Leslie McFarlane

Leslie McFarlane
Born	Charles Leslie McFarlane (1902-10-25)October 25, 1902 Carleton Place, Ontario,Canada
Died	September 6, 1977(1977-09-06)(aged 74) Oshawa, Ontario,Canada
Pen name	Franklin W. Dixon,Carolyn Keene
Occupation	novelist,screenwriter,journalist,filmmaker
Genre	Young adultadventure fiction
Notable works	Hardy Boysseries
Children	Brian McFarlane

Charles Leslie McFarlane(October 25, 1902 – September 6, 1977)was aCanadianjournalist,novelist,screenwriter,andfilmmaker,who is most famous forghostwritingmany of the early books in the very successfulHardy Boysseries, using thepseudonymFranklin W. Dixon.

Biography

Early life

The son of a school principal, McFarlane was raised in the town ofHaileybury, Ontario.He became a freelance writer shortly after high school. He and his family moved toWhitby, Ontario,in 1936. This period is described in his 1975 bookA Kid in Haileybury.

Journalist

As a young man he worked inSudbury, Ontario,as a newspaper reporter, then for a weekly paper in Toronto, before taking a job at theSpringfield Republicannewspaper inSpringfield, Massachusetts.

Stratemeyer Syndicate

While in the U.S., he replied to a want ad placed by theStratemeyer Syndicate,publisher of such titles asTom Swiftand theBobbsey Twins.As a result, he freelanced in 1926 and 1927 as one of the authors using the pseudonymRoy Rockwoodto write seven of theDave Fearlessserialized mystery novels.

The Hardy Boys

This led to his involvement with theHardy Boys,a project on which he was a large contributor, writing 19 of the first 25 books between 1927 and 1946, and 21 overall. He also wrote books in several other juvenile series, published in pulp magazines, novellas or novels over his fifty-year career, at one point writing six novels in one year. McFarlane earned as little as $85 per book during theGreat Depression,yet he continued because he had a growing family.

According to his son, McFarlane regarded the Hardy Boys books as a nuisance. "In his diaries, my father talks about having to write another of those cursed books, in order to earn another $100 to buy coal for the furnace. And he never read them over afterward. It was only much later that he accepted plaudits for the work."

His daughter, Norah McFarlane Perez, said in an interview that "They'd give him an outline, but to make it palatable, he'd come up with different characters and add colour and use large words, and inject his wonderful sense of humour. And then he'd finish and say, 'I will never write another juvenile book.' But then the bills would pile up and he'd start another."

However, McFarlane was not bitter about not earning a cut of the enormous revenues generated by his work. "He was very philosophical about it. His attitude was, 'Look, I took these on and I was glad to get the deal.' There was no rancour," according to his daughter.

Nancy Drew, The Dana Girls

McFarlane also wrote the first four volumes ofThe Dana Girlsseries for the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonymCarolyn Keene,which the Syndicate also used for theNancy Drewseries of books.

Authorship of The Phantom Freighter

Although there are claims that his lastHardy Boysbook,The Phantom Freighter,was actually written by his wife Amy,his biographerMarilyn Greenwaldconcluded that this was unlikely. In his 1976 autobiographyGhost of the Hardy Boys,McFarlane says thatThe Phantom Freighter"was written in 1946 in motel rooms at night on a location in Nova Scotia when I was directing a film".

Film and television work

While still writing for the series for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, McFarlane returned to Canada to work for theNational Film Board of Canada(NFB). As part of the NFB inMontreal,he wrote and directed documentaries and short dramas including the 1951 documentaryRoyal Journey,as well asHere's Hockey,a 1953 documentary aboutice hockeyfeaturingMontreal CanadiensstarJean Béliveau.He also wrote the documentary titledHerring Hunt,nominated for anAcademy Awardfor Live Action Short Film.Moving to Toronto he wrote forCBCtelevision and at the suggestion of his friendLorne Greene.

Legacy

The Leslie McFarlane Public School in Whitby, Ontario, was named in his honour until it was demolished in early 2010 when it was deemed more expensive to repair than it would be to build a new structure.

His son,Brian McFarlane,is well known as a former commentator onHockey Night in Canada.

He was the subject of the 2004 bookThe Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicateby Marilyn Greenwald.

In 2006,McMaster Universityin Hamilton, Ontario, acquired Leslie McFarlane's diaries, correspondence, and early material, along with first editions ofThe Secret of the CavesandThe Tower Treasure.The university plans to acquire early first editions of all of McFarlane's books. The archive donated to McMaster is estimated to have a value of $150,000.

Bibliography

Autobiographies

• A Kid in Haileybury(1975, 2nd ed. 1996)
• Ghost of the Hardy Boys(1976)

Mysteries

• Streets of Shadow(1930)
• The Murder Tree(1931)
• Agent of the Falcon(1975)
• Mystery of Spider Lake(1975)
• Squeeze Play(1975)
• The Dynamite Flynns(1975)
• The Snow Hawk(1976)
• Breakaway(1976)

The Hardy Boys books attributed to Leslie McFarlane

1. The Tower Treasure(1927)
2. The House on the Cliff(1927)
3. The Secret of the Old Mill(1927)
4. The Missing Chums(1928)
5. Hunting for Hidden Gold(1928)
6. The Shore Road Mystery(1928)
7. The Secret of the Caves(1929)
8. The Mystery of Cabin Island(1929)
9. The Great Airport Mystery(1930)
10. What Happened at Midnight(1931)
11. While the Clock Ticked(1932)
12. Footprints Under the Window(1933)†
13. The Mark on the Door(1934)†
14. The Hidden Harbor Mystery(1935)†
15. The Sinister Signpost(1936)
16. A Figure in Hiding(1937)
17. The Secret Warning(1938)
18. The Flickering Torch Mystery(1943)
19. The Melted Coins(1944)
20. The Short-Wave Mystery(1945)
21. The Secret Panel(1946)
22. The Phantom Freighter(1947)‡

† Disputed, as the writing style differs significantly from other work known to be McFarlane's.
‡ Syndicate records show the paid author was McFarlane's wife Amy, but McFarlane took credit for this volume in his autobiography.

Dana Girls Mystery Books

1. By the Light of the Study Lamp(1934)
2. The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage(1934)
3. In the Shadow of the Tower(1934)
4. A Three-Cornered Mystery(1935)

External links

• Watch Leslie McFarlane's National Film Board of Canada documentaries at NFB.ca
• BiographyArchived2012-12-24 at theWayback Machine