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Recently in Salon Mothers Who Think

Fathers, sons and football
I spent my NFL career struggling to escape the long arm of my judgmental father -- and the coaches who took his place. Was I fated to subject my sons to the same treatment?
By Pat Toomay
[10/08/99]

What would Nancy do?
The sleuth of my mother's youth reveals life's mysteries.
By Amy Benfer
[10/07/99]

Perky fellows in a gay-looking speedwagon: The Hardy Boys return
At last, a revival of unexpurgated Frank and Joe.
By Steve Burgess
[10/07/99]

She wins bread, he loafs
Raised to be helpless, partial to pipe dreams, this dad sings the praises of the working wife.
By Rob Ryder
[10/06/99]

Make the dough, do the laundry: Life as a breadwinner mom
Dad's at home, Mom's raking in the bucks -- everything's cool, right? Not exactly.
By Dianne Lake
[10/05/99]

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In 1929, Edward Stratemeyer hired Mildred Wirt, a young journalist, to ghostwrite a new mystery series for young girls. The heroine was the wildly popular Nancy Drew, who continues to sell copies -- and generate new titles -- 70 years later. Today, Mildred Wirt Benson, the "original" Carolyn Keene, lives in Toledo, Ohio. Each workday, she reports to the Toledo Blade, the newspaper where she has worked full-time for the last 55 years; her weekly column appears each Saturday.

So you're a celebrity. Do people in Toledo know who you are?

Oh yes. I've had an awful lot of publicity. I don't want to sound boastful. I get fan mail from all over the country and from foreign countries. It never lets up.

From children or adults?

I'd say it's half and half. The original fans now are in their 60s and 70s. But they give them to their grandchildren and I hear from them; I hear from schoolchildren. Oddly enough, I hear from some about books that I never wrote.

Nancy Drew Sleuthing a vanished American girlhood Hale fellows well writ The original Hardy Boys are back

They ask a million questions. The questions are all pretty much routine, but once in a while, they tell about experiences they've had and they think that Nancy Drew inspired them. I remember one girl said that she was actually locked in a trunk by a hold-up guy and she thought of Nancy Drew. She got out by her own efforts, which she attributed to Nancy Drew. That one surprised me.

I used to answer every letter. Now I answer most of them, but I don't answer all of them because my eyesight is not good enough now that I can do much writing.

How did you feel about being Carolyn Keene?

I didn't analyze it. It was just a job to do. Some things I liked and some things I did not like. It was a day's work. I did it just like I did my newspaper work. I wrote from early morning to late night for a good many years. One year I wrote 13 full-length books and held down a job besides. That takes a good deal of work.

What do you think of the revised versions written by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams?

I wouldn't want to comment on them, because I don't read them. She was the owner of the business, so it wasn't my place to think about it. I just accepted it. But some of the rewriting I did not particularly enjoy.

Do you feel that she changed the character of Nancy?

Yes, considerably. She made her into a traditional sort of a heroine. More of a house type. And in her day, that is what I had specifically gotten away from.

She was ahead of her time. She was not typical. She was what the girls were ready for and were aspiring for, but had not achieved.

Why did they become so popular?

The girls were ripe for a change in literature. They were way overdue for a good, entertaining story, that broke away from the old style of writing. I think Nancy was the character the girls were waiting for. They were just waiting for someone to verbalize it.

What do you think of people who recast Nancy as a feminist heroine?

I don't align her with the feminist movement at all. That was never in my mind. She was an individual, from start to finish. She was never a person to promote any kind of movement. She was just a person who believed in her own freedom.

Next page | "I didn't intend for Nancy to be a runaround"