The Secret of The Old Clock - 1959 Edition

1959 Edition

Eighteen year-old Nancy is prompted to help the Crowley kin by her affection for Crowley's distant relative, little Judy, who's being raised by the elderly Turner sisters; later, while she's looking for the Hoover sisters, she happens upon their farm during a downpour and shelters with them to dry off because her convertible top malfunctioned. In the original version the sisters had wanted to improve their hatchery and dressmaking skills; here, Allison Hoover is helped to obtain singing lessons. Nancy is more refined, with an extensive wardrobe and a more charitable outlook. Crowley's initial "heirs" are depicted as very undeserving of wealth; and Helen is older (in preparation for her eventual "write-out" after Volume 4 of the revised series—no explanation is made in the original series to introduce Bess and George, although two figures illustrated in the same vein as these girls appear in a 1959 illustration at a girls' camp). The action is increased significantly, and is faster-paced. Greater detail is given to develop Nancy and her home; her encounter with the undeserving Topham sisters now centers around a torn evening dress instead of a broken vase, as in the original story. Racial stereotypes and all minor characters are omitted; the caretaker is now elderly. Nancy catches up with the thieves when they stop to dine, instead of drinking illegal-era alcohol. The final scene, which is the reading of the will which disinherits the Tophams, focuses on the delight of rewarding the deserving Crowley kin, instead of Nancy's elitist desire to down-class the snobbish Topham family.