Thorne Smith is a unique figure in American literature, one who thrived during prohibition creating comic novels that ridiculed the morality of the times and involved extensive drinking, nudity, frivolity, and general debauchery. A Man Named Smith: The Novels and Screen Legacy of Thorne Smith is the first book-length study of Thorne Smith's work. It provides background information on his life and early death, discusses all of his novels in detail, and also provides extensive new documentation on their screen adaptations, including Topper, Night Life of the Gods, and Turnabout. Also discussed is Thorne Smith's brief time in Hollywood at MGM in 1933, and the influence that his books have had on later films and television productions.
As an added bonus, reprinted here in its entirety is the 1934 promotional monograph, Thorne Smith: His Life and Times with a Note on His Books & a Complete Bibliography.