Tea with Heather Cunningham
Today is Giving Tuesday, and I’m delighted to welcome my friend and colleague, Heather Cunningham, to Tea and Infamy. Heather E. Cunningham is primarily a stage actress located in New York City. Born in Brooklyn, New York, her father, Jack is a former set designer, and her mother, Rebecca, is a retired professor of costume design and construction at Brooklyn College and the author of the costume text The Magic Garment, Principles of Costume Design. In October 2003, Heather and two other women formed River Heights Productions. They had their first production in March of 2005. When RHP disbanded, Heather continued its mission statement, renaming the company Retro Productions. Retro has been nominated for a total of 34 New York Innovative Theatre Awards, winning three and being named the 2017 Caffe Cino Fellowship Award Winner for Outstanding Continued Work in Off-Off Broadway.
Heather is also a collector of YA books for girls from the 1900s through the 1980s. Welcome to Tea and Infamy Heather!
What inspired you to start collecting YA books for girls from this era? What drew you to start collecting Nancy Drew books in particular?
I was a huge fan as a kid - I recall that about half a dozen Nancy Drew books came my way as a hand-me-down from a neighbor across the street two or three years older than me. I don’t remember exactly which titles they were, but they all had that iconic yellow spine. So the fandom starts there.
Just over 20 years ago, I was forming a theater company with some like-minded Nancy Drew fans and thinking of bringing a Nancy Drew Mystery Story to the stage. We all resolved to read as many of the original 56 books as possible to choose a title on which to base our production. In that process, I bought my old books and searched used bookstores and online sellers for these older editions. I fell in love all over again (there is something special about the paper they are printed on, the weight of the covers, the illustrations). I started collecting in earnest at that point - but only Nancy Drew. (We never did get to bring our version of The Clue in the Diary to the stage despite a lot of interest and admission to the International Fringe Festival. We got permission from Grosset and Dunlap only to discover that Warner Brothers held the character rights and would never give us the go-ahead. They had a movie coming out with Julia Roberts' niece playing Nancy. I saw it. I will not speak to it.)
After some time, my collection started branching out. I started with Betty Gordon and Ruth Fielding when I learned that some of them had been ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt Benson, who had also ghostwritten several of the first dozen Nancy Drew books.
After a while, I just started going deeper. I want to sidebar here to say that I have read every book on my bookshelf - I don’t just buy them and put them up where they can be pretty - I read them and for the most part I enjoy them all on some level. There’s a time machine feeling to them - they take me back to childhood - but also to a time before cell phones and computers and noise.
Do you remember the first book in your collection? Why was it significant to you?
I actually don’t! Isn’t that sad? I know I had several when I was a kid, and they are all still part of my collection, but I have no idea which came first.
Which Nancy Drew mystery is your favorite, and why?
I am VERY FOND of The Clue in the Jewel Box. I love the pseudo-Anastasia story (Anastasia Romanov clearly inspires it), the fact that Nancy and her chums are actually traveling via bicycle instead of her beloved roadster (with zero explanation!), that Helen Corning - Nancy’s long lost chum from the first few books - makes an appearance, and that the nice guy gets the girl in the end (as opposed to the oaf who tried too hard). And, of course, there is fashion! Nancy is always the best dressed at the dinner dance, but this time - it’s a fashion show, and Nancy is the STAR!
Are you collecting all editions, or do you focus on specific ones, like original releases or certain cover designs?
If I'm being honest, I collect what I find. However, it was definitely an early ambition to collect all 56 originals and at least one of each cover art of the yellow spines.
One of the jewels in my crown is “The Smoking Man” cover of The Clue of the Broken Locket, a rare yellow-spine edition. Apparently, after a run had been published, someone realized that it might not be a great idea to have a man smoking a pipe on the cover of a book intended for young girls, so they discontinued that artwork in favor of something a little more appropriate.
At this point, I’m also very interested in finding pre-1960s editions with their dust covers still intact, which is no small feat. Of course, this makes them more valuable to collectors and sellers, but I have a strict price cap on what I will spend on these books. I also love finding books with the original Russell Tandy artwork in them.
How do you typically acquire the books in your collection?
Antique Malls. The majority of them come from antiquing, which is a favorite pastime of mine. Sometimes, used bookstores as well. When I started out, I used eBay and sites like Alibris, but I was on a time crunch because we were trying to do the stage show. Now I prefer to find them IRL, as the kids like to say. It is WAY more thrilling! I love the hunt!
What has been the most challenging book to find, and how did you come across it?
As an actor and producer, I am OBSESSED with the Peggy Lane Theater Stories. I have the first four - but I have not seen titles 5-8 in person, ever. When you do see them online the prices are astronomical. Also, from the Ruth Fielding series, I would love to own Ruth Fielding and Baby June. I assume, though I have never read it, that the Baby June of the title is June Havoc (Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister, the vaudeville star and marathon dancer), and I am dying to get my hands on it. I’ve only seen it once in person at an antique store in Virginia, and quite frankly, it was very expensive. There was no way we were going to agree on the price.
Are there any books or series you’re still searching for from this era?
See above. But I’d also love to find the rest of the Khaki Girls series. I have three of the books from this series about two young women who volunteered for the war effort during the Great War. I know there to be at least one more that I do not have: The Khaki Girls of the Motor Corp or Finding Their Place in the Big War—the first one of the series!
Do you have any memorable stories about purchasing or discovering a rare title?
Actually, yes! One day at a small antique store in Schoharie County, NY I found a book that was not in English but the cover was unmistakably The Clue in the Crumbling Wall. Naturally, I bought it, but it was a bit of a mystery (and the only one of my books I’ve never read) until a friend stopped by and told me it was Swedish! In Sweden, Nancy was renamed Kitty, and my friend, who is fluent in Swedish, confirmed that the title was roughly translated into The Crumbling Wall.
Are there any aspects of these stories that feel timeless, or do they mostly feel rooted in their era?
To me they all feel timeless but of course they are firmly rooted in the early part of the 20th Century. What I love so much is that Nancy has to use her wits to solve the mysteries. Not the computer on her wrist or in her back pocket.
What is your favorite series in your collection and why?
I mean, I’m a Nancy girl, through and through!
What do you think made series like Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, or Trixie Belden resonate so strongly with readers?
Strong female characters. Little girls want that, and so do grown women. The lead characters in most of these books are strong females, often independent, intelligent, and incredibly good at what they do. And yet they aren’t perfect… They make mistakes, too. But they all have some identity related to a job (even if, like Nancy, they won’t take remuneration for it).
Nancy Drew is a sleuth, Cherry Ames is a nurse, Peggy Lane is an actress, Beverly Gray is a journalist, and then there is Ruth Fielding. Ruth is extraordinary. At the beginning of the series, she is a pre-teen orphan who goes to live with a miserly uncle. She helps him retrieve something valuable so to show his thanks he sends her to the boarding school she longs to attend. She is smart and has some adventures, sure. But unlike Nancy, she actually ages from book to book. When she is a senior she wins a writing contest for a movie scenario. She joins the war effort during the Great War. But before long she is writing movies professionally, eventually becoming a director and producer with her own production company in Hollywood. And these books were being written at the dawn of motion pictures, between 1913 and 1934! So while the world and technology are changing, Ruth is changing too.
Which lesser-known series deserves more recognition?
I think Beverly Gray, I’d love to read more of those. Since she’s a journalist the possibilities are endless!
If you could bring back one of these series for modern audiences, which one would it be and why?
I don’t love the modernization of Nancy Drew, honestly, so it’s hard for me to answer this.
How do you store and preserve your collection to maintain its condition?
I have them on my living room bookshelves. Nothing special. But for those that have dust jackets I do keep a stock of acid free plastic book covers on hand, and every time I buy an edition with the dust jacket still intact I wrap it in one of those covers before it gets read or put on the shelf. The dust jackets disintegrate so easily if they aren’t cared for.
Do you collect merchandise or memorabilia related to Nancy Drew, or just the books?
Just the books, ma’am. That said, people sometimes give me things. I have some stationary with Nancy Drew book covers on it somewhere…
Have you connected with other Nancy Drew collectors, such as through online groups or conventions?
I know they exist - but no, not really. I did go to a one-day thing about 20 years ago, but I barely remember it. I got a button with the original 1930s Nancy silhouette on it.
What do you think makes Nancy Drew such an enduring and iconic character?
I have to think it’s her wits, pure and simple. That and her freedom - she has only slim parental oversight and the total trust of her Father - so she comes and goes as she pleases. She travels to exotic locations and of course she is beautiful, practical, thoughtful of those around her, and fashionable!
You are also an actress and a producer. Tell us a little bit about Retro Productions.
Well, as I mentioned earlier, just over 20 years ago, some like-minded Nancy fans and I got together to produce The Clue in the Diary for the stage. Unfortunately, we could not get the project across the finish line because Warner Brothers owned the character rights and would not let us proceed. We had already begun raising money for our production so we decided to pivot. Since we planned to set our Nancy play in the 1950s (when the books were being re-written and re-published in shorter versions) I suggested to my cohorts that we find a play that reflected the mid 20th Century. We named our company River Heights Productions after Nancy’s hometown in a nod to how we came together, and we wrote a mission of doing “retro theater.”
After two productions, my co-founders chose to step away. I changed the company's name to Retro Productions but kept the mission and the production history. We specialize in 20th-century period work, with an emphasis on strong roles for women, and in 2025, we will have our 20th Anniversary! I can’t believe how, in the blink of an eye, it has flown by.
And finally, are you a tea drinker? If so, what is your favorite tea?
Bourbon. No, wait, that’s not what you asked.
I am more into coffee, but since you ask, Irish Breakfast all the way. ;)
Thank you, Heather, for stopping by, and if you love theatre, please think about donating to Retro Productions or your favorite small theater today for Giving Tuesday!