the ted scott flying seriesby Franklin W. DixonTitles - Cover Art - Frontispiece Art - Plot Guide - Reviews - Vol. 1 Outline - Facebook Fan Forum Home
“You'll like Ted Scott. He's a daring young American whose feats of flying thrill the whole world, but he keeps a level head on his shoulders. The whole flying series has been inspired by recent aerial exploits and is dedicated to Lindbergh, Commander Byrd, Clarence Chamberlin and other heroes of the skies.” - 1930s Grosset & Dunlap advertisement.
Publishing Information![]()
Ted Scott is a product of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, published by Grosset & Dunlap from 1927 to 1943.
There are two binding styles: red (1927-1932, volumes 1-15) and tan (1932-1943, all volumes). Volume 15, "Following The Sun Shadow", in the red binding is a rare edition having gone thru only one printing when the change to tan binding occured in 1932, similar to the rare Hardy Boys red binding edition of "While The Clock Ticked" and the tan quad binding of "Tom Swift and His Giant Magnet". All editions have a unique full color dustjacket on coated paper and glossy frontispiece, except vols. 19 & 20 in which the frontispieces are printed on plain paper. Red editions had plain endpapers, tan editions had illustrated endpapers. -» -» -» -» The pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon was also used for the Hardy Boys stories. For the first several years of publication, the Ted Scott series outsold the Hardy Boys by a wide margin. Author for all volumes was John Duffield
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My Review Of "Over The Ocean To Paris"
COMMENTS: The Ted Scott series was written to cash in on the aviation craze that swept the nation after "Lucky Lindy" made his famous flight. This story is so close to recounting that flight and Ted Scott so closely resembles Charles Lindbergh, it's a wonder Lindy didn't sue for royalties! The Syndicate must have had it's ghosts working overtime on this volume, since it hit the stands not long after Lindy landed in Paris! Aviation stories had become a staple for "Boys" series' starting not long after Wilbur & Orville made the first flight, however, there were several other aviation series started around this time (Andy Lane, Slim Tyler, Randy Starr among others) but, for my money, the Ted Scott series is superior to them all. This story is well written (surprisingly so, considering the fact that it was rushed into print). It carries the reader along with the right blend of action, adventure and a bit of mystery. I don't know if kids back then were smarter but the prose is certainly superior to that which is written to the same age group today. Ted is a likable hero; loyal, brave, intelligent and self-effacing to a fault and, despite the fact that Ted has amazingly bad luck in the air, his adventures aren't too improbable. |
My Review Of "The Search for the Lost Flyers"
As is to be expected, the journey is not exactly going to be a walk in the park. First, that old reliable Stratemeyer device, the giant man-eating octopus, apparently wearied of chasing Don Sturdy and his pals about, had taken up residence in the Cave and was not partial to visitors. Secondly, Monet's half-brother, in his haste to escape the beast, neglected to note the location of the island before sailing off on a crudely constructed raft. Picked up at sea several days later, crazed and about to expire, the best he could manage was a crude map showing the palm trees arranged in a cross and the legend "Look at it through the sun." Monet and Ted's pal, Tom Ralston, fly to the West Indies in the Blue Gull and, of course, are promptly lost. In the meantime, several chapter filling extraneous events occurs which do absolutely nothing to advance the plot. 1: Eban and Charity Browning are assaulted and robbed by Greg and Duck Gale, who promptly depart Bromville after their customary thrashing by Ted. 2: Ted rescues two small boys from being swept over a waterfall after the requisite storm set fire to his plane and forces him to land. 3: Monet's niece, Nina, arrives in Bromville, bad French accent and all, and takes up residence with Eban and Charity. Finally, Ted and Walter Hapworth decide to fly down to the West Indies to locate their chums. After several chapters of milling around, which includes being caught in a hurricane, and the attempted kidnapping/robbery of the pair by a gigantic Haitian gang leader, the stalwart duo find the elusive Island of the Cross of Palms and, of course, their lost pals. Ted and Hapworth swim into the Cave of Pearls, retrieve a fortune in pearls and then get chased by the tentacled giant and are forced to dig their way to freedom. Then they conveniently find Greg and Duck Gale and capture them. Everything now wrapped up, they all fly home. This is a very weak entry in this series. Chapter after chapter go by without any attempt to advance the plot. The requisite storms, rescues, and self-effacing gestures from Ted abound. Character are introduced and exit without having any bearing on the plot. Why? As Ted's closing remark in the book says: "Search me!" |
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Foreign Editions of Over The Ocean To Paris | |
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![]() Hungarian Publisher: Révai Kiadás Illustrator: Márton Lajos |