31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #15 Nancy Drew Movie Collectibles

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #15

Nancy Drew Movie Collectibles

We've been over all the various books and spinoff series and now it's time to focus on Nancy Drew collectibles. There are 4 main categories of collectibles - movie, TV, classic/Wanderer period related to the books (1930 to 1980s) and then modern stuff out in the last couple decades. I want to give a brief overview of these collectibles in some upcoming blogs including today's - but there are too many collectibles to list here and picture - way too many. So, you are in luck in that I have been cataloging all of these collectibles, advertising, historical and paper ephemera/etc. at Pinterest in boards by category - and you can go indulge in seeing all the fun things out there to collect. The 1930s movie board is at this direct link - and you can follow my Pinterest to see the latest things I upload. The 2007 movie collectibles board is a this link.

I have more to add to the boards so hope to get everything up in the next month or two that I currently have - the bulk of it is there already though. However, I'm always sleuthing for new things. I have a board for items that got away - and there are some 30s movie items on that board I am missing as well as 2007 movie items.

1930s Nancy Drew Movie Collectibles

There was no official merchandise based on the films, so collectibles from the 30s movies consist of a lot of advertising and press kit related items which include: posters, lobby cards, movie stills, lantern slides, theater advertising, movie articles and magazine ads, autographed items, press kits and the like. There is also a wrapper for a certain print run of the book, The Password to Larkspur Lane, that overlays on the front lower area of the dust jacket/spine/back of dust jacket - which advertises Nancy Drew, Detective and has images from the film - this is very hard to find. I am missing this item from my collection. Not really related to this film, but Whitman published a series of mystery books featuring actresses and there was one featuring Bonita Granville - The Mystery of Star Island. Some collectors like to add this book to their collections.
 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to feature in this blog some images of these items but, I suggest you click on this link to see a nice variety of everything that can be found.

Where to find these? eBay is where I found just about all of my movie collectibles but that was over the last 20 years of collecting, there are not always readily available 1930s movie items as they are not that common--at least not on eBay. There are sites online that specialize in movie memorabilia and auction houses that have sold them. There are always collector shows, antique malls/etc. The hunt is always fun. They also tend to be expensive to collect sometimes. I've passed up quite a few things over the years because they were just too expensive. 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 Nancy Drew Movie Collectibles

There was not a lot of merchandise from this movie unfortunately. The official merchandise consisted of a DiDj game and some bags and wallets that you could purchase at Barnes & Noble plus the DVD of the movie and the movie soundtrack. There were some movie tie-in books that Simon & Schuster published too and some came with necklaces. There were cardboard movie displays for the books too. The rest of the collectibles out there to find are advertising and promotional items and giveaways from prizes and contests. There are cast and crew items such as scripts, director chair backs, shirts, and lunchboxes and hats. The movie premier goody bag swag and tickets are other areas of collectibles. I was fortunate enough to go to the premier so I was able to get some of the swag. I bought a lot of promo items on eBay that were being sold. Advertising items include posters, bookmarks, banners, movie trailer reels, display signs, mirror compact party favors, shirts, press kits, movie newspaper reproduction, magic 8 balls, flashlight/book lights, tins, lipstick pens, cosmetic bags, magazine articles and ads in magazines, notebooks, party kits, bookstore promotional press kits with buttons, signed photos and posters and so forth. At one time, one of the Nash convertibles from the movie filming was being sold. You can see what I'm aware of having been out there at my 2007 movie collectibles Pinterest board, but I'll show a sampling here in this posting. I have some promo items for sale in The Sleuth Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where to find? eBay is a good place where these things show up for sale from time to time--recently a tee from a promo related to the movie was listed at eBay. So you never know when something will come up - that is the fun of the hunt.

I'm always looking for more to collect! So, if you have something I don't have featured on my Pinterest movie boards or the missing collectibles board, share in the comments. In the comments, tell us if you like to collect movie related collectibles? What are some of your favorite collectible finds?

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #14 Nancy Drew at the Movies

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #14

Nancy Drew at the Movies

Nancy Drew has hit the big screen twice and will debut for a third time this year - all productions from Warner Brothers who licensed the rights to the books in the 1930s. This isn't a blog to go into the contracts or legalities--as it's a brief overview, so in this blog, I'll highlight the Nancy Drew movies out there you can see and a blurb about the one coming out this year.

There are collectibles for the movies and the ones from the 1930s can be quite pricey and seldom come up for sale or auction. They include posters, lobby cards, press kits, photos. There are a lot of promo items and a little bit of merchandise from the 2007 movie as well. These items will be a focus of tomorrow's posting.

1930s Nancy Drew Movies

There were 4 movies that were produced and released from 1938 to 1939. More movies were planned but were never put into production. They were, in order:

Nancy Drew...Detective 1938

Nancy Drew, Reporter 1939

Nancy Drew, Troubleshooter 1939

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase 1939

The movies are quite campy and humorous--very unlike serious-minded Nancy from the stories we have come to know. Frankie Thomas' "Ted" (no, not Ned!) is the straight man to Bonita Granville's Nancy. Two of the movies are based on the Nancy Drew books - Detective is based on The Password to Larkspur Lane and The Hidden Staircase is based on the book of the same name. I wrote a brief article about these during the 75th anniversary of Nancy Drew.

They are a classic for any Nancy Drew fan and collector! You can get them on DVD and some of the channels like TCM used to run them in the past on TV - so you can sometimes catch them on TV on various channels from time to time. I like them, and enjoyed them, I thought Bonita looked very much the part.

Fun Fact - a popular expression from the movie is "I'll bet you 23.80..." It's slang from the 1930s--23.80 was the weekly paycheck amount given to WPA workers during the Depression. It became an amount used when betting someone or an expression of joking or emphasizing a large amount.

At my website - link above - you can read more about the movies, see links to sites that focus on them or the IMDB sites, and even see the neat lobby cards from the movies plus a few collectibles - more collectibles can be found at my Pinterest which I'll focus on tomorrow.

2007 Nancy Drew Movie

After 68 years and no more Nancy Drew movies, Warner Brothers decided to try again and the movie had some potential but it just overall didn't work well and box office returns didn't allow for a sequel. The movie starred Emma Roberts as Nancy Drew and the premise was more of a fish out of water and mean girls vs. Nancy concept than a good take on the classic books and a good mystery. Nancy's out in California at age 16 and still in school and investigating the murder of an actress even though she's not supposed to be sleuthing. Yeah right! Director Andy Fleming had his own vision as I worked with him as he revised the script. He was a fan of the classics, so you'll see those classic nods in the movie - spooky houses, secret passageways, villain foibles, threats to stay off the case or else and so forth. But the mystery itself got lost in the backdrop of the mean girls and the annoying sidekick Corky and the fish out of water characterization of Nancy Drew, who was never a fish out of water in the books. At times it did border on parody in making fun of Nancy's perfection and talents. It's a cute movie, but it's just not how it should have been done overall - it was a missed opportunity. Try explaining things to Hollywood. And fickle fans. But it was a really neat experience to see how a movie is made behind the scenes and I enjoyed my consulting a lot. I just wish they'd utilized me a little more. I wrote a blog post that goes into how I ended up consulting and my behind the scenes experience and some insider fun you might enjoy reading. Our 2007 Nancy Drew Convention was held out in Pasadena and members who attended go to to see the movie as it debuted right about then, tour Warner Brothers, see costumes from the movie and got a special copy of the newspaper from the beginning of the movie where Nancy nabs the villain.

 

2019 Nancy Drew Hidden Staircase Movie

Not a lot is known about this movie - even when it will be released, but it's supposed to come out this year. Whether it will have limited theater release or go direct to DVD is another curiosity and I've heard it both ways. It stars Sophia Lillis as Nancy and appears to be a bit like the 2007 in that Nancy is young and in school and isn't her usual self - she's an outsider in this one too and so the concept has been changed a bit from the book. It appears the revision was used, which isn't surprising since it's the book currently in print but they've clearly taken some liberties. For instance, motherly housekeeper Hannah Gruen is now Aunt Hannah. I've not seen the script, so I'm not sure just how much it differs, but I do look forward to seeing it and hope it does better than the 2007 movie did so perhaps WB will consider more of these or other incarnations in the future.

 

In the comments, tell us what you thought of the 1930s movies? The 2007 movie? Are you looking forward to the new Hidden Staircase movie starring Trixie Belden...er...I mean Sophia Lillis ;) Yes, I'm being funny-ha-ha-irreverent!   

1930s Nancy Drew Warner Brothers Movie Press Kits Collectibles Pt 2

Here is the other Nancy Drew 1930s movie press kit from Nancy Drew Trouble Shooter - click on the pages to see more details. Showing the various items one could order for marketing. Size is 11 x 17. View more 1930s Nancy Drew Movie Collectibles at my Nancy Drew Pinterest board.

 

1930s Nancy Drew Warner Brothers Movie Press Kits Collectibles

I recently acquired press kits from a couple of the Warner Brothers Nancy Drew 1930s movies. I wanted to show some images from the press kit from the first movie, Nancy Drew, Detective which came out in 1938. These images show a proposed Nancy Drew Club that had been started at Hollywood High, as a promotional tool, plus pages showing possible advertising for the film. The pages are 11 x 17 in size. Click on the images to view larger ones.

Visit my Nancy Drew 1930s movie collectibles board at Pinterest to see more collectibles. Visit my Nancy Drew website for more info on these movies and Nancy Drew.

 

 

Nancy Drew 1930s Movie Daybill Sells

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Australian Daybill sold for $573.60 at Heritage Auctions today. The left side--hard to see in the image here, had some staining on it up and down on the left side visible in the larger auction photo, possibly water stain, not sure, so I did not bid on it.

Sherlock Holmes Granville as Nancy Drew

I purchased 2 photos (last photo below) - press type - a couple of years ago at eBay featuring Bonita Granville who played Nancy Drew in the 1938/1939 movies from Warner Brothers. These were press photos for the Nancy Drew films featuring Bonita as "Sherlock Homes Granville" - I recently saw a third photo at eBay with the same style but different pose and purchased it. You can click on the image below to see a larger view of the back which references Nancy Drew, Reporter - the second of the four Nancy Drew films - taken by photographer George Hurrell, a famous Hollywood photographer.

 

Nancy Drew's 85th Spotlight #20

The first Nancy Drew movie to be produced, Nancy Drew...Detective in 1938 was loosely based on The Password to Larkspur Lane. Nancy Drew was played by Bonita Granville and Ned Nickerson became Ted Nickerson--played by Frankie Thomas. The movie played up some of the drama in the book and maid Effie was especially comical and dramatic--even causing Ted to tackle Nancy's father, Carson Drew, who was locked out of the house. Nancy and Ted thought he was a burglar snooping in the bushes. Effie had barricaded the door shut with furniture.

In the movie, Nancy gets Ted too pool their (mostly his) money to rent a plane so she can take aerial photographs of the area in order to locate the "nursing home" that the missing Mrs. Eldridge is being held at. Instead of Helen in the book version, it is Ted who dresses up as a nurse to help Nancy gain entrance into the mysterious place--dressing in drag for comedy. And Nancy fires a gun like a crazy woman in the end before passing out.

Nancy was much more ditzy in the movie than in the book, but these movies were campy and fun aside from that, so you have to take them for what they are.

Some books advertised the movie with this wrapper seen below:

Here's a sample lobby card below from the lobby card gallery at my website: