I seriously love my Nancy Drew books. I can read them and re-read them and they never get old for me. But after re-reading them so many times I begin to notice odd things that she wears and eats in them. Or to put it better, things that are odd to me. I understand this is primarily the time period that these were written in and I'm sure they've been updated but I find them odd nonetheless. Now, on to the things I noticed.
The story begins with Nancy Drew and her friend Helen Corning at Twin Lakes. Nancy has to unexpectedly return home because the housekeeper Hannah Gruen has sprained her ankle.
In Ch. 5 Nancy is going to heat up a casserole for dinner for Hannah in the modern pink-and-white kitchen. She arranges two wooden trays with doilies, napkins and silver. She places bread, butter and a glass of milk on each. And lastly she makes a crisp salad of lettuce and tomatoes marinated with tangy French dressing.
Has anyone ever even used a doily? I checked and the copyright on this particular book is 1960. That could also explain the phone number she called on the next page of the book. 942 HA 5-4727.
::sidenote:: NOT SO OBVIOUS 5 ALERT!!
9 + 4 + 2 + 8(H is the 8th letter of the alphabet) + 1 (A is the first letter of the alphabet) + 5 + 4 + 7 + 2 + 7 = 49 4 from 9 is...drum roll.... 5!
Also in chapter 5 they have a fairly normal breakfast of pancakes and sausage with extra juicy oranges.
Nancy is going to help her Dad with some investigating in Ch. 6. To do this she wears a two-piece navy-blue dress which made her look older than her 18 years. She added a pair of comfortable pumps and tiny pearl earrings.
Also in Chapter 6, even though Hannah had a sprained ankle she managed to prepare a fresh fruit salad and had rolls that were ready to pop in the oven. Mmmmm....sounds good.
Nancy wanted to do some sleuthing in Ch. 9 and wore a forest-green cotton dress and flat-heeled brown play shoes. I still haven't figured out what play shoes are. Anyone have any guesses?
Ch. 10 lets us know that Nancy always carries an overnight case in the trunk of her car. It contained pajamas and robe, two changes of clothing, toilet articles, and, this time of year, a bathing suit.
For supper in Ch. 11 Nancy chose to wear a simple black cotton dress. She selected a steak, a baked potato and a tossed salad for her meal. After supper Nancy changed to walking shoes, sweater and a skirt to do some detective work.
The Bungalow Mystery wraps up with everyone enjoying ice tea and some of Hannah's open faced sandwiches.
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First let me tell you I looked up the definition of doily - just to see if my memory was correct - because my mom used them under lamps on the end tables in the living room. My grandma used them there and placed them across the back of her couches & chairs but they did not use them with food, maybe because they never prepared trays for people to eat of off. By the way I was born in 1959, I think my mom & grandma finally put their doilies away in the early 70's. Thanks for bring back some good memories I hadn't thought about in years - who would think doilies could trigger fun memories.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that my post triggered some great memories! I remembered them being used under lamps and such but not necessarily with food. I do see the paper doilies around Valentine's day but not many other times. I think some things need to be brought back. :)
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