Leslie McFarlane

2025-10-26T04:05:37Z

2600:E001:1EE:AC00:8499:C3A2:239B:4A5F: I added the name of his daughter. She is mentioned in the text but not listed as his children

{{Short description|Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker}}
{{Infobox writer 
| image =
| name = Leslie McFarlane
| birth_name = Charles Leslie McFarlane
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|10|25}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1977|9|6|1902|10|25}}
| birth_place = [[Carleton Place, Ontario]], Canada
| death_place = [[Oshawa, Ontario]], Canada
| occupation = [[novelist]], [[screenwriter]], [[journalist]], [[filmmaker]]
| genre = [[Young adult fiction|Young adult]] [[adventure fiction]]
| pseudonym = [[Franklin W. Dixon]], [[Carolyn Keene]]
| notableworks = [[Hardy Boys]] series
| children = [[Brian McFarlane]] [[Norah A. Perez]]
}}
'''Charles Leslie McFarlane''' (October 25, 1902 – September 6, 1977)<ref>[http://images.ourontario.ca/whitby/2509494/data images.ourontario.ca]</ref> was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[journalist]], [[novelist]], [[screenwriter]], and [[filmmaker]], who is most famous for [[ghostwriting]] many of the early books in the very successful ''[[Hardy Boys]]'' series, using the [[Pen name#Collective names|pseudonym]] [[Franklin W. Dixon]].<ref name="Posner">{{cite news| last=Posner|first=Michael| title=A reluctant author of bestsellers| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/a-reluctant-author-of-bestsellers/article973347/ |access-date=2009-03-18 |newspaper=Globe and Mail| date=2006-12-18| location=London}}</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===

The son of a school principal, McFarlane was raised in the town of [[Haileybury, Ontario]]. He became a freelance writer shortly after high school. He and his family moved to [[Whitby, Ontario]], in 1936. {{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}
This period is described in his 1975 book ''A Kid in Haileybury''.

=== Journalist ===

As a young man he worked in [[Sudbury, Ontario]], as a newspaper reporter, then for a weekly paper in Toronto, before taking a job at the ''Springfield Republican'' newspaper in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]].

=== Stratemeyer Syndicate ===

While in the U.S., he replied to a want ad placed by the [[Stratemeyer Syndicate]], publisher of such titles as ''[[Tom Swift]]'' and the ''[[Bobbsey Twins]]''. As a result, he freelanced in 1926 and 1927 as one of the authors using the pseudonym [[Roy Rockwood]] to write seven of the ''Dave Fearless'' serialized mystery novels.<ref name="SS1">{{cite web| last=Andrews|first=Dale| title=The Hardy Boys Mystery | url=http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/08/the-hardy-boys-mystery_27.html |work=Children's books |publisher=SleuthSayers| location=Washington| date=2013-08-27}}</ref>

====The Hardy Boys====

This led to his involvement with the ''Hardy 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 the [[Great Depression]], yet he continued because he had a growing family.<ref name="SS1" />

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."<ref name="Posner" />

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."<ref name="Posner" />

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.<ref name="Posner" /><ref name="SS1" />

====Nancy Drew, The Dana Girls====

McFarlane also wrote the first four volumes of ''The Dana Girls'' series for the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym [[Carolyn Keene]],<ref name="McFarlane">{{cite book|last=McFarlane |first=Leslie |title="Ghost of the Hardy Boys", 1976 |pages=198–9| publisher=Methuen Publications|year=1976| isbn=0-8467-0157-X}}</ref> which the Syndicate also used for the [[Nancy Drew]] series of books.

====Authorship of The Phantom Freighter====

Although there are claims that his last ''Hardy Boys'' book, ''The Phantom Freighter'', was actually written by his wife Amy,<ref>[http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-292-1543-10/on_this_day/arts_entertainment/leslie_mcfarlane_obit "Remembering Hardy Boys author Leslie McFarlane," CBC Radio]</ref> his biographer [[Marilyn Greenwald]] concluded that this was unlikely.<ref name="Greenwald">{{cite book|last=Greenwald|first=Marilyn S.|title=The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate|publisher=Ohio University Press|location=Athwens, GA|year=2004|isbn=0-8214-1547-6|url=http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/The+Secret+of+the+Hardy+Boys}}</ref>
In his 1976 autobiography ''Ghost of the Hardy Boys'', McFarlane says that ''The 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 the [[National Film Board of Canada]] (NFB). As part of the NFB in [[Montreal]], he wrote and directed documentaries and short dramas including the 1951 documentary ''[[Royal Journey]]'', as well as ''Here's Hockey'', a 1953 documentary about [[ice hockey]] featuring [[Montreal Canadiens]] star [[Jean Béliveau]]. He also wrote the documentary titled ''[[Herring Hunt]]'', nominated for an [[Academy Award]] for Live Action Short Film.<ref name="NFB Herring Hunt">{{cite web|url=http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=14205|title=Herring Hunt|year=1953|work=Collection|publisher=National Film Board of Canada|access-date=2009-10-04}}</ref> Moving to Toronto he wrote for [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] television and at the suggestion of his friend [[Lorne 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.durhamregion.com/DurhamRegion/Article/1115903|title = Durham Region's Online Newspaper}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.durhamregion.com/search/?q=Leslie+McFarlane|title = Durham Region Newspaper, Leslie McFarlane}}</ref>

His son, [[Brian McFarlane]], is well known as a former commentator on ''[[Hockey Night in Canada]]''.

He was the subject of the 2004 book ''The Secret of the Hardy Boys: Leslie McFarlane and the Stratemeyer Syndicate'' by Marilyn Greenwald.<ref name="Greenwald" />

In 2006, [[McMaster University]] in Hamilton, Ontario, acquired Leslie McFarlane's diaries, correspondence, and early material, along with first editions of ''The Secret of the Caves'' and ''The 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=4410 |title=''McMaster Daily News'' (Dec. 20, 2006). |access-date=2006-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706185458/http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=4410 |archive-date=2011-07-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== 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:
# ''[[The Tower Treasure]]'' (1927)
# ''[[The House on the Cliff]] '' (1927)
# ''[[The Secret of the Old Mill]] '' (1927)
# ''[[The Missing Chums]]'' (1928)
# ''[[Hunting for Hidden Gold]]'' (1928)
# ''[[The Shore Road Mystery]]'' (1928)
# ''[[The Secret of the Caves]]'' (1929)
# ''[[The Mystery of Cabin Island]]'' (1929)
# ''[[The Great Airport Mystery]]'' (1930)
# ''[[What Happened at Midnight]]'' (1931)
# ''[[While the Clock Ticked]]'' (1932)
# ''[[Footprints Under the Window]]'' (1933)†
# ''[[The Mark on the Door]]'' (1934)†
# ''[[The Hidden Harbor Mystery]]'' (1935)†
# ''[[The Sinister Signpost]]'' (1936)
# ''[[A Figure in Hiding]]'' (1937)
# ''[[The Secret Warning]]'' (1938)
# ''[[The Flickering Torch Mystery]]'' (1943)
# ''[[The Melted Coins]]'' (1944)
# ''[[The Short-Wave Mystery]]'' (1945)
# ''[[The Secret Panel]]'' (1946)
# ''[[The Phantom Freighter]]'' (1947)‡

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

;[[The Dana Girls|Dana Girls Mystery Books]]
# ''By the Light of the Study Lamp'' (1934)
# ''The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage'' (1934)
# ''In the Shadow of the Tower'' (1934)
# ''A Three-Cornered Mystery'' (1935)

== References ==
<references/>

==External links==
* {{Wikisource author-inline|Charles Leslie McFarlane}}
* [https://www.nfb.ca/explore-all-directors/leslie-mcfarlane?language=en Watch Leslie McFarlane's National Film Board of Canada documentaries at NFB.ca]
* [http://www.keeline.com/McFarlane/ Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224123111/http://www.keeline.com/McFarlane/ |date=2012-12-24 }}

{{Hardy Boys}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarlane, Leslie}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian children's writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriate writers in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Carleton Place]]
[[Category:People from Temiskaming Shores]]
[[Category:Stratemeyer Syndicate]]
[[Category:Film directors from Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian male novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian male screenwriters]]
[[Category:National Film Board of Canada people]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian screenwriters]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Ontario]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Ontario]]

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Leslie McFarlane