31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #17 Nancy Drew TV Show Collectibles

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #17

Nancy Drew TV Show Collectibles

There have been quite a few collectibles on the market and promo items from the various TV shows - most from the 1970s show. There are so many from the 70s show, however, I can't list them all here feasibly - so check out the Pinterest board links below to see all the fun things you can collect related to the TV shows. Collectibles for both the 70s Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys ranged from books, VHS to DVDs, press kits and  press photos, fan club materials, puzzles, scripts, advertising ephemera, posters, watches, shirts, dolls, lunchboxes, costumes, magazine articles, original art, and much more.

 

Where to find TV Show Collectibles? Your best bet is sites like eBay - I've found the majority of my items there over the years. However, you can sometimes find things out in the wild in bookstores or in antique malls or at autograph/TV star type conventions. It's always fun to hunt and I don't have everything related to these shows, so I'm always on the lookout. If you have something I don't that isn't shown on the 2 TV show Pinterest boards or on the missing collectibles board at Pinterest, please share it in the comments, as I'd love to learn about more that there is to collect out there.

Keep in mind, I don't have a lot of the stand alone Hardy Boys TV collectibles though I'm aware of most of them - I originally started collecting just Nancy Drew TV collectibles, but I've started recently to add more of the Hardy Boys collectibles - I have the lunchbox and dolls but haven't added them to Pinterest yet. So, I'm most interested in seeing what's out there in the Nancy Drew realm of TV collectibles that I don't already have.

 

 

 

1970s TV Show Collectibles:

The 70s TV shows were the most successful in length of run and publicity, so there are quite a few merchandising items and  promo/advertising items you can find for these shows. Even some controversial ones! When Pamela Sue Martin left the TV show, she posed in Playboy and was featured on the cover - "TV's Nancy Drew Undraped," it proclaimed and of course Harriet Adams at the Stratemeyer Syndicate, creators of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, was not a happy camper. The Syndicate even took out a very costly ad in Time Magazine against the Playboy issue and I've featured that in this blog - the ad features an apology of sorts from Playboy Magazine by reproducing the letter sent to the Syndicate and their attorney from Playboy's senior counsel, William H. Klein, apologizing for using the name Nancy Drew on the cover and in the July 1978 issue. It also references Playboy's use of Tom Swift in the March 1978 issue.

 

 

Another controversy surrounded the design of the Nancy Drew t-shirt that was produced for the 70s shows - no one to my knowledge has seen the shirt. But Harriet Adams disapproved and wrote the man merchandising these items, to express her dislike. The Hardy Boys shirt has been featured in advertising which you'll see below, but the Nancy Drew shirt was never pictured. If by chance you have seen the shirt or any advertising for it, let me know! And possibly the most scarce collectible is the TV show puzzles that came in a canister, not the boxes - I've pictured a set from the eBay auction--the only ones I've seen sell at eBay--and I'd love to have these for my collection. Second to that may be the TV show watch for the Nancy Drew show. The Hardy Boys watch has surfaced more regularly, but I've only seen the Nancy Drew watch listed at eBay one time. The Hardy Boys had more merchandising items than Nancy Drew, so there is no Nancy Drew TV show doll for instance, but there are Hardy Boys versions. There is even original art - the cover of the October 1977 issue of The Electric Company Magazine featured a cover painted by illustrator Bob Larkin, which I own. It's a great likeness of the actors in a very spooky scene. In cooperation with Bob, we sold a limited number of signed prints from this painting at our 2014 Nancy Drew Convention in San Diego. I also collect some of the TV show items from the Hardy Boys shows, so you'll see some of those at my Pinterest too. Having had Pamela Sue Martin and Parker Stevenson come to 2 of our Nancy Drew Conventions, members have been able to have some of their collectibles signed by them, but you can also find signed items from time to time at eBay and sometimes Parker appears at TV/movie conventions shows.

Scroll down below for the 1995 and 2002 TV show collectibles.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1995 TV Show Collectibles:

There are not a lot of collectibles for the 1995 TV shows. There was a cool cast/crew backpack which I'd love to acquire. A Phone card, press kits/photos. A Nelvana trade show bag that featured a tag with the various TV show logos including Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys which I found on eBay a few years ago. And books featuring the actresses on the covers in the Nancy Drew Files series. Books 112-119 featured covers related to the TV show. You can get the DVD set of the TV shows.

 

 

 

 

2002 TV Pilot Collectibles:

Since this series was never produced past the pilot that aired, there really isn't any merchandise or collectibles related to this show other than some press items. The pilot was sent out on video to press to review and I was given a copy of that, though I don't have it pictured at Pinterest yet. You might find press photos or articles related to the airing of the pilot. I managed to find a signed Maggie Lawson photo of her as Nancy Drew. There were some computer graphics available to download as wallpaper leading up to the show airing. If you have anything from the show's PR, that I don't have pictured at Pinterest, please share it!

In the comments, tell me if you collect any of the TV show collectibles? Do you focus more on the Nancy Drew or do you collect the Hardy Boys TV collectibles as well? Do you have a favorite collectible item?

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #16 Nancy Drew on TV

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #16

Nancy Drew on TV

Nancy Drew has been on TV 3 times - the 1970s shows, a 1995 show and then a TV pilot that aired in 2002. There have been attempts to get her on TV in the last couple of years but those have failed to produce a show - a pilot was filmed but it was never aired. Currently the CW has something in development.

1970s TV Show:

January 1977 was the debut of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries on ABC. The hour long episodes alternated each week with either the Hardys or Nancy Drew. The Hardys debuted the week before Nancy did. The Nancy Drew mystery hour starred Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy, William Schallert as Carson Drew, George O' Hanlon as Ned Nickerson, and Jean Rasey as George Fayne--later played by Susan Buckner. Some episodes also featured Bess instead of George. Bess was played by Ruth Cox. Later on Pamela left the show and was replaced by Janet Louise Johnson. Parker Stevenson starred as Frank Hardy and Shaun Cassidy starred as Joe Hardy. Nancy, Frank, and Joe teamed up for some of the episodes. With a host of guest stars on these shows including Melanie Griffith, Rick Springfield, and Mark Harmon, the hour was full of mystery and campy special effects!

True to translating books to television, there are some changes that appear in the television shows. Most noticeable is that Ned is now an assistant to Carson Drew and he's more nerdy than the football playing fraternity boy character from the books. George is now more like Bess whose character is missing from the show. We would expect George to use her judo on dastardly villains but instead she is more of a fraidy like Bess always was! These noticeable differences aside, the shows made their place in Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys history. The only episode with a fairly major connection to the books was The Secret of the Whispering Walls, which was based somewhat on two Nancy Drew books--volume #2, The Hidden Staircase, and volume #6, The Secret of Red Gate Farm.

The shows lasted for three seasons from 1977 to 1978. There were quite a few collectible items from the TV show and those will be a topic for tomorrow's 31 days posting. I wrote an article on Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew during the 75th anniversary of Nancy Drew and you can read it here.

 

1995 TV Show:

In 1995 for one season, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys came back to TV through Nelvana, a Canadian company. The show was in syndication and not shown in very many markets so it was ultimately doomed to fail. Nancy was played by actress Tracy Ryan. Never fear though, in May 2006, the shows were released on DVD - at one time you could order them at Amazon and you may still can get copies through there and at eBay and if you have Amazon Prime Video you can get them there too. There is not a lot of merchandise for this show - mostly cast items or promo items but I'll profile that tomorrow. For those attending our 2019 Toronto Nancy Drew Convention, this TV series will be part of our activities because it was filmed around Toronto.

 

2002 ABC TV Pilot

December 15, 2002 was the air date on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney for a 2 hour pilot, Nancy Drew. The pilot was not considered successful in the ratings and was not picked up as a series. The pilot starred Maggie Lawson as the famed sleuth. Currently, this pilot is not available on video or DVD, however it has been rerun on the ABC Family Channel, so check your listings. In this pilot, Nancy was off to college with her besties and unlike the On Campus book series, this one focused more on mystery. There were no collectible items related to this show except perhaps press related items like photos or signed photos of Maggie Lawson as Nancy Drew and then there was the TV pilot video which was sent out for review to press so I'll feature what I have tomorrow.

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Of all the TV show actresses who played Nancy Drew, Maggie Lawson looked the part the best. But Pamela Sue Martin's character reflected best the Nancy Drew of the books. The 1970s show was the most successful run of all the TV shows. Pamela Sue Martin and Parker Stevenson have attended 2 of our Nancy Drew Conventions in the past (San Diego 2014 and Ogunquit Maine 2017) and they've been a lot of fun to meet and talk with. 70s TV producers Joyce Brotman and Arlene Sidaris also attended in 2007 Pasadena and our 2014 San Diego conventions and they were fantastic!

In the comments, tell us if you have seen any of these TV versions of Nancy Drew? What did you like or dislike about them? Do you have a favorite TV version of Nancy Drew?

Nancy Drew Press Photos

Nancy Drew Photo Collectibles

In recent months I've collected some press photos that I wanted to share here. The one above is a publicity still from the Lucas Films Young Indiana Jones and shows a scene from the episode where Indy's girlfriend is "Nancy Stratemeyer," daughter of the "author of the Nancy Drew mysteries." The episode featured Edward Stratemeyer and Thomas Edison. I loved finding this press photo since I was involved in helping out with the bio documentaries filmed as educational/background material for the DVD release of the Young Indiana Jones Adventures for the Stratemeyer documentary.

This press photo was used for an article on Nancy Drew to show how she had changed through the years.

I was especially happy to get this picture of Harriet Adams--it's wallet sized and features Harriet's signature - this was a press photo the Syndicate sent out to media. When I was at the New York Public Library last October doing research in the Stratemeyer archives, I came across some photos in several folders just like this one used for publicity.

This photo I enjoyed getting too as it was used for the 50th anniversary of Nancy Drew in 1980 and features Harriet posing in front of Syndicate series including Nancy Drew and also shows some foreign editions.

Last but not least, this is a press photo from the Nancy Drew 1995 T.V. Series featuring Tracy Ryan as Nancy Drew. I don't have a lot of items from the 1995 T.V. series, so I'm always happy to find them. What I like about the photo is that it shows Nancy and George sleuthing--Nancy's picking a lock and George is holding a flashlight.

Jenn:)