Happy New Year and welcome to the first annual edition of Public Domain Theater, in which I kick off the year with a reading of an important work of American literature that entered the public domain on January 1st of the current year.
In looking at the publications of 1930, wondering what stone cold classic novella And it's a novella because I'm not going to read for dozens of hours at a time.
It might be that there was really only one choice.
In part because 1930 was actually a little bit of a thin year in terms of enduring literature.
And in part because there was no way I was going to do 30 different accents for a Faulkner novel.
So I got a fun one for you today to kick off this new tradition.
The first Nancy Drew mystery, the secret of the old clock, which I have never read.
At least not until I press record on this here recording and you will notice that I never read it because about two hours and 15 minutes in you will encounter me Encountering for the first time a wildly wildly racist depiction of the book's only black character.
He makes a mercifully brief appearance But I read him as best as I was able to without giving in to the insane characterization So word of warning that is in chapter 17 But I did so I just continued on because part of the interest in reading old books is the way that it gives you a window into life and the way life was lived in its time And if you've read this book you have likely not actually read this version There was a new shorter tighter version written in the 1950s that was largely done to make the story move a little bit faster for the children of the television age But they also kind of pointedly softened the not particularly sharp class critique that its author, Mildred Wurt Benson, writing under a nom de plume laid in there, which is fascinating because to me, a person who'd never read a Nancy Drew book, her class consciousness is one of the things that makes her so appealing.
So anyway, new episode on the way, but in the meantime, here is the first annual edition of Public Domain Theater.
The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keane Chapter 1 The Lost Will It would be a shame if all that money went to the Toppums.
They'll fly higher than ever.
Nancy Drew, a pretty girl of 16, leaned over to the library table and addressed her father, who sat reading a newspaper by the study lamp.
Beg your pardon, Nancy.
What were you saying about the Toppums?
Carson drew a noted criminal and mystery case lawyer, known far and wide for his work as a former district attorney, looked up from his evening newspaper and smiled indulgently upon his only daughter.
Now, as he gave her his respectful attention, he was not particularly concerned about Richard Topham's family, but rather with the rich glow of the lamp upon Nancy's curly golden bob.
Not at all the sort of head which one expected to indulge in serious thoughts, he told himself.
Mischievously, Nancy reached over and tweaked his ear.
You weren't paying a bit of attention, she accused him sternly.