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Nancy Drew: The Case of an America Icon & The Mystery of the Missing Funds
Nancy Drew, Mystery’s IT girl for the generations, has inspired a lot of little girls who grew to be amazing women! From educators to detectives to lawyers, even librarians. Very few fictional characters can say they are BFFs with most of the women on the US Supreme Court. But it’s not just an all-girl’s club these days – even a few men read Nancy Drew and a few famous fans include Stephen King.
As we celebrate Nancy Drew’s 95th anniversary this year, the history behind the mystery is a tale at times even more baffling than Nancy Drew’s most thrilling cases.
And it began with Nancy Drew’s creator, Edward Stratemeyer of The Stratemeyer Syndicate whose very modern creation for the time, was brought to life by the original ghostwriter for the series, Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson, a real-life Nancy Drew in her own right, took a 3-page plot outline from Stratemeyer and gave girls a ray of light in a very dark time. Nancy Drew debuted on April 28, 1930, during the Great Depression, just ten years after women got the right to vote. She was a very intelligent and curious teenage sleuth, whose father treated her as an equal without a mother to reign in her daring exploits. With her trusty roadster, fashionable frocks, and her magnifying glass, she sought to rid her hometown of River Heights of all the crooks and dastardly villains and right wrongs. She wasn’t afraid to chase suspects down dark alleys or tangle with villains. The Nancy Drew of the 1930s and 1940s – a testament to Benson’s skillful writing – was inspiring to young girls and a role model.
Now, 95 years later, with nearly 700 Nancy Drew books published since 1930 in the classic series and various modern spinoffs, fans still fondly celebrate their experiences reading Nancy Drew as kids and how Nancy Drew gave them the gumption to do more in their lives. Not only that, fans – and even Benson herself, have often pondered in perilous situations, WWNDD? Between entertaining mysteries and life lessons learned, fans of all ages have passed the Nancy Drew mysteries down through the generations.
A full-length Nancy Drew documentary by filmmaker Cathleen O’Connell of Desert Penguin Pictures will tackle the fandom of Nancy Drew, how she inspired women through the decades and will pay homage to her mysterious history behind the scenes. However, just like a Nancy Drew mystery, there have been some foibles and detours along the way. With most of the NEH’s funding wiped out earlier this year, part of a production grant O’Connell was awarded from the NEH was wiped out and the Nancy Drew documentary’s fate came to a standstill. But, like many before her, O’Connell pondered WWNDD and created an online Kickstarter campaign to “Save Nancy Drew.” Nancy Drew fans of all ages have turned out in support of the campaign to help get Nancy Drew: The Case of an American Icon over the finish line and fully funded. In helping solve The Case of the Missing Funding, everyone can pitch in and solve that mystery by supporting O’Connell’s documentary project. And you have just one more day to do it! The Kickstarter campaign ends on July 30th.
The Nancy Drew Documentary, the first of its kind, is something that fans have wanted to see done for a long time. Support O’Connell’s vision and pledge through the Kickstarter campaign so you can help solve the mystery behind Nancy Drew. There are so many inspirational stories to tell that come from Nancy Drew’s creators and how Nancy Drew has become such a Pop Culture Icon. Most importantly, the legacy of Nancy Drew is one that continues to bring fans of all walks of life together. Being a Nancy Drew fan isn’t just youthful rite of passage relegate to a memory box in an attic. It’s a real sense of community and sisterhood, a timeless bond that brings everyone to the table for a common good, even when the world is stumbling through time and a bit off kilter. Little girls and women need good role models and Nancy Drew is one for the ages.
