Books with author Thorne Smith

The premise of Turnabout involves a husband and wife body switch, executed by means so trivial that even the author barely spends any time justifying it. The comic results, however, are snicker-out-loud funny, as the pair stretch and snap their gender roles to lengths greater than Silly Putty itself could bear. Sure, the effort is lightweight, but who really cares when Smith's effortless style elicits so many belly laughs?

Thorne Smith’s hilarious and ribald comedy about boring and staid bank manager Cosmo Topper who decides to buy a flashy car only to discover it is haunted by its previous owners, George and Marion Kerby. George’s and Marion’s mischievous spirits (and a few other ghostly friends and an irresistible dog) make it their mission to lead the respectable Topper astray and give him a fresh outlook on life. Liquor flows, pranks are common, and although not always willing, George becomes a new man. He realizes life is what you make of it, and there are so many possibilities. Laugh out loud when Marion scares away the clientele and staff of a boutique or when George challenges Topper to a duel with clam shells. Thorne Smith’s ghosts, their wit and repartee, are bound to entertain. Topper is the perfect beach read.As captivating today as when it was first written in 1926, Topper set the standard for a host of other ghost stories and was made into a movie starring Cary Grant (1936) and adapted for a TV series (1953). A remake of the movie is scheduled starring comedian Steve Martin as Topper, but no production start date has been set. “[Thorne Smith] created the modern American ghost. A ghost with style and wit. A ghost that haunts us still.”--New York Times

Cosmo Topper a staid and dull banker with an nagging wife ,who has perpetual indigestion. (She needs Pepto - Bismol)A drastic change happens in his boring life, after buying an old sports car.The auto was previously owned by an irresponsible rich young couple ,who died in it . While driving in the country , he starts seeing things and maybe going a little insane!

Peter and Mary were old and forgotten. They lived in an equally old and forgotten house surrounded by sun-baked mud and old tin cans ― a house so unappealing that field mice avoided it and all who passed quickly lose their appetites. And that's saying something. No magic could ever happen there. Peter and Mary were sure of that. But in the brilliant and wondrous world created by renowned humorist, Thorne Smith, magic finally arrives. A large, nearsighted brown bear appears one evening and after sharing Peter's Catalogue Stew (“Just tear out some pages and toss in the pot!”), and listening to one of Peter's dreadful poems, Lazy Bear announces that he is a magic bear ― extraordinily-ily-ily-ily magic. By the end of the evening, Peter and Mary, wrinkled and bent, leave their shabby old house and begin their travels down a winding country lane where they come upon all the lovely things they thought they lost. The things they used to know. Peter and Mary quickly discover that they have grown down (the very opposite of growing up). They have grown down to the perfect ages of childhood when the marvels of a magical world can be embraced wholeheartedly ― old enough to eat anything they wanted and to be able to stay up past eight and to go on adventures and things, but not old enough to have jobs or be burdened by other tiresome adult responsibilities. Along with friends like Mr. Budge and his magic basket, a sad circus clown, a bareback rider in a pink fluffy skirt, and twin cowardly lions (as lazy as the bear),they head off to nowhere in particular and everywhere in general Dedicated to Thorne Smith's two daughters, Lazy Bear Lane is filled with gentle magic, poetry, and delightful repartee. Tender and understanding, charming and humorous, the story succeeds in transporting children and adults alike to a make believe land where anything can happen. For all readers seeking a children's classic long out of print and considered by some to be the holy grail of children's literature, look no further.

Thorne Smith has done it again. He has captured what appears to be the story of an ordinary married couple with everyday troubles, and has created an off-the-wall comedy with all sorts of twists and turns. After listening to Tim and Sally Willows bicker daily for years, an Egyptian idol decides to do something about it. He switches bodies on them! Suddenly, each one is forced to look at life from the other's point of view. 'Tim' has to learn how to do his hair, put on makeup, and elude the man who is after his wife. 'Sally' has to work at an advertising agency, and think and talk like a man. As if that is not enough, 'Sally' gets his wife pregnant! Liquor, tears and laughter flow freely in this hilarious tale.

James Thorne Smith Jr. (March 27, 1892-June 21, 1934), was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction. Best known today for his creation of Topper, Smith's comic fantasy fiction (most of it involving sex, lots of drinking, and supernatural transformations, and aided by racy illustrations) sold millions of copies in the early 1930s. Smith drank as steadily as his characters; his appearance in James Thurber's The Years With Ross involves an unexplained week-long disappearance. Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland the son of a Navy commodore, attended Dartmouth College, and after hungry years in Greenwich Village working part-time as an advertising agent, Smith achieved meteoric success with the publication of Topper in 1926. He died of a heart attack in 1934 while vacationing in Florida.