![\"Protesting](\"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/GolfScoreProtest-179x300.jpg\")
So this should be my last post about Mortimer Bartescue.<\/p>\nSo this should be my last post about Mortimer Bartescue.<\/p>\n
Should be.<\/p>\n
But I can\u2019t promise. There\u2019s just something fascinating about that man\u2026<\/p>\n
I wrote last week about Mortimer\u2019s makeover<\/a> between the 1937 and 1972 versions of The Haunted Bridge<\/em>. And before that, I wrote about how Nancy Drew won the resort golf tournament<\/a>, despite Mortimer Bartescue being such a pest.<\/p>\n Actually, he\u2019s more than just a pest, isn\u2019t he? He is a man of questionable ethics, as we first discover when he follows Nancy around during the qualifying round of the golf tournament.<\/p>\n Finally her ball was only five feet from the cup. Intensely annoyed, because the man was still with her and still talking, she stepped up to putt. The shot was perfectly played, but at the very edge of the hole the ball stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Nancy! Did you ever!\u201d Bess wailed.<\/p>\n Mortimer Bartescue immediately jumped up and down on the ground, causing the ball to drop into the cup.<\/p>\n \u201cThere, Miss Drew! Your five.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat really wasn\u2019t fair,\u201d Nancy said severely. \u201cI shall count that as an extra putt which gives me a six.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t see why—you didn\u2019t strike the ball—\u201d<\/p>\n Nancy and her chums smiled coldly, and murmuring a few polite phrases, walked to the hotel, leaving the man to stare blankly after them.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s what I find most interesting about that scene. Nancy won\u2019t let Mortimer tamper with her golf score. At all. But the editors who revised the text in 1972 did just that. Just look at the differences between the two texts.<\/p>\n Qualifying round<\/strong><\/p>\n 1937 version: \u201cYou\u2019ll surely qualify, anyway,\u201d Bess said as she studied the card. \u201cGeorge has a hundred and two, my score is a disgraceful hundred and twenty, but Nancy has a brilliant ninety-three!\u201d<\/p>\n 1972 version: \u201cGeorge has an eighty-five. My score is a disgraceful ninety, but, Nancy, you have a brilliant seventy-five!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n First round<\/strong><\/p>\n 1937: \u201cHow was your score?\u201d George inquired, taking the card from Nancy\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n \u201cNot very good. I came in just a few strokes under a hundred. I figure I must get down into the eighties at least to win the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n 1972: \u201cNot very good. I came in with an eighty. I must get down into the low seventies or under to win.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Final round<\/strong><\/p>\n 1937: \u201cYour score totaled 87,\u201d George added proudly. \u201cIt sets a new record for women here at the Deer Mountain course.\u201d<\/p>\n 1972: \u201cYour score today was sixty-nine,\u201d George added proudly. \u201cIt sets a new record for women at the Deer Mountain course.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n During the tournament, an opponent has the nerve to accuse Nancy of cheating.<\/p>\n Bess and George had followed their chum to the golf office. Unable to remain quiet, they flew to her defense.<\/p>\n \u201cNancy has never cheated in all her life!\u201d George insisted angrily. \u201cYou\u2019re just provoked because she defeated you!\u201d<\/p>\n The tournament chairman looked nervous and worried. <\/p>\n \u201cNow, let\u2019s be calm about this,\u201d he said anxiously. \u201cWe\u2019ll try to decide this matter fairly—\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, obviously George is right. Nancy has never cheated a day in her life. We all know that.<\/p>\n But what about those lower scores in the revised version? Where did those come from? And why were they changed?<\/p>\n That\u2019s something you should be looking into, Mr. Golf Chairman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So this should be my last post about Mortimer Bartescue. Should be. But I can\u2019t promise. There\u2019s just something fascinating about that man\u2026 I wrote last week about Mortimer\u2019s makeover between the 1937 and 1972 versions of The Haunted Bridge. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nancy-drewsday","tag-nancy-drew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1008,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions\/1008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lucynolanbooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}