Daddy's girl and the most subversive moment in children's literature

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson wrote adventure stories for adolescents. Most famously, she created the character of Nancy Drew. Nancy was later softened up considerably but the original character was quite a break from the usual mode of young heroines; she even carries a gun in the fourth volume of the series. She is rightly seen as a key figure in the development of a new kind of role model for girls, something not quite feminist but definitely liberating.

Benson created not only Nancy Drew but also Penny Parker, Penny Nichols, Connie Carl, Madge Sterling and Ruth Darrow. The girls are all variations on a type. Here, for example, is how Penny Nichols is introduced to us in The Mystery of the Lost Key,

Mr. Nichols had no real hobbies and only two absorbing interests in life—his work and his daughter. Penny had been left motherless at an early age. Because there had been only a slight feminine influence in her life her outlook upon the world was somewhat different from that of the average high school girl. She thought clearly and frankly spoke her mind. Yet if she enjoyed an unusual amount of freedom for one so young, she never abused the trust which her father placed in her.

They all had doting fathers and dead mothers. Madge Sterling and Connie Carl's fathers are also dead at the outset of their adventure stories but both fathers are remembered with love. The mothers? Not so much. They don't even register.

Now, that in itself is not necessarily surprising. One of the most dependable moves in children's literature is to get mom, dad or both parents off stage as quickly as possible. In real life parents are a source of comfort and protection but it is precisely that which makes them a little restricting in fiction so along comes Peter Pan or the kidnappers to whisk us a way to adventure. But Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson is rather single minded about removing mother while keeping a loving and indulging father around.

And you ain't seen nothing until you've read the introduction of Penny Parker in the fourth of the series devoted to her with the wonderful title of Behind the Green Door. These introductions appeared in every volume of series books, just in case a young reader started the series in the middle and had no idea who the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew or Penny Parker was. Benson must have been feeling a little feisty when she wrote this one:

A red-billed cap pulled at a jaunty angle over her blond curls, Penny made a striking figure in the well tailored suit of dark wool. Her eyes sparkled with the joy of youth and it was easy for her to smile. She was an only child, the daughter of Anthony Parker, editor and publisher of the Riverview Star, and her mother had died when she was very young.

Thousands of teenage girls read that and briefly considered how much easier it might be for them also to smile if only mom had died when they were very young.

The "very young" part is important. Get her off stage before you really get to know her; that way you don't have to feel bad because she was someone you never knew. But don't kid yourself, these books were anti-mother in a way that had not been seen before.

The title of this book went on to have a life of its own. It comes back first as a slightly risqué pop song from 1956 and then as a, if you'll pardon the expression, seminal porn movie. Here's the song: