orange, NJ from The Parents’ Magazine Press, Inc. to a “Miss Keene.” It
began, “I suppose you are familiar with our magazine, Calling All Girls,
which I am sending copies under separate cover.” A popular magazine in just its
first year, it was going to transition into a monthly zine and they wanted to
start running serials. “We very much want a bang-up mystery story and after a
great deal of consultation here and there, have come to the conclusion that you
are the best person to write one for us.” They wondered if perhaps “Miss Keene”
might have a manuscript they could tailor to a serial format or if not, some
ideas “crying to be put on paper.”
Frances Ullman, managing editor
of Calling All Girls, even offered to take “Miss Keene” to lunch. Little
did she know, that might not be very easy to do, what with the real “Miss Keene,”
Mildred, living in Toledo, Ohio at the time.
Unfortunately, it’s a case of
the missing letters in the New York Public Library’s Stratemeyer Syndicate
archives! A reply to Frances is not among the letters there as well as a reply
from Frances – so we pick up with a letter from Edna to Ullman. Based on this
letter, it would appear that in the missing letters, Ullman must have referred
to the first few Nancy Drew books or perhaps the characters as “florid and
old-fashioned.” A February 10, 1942 reply from Edna C. Squier to Ullman suggested
Ullman take a look at some of the Nancy Drew stories to see if her impression
of the style appears “florid and old-fashioned.” She also referenced
middle-aged and elderly characters. I’m guessing that Ullman may have taken
issue with the first two books which feature middle-aged and elderly
characters. Apparently, Ullman wanted the story told in a “schoolgirl manner.”
The character for the story was chosen by Ullman to be fourteen years old.
Edna followed up with a February
19, 1942 letter to Ullman and she referenced four story ideas. The first was “The
Mysterious Message” or “The Mystery at the Well.” This story had to do with a
missing baby, an inheritance, and oil money. A second was “The Mystery of Stone
Mount” or “The Mystery of Natchee Camp.” This story idea took place around a
girls’ camp and strange goings on around the camp having to do with unpatriotic
hoarders. In the third suggestion, “A Motorboat Mystery,” a girl is kidnapped
being mistaken for a movie star. Finally, there was “Mystery at the Lookout” featuring
a mystery involving a lookout, a strange woman in the woods, a note in code, and
a spy. This latter story interested Calling
All Girls the most, so this idea was adapted for the serial.
Edna wrote to Mildred on March
4, 1942, asking her if she could write a “novelette” of about 15,000 words, to
run in six installments in “a small magazine for girls.” She noted, “The editor
wishes the characters to be more youthful and sprightly than those in the Nancy
Drew and the Dana Girls books” because the heroine will be fourteen.
Mildred was excited by this
offer and wrote back to Edna on March 6, 1942 and mentioned her short story
writing, “In years past I did considerable magazine work and enjoyed it.” She
asks about compensation “because the usual magazine serial requires far more
work and rewriting in proportion to its length than a book.” She also requested
a copy of the girls’ magazine to get an idea of its style.
1942 was the year that Edna
moved off to Florida, so it fell on Harriet to take over the managing of this
serial. Harriet writes to Mildred on March 10, 1942 and makes the financial
offer for the six installments of 2500 words each and notes, “The amount we
offer for the writing of this is not in proportion to a full book-length story,
since we feel it will mean more concentrated attention on your part and are
offering a sum of $75.00.”
Harriet referenced Mildred’s
magazine work and gave her pointers from the Calling All Girls editor –
“It is to have a modern, up-to-date swing to it, with dashes of humor here and
there, such as young people of fourteen use. Be sure to omit long words,
involved sentences, and adult ideas. The readers of this magazine are about 8
to 10 years old.” Because of World War II, Harriet was sure to mention a trend
to avoid anything related such as “the war, sabotage, and similar subjects.” The
Syndicate wanted each installment to “end with an excellent holding point.”
Mildred responded on March 14,
1942 and found the $75 “quite satisfactory.” By March 18, 1942, Mildred had the
first installment written and sent it and a letter to Harriet noting she used
“a moderate amount of slang” because “CALLING ALL GIRLS seems to favor it, as
do most publications.” She had some issues with compressing the plot into such
limited space and still keeping it detailed.
Harriet enthusiastically responds
on March 20, 1942 and she felt that Mildred “caught the spirit of the story and
the type of writing which the magazine likes.” She cautioned Mildred about
using “hackneyed expressions.” She also requested that Mildred not make any
“good character” tell untruths. Also, that the main character Sally not be
“forgetful” – to let some other character be that way.
By April 1, 1942, Mildred had
completed the entire serialization. Mildred had misinterpreted the word
“lookout” and didn’t realize it meant observation point, so she had to fix that
in some of the installments. She explained to Harriet that she fixed the
forgetfulness issue in regard to Sally, and only used that angle because she thought
it made Sally “a more human character.”
Mildred had a hard time including a large amount of "bright" conversation because there were so many characters
and information in the outline. She had to work around that and had to be
careful to not “give the story a hurried sound.” For the final installment she
included two endings and felt the longer one was the best. We’ll never know for
sure which ending – the shorter or the longer – was used, but the final version
turned out very good.
Harriet wrote to Mildred on
April 21, 1942 to thank her “for turning in such a good yarn” and timely. Harriet
mentioned that there were very minor corrections made. Also, Harriet had a
“favorable report from New York” from Calling All Girls. The first
installment was to appear in the July 1942 issue. A release and check were sent
with this letter to Mildred.
Mildred wrote to Harriet on May
1, 1942 to thank her for the check and was glad to hear that Calling All
Girls liked the story.
By July 16, 1942, Harriet wrote
to Mildred about the July issue of Calling All Girls – they only got one
copy, so she hadn’t sent one to Mildred yet. She also noted, that if Mildred
kept a carbon copy of the manuscript, “you will notice that a few changes were
made in line with suggestions from the editor, but these were minor, and the
story turned out very well. I wish that some of the sprightly conversation and
the quick-moving phraseology might be initiated in this forthcoming Nancy.” She
was referring to the next Nancy Drew Mildred was to write, The Clue in the
Jewel Box.
On July 19, 1942 Mildred wrote
to Harriet that she hadn’t seen a copy of Calling All Girls but would
obtain one soon. She noted, “The quick-moving phraseology was the result of
considerable re-writing and the story required very nearly as much time as a
complete book. Consequently, I do not feel that I can afford to do such
concentrated work on every assignment. However, I endeavor always to give good
quality writing, well above the average of competing series.”
In a September 2nd,
1942 letter to Mildred from Harriet, Harriet praised Mildred’s work on Jewel
Box, and said it was the best story she had turned in to the Syndicate,
“with the exception possibly of the Calling All Girls manuscript.”
There seems to be some discrepancy
about the date of when the serial started – in letters between the Syndicate and
Mildred, it was supposed to start with the July 1942 issue and Harriet refers
to having the July issue when it came out. However, it actually began in the
August 1942 issue. That particular issue has lettering across the top of the
cover stating, “Beginning MYSTERY AT THE LOOKOUT …a new serial by the author of
the NANCY DREW and DANA GIRLS Mysteries.”
I’ve slowly added the six
issues of Calling All Girls to my collection. Last year I purchased the
final issue I needed to complete the set of six. I also found two
advertisements on eBay promoting the magazine. One proclaimed, “There’s no
better way to spend a dollar than to make a child happy.” The ad points out
that Calling All Girls is exclusive to girls. Issues were to have
“wholesome fiction” and colorful comics about “outstanding women” like Eleanor
Roosevelt. Practical and entertaining articles on a range of topics for girls.
Issues were 10 cents a copy or a full year at one dollar. Another ad asks, “Is
your daughter getting ‘Girl-Conscious?’” It touts “excellent fiction by
well-known authors” and asks parents, “Has your little girl reached the stage
of being interested in her clothes and her looks, and wanting to read girl
stories…especially mysteries and those that have a touch of romance? Then she’s
ready for her very own magazine!”
A brief synopsis of Lookout will
clue you into the mystery. The plot revolved around Sally Seymour and her pals
Sandra Blake and Barbara Moore. It begins with Sally wishing they owned a
mountain cabin for weekend outings. Sally has left behind a pair of binoculars
at a lookout while on a picnic on Whiteface Mountain. They are informed by a
trooper that there’s a wanted robber in the area and they have also found a
coded message which they turn over to the trooper. Sally copies it first, so
she can work on it later. They get lost and come up on a cabin with an old
woman whose name is Millie Lear. They investigate in the woods, shenanigans
befall them – like Sally’s friends falling in a pit. Then they find a notebook
with a list of businesses and dates in it – possible robbery locations? More
importantly, the notebook has the key to the code Sally found. She sees a
strange airplane. With the help of the trooper who has the message with him,
they decode it. They use a ruse to try and trap the robber by returning a decoy
substitute notebook to the lookout. Millie seems to be involved but disappears.
A search of her place turns up a valuable pearl which Sally takes home for
safekeeping but the villain breaks in to her house. Lots of intrigue goes down
– I won’t spoil that for you, but they end up saving Millie and helping her out
and all the crooks of course, get rounded up in the end. And a reward is given
that is fitting. It reads much like a Nancy Drew or Dana Girls book in spirit,
perhaps even a bit like one of Mildred’s Penny Parker mysteries.
Mildred made full use of
cliffhangers ending each installment to excite the reader for the next issue.
There’s a lot of action and events and characters in this serial – it’s jam
packed. You can see with word limitations and space that it would be hard to
flesh this out like a full-length book and dialogue was probably sacrificed as
Mildred noted in the letters to the Syndicate. I think this could have made for
an interesting book, had the Syndicate ever decided to expand it. Fans of Nancy
Drew and Mildred Wirt Benson should add these six issues to your collections.
They are not easy to find however, though at times they pop up on eBay. For
those who want to read the entire thing, the University of Iowa has digitized
it as part of the Mildred Wirt Benson archive in the Iowa Women’s Archive, and
you can read it at their website.
Lookout is a fine tale full of
suspense and adventure. It was a great opportunity for Mildred to showcase her
talent as a very prolific former short story writer and as a master of the
juvenile mystery series book writing style combining both talents into this
neat serialization. It was short story writing that first got Mildred into
writing and started off her decades long writing career so it’s fitting that we
honor her birthday with this post today.
-----
IMAGES: Click on the images in this blog to see larger images.
Bibliography:
Susan Wittig Albert’s website,
personal essay - https://susanalbert.com/calling-all-girls-the-power-of-story
University of Iowa Digital
Library – Calling All Girls – all 6 installments digitized - https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui:mwb_2102
James Keeline, personal archive
of Stratemeyer Syndicate research
September/October 2013 issue of
The Sleuth – Mystery at the Lookout by Lorraine Rogers.
Calling All Girls – 6 issues Volumes
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 – August 1942, September 1942, October 1942, November
1942, December 1942, January 1943.
New York Public Library –
Stratemeyer Syndicate Archive – Letters:
MAW=Mildred A. Wirt, ECS=Edna
Camilla Squier, HSA=Harriet Stratemeyer Adams
3-4-42 – ECS TO MAW
3-6-42 – MAW to ECS
3-10-42 – HSA to MAW
3-14-42 – MAW to HSA
3-18-42 – MAW to HSA
3-20-42 – HSA to MAW
4-1-42 – MAW to HSA
4-17-42 – MAW to HSA
4-21-42 – HSA to MAW
5-1-42 – MAW to HSA
7-16-42 – HSA to MAW
7-19-42 – MAW to HSA
9-2-42 - HSA to MAW
.jpg)
.jpg)
