See you next time!
 

New Collectible Discoveries Another example of the promotional coloring books The original art for The Masked Monkey Shaun Cassidy - Hardy Boys satin jacket Judging by the label, this was apparently sold by Sears. Shaun Cassidy - Hardy Boys Shirt Poster from the 70's TV series. ABC Super Saturday Club kit Ad for T-Shirts from comic book

New On The Shelves The Lure Of The Italian Treasure (Digest #157) The London Deception (Digest #158) Pirates Ahoy! (Clues Brothers #13) All Eyes On First Prize (Clues Brothers #14) The Great Airport Mystery (Applewood Reprint #9)

CHICAGO -- "The Secret of the Old Queen" is a delightful, well-aimed musical parody of the boys' mystery series, "The Hardy Boys."
    With a set of large posters based on illustrations from the books, the show captures the essence of the genre exceedingly well, starting with an introduction to the brothers that is, in itself, worth the price of admission. When you hear Frank (David Tibble) and Joe Hardy (Corey James) sing the opening number, "The Skies Are Always Blue in Bayport," I think you'll be inclined to agree.
    The basic premise of this work, as Artistic Director Drew Martin aptly summarized it, is "what would have happened if sex had come to Bayport" (the lads' home town).
    Almost before the music has faded, the boys are hired by multi-billionaire, Cornelius Digby (Larry Dahlke), to protect an exceedingly valuable art treasure from a band of thieves who have been sacking Bayport at will, to the tooth-grinding consternation of Police Chief Collig (Dahlke in a later incarnation).
    There is romance in the air, too, as Iola Morton (Karen Weinberg) -- sister of their best chum, Chet (Cory A. Krebsbach) -- is Joe's girl, and her best chum, Callie Shaw (Mary Theresa Archbold) is the girl whom Frank thinks of as his special one (not an opinion shared by Callie, it turns out, as complications begin to manifest themselves in this sendup of earlier cultural conditioning).
    Naturally no story of the "Hardy Boys" can be considered legitimate without the inclusion of essential characters, so their father, master detective Fenton Hardy (Jack Tippett) and their crotchety Aunt Gertrude (Jennifer Bradley), are woven thoroughly into the complex fabric of junior detection.
    And, of course, there must be the sinister characters of mystery, thirties-style people like the exotic Electra Carstairs (Bradley) -- who seems torn between the chores of costuming and snooping on the brothers, and seducing any male who wanders by -- and the menacing "Lout" (David Heimann), who appears at the most precarious moments, and under the most suspicious circumstances.
    James and Tibble capture the essences of the distinct personalities of the Hardy lads. When I was a kid, reading the series, Frank seemed somewhat like Hamlet, while Joe struck me more as a young Prince Hal. The actors support that memory nicely.
    Bradley and Dahlke each switch between their assigned roles with mercurial ease, relying on their acting ability much more than on costume or makeup to create the characters.
    The dialogue sparkles, loaded with innuendo, double entendre, social criticism and charmingly archaic period cliches.
    The songs, like "Boys Are Made for Danger," "I Haven't Got a Clue," "You Need to Tell a Woman from a Man," and "The Usual Suspects" help to advance the plot -- at many levels -- and are presented with relish by a musically talented ensemble that includes pianist/sound technician, Mary Clair Cadieux, who handles both tasks quite well, occasionally leavening the performance with a well-placed aerially-presented prop.
    Robert G. Smith's graphic set design is ably supplemented by Randall Leurquin's lush costume designs Both eloquently recapture the era and the genre that the story embodies, adding rich texture to the telling.
    "The Secret of the Old Queen" is being performed at the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont, Chicago through June 20, with performances Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 7:00 pm. Tickets are available through the Theatre Building Box Office, 773-327-5252.

From: johnmaryyoung@prodigy.net (John & Mary-Kathleen Young)
Re the Shaun Cassidy dollar bill (Bayport Times #17): when my friend was producing the Hardy Boys TV show a few years ago (with Colin Gray and Paul Popowich), they used those dollar bills as an in joke on the show. I don't know if they made them up themselves, or bought them somewhere.

From: dianep@webtv.net (John Pessler)
Your site really brought back some nice memories. I remember reading "While the Clock Ticked" in the late '50s and discovering how exciting reading could be. I owe those boys a huge debt for all the fun I had reading their adventures. They opened the door for me to Agatha Christie and all the great mystery writers. From then on, the library and bookstore became magical places where an entire world of books could be explored.
I suppose the Hardy Boys aren't great literature themselves but they were the key to discovering great books!
Thanks for your work.

From: jhanlon@megsinet.net (Jim Hanlon)
In elementry school, the first book I really loved was The Disappearing Floor. One day a teacher said the author of the Hardy Boys mysteries was going to visit the library. Instead of finding out who loved those stories, they assigned some students to read a Hardy Boys book and come up with questions to ask. I was incredibley mad I wasn't choosen and had to hear those kids complain because they didn't want to read the book for the authors visit. I did see him in the hall and asked if he was Franklin W. Dixon, but he said a bunch of writers wrote the books and credited Dixon. That kind of upset me but I got over it. I never forgave those teachers though.
Does anybody remember a Bowery Boy movie called Smuggler's Cove (I think)? It was basically House on the Cliff with Nazi spies.
PS: I really wanted Bayport to be in New Jersey (where I was living way back then).

From: gl1961@hotmail.com (Glenn Lockhart)
Just checked over the June issue of The Bayport Times when I saw the above question posed. Since I have an answer for it, I figured I would fill you in.
In approximately 1976, it became somewhat of a fad for the photos of famous or even infamous peoples to be glued over Washington's on the dollar bill...I am not sure exactly who was responsible for this, but can remember seeing many examples for sale at Woolworth's in their coin display. Someone made the discovery that there was no US law that prohibited the practice, and for a short time, an industry was born. I know Woolworth's retailed these for $2.95 each, and the subjects ran the gamut from John F. Kennedy to The Beatles to Joseph Stalin. I used to have a list of available bills that had been printed in The Canadian Coin News, but have over time lost it somewhere.
In September of 1977, one such bill came to light in the town I was then living at, Fort Frances, Ontario. The bill in question had a photo of Elvis Presley on it, which led the local hicktown paper (The Fort Frances Times) to wonder if Elvis was being officially commemorated by the US government, since he had died a month or so earlier. Of course, I had to go and straighten them out...but the local editor had apparently wanted to believe that the situation was real...
Value of such bills is--get ready for it--$1.00. With Shaun Cassidy's photo (or any one else's for that matter), there is likely a curiousity factor to an extent, but not one that should make the item worth an outrageous amount...especially since there was no official government sanction in regard to these items...

The Mike Humbert Department!