The Jazz Age comedy of manners about a straitlaced banker and two bon vivant ghosts that inspired the classic film starring Cary Grant.Bank manager Cosmo Topper has settled into a stable, respectable, and thoroughly boring life. In need of a little adventure, he decides to buy a secondhand car—a detail he neglects to tell his staid wife, Mary. But Topper's little secret turns into an unexpectedly wild ride when he discovers the automobile is haunted by its previous...

The Classic Collection of Thorne Smith brings together some of the most entertaining and distinctive works of one of America’s great comic fantasists. Lavishly illustrated, this collection includes such beloved novels as Topper, Dream’s End, The Stray Lamb, Did She Fall?, and other signature works that showcase Smith’s irreverent humor and imaginative flair. Thorne Smith is best known for blending light fantasy with sharp satire, romantic comedy, and social parody. His stories often introd...

One of Thorne Smith's better outings. When a scientist pairs up with a witch with the ability to bring statues to life, chaos ensues. The two decide it would be a good idea to bring the statues of the gods at the Metropolitan Museum to life. But the gods, it turns out, are too human by half -- they immediately start to cavort, bicker, drink, and carry on in a spree of epic proportions.

Biltmore Oswald: The Diary of a Hapless Recruit (1918). A series of comic stories written for the Naval Reserve journal The Broadside while Smith was in the Navy.

Another magical, mischievous Thorne Smith classic. Though Thorne Smith’s most popular works involve elements of fantasy and science fiction, the clever novel „Turnabout” takes his penchant for incorporating supernatural and magical themes in his work and puts one such plot twist to use as a comedic tool. A classic battle of the sexes, it was published in 1931 and follows a married couple who fall prey to the tricks of an Egyptian idol who grows weary of the seemingly never-ending spats bet...

One of Thorne Smith’s most popular books and made into a film. Topper is about a respectable banker called Cosmo Topper, married to a depressingly staid wife Mary, and his misadventures with a couple of ghosts, Marion and George Kerby, who introduce him to other ghosts. He is romantically attracted to Marion, who at one point tries to kill him so that they can always be together. Unusually, Mary is treated sympathetically—she does not like what she has become and tries to change.

Topper Thorne Smith - 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, Geor...

Thorne Smith best-remembered for humorous novels, many turning on some fantastic plot device which thrusts the protagonist into grotesque predicaments, often via unwitting transformation. The 1926 publication of „Topper” brought the author immediate acclaim. Elegant, fun-loving George and Marion Kerby are the toast of the town, until they wreck their flashy car and discover they’ve become, well, ghosts. Making the best of a bad situation, they decide that being dead is the perfect opportun...

Rebecca works hard to maintain a perfect life for her family. She keeps a pristine house and follows every one of her mother-in-law's rules to live by, such as always putting her husband's needs above her own and avoiding tight leggings-or, as Charlotte refers to them-lady parts pants. But even Rebecca's well-tailored slacks can't protect her when Paul comes home and announces that he's fallen in love with another woman. Shocked and devastated, she turns to the funny, authentic women of Yo...

Elegant, fun-loving George and Marion Kerby are the toast of the town, until they wreck their flashy car and discover they've become, well, ghosts. Making the best of a bad situation, they decide that being dead is the perfect opportunity to liven up staid, stuffy Cosmo Topper. Naturally, much hilarity ensues.

Laughter Therapy gathers sixty-three classic books of humorous tales into a capacious archive of comic invention, ranging from tall tales, farce, parody, and social satire to domestic comedy, absurdist fantasy, and the gently anarchic children's story. Its selections illuminate humor's power to expose pretension, soften misfortune, and recast everyday life as an arena of surprise. Fantastic adventures, deadpan hoaxes, comic misunderstandings, and sharply observed portraits of provincial, u...

Thorne Smith's rapid-fire dialogue, brilliant sense of the absurd, and literary aplomb put him in the same category as the beloved P. G. Wodehouse. The Night Life of the Gods, the madcap story of a scientist who instigates a nocturnal spree with the Greek gods, is arguably his most sparkling comedic achievement.Hunter Hawk has a knack for annoying his ultra respectable relatives. He likes to experiment and he particularly likes to experiment with explosives. His garage-cum-laboratory is a ...