Swift Justice

Teen-agers find a new home

CHAPTER 1: The Birth of a Syndicate

Great Scott! said Tom swiftly. He has been saying it for almost 80 years. So have the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins and the Dana Girls. If they sometimes sounded alike, the resemblance was purely deliberate--they were all created by one Edward Stratemeyer, who died in 1930. Under more than a hundred pseudonyms, Stratemeyer and his ghostwriting syndicate produced thousands of books and millions of sales. But wait! expostulated the heirs and assignees. More than one publisher was interested in the burgeoning royalties that still total millions per year.

CHAPTER 2: The Battle for Boys' Souls Ye gods! mumbled Grosset & Dunlap, theocratically. The publishers of the Stratemeyer books revered their profits.

Ah, but so did Simon & Schuster, which hopes to make millions by publishing new paperback adventures of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins, written by the syndicate under the direction of Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Adams, 87. Not fair! expostulated Grosset, legally. Yes it is! countered S & S.

CHAPTER 3: The Saga's Strange Ending

The decision is final, said the federal district court, judgmentally; it makes no difference if Grosset has had a contract with the Stratemeyer Syndicate since 1930. That was an old story, and the latest adventures are as fresh as this spring's corn. Still, all was not black for Grosset. Although their claim for $300 million in damages was effectively dismissed, they would be allowed to publish the Tom Swift Jr. series, as specified in a 1951 agreement. Ruefully, the combatants might recall the innocent days when all that fictive boys and girls had to worry about was Melted Coins and The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion.

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