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Topper #1
Topper
Thorne Smith is a master of urbane wit and sophisticated repartee. Topper, his best-known work, is the hilarious, ribald comedy on which the hit television show and movie (starring Cary Grant) were based.
It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners--the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The ghosts, George and Marion Kerby, make it their mission to rescue Topper from the drab "summer of suburban Sundays" that is his life--and they commence a series of madcap adventures that leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight.
As enchanting today as it was when first published in 1926, Topper has set the standard in American pop culture for such mischievous apparitions as those seen in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Heaven Can Wait, Beetlejuice, and Bewitched.
It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners--the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The ghosts, George and Marion Kerby, make it their mission to rescue Topper from the drab "summer of suburban Sundays" that is his life--and they commence a series of madcap adventures that leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight.
As enchanting today as it was when first published in 1926, Topper has set the standard in American pop culture for such mischievous apparitions as those seen in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Heaven Can Wait, Beetlejuice, and Bewitched.
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1926
About the author
Thorne Smith
62 books81 followersJames Thorne Smith, Jr. was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two Topper novels, comic fantasy fiction involving sex, much drinking and supernatural transformations. With racy illustrations, these sold millions of copies in the 1930s and were equally popular in paperbacks of the 1950s.
Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a Navy commodore and attended Dartmouth College. Following hungry years in Greenwich Village, working part-time as an advertising agent, Smith achieved meteoric success with the publication of Topper in 1926. He was an early resident of Free Acres, a social experimental community developed by Bolton Hall according to the economic principles of Henry George in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. He died of a heart attack in 1934 while vacationing in Florida.
Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a Navy commodore and attended Dartmouth College. Following hungry years in Greenwich Village, working part-time as an advertising agent, Smith achieved meteoric success with the publication of Topper in 1926. He was an early resident of Free Acres, a social experimental community developed by Bolton Hall according to the economic principles of Henry George in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. He died of a heart attack in 1934 while vacationing in Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
July 2, 2011
This is a product of its day written in 1926 and the Roaring Twenties was in full bloom, nothing seemed serious since the carnage of the Great War, everything is fun and games until the deluge...Cosmo Topper a staid and dull banker with an nagging wife who has perpetual indigestion (she needs Pepto - Bismol), he an aspirin. A drastic change happens in his boring life, (good or bad you decide) after buying an old repaired sports car, the auto was previously owned by a very irresponsible glamorous, rich young couple that Cosmo Topper secretly admired not surprisingly they died in it . While driving in the country he the banker begins to think deep thoughts, starts seeing things which can't possibly be there and maybe going a little insane. Yes George and Marion Kerby the young dead pair, have come back as ghosts to haunt the distraught Mr. Topper and the fun begins at first not so much for the distinguished president of a powerful bank. The always seeker of amusement the beautiful Marion wants to drive and bystanders give a strange look at the apparently driverless vehicle traveling speedily down the road, everyone else be advised. They visit an inn and get into a drunken brawl with fellow dinners, a no holds barred fight which the invisible couple cherish, image getting struck by something that isn't there, only the air visible this is living well almost. Cosmo, with the help of George and Marion are tigers during the ferocious struggle the townspeople cannot comprehend this, have never seen anything like it. Spooks, unbelievable, the result put in jail the gentleman, Cosmo's picture in the local newspaper which will be seen in New York City, he a respectable man has some explaining to do. Imagine, what his high society wife and friends think of Topper and intoxicated too the scandal will cause irreparable harm. So naturally Topper takes a vacation after getting out of confinement, further madcap adventures for the trio of course occurs , Cosmos enjoys the excitement, the thrills he's having the time of his life, not so dull a person after all...For those of us that like silliness and are in the mood this is an lighthearted read and what's wrong with that , the world is constantly in upheavals and the public needs to escape, a pleasant trip in the land of the unashamedly nonsensical is just the ticket. I second the motion.
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February 19, 2025I was about four years old when the Topper show was on television. My recollection is that Topper aired at 8 pm on Friday nights. My brother and sisters always looked forward to the show with great anticipation. Naturally, being the youngest, I wanted to do what my older siblings did. I wanted to watch Topper, too. The problem was my bedtime was at 7:30.
A couple of times when we had babysitters, I went to bed at 7:30, but I got up when I heard Topper come on the TV. I would then sneak downstairs and watch the show. Unfortunately, this only worked when we had a babysitter, but, much to my chagrin, my siblings eagerly tattled on me and told my parents of my transgressions. My mother then would explicitly instruct every babysitter that I must not only go to bed at 7:30 but I must remain there.
Given my history with the Topper TV show, you can imagine my level of anticipation when I watch or read anything related to Topper. My expectations are unrealistically high. Matters are made worse by the fact that I have been secretly in love with Anne Jeffreys for decades, but please don't mention that to my wife. On the upside, Marion Kerby never ages, and now that I'm elderly, I willingly/eagerly go to bed at 7:30.
I read several chapters of this book and then skimmed through the rest to the end. I'll have to give this book another go when I can get my expectations under control.
A couple of times when we had babysitters, I went to bed at 7:30, but I got up when I heard Topper come on the TV. I would then sneak downstairs and watch the show. Unfortunately, this only worked when we had a babysitter, but, much to my chagrin, my siblings eagerly tattled on me and told my parents of my transgressions. My mother then would explicitly instruct every babysitter that I must not only go to bed at 7:30 but I must remain there.
Given my history with the Topper TV show, you can imagine my level of anticipation when I watch or read anything related to Topper. My expectations are unrealistically high. Matters are made worse by the fact that I have been secretly in love with Anne Jeffreys for decades, but please don't mention that to my wife. On the upside, Marion Kerby never ages, and now that I'm elderly, I willingly/eagerly go to bed at 7:30.
I read several chapters of this book and then skimmed through the rest to the end. I'll have to give this book another go when I can get my expectations under control.
August 18, 2010
__________________________
“Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.”— Mahatma Gandhi
Topper is a classic 1926 comic novel about a mild-mannered bank officer with a mid-life crisis that includes a high-spirited bevy of ghosts.
COSMO TOPPER
Topper is in a rut, a deep rut, a Mariana’s Trench of a rut. He is doing the same things every day, day in and day out. He walks to his suburban train station, takes the train to NYC, does the same tasks every day at the bank where he works, and comes home and faces the same routines at home every night.
Each day, Mrs. Topper prepares a meal that she moans she can’t eat because of her dyspepsia (chronic indigestion). After dinner, he goes out for a walk by himself. Then the couple sit in their respective plush armchairs where he reads the articles from the evening newspapers that interest him, and then Mrs. Topper reads articles he is NOT interested in out loud to him. Topper just can’t take it anymore.
Topper’s breaking point came when he discovered a sparrow that had gotten tangled in some string in his garden. He took the bird in his hand, removed the strings that bound it, and noticed how frantic the bird was to be free and fly away. Topper realized that he wanted to be a sparrow (Cosmo has rather low expectations in life). Like the sparrow, he wants to soar. He wants to fly.
After this avian revelation, Topper goes wild and buys a beautiful, powerful car he has seen in a used car lot. It was a car that anyone would die to own—in fact, two people already have.
MRS. TOPPER
Mrs. Topper apparently does not have a first name, but she makes up for it by having dyspepsia and a near-infinite supply of self-sympathy. She wallows in it like it is a mud bath and has no desire to lose the dyspepsia. She is certain that, in terms of martyrdom, it makes her the equivalent of Joan of Arc. Mrs. Topper needs her dyspepsia. She is “tender about it” like it was her baby and seems certain that Cosmo and she will stay together for the sake of the dyspepsia.
When Cosmo comes home after buying his mid-life crisis car, he proudly shows it to his wife and lovingly asked her to come out for a joy ride with him. The car will bring some joy into their lives, he thinks. Her reply is “What on earth are you trying to do with that garish-looking car?” I don’t think it is a bit nice…Nor do I think it is nice of you to sit there and enjoy yourself, buying an automobile …the most vulgar car in town, coming home at this hour and making noises on the lawn, upsetting my (dyspepsia) and spoiling my leg of lamb . . .”
This causes Topper goes off in a Huff—well, actually in his 1926 Roadster—and to drive angrily around the countryside. Eventually, without realizing it, he accidentally passes by the spot where the original owners of his roadster—Marion and George Kerby—were killed when they crashed it into a tree only 3 months earlier. Cosmo is greatly surprised and frightened when the Kerby’s ghosts suddenly appear in his peppy jalopy.
MARION AND GEORGE KERBY
Before their unfortunate deaths, the Kerby’s were the town’s most notorious hedonists. Anything-for-a-good-time Charlies. Party. Party. Party. And being dead wasn’t about to keep them from living life to the fullest.
They were able convince Cosmo that they were friendly specters and then drove him into town where they could all get some liquor. If there is one thing you can learn about ghosts in this book, it is that they have some serious drinking problems. They need to attend some AA (Apparition Alcoholics) meetings. The two of them get Cosmo all liquored up and get him into a fight with three (count 'em) 3 local rowdies, which gets him beat up and arrested. He kind of liked it. Adventure at last! He wants some more.
“In this world of ours, the sparrow must live like a hawk if he is to fly at all.” —Hayao Miyazaki
However, Marion and her deceased husband are not getting along. They haven't been for some time. As Marion says, “When I was alive, I put a great deal of faith in that optimistic line ‘until death do us part,’ but it tricked me." So now, Marion has set her ectoplasmic cap on winning the affections of Cosmo and is haunting him everywhere he goes, apparently looking for some sort of "fiend with benefits" relationship.
For instance, one time he takes off his robe to get in the shower and finds that his boo-buddy is already in there. This completely invisible lass tells him not to look at her, because she is all Eve-ish. (No, Eve-ish isn’t in my unabridged dictionary either, but we both know what she means.) Sometimes she crawls into his bed while he is sleeping, much to his dismay—because Topper is very straitlaced and not willing to take part in any debauch or debacle. He steadfastly refuses to betray his wife. But still…how can he soar without Marion?
🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars
Yes, this 1926 novel is ribald and risqué for its time, but what makes it endure is the sparkling banter, the sly social satire, and the way Thorne Smith turns spiritual malaise into supernatural farce. Topper is a comic haunting worth surrendering to, assuming you don't allow it to get too Eve-ish.
“Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.”— Mahatma Gandhi
Topper is a classic 1926 comic novel about a mild-mannered bank officer with a mid-life crisis that includes a high-spirited bevy of ghosts.
COSMO TOPPER
Topper is in a rut, a deep rut, a Mariana’s Trench of a rut. He is doing the same things every day, day in and day out. He walks to his suburban train station, takes the train to NYC, does the same tasks every day at the bank where he works, and comes home and faces the same routines at home every night.
Each day, Mrs. Topper prepares a meal that she moans she can’t eat because of her dyspepsia (chronic indigestion). After dinner, he goes out for a walk by himself. Then the couple sit in their respective plush armchairs where he reads the articles from the evening newspapers that interest him, and then Mrs. Topper reads articles he is NOT interested in out loud to him. Topper just can’t take it anymore.
Topper’s breaking point came when he discovered a sparrow that had gotten tangled in some string in his garden. He took the bird in his hand, removed the strings that bound it, and noticed how frantic the bird was to be free and fly away. Topper realized that he wanted to be a sparrow (Cosmo has rather low expectations in life). Like the sparrow, he wants to soar. He wants to fly.
After this avian revelation, Topper goes wild and buys a beautiful, powerful car he has seen in a used car lot. It was a car that anyone would die to own—in fact, two people already have.
MRS. TOPPER
Mrs. Topper apparently does not have a first name, but she makes up for it by having dyspepsia and a near-infinite supply of self-sympathy. She wallows in it like it is a mud bath and has no desire to lose the dyspepsia. She is certain that, in terms of martyrdom, it makes her the equivalent of Joan of Arc. Mrs. Topper needs her dyspepsia. She is “tender about it” like it was her baby and seems certain that Cosmo and she will stay together for the sake of the dyspepsia.
When Cosmo comes home after buying his mid-life crisis car, he proudly shows it to his wife and lovingly asked her to come out for a joy ride with him. The car will bring some joy into their lives, he thinks. Her reply is “What on earth are you trying to do with that garish-looking car?” I don’t think it is a bit nice…Nor do I think it is nice of you to sit there and enjoy yourself, buying an automobile …the most vulgar car in town, coming home at this hour and making noises on the lawn, upsetting my (dyspepsia) and spoiling my leg of lamb . . .”
This causes Topper goes off in a Huff—well, actually in his 1926 Roadster—and to drive angrily around the countryside. Eventually, without realizing it, he accidentally passes by the spot where the original owners of his roadster—Marion and George Kerby—were killed when they crashed it into a tree only 3 months earlier. Cosmo is greatly surprised and frightened when the Kerby’s ghosts suddenly appear in his peppy jalopy.
MARION AND GEORGE KERBY
Before their unfortunate deaths, the Kerby’s were the town’s most notorious hedonists. Anything-for-a-good-time Charlies. Party. Party. Party. And being dead wasn’t about to keep them from living life to the fullest.
They were able convince Cosmo that they were friendly specters and then drove him into town where they could all get some liquor. If there is one thing you can learn about ghosts in this book, it is that they have some serious drinking problems. They need to attend some AA (Apparition Alcoholics) meetings. The two of them get Cosmo all liquored up and get him into a fight with three (count 'em) 3 local rowdies, which gets him beat up and arrested. He kind of liked it. Adventure at last! He wants some more.
“In this world of ours, the sparrow must live like a hawk if he is to fly at all.” —Hayao Miyazaki
However, Marion and her deceased husband are not getting along. They haven't been for some time. As Marion says, “When I was alive, I put a great deal of faith in that optimistic line ‘until death do us part,’ but it tricked me." So now, Marion has set her ectoplasmic cap on winning the affections of Cosmo and is haunting him everywhere he goes, apparently looking for some sort of "fiend with benefits" relationship.
For instance, one time he takes off his robe to get in the shower and finds that his boo-buddy is already in there. This completely invisible lass tells him not to look at her, because she is all Eve-ish. (No, Eve-ish isn’t in my unabridged dictionary either, but we both know what she means.) Sometimes she crawls into his bed while he is sleeping, much to his dismay—because Topper is very straitlaced and not willing to take part in any debauch or debacle. He steadfastly refuses to betray his wife. But still…how can he soar without Marion?
🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars
Yes, this 1926 novel is ribald and risqué for its time, but what makes it endure is the sparkling banter, the sly social satire, and the way Thorne Smith turns spiritual malaise into supernatural farce. Topper is a comic haunting worth surrendering to, assuming you don't allow it to get too Eve-ish.
July 8, 2014
It is, by this time, a cliche: boring business dude meets a manic pixie dreamgirl who shakes up his days, keeps him up all night, teaches him about love, and then passes into the great beyond. What makes this book still feel marvelously fresh is that the MPDG isn't all that wacky, she's married, and she's already dead at the start of the book. Other than drinking mind-bending Prohibition-era quantities of booze, the adventures themselves are amazingly simple. Topper and his ghost companions enjoy several good meals, but otherwise they spend the summer mostly sleeping rough, swimming in rivers and the Atlantic, canoeing, reading Ulysses aloud, and just digging the beauty of nature. There is singing and dancing, even a little brawling, but it's so charmingly bucolic. After all, if Topper gets up to 25 MPH in his car it feels fast and dangerous, and it no doubt was since roads were iffy and there were still a lot of farmers with horses about.
I was worried about Topper's wife. Needlessly. Smith is a writer who can produce the banter of Coward, and also spend a lot of time telling us how Topper feels about his cat. I knew it was going to have a happy ending, but I didn't know the ending would be so perfect. The overall effect is charming, but never twee. Highly recommended.
I was worried about Topper's wife. Needlessly. Smith is a writer who can produce the banter of Coward, and also spend a lot of time telling us how Topper feels about his cat. I knew it was going to have a happy ending, but I didn't know the ending would be so perfect. The overall effect is charming, but never twee. Highly recommended.
October 15, 2015
Hmm. Better than "Night Life of the Gods" but it leaves me feeling a bit uncomfortable. I think it's because I feel a slight edge of desperation in all the consumption of alcohol (the book is set during Prohibition). I suspect this was because apparently the author was a heavy drinker, and he certainly died far too young.
In my distant youth I certainly had too much to drink a few times, and I enjoy an occasional glass of wine with my dinner, to say nothing of a G&T before dinner. But the sort of drinking that happens in Thorne Smith's books would probably kill me, and I suspect it killed him.
Having said that, the premise is funny and there are some amusing passages in the book. But I doubt I shall read any more Thorne Smith for entertainment from that era. For me, James Thurber cannot be surpassed.
In my distant youth I certainly had too much to drink a few times, and I enjoy an occasional glass of wine with my dinner, to say nothing of a G&T before dinner. But the sort of drinking that happens in Thorne Smith's books would probably kill me, and I suspect it killed him.
Having said that, the premise is funny and there are some amusing passages in the book. But I doubt I shall read any more Thorne Smith for entertainment from that era. For me, James Thurber cannot be surpassed.
September 26, 2017
Mr. Smith pens a funny story of a middle-aged, mid-level bank manager's encounter with the husband and wife ghosts whose car he bought. Although dead, the two still manage to get howlingly drunk every night and befriend Topper and try to put a little laughter in his life. It was made into a wonderful movie with Cary Grant as the dead husband.
August 2, 2007
Thorne Smith's pixilated novels go down like a glass of bubbly champagne. Remember those heady 40's films like Bringing Up Baby and The Thin Man, full of snappy dialogue and women in slinky designer gowns? Take that sort of witty, cocktail-fueled repartee, add even more improbable plot elements (usually involving some sort of supernatural happening), and you have a Thorne Smith book.
In this case a car is haunted two irrepressible, high-living (er, dying?) ghosts who met their untimely end by drunkenly crashing it into a tree. Cosmo Topper, the poor fellow who buys the car secondhand, is a rather dull and conventional soul, but his life is about to change drastically when the two ghosts make it their madcap mission to 'reform' him. The irony, of course, is that the dead are teaching the living how to live.
The ensuing hi-jinks were probably considered scandalous back in the twenties when this book was published, but today it seems like rather innocent fun. There's a lightness and zaniness to Smith's dialogue that seems both dated and fresh. They just don't write screwball comedies like this anymore... more's the pity.
In this case a car is haunted two irrepressible, high-living (er, dying?) ghosts who met their untimely end by drunkenly crashing it into a tree. Cosmo Topper, the poor fellow who buys the car secondhand, is a rather dull and conventional soul, but his life is about to change drastically when the two ghosts make it their madcap mission to 'reform' him. The irony, of course, is that the dead are teaching the living how to live.
The ensuing hi-jinks were probably considered scandalous back in the twenties when this book was published, but today it seems like rather innocent fun. There's a lightness and zaniness to Smith's dialogue that seems both dated and fresh. They just don't write screwball comedies like this anymore... more's the pity.
January 2, 2026
DNF. This humor just did not move me. Overall, I found the book to be boring. It’s a well-thought-of novel, so it must be me.
October 18, 2007
Seize the day! Grab life by the cojones! And if you can get a pair of alcohol-fueled, mischievous and conveniently randy ghosts to help you on your "swift descent from the dead crater of suburban virtue", all the better.
A touch of British farce but ultimately all-American screwball comedy is what is at hand here. This is the basis for the old Cary Grant film of the same name. And this very same writer is also responsible for the source material for the wonderful Bewitched TV show. Clearly he's interested in life on the other side - as long as it brings a chuckle or more frequently a loud guffaw as I found myself doing while reading this.
I'm guessing this book was on the risqué side when it first came out in the 20's but it's pretty tame by today's standards - mostly innuendo. If anyone can tell me what "step-ins" are I would be most grateful. I'm guessing by context that they are women's underwear as they are made of silk and cause poor old Topper much grief with his wife when she discovers a pair in his pocket! (Ah, yes they are - just found it in my computer's dictionary!)
So if you should be one of the unfortunate who has a large stick wedged firmly up their bum or maybe you're just reading too much Proust or Tolstoy (you know who you are!), then you need to read this book NOW! Because "too much virtue will sour the sweetest character."
A touch of British farce but ultimately all-American screwball comedy is what is at hand here. This is the basis for the old Cary Grant film of the same name. And this very same writer is also responsible for the source material for the wonderful Bewitched TV show. Clearly he's interested in life on the other side - as long as it brings a chuckle or more frequently a loud guffaw as I found myself doing while reading this.
I'm guessing this book was on the risqué side when it first came out in the 20's but it's pretty tame by today's standards - mostly innuendo. If anyone can tell me what "step-ins" are I would be most grateful. I'm guessing by context that they are women's underwear as they are made of silk and cause poor old Topper much grief with his wife when she discovers a pair in his pocket! (Ah, yes they are - just found it in my computer's dictionary!)
So if you should be one of the unfortunate who has a large stick wedged firmly up their bum or maybe you're just reading too much Proust or Tolstoy (you know who you are!), then you need to read this book NOW! Because "too much virtue will sour the sweetest character."
May 5, 2017
I have long loved the Cary Grant film version of this book but this is my first time reading it. While the characters and basic premise is the same, the novel is much more about the title character of Topper. Topper, a stodgy New York banker, is suffering through a mid-life crisis aggravated by the intrusion of some ghosts (including one of a dog who only partially materializes). While less farcical than the film, it is a better story.
September 6, 2025
Whenever I have started a book by the Annapolis-born author Thorne Smith, I have had no idea where the imagination and ribald humor of this great fantasist would be taking me. In my first experience with Smith, 1931's "The Night Life of the Gods," I was introduced to inventor Hunter Hawk, who, along with the Fury Megaera, released a passel of Roman deities from their statuary confinement. In "Turnabout" (also from 1931), a bickering married couple, Tim and Sally Willows, had found their spirits plopped into one another's bodies, thanks to an ancient Egyptian statue named Mr. Ram. "Skin and Bones" (1933) had told the story of chemist Quintus Bland, who inhaled some of his latest creation and became a see-through man, a living skeleton, while "The Glorious Pool" (1934) had given us the tale of Rex Pebble and his mistress, Spray Summers, and how they'd been rejuvenated by a Fountain of Youth of sorts in a backyard swimming pool. Truly, there's no predicting what kind of outrageous mishegas is in store when you crack open a Thorne Smith book...until, that is, the one I just read. And the story line of that book, "Topper," was only predictable to me because the novel has been famously given the big-screen treatment, as well as being adopted as a sitcom on television. Still, what I was not prepared for is how superior Smith's work--his third novel, although the very first of his comedic fantasies--is to both the classic film and the 1950s sitcom...and how very different, as well. More on that in a moment.
"Topper" was originally released in February 1926 as a $2 hardcover by the publisher Robert M. McBride & Co., sporting a wonderful cover by one C. V. Farrow. The novel has seen dozens of reissues over the last century, most recently a 2004 edition from Dead Authors Society. The incarnation that I was happy to acquire is the 1945 hardcover from Doubleday called "The Thorne Smith Three-Bagger," which also includes "Skin and Bones" and "The Glorious Pool"; a great deal if you can find it online. Smith was 34 when "Topper" was released, and its great success enabled him to become a full-time writer and embark on the series of booze-soaked, risqué fantasies for which he is best remembered today.
"Topper" does indeed introduce us to the 40-ish banker named Cosmo Topper, who lives in the New Jersey suburbs with his wife Mary and commutes to Manhattan five days a week. Cosmo's life is one of dull and placid predictability, and when we first encounter him, he is already beginning to evince signs of rebelliousness and discontent. When he learns that the flashy car previously owned by George and Marion Kerby--the town's fastest, wildest, loosest, most morally bankrupt couple, who'd both been killed while driving it during another drunken spree--has been renovated and is up for sale, he buys it on a whim and learns how to drive, to Mary's great consternation. But while tooling along alone one day, Cosmo is made aware that he isn't really alone at all, when the voices of George and Marion Kerby begin telling him to slide over! Remarkably enough, both of the Kerbys have become "low-plane" ghosts with only a scant supply of ectoplasm at their disposal, with which they can materialize as they will! After getting over his astonishment, Topper pursues his new acquaintance with the Kerbys on later occasions, slowly being drawn into their hard-partying ways. The three engage in a drunken revel at an abandoned inn and later get involved in a small-town street brawl, after which Topper is arrested and fined in a court of law. Now something of a disgrace in his own neighborhood and in major-league trouble with the little Mrs., Topper soon finds himself continuously pestered by the ghostly Marion, after George zips off to Europe. The invisible Mrs. Kerby's antics with a hat rack practically give Topper's secretary a nervous breakdown, and the zany goings-on with Topper are soon continued at a lingerie shop, in a drugstore, at a restaurant, and in a department store. Ultimately, Topper decides that he needs a restful break from both his home situation and his increasing attraction to the ghostly married woman, and so hops into his car and takes off, setting the reader up for the second section in Smith's wonderful tale.
In this section, Topper stays overnight at a hotel, only to realize that Marion has followed him there and is now {gasp!} sharing the room with him. The two later drive to a lonely lake somewhere in Connecticut, illegally squatting inside an empty cabin. At this idyllic retreat the two meet another ghostly couple, the Colonel (whose last name may or may not be Scott) and his mistress, Mrs. Hart. After prodigious drinking by the quartet, the party continues at a ritzy nightclub and at a fancy hotel. Hearing that George has finally returned and is not at all happy with Cosmo's carrying on with his wife, the four camp out on a Connecticut beach until George discovers them there and challenges Topper to a duel...with thrown clam shells! It is later decided by the two ghostly couples that they must throw a monster party for Topper before taking their leave...a party at which dozens of their friends, in various states of materialization, are the invited guests. And Topper, need it even be said, becomes a changed man as a result of his supernatural "lost summer"!
Anyway, that's the story in very brief outline, but this capsule summary can in no wise convey to you how warm, witty, charming and amusing the entire conceit is. Topper is not quite as funny/madcap/drunken as some of Thorne Smith's later books, yet the laughs are surely still there, the zaniness undeniably present, and the drinking fairly relentless in the book's second half. Compensating for the fewer number of chuckles in a very big way is the fact that this book is easily the most emotionally touching of the five Smith works that I've read so far. It is wonderful seeing Topper's budding appreciation for another way of living, and the reader feels for the poor guy when he thinks, vis-à-vis Mary, that "there was more excitement in the company of two completely dead persons than he would ever find at home," and when he wonders why he'd "always lost himself in the evening paper instead of looking over its edge for possible adventures." His final toast to his ghostly comrades might surely evoke a tear. To wit:
"...I toast you all," he said, "as a revelation to me of a larger life and a lighter death. And I thank you all for the changes you have wrought in me. Once I was a law-abiding, home-loving and highly respected member of my community. Within a few short months you have changed all that. Now I am a jailbird, a hard drinker, a wife deserter and an undesirable, dissolute outcast. And I am glad of it. Only a few short miles now separate me from my home, but let me assure you that they will be the hardest miles I have ever traveled in my life...."
To the author's credit, Mary is treated not as a dullard or as a monster, but rather as a woman who recognizes that she can't change who she is, but is ultimately willing to try.
Smith, here in his first fantasy, seemed to take especial pains to craft a truly beautiful piece of work. "Topper" is a much tighter and more focused book than some of his others, especially as compared to the rather loosely constructed and absolutely bonkers "The Glorious Pool." This reader cannot help but feel that here, Smith seemed to have put more effort into the writing of moving passages and lovely descriptions. Please indulge me as I share one more extended quote from the book, as Smith tells us of that abandoned inn, lost in the New Jersey woods:
"...It was an old abandoned inn, lying far back from the roadway in the arms of its guardian trees. Like a royal drunkard, spent by years of purple debauchery, the ancient structure wearily settled down among the trees and listened to tales of vanished splendor drifting through the branches overhead. Hard days had fallen on the inn. It attracted no longer now the flower of the land. Laughter warmed its heart no more and the silvery chiming of goblets filled with honest liquor was forever stilled. And the great paunch-like cellar of the inn was empty. Gone the bottles that flashed beneath the lamplight. Gone the stout old soul who used to carry the lamp. Even the smell of the place was different. The inspiriting fragrance of old wine had been subtracted from the air, leaving it flat and dead. The spiders, too, had lost caste. There was not a cork to cling to, only empty bins that had once contained the mellow yield of distant vineyards stepping up the hillside to the sun that had given them life.
The inn was built on sandy soil. The sea had once been there. If you looked between the trees at moonlight you could see white patches of sand lying in the woods. And if you stood quite still and listened to the wind thrumming through the pines you could catch an echo of waves falling on vanished beaches. The sea had once been there. The rhythm of its surf still lingered in the air, and the healing tang of its salt blended with the smell of pine. All was silent in the woods. Nobody ever came to them now. No couples flitted across the patches, no whispering voices were heard among the trees...."
Offhand, I cannot recall writing of that caliber in any of those other four Smith titles. As usual, however, the book is filled with countless words of wisdom, such as when Marion tells Cosmo "Too much virtue will sour the sweetest character," and that "The world does wicked things to us with its success and routine and morality...it either cheats us with wealth or numbs us with want, steals away from us all the color and wonder of being alive, the necessary useless things...." Trust me, you'll feel the urge to take a highlighter to all the wonderfully worded passages, thoughtful messages and amusing one-liners. I said before that "Topper" isn't quite as laugh-out-loud funny as some of the other Smith titles, and yet, we are still given lines that evoke a chuckle. Thus, George says of Cosmo "He's not responsible for his wife's remarks. No man is. The race would perish." And Marion says of the drunken Cosmo "His name should be Toper instead of Topper." (I loved that one!)
For the rest of it, those who might be familiar with the 1937 filmization or the TV show of the 1950s might be surprised to find how much cooler Thorne Smith's Cosmo Topper is than the Toppers later depicted on screen. Both Roland Young in the film and Leo G. Carroll on television portrayed the character as bumbling and a bit feckless...not to mention older. Young was 50 when he played the 40-year-old Topper, and Carroll was 67! Smith's Topper, though unhappy and often on the verge of breaking down, is ultimately revealed to be decisive, smooth, a good dancer, an excellent swimmer, and no slouch in the drinking department! And speaking of drinking, Smith (himself an alcoholic, by all reports) uses his book as a decided rebuttal of the much-despised Prohibition that saddled the U.S. from 1920 till 1933. Smith may have died tragically young, at age 42 in 1934, but at least he got to see that unfortunate era come to an end. All five novels that I've read of his so far have functioned as big fat raspberries to Prohibition, some of them (again, such as "The Glorious Pool") being more booze soaked than others. Another feature of Thorne Smith's novels that is very much present in "Topper" is the eccentric pet. "Turnabout" featured a dog named Dopey who abundantly lived up to his name; "Skin and Bones" featured a dog named Busy, who also became a walking skeleton; and "The Glorious Pool" gave us the pitiful dog Mr. Henry, who had an inferiority complex because he couldn't smell. "Topper," happily enough, gives us two unique pets: Cosmo's ultraenigmatic cat Scollops, and the Colonel's dog Oscar, who startles the world by constantly romping about only partially materialized. What a hoot!
If I were to lodge one minor complaint against Smith's fairly impeccable work here it is that the ghosts encountered don't seem like ghosts at all...more like living people who have the ability to materialize and disappear at will. Their personalities and tastes--especially their desire for drink--remain unchanged, and in their material form they can interact with others, change a tire, be seen and felt, engage in fights...it is all very strange. No wonder Topper at one point remarks "You're the most material-minded spirits that ever returned to earth to drive a mortal mad"! (Smith's vision of the afterlife really doesn't seem so bad, come to think of it!) But this is a minor matter. At bottom, "Topper" is a pretty wonderful book, and I for one can't wait to read its sequel, which appeared six years later...1932's "Topper Takes a Trip."
A brief word now on that 1937 film, which I just watched after not having seen it for many decades. It is a thoroughly entertaining comedy, as would be expected from the talent both in front of and behind the cameras. Roland Young, despite his age, was actually just fine as Cosmo (he would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role, ultimately "losing" to Joseph Schildkraut's portrayal of Alfred Dreyfus in "The Life of Emile Zola"); look at how remarkable he is when drunkenly walking down a flight of stairs, supported by the invisible George and Marion! Other great comedic talents in the primary cast include the always-ingratiating Cary Grant, here in his first screwball comedy in a string of many (Grant would go on to become one of Golden Age Hollywood's greatest comedic actors), playing George, and the remarkably adorable Constance Bennett as Marion. Billie Burke, here two years pre-Glinda, is her fluttery best as Mrs. Topper. And my goodness, just look at who the producer and director of "Topper" happened to be: Hal Roach, who had produced those great Laurel & Hardy shorts of the '20s, and Norman Z. McLeod, who had helmed the two funniest films of the '30s (sez me)...namely, "Horse Feathers" (1932), starring the Marx Brothers, and "It's a Gift" (1934), starring W. C. Fields! With a cast and filmmakers like that, a quality product was practically guaranteed.
Not surprisingly, the "Topper" film, with a script by Jack Jevne, Eric Hatch and Eddie Moran, excised large portions of Smith's story...namely, the entire second half, featuring Topper's vacation and the characters of the Colonel, Mrs. Hart and Oscar! Many alterations are also made: Mary's name is changed to Clara, for some reason; Topper's home is shown to be a lavish mansion rather than a modest house in the suburbs; George Kerby is on Cosmo's board of directors before his passing; and the initial drunken spree takes place in the Kerbys' old apartment rather than in that abandoned inn. Several new characters are introduced, including the Toppers' butler Wilkins (Alan Mowbray) and a hotel dick named Casey, played by the rotund, gravel-voiced, and ever-welcome character actor Eugene Pallette. The Kerbys' resolution that they must do a good deed regarding Topper in order to get into heaven is also a feature only to be found in the film, as is the insane hotel-wrecking sequence that we find at the end. Happily, the scenes with the hat rack and in the lingerie store are faithfully depicted.
The movie version of "Topper" also gives the viewer some surprisingly well-done special effects (such as George and Marion becoming partially transparent after their car wreck), and catches us off guard by presenting Cosmo's scandalous behavior not as a cause of neighborhood disgrace, as in Smith's book, but as the key to Clara's invitation to the area's upper-class elite. And when Cosmo enters his bank, he is regarded as something of a hero! Other aspects of the film to admire are that circular slide that the Kerbys must descend to enter their Art Deco nightclub; Hoagy Carmichael, here making his first appearance on screen, doing a number with Grant and Bennett; and the inclusion of a discussion on the wasting of ectoplasm. It is all highly entertaining, if a marked simplification of Smith's work, with most of the beauty and sentiment removed; funny, to be sure, but the book is surely where the heart and soul of the story reside. Bottom line: The novel is a much superior piece of work, as would be expected. Incidentally, producer Roach supposedly tried to get Jean Harlow to appear in the picture as Marion, and W. C. Fields as Topper himself; the mind boggles at what a different film that would have been! "Topper," by the way, was the very first film to receive the dubious benefits of colorization, in 1985, but I would urge you to stick with the original, beautiful B&W. "Topper Takes a Trip" was also filmed, in 1939, with Young, Bennett, Burke and Mowbray again, and Young and Burke would even reprise their roles one more time in 1941's "Topper Returns." I'd very much like to one day see them all.
As for the "Topper" TV show, of which 78 episodes appeared from 1953 - '55, I cannot say much. It's been decades since I last saw reruns of the show on 1960s TV, and I was only a very wee lad at the time. I remember liking it, though. The series had the Kerbys (played by Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys) perishing in an avalanche in Europe, during a skiing trip, rather than in a car wreck in New Jersey, and added the character of Neil, a ghostly St. Bernard who had tried to save them. I would love to see this series given the DVD treatment one day. It was something of a baby-boomer favorite, as I recall.
Still, after three films and 78 episodes of television, we are left with Smith's original creation to come back to, and again, it is there that I think you'll find the humor and the wisdom that you might be looking for. "Our capacity to enjoy life should be measured by our ability to create life, or beauty or some form of happiness," Marion tells Cosmo near the novel's end, and with "Topper," Thorne Smith surely gave his readers something beautiful to make them happy, indeed....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Thorne Smith....)
"Topper" was originally released in February 1926 as a $2 hardcover by the publisher Robert M. McBride & Co., sporting a wonderful cover by one C. V. Farrow. The novel has seen dozens of reissues over the last century, most recently a 2004 edition from Dead Authors Society. The incarnation that I was happy to acquire is the 1945 hardcover from Doubleday called "The Thorne Smith Three-Bagger," which also includes "Skin and Bones" and "The Glorious Pool"; a great deal if you can find it online. Smith was 34 when "Topper" was released, and its great success enabled him to become a full-time writer and embark on the series of booze-soaked, risqué fantasies for which he is best remembered today.
"Topper" does indeed introduce us to the 40-ish banker named Cosmo Topper, who lives in the New Jersey suburbs with his wife Mary and commutes to Manhattan five days a week. Cosmo's life is one of dull and placid predictability, and when we first encounter him, he is already beginning to evince signs of rebelliousness and discontent. When he learns that the flashy car previously owned by George and Marion Kerby--the town's fastest, wildest, loosest, most morally bankrupt couple, who'd both been killed while driving it during another drunken spree--has been renovated and is up for sale, he buys it on a whim and learns how to drive, to Mary's great consternation. But while tooling along alone one day, Cosmo is made aware that he isn't really alone at all, when the voices of George and Marion Kerby begin telling him to slide over! Remarkably enough, both of the Kerbys have become "low-plane" ghosts with only a scant supply of ectoplasm at their disposal, with which they can materialize as they will! After getting over his astonishment, Topper pursues his new acquaintance with the Kerbys on later occasions, slowly being drawn into their hard-partying ways. The three engage in a drunken revel at an abandoned inn and later get involved in a small-town street brawl, after which Topper is arrested and fined in a court of law. Now something of a disgrace in his own neighborhood and in major-league trouble with the little Mrs., Topper soon finds himself continuously pestered by the ghostly Marion, after George zips off to Europe. The invisible Mrs. Kerby's antics with a hat rack practically give Topper's secretary a nervous breakdown, and the zany goings-on with Topper are soon continued at a lingerie shop, in a drugstore, at a restaurant, and in a department store. Ultimately, Topper decides that he needs a restful break from both his home situation and his increasing attraction to the ghostly married woman, and so hops into his car and takes off, setting the reader up for the second section in Smith's wonderful tale.
In this section, Topper stays overnight at a hotel, only to realize that Marion has followed him there and is now {gasp!} sharing the room with him. The two later drive to a lonely lake somewhere in Connecticut, illegally squatting inside an empty cabin. At this idyllic retreat the two meet another ghostly couple, the Colonel (whose last name may or may not be Scott) and his mistress, Mrs. Hart. After prodigious drinking by the quartet, the party continues at a ritzy nightclub and at a fancy hotel. Hearing that George has finally returned and is not at all happy with Cosmo's carrying on with his wife, the four camp out on a Connecticut beach until George discovers them there and challenges Topper to a duel...with thrown clam shells! It is later decided by the two ghostly couples that they must throw a monster party for Topper before taking their leave...a party at which dozens of their friends, in various states of materialization, are the invited guests. And Topper, need it even be said, becomes a changed man as a result of his supernatural "lost summer"!
Anyway, that's the story in very brief outline, but this capsule summary can in no wise convey to you how warm, witty, charming and amusing the entire conceit is. Topper is not quite as funny/madcap/drunken as some of Thorne Smith's later books, yet the laughs are surely still there, the zaniness undeniably present, and the drinking fairly relentless in the book's second half. Compensating for the fewer number of chuckles in a very big way is the fact that this book is easily the most emotionally touching of the five Smith works that I've read so far. It is wonderful seeing Topper's budding appreciation for another way of living, and the reader feels for the poor guy when he thinks, vis-à-vis Mary, that "there was more excitement in the company of two completely dead persons than he would ever find at home," and when he wonders why he'd "always lost himself in the evening paper instead of looking over its edge for possible adventures." His final toast to his ghostly comrades might surely evoke a tear. To wit:
"...I toast you all," he said, "as a revelation to me of a larger life and a lighter death. And I thank you all for the changes you have wrought in me. Once I was a law-abiding, home-loving and highly respected member of my community. Within a few short months you have changed all that. Now I am a jailbird, a hard drinker, a wife deserter and an undesirable, dissolute outcast. And I am glad of it. Only a few short miles now separate me from my home, but let me assure you that they will be the hardest miles I have ever traveled in my life...."
To the author's credit, Mary is treated not as a dullard or as a monster, but rather as a woman who recognizes that she can't change who she is, but is ultimately willing to try.
Smith, here in his first fantasy, seemed to take especial pains to craft a truly beautiful piece of work. "Topper" is a much tighter and more focused book than some of his others, especially as compared to the rather loosely constructed and absolutely bonkers "The Glorious Pool." This reader cannot help but feel that here, Smith seemed to have put more effort into the writing of moving passages and lovely descriptions. Please indulge me as I share one more extended quote from the book, as Smith tells us of that abandoned inn, lost in the New Jersey woods:
"...It was an old abandoned inn, lying far back from the roadway in the arms of its guardian trees. Like a royal drunkard, spent by years of purple debauchery, the ancient structure wearily settled down among the trees and listened to tales of vanished splendor drifting through the branches overhead. Hard days had fallen on the inn. It attracted no longer now the flower of the land. Laughter warmed its heart no more and the silvery chiming of goblets filled with honest liquor was forever stilled. And the great paunch-like cellar of the inn was empty. Gone the bottles that flashed beneath the lamplight. Gone the stout old soul who used to carry the lamp. Even the smell of the place was different. The inspiriting fragrance of old wine had been subtracted from the air, leaving it flat and dead. The spiders, too, had lost caste. There was not a cork to cling to, only empty bins that had once contained the mellow yield of distant vineyards stepping up the hillside to the sun that had given them life.
The inn was built on sandy soil. The sea had once been there. If you looked between the trees at moonlight you could see white patches of sand lying in the woods. And if you stood quite still and listened to the wind thrumming through the pines you could catch an echo of waves falling on vanished beaches. The sea had once been there. The rhythm of its surf still lingered in the air, and the healing tang of its salt blended with the smell of pine. All was silent in the woods. Nobody ever came to them now. No couples flitted across the patches, no whispering voices were heard among the trees...."
Offhand, I cannot recall writing of that caliber in any of those other four Smith titles. As usual, however, the book is filled with countless words of wisdom, such as when Marion tells Cosmo "Too much virtue will sour the sweetest character," and that "The world does wicked things to us with its success and routine and morality...it either cheats us with wealth or numbs us with want, steals away from us all the color and wonder of being alive, the necessary useless things...." Trust me, you'll feel the urge to take a highlighter to all the wonderfully worded passages, thoughtful messages and amusing one-liners. I said before that "Topper" isn't quite as laugh-out-loud funny as some of the other Smith titles, and yet, we are still given lines that evoke a chuckle. Thus, George says of Cosmo "He's not responsible for his wife's remarks. No man is. The race would perish." And Marion says of the drunken Cosmo "His name should be Toper instead of Topper." (I loved that one!)
For the rest of it, those who might be familiar with the 1937 filmization or the TV show of the 1950s might be surprised to find how much cooler Thorne Smith's Cosmo Topper is than the Toppers later depicted on screen. Both Roland Young in the film and Leo G. Carroll on television portrayed the character as bumbling and a bit feckless...not to mention older. Young was 50 when he played the 40-year-old Topper, and Carroll was 67! Smith's Topper, though unhappy and often on the verge of breaking down, is ultimately revealed to be decisive, smooth, a good dancer, an excellent swimmer, and no slouch in the drinking department! And speaking of drinking, Smith (himself an alcoholic, by all reports) uses his book as a decided rebuttal of the much-despised Prohibition that saddled the U.S. from 1920 till 1933. Smith may have died tragically young, at age 42 in 1934, but at least he got to see that unfortunate era come to an end. All five novels that I've read of his so far have functioned as big fat raspberries to Prohibition, some of them (again, such as "The Glorious Pool") being more booze soaked than others. Another feature of Thorne Smith's novels that is very much present in "Topper" is the eccentric pet. "Turnabout" featured a dog named Dopey who abundantly lived up to his name; "Skin and Bones" featured a dog named Busy, who also became a walking skeleton; and "The Glorious Pool" gave us the pitiful dog Mr. Henry, who had an inferiority complex because he couldn't smell. "Topper," happily enough, gives us two unique pets: Cosmo's ultraenigmatic cat Scollops, and the Colonel's dog Oscar, who startles the world by constantly romping about only partially materialized. What a hoot!
If I were to lodge one minor complaint against Smith's fairly impeccable work here it is that the ghosts encountered don't seem like ghosts at all...more like living people who have the ability to materialize and disappear at will. Their personalities and tastes--especially their desire for drink--remain unchanged, and in their material form they can interact with others, change a tire, be seen and felt, engage in fights...it is all very strange. No wonder Topper at one point remarks "You're the most material-minded spirits that ever returned to earth to drive a mortal mad"! (Smith's vision of the afterlife really doesn't seem so bad, come to think of it!) But this is a minor matter. At bottom, "Topper" is a pretty wonderful book, and I for one can't wait to read its sequel, which appeared six years later...1932's "Topper Takes a Trip."
A brief word now on that 1937 film, which I just watched after not having seen it for many decades. It is a thoroughly entertaining comedy, as would be expected from the talent both in front of and behind the cameras. Roland Young, despite his age, was actually just fine as Cosmo (he would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role, ultimately "losing" to Joseph Schildkraut's portrayal of Alfred Dreyfus in "The Life of Emile Zola"); look at how remarkable he is when drunkenly walking down a flight of stairs, supported by the invisible George and Marion! Other great comedic talents in the primary cast include the always-ingratiating Cary Grant, here in his first screwball comedy in a string of many (Grant would go on to become one of Golden Age Hollywood's greatest comedic actors), playing George, and the remarkably adorable Constance Bennett as Marion. Billie Burke, here two years pre-Glinda, is her fluttery best as Mrs. Topper. And my goodness, just look at who the producer and director of "Topper" happened to be: Hal Roach, who had produced those great Laurel & Hardy shorts of the '20s, and Norman Z. McLeod, who had helmed the two funniest films of the '30s (sez me)...namely, "Horse Feathers" (1932), starring the Marx Brothers, and "It's a Gift" (1934), starring W. C. Fields! With a cast and filmmakers like that, a quality product was practically guaranteed.
Not surprisingly, the "Topper" film, with a script by Jack Jevne, Eric Hatch and Eddie Moran, excised large portions of Smith's story...namely, the entire second half, featuring Topper's vacation and the characters of the Colonel, Mrs. Hart and Oscar! Many alterations are also made: Mary's name is changed to Clara, for some reason; Topper's home is shown to be a lavish mansion rather than a modest house in the suburbs; George Kerby is on Cosmo's board of directors before his passing; and the initial drunken spree takes place in the Kerbys' old apartment rather than in that abandoned inn. Several new characters are introduced, including the Toppers' butler Wilkins (Alan Mowbray) and a hotel dick named Casey, played by the rotund, gravel-voiced, and ever-welcome character actor Eugene Pallette. The Kerbys' resolution that they must do a good deed regarding Topper in order to get into heaven is also a feature only to be found in the film, as is the insane hotel-wrecking sequence that we find at the end. Happily, the scenes with the hat rack and in the lingerie store are faithfully depicted.
The movie version of "Topper" also gives the viewer some surprisingly well-done special effects (such as George and Marion becoming partially transparent after their car wreck), and catches us off guard by presenting Cosmo's scandalous behavior not as a cause of neighborhood disgrace, as in Smith's book, but as the key to Clara's invitation to the area's upper-class elite. And when Cosmo enters his bank, he is regarded as something of a hero! Other aspects of the film to admire are that circular slide that the Kerbys must descend to enter their Art Deco nightclub; Hoagy Carmichael, here making his first appearance on screen, doing a number with Grant and Bennett; and the inclusion of a discussion on the wasting of ectoplasm. It is all highly entertaining, if a marked simplification of Smith's work, with most of the beauty and sentiment removed; funny, to be sure, but the book is surely where the heart and soul of the story reside. Bottom line: The novel is a much superior piece of work, as would be expected. Incidentally, producer Roach supposedly tried to get Jean Harlow to appear in the picture as Marion, and W. C. Fields as Topper himself; the mind boggles at what a different film that would have been! "Topper," by the way, was the very first film to receive the dubious benefits of colorization, in 1985, but I would urge you to stick with the original, beautiful B&W. "Topper Takes a Trip" was also filmed, in 1939, with Young, Bennett, Burke and Mowbray again, and Young and Burke would even reprise their roles one more time in 1941's "Topper Returns." I'd very much like to one day see them all.
As for the "Topper" TV show, of which 78 episodes appeared from 1953 - '55, I cannot say much. It's been decades since I last saw reruns of the show on 1960s TV, and I was only a very wee lad at the time. I remember liking it, though. The series had the Kerbys (played by Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys) perishing in an avalanche in Europe, during a skiing trip, rather than in a car wreck in New Jersey, and added the character of Neil, a ghostly St. Bernard who had tried to save them. I would love to see this series given the DVD treatment one day. It was something of a baby-boomer favorite, as I recall.
Still, after three films and 78 episodes of television, we are left with Smith's original creation to come back to, and again, it is there that I think you'll find the humor and the wisdom that you might be looking for. "Our capacity to enjoy life should be measured by our ability to create life, or beauty or some form of happiness," Marion tells Cosmo near the novel's end, and with "Topper," Thorne Smith surely gave his readers something beautiful to make them happy, indeed....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Thorne Smith....)
October 18, 2007
Thorne Smith is a brilliant writer of the 30's. Imagine Dorothy Parker and F. Scott out in the town during thier worst drinking period - and somewhere in that taxt home is Thorne Smith.
As F. Scott is under a blanket of gloom, Thorne is very much happy with his life. In fact he's carefree in a world that is totally insane.
Most of his stories has to deal with the afterlife (ghosts) witches (Bewitched is based on one of his novels) and it's MADCAP with a revenage. The fact that he's now out of print really sucks.
Topper is about a conservative banker who is haunted by a couple who recently died in a car crash. The male ghost is jealous because his wife has a thing for Topper. It has a weird angle on afterworld sexuality that's for sure. So it's fantasy but set in 1930's NYC. Amazing work -and I would give all of his work ten stars!
As F. Scott is under a blanket of gloom, Thorne is very much happy with his life. In fact he's carefree in a world that is totally insane.
Most of his stories has to deal with the afterlife (ghosts) witches (Bewitched is based on one of his novels) and it's MADCAP with a revenage. The fact that he's now out of print really sucks.
Topper is about a conservative banker who is haunted by a couple who recently died in a car crash. The male ghost is jealous because his wife has a thing for Topper. It has a weird angle on afterworld sexuality that's for sure. So it's fantasy but set in 1930's NYC. Amazing work -and I would give all of his work ten stars!
May 27, 2009
If I had to pick one 20th century author who has been mostly forgotten and long overdue for a revival, it would be Thorne Smith. He was a master at the satiric, both criticizing and adoring the staunch American upper class. I would say he is the closest thing to an American Oscar Wilde. In fact, when I first read this book years ago, I thought Mr. Smith was British! Those of us old enough to remember the TV series with Leo G. Carrol or the Gary Grant film may have some idea of the humor and fun in this story about a starch-collared banker and his scandalous pair of ghosts, but they pale in comparison to the novel. Considered racy for its time, in fact Smith's characters do tend to drink and fool around a lot, Smith has a light touch that is a little Victorian is style yet totally American in tone.
April 19, 2012
I first read the Topper books as a child in the 1960s, and was rather startled to come across them again in new editions in the 1980s, the ghosts of past years slyly rematerialised.
Both books do in fact deal with ghosts—this one was originally titled The Jovial Ghosts. Smith’s ghosts are quite untraditional: he used the idea of ghostliness to supply him with a set of cheerfully immoral characters, who, being dead, have the convenient ability to dematerialise at will. Convenient for them, that is: rarely so for anyone who gets in their way.
They choose from time to time to inflict their company on an innocent banker with the unlikely name of Cosmo Topper, who, having the misfortune to be alive, can less easily escape the consequences of their frolics, although he seems well enough equipped with money to buy his way out of most trouble. Smith evidently detested American middle-class suburban society with a fierce loathing; he uses Topper’s viewpoint to describe it and his intermittently substantial companions to tear it apart.
His books are most concisely described as escapist fantasy, and yet there’s a peculiarly distinctive quality to the writing, and in places an engaging wistfulness, that raises them out of the ordinary. Expect nothing of the plot: it’s merely an excuse for high jinks and bizarre observations. The characters, living as Smith did in the Prohibition era, display an insatiable thirst for alcohol and a distinctly casual attitude towards theft. The author clearly would have liked them to have sex whenever not incapacitated by alcohol, but writing in the 1920s he didn’t dare go beyond a few kisses, so they seem incredibly chaste by modern standards.
I sympathise with Topper; I think there’s something of him in many of us. This story is a rather childish fantasy, but it has an air of innocent alcoholic amiability, and I recommend it to anyone suffering from a repressed desire to be naughty. I think it pioneered a new interpretation of ghosts that other writers later found useful.
Both books do in fact deal with ghosts—this one was originally titled The Jovial Ghosts. Smith’s ghosts are quite untraditional: he used the idea of ghostliness to supply him with a set of cheerfully immoral characters, who, being dead, have the convenient ability to dematerialise at will. Convenient for them, that is: rarely so for anyone who gets in their way.
They choose from time to time to inflict their company on an innocent banker with the unlikely name of Cosmo Topper, who, having the misfortune to be alive, can less easily escape the consequences of their frolics, although he seems well enough equipped with money to buy his way out of most trouble. Smith evidently detested American middle-class suburban society with a fierce loathing; he uses Topper’s viewpoint to describe it and his intermittently substantial companions to tear it apart.
His books are most concisely described as escapist fantasy, and yet there’s a peculiarly distinctive quality to the writing, and in places an engaging wistfulness, that raises them out of the ordinary. Expect nothing of the plot: it’s merely an excuse for high jinks and bizarre observations. The characters, living as Smith did in the Prohibition era, display an insatiable thirst for alcohol and a distinctly casual attitude towards theft. The author clearly would have liked them to have sex whenever not incapacitated by alcohol, but writing in the 1920s he didn’t dare go beyond a few kisses, so they seem incredibly chaste by modern standards.
I sympathise with Topper; I think there’s something of him in many of us. This story is a rather childish fantasy, but it has an air of innocent alcoholic amiability, and I recommend it to anyone suffering from a repressed desire to be naughty. I think it pioneered a new interpretation of ghosts that other writers later found useful.
March 18, 2014
What a joy to read. Cosmo Topper what a guy. The book has quite little to do with the movies, though both are enjoyable in their own ways. The American title of the book is "Topper: An Improbable Adventure" I am not sure why they re-titled the book for a UK release.
Topper is overweight, approaching forty, with a solid job in banking and a stale, ten-years-old marriage to a selfish woman who cultivates indigestion as a cherished excuse for always having her own way.
Topper is overweight, approaching forty, with a solid job in banking and a stale, ten-years-old marriage to a selfish woman who cultivates indigestion as a cherished excuse for always having her own way.
September 19, 2023
Amazing little book written by Thorne Smith and first published in 1926 by Grosset & Dunlap (New York). "Topper" is subtitled "A Ribald Adventure." It is full of adventures (even wild ones), and these create unexpected situations that trouble the protagonist, but which eventually change him into a new person. The adventures of Topper and his new friends create comedy and evoke pathos, and where several brushes with near-death experiences transform this complacent, eager-to-please, conventional banker into a warm, considerate, hopeful man full of humanity, more easily moved to compassion for those on the outskirts, and readily accepting of those who are different from himself.
The book gave rise to several movies in the 1930s and 1940s, and to a television series in the 1960s. All were comedies. The book is also a comedy, but it is fundamentally more serious than one would suspect. It is a parable, if you will, of what it takes to live a healthy and meaningful life, free of any pressure to conform to hallow societal norms and to be one's own person. This book is so unique, in fact, at least for me that I didn't want to end.
The book gave rise to several movies in the 1930s and 1940s, and to a television series in the 1960s. All were comedies. The book is also a comedy, but it is fundamentally more serious than one would suspect. It is a parable, if you will, of what it takes to live a healthy and meaningful life, free of any pressure to conform to hallow societal norms and to be one's own person. This book is so unique, in fact, at least for me that I didn't want to end.
October 12, 2024
Very fun and entertaining. I ended up reading a lot of it out loud to my husband because we both get a kick out of this type of old-fashioned humor.
May 2, 2016
I love the movie (especially the first one) and the concept is a good one. As for the claim at the start of the book how all friendly ghost books come from this, the Canterville Ghost predates this by a few decades. But if there was ever anyone willing to love a 20s comedy, I would have thought to be first in line. Though I didn't like this book--it has the zaniness of Benchley and Wodehouse and the sly wit of Parker and Coward but I found it appalling in many places. Far more alcohol is consumed in this book than anything in The Hangover or recent bro films. The concept is a good one--middle-aged man in a crisis, buys an inappropriate car to his wife's dismay, and discovers that the car he bought, restored after a fatal DUI accident, comes with two inebriated, mischievous ghosts.
A lot of drinking and horseplay ensues where he basically runs away and tosses away all his "decency" to go on a road trip with thieving, mooching, gulping insane amount of booze 4 ghost pals (the ghost entourage grows) and half a ghost dog. It's okay because the ghosts restore a pep to his step, but they do almost kill him at several parts, and they still think nothing of driving around wasted out of their minds. This is just no longer that funny, and it sort of contributes to how dated this book is.
The ghosts are far more sympathetic in the film version and the wife not so much of a shrew (anyone else notice some weird things going on with race in this book too?). I am glad I read this though and I actually will read the sequel, which I have. A lot of this author's plots though seem very interesting and that Bewitched is based on his last novel is also cool trivia.
A lot of drinking and horseplay ensues where he basically runs away and tosses away all his "decency" to go on a road trip with thieving, mooching, gulping insane amount of booze 4 ghost pals (the ghost entourage grows) and half a ghost dog. It's okay because the ghosts restore a pep to his step, but they do almost kill him at several parts, and they still think nothing of driving around wasted out of their minds. This is just no longer that funny, and it sort of contributes to how dated this book is.
The ghosts are far more sympathetic in the film version and the wife not so much of a shrew (anyone else notice some weird things going on with race in this book too?). I am glad I read this though and I actually will read the sequel, which I have. A lot of this author's plots though seem very interesting and that Bewitched is based on his last novel is also cool trivia.
March 11, 2019
There was a time when people didn’t have instant entertainment, when they weren’t fed what to think or feel. Before easy and cheap access to television, before radio, before movies ... okay, “talkies” ... there was little to entertain themselves. Books helped. And the readers still had to think. I found a copy of Topper Takes a Trip in an antique store, bought it, and though I’d seen the movie (it was entertaining, sue me), thought I should read this first.
Rich language. Mr. Smith sure had a way with words. Vivid imagery with stately descriptions. Now, I’m not sure if Smith ever drank because he exaggerated mightily the consumption of the milquetoast Cosmo Topper and wild, if generally ... dead ..., friends. Comical adventures, risqué in a way that seems a surprise for a book published in 1926. We need not be naive to think that people weren’t risqué, but in print? Regardless of its entertainment value, I can’t forgive Cosmo Topper his, um, spirit-ual indiscretions...but this book was written for a different era. Not that it was forgivable then, but that is just the way things were written. I might watch the movie again to compare, and I expect I’ll read the sequel soon enough.
Rich language. Mr. Smith sure had a way with words. Vivid imagery with stately descriptions. Now, I’m not sure if Smith ever drank because he exaggerated mightily the consumption of the milquetoast Cosmo Topper and wild, if generally ... dead ..., friends. Comical adventures, risqué in a way that seems a surprise for a book published in 1926. We need not be naive to think that people weren’t risqué, but in print? Regardless of its entertainment value, I can’t forgive Cosmo Topper his, um, spirit-ual indiscretions...but this book was written for a different era. Not that it was forgivable then, but that is just the way things were written. I might watch the movie again to compare, and I expect I’ll read the sequel soon enough.
June 3, 2018
My copy of Topper promised a "ribald adventure," but I think the standards of 1926 were a little different. Essentially Topper is a boring, suburban guy approaching middle age and feeling dissatisfied with life. He impulse buys a sports car that is haunted by the ghosts of the fast, young couple who died crashing it into a tree. There's a lot of drinking and women's underwear and even Topper sleeping in a tent with a woman who's not his wife! I didn't find it that funny, possibly because it relies too much on the shock value of things that are no longer shocking. The best parts of the book were actually some of the more serious reflections on what makes life worth living. Here's a passage I particularly liked:
He had held a sparrow in his hand once and felt its heart beat. Somehow it had made him feel like crying. The little thing had been so excited, so bent on living. Life to the little sparrow had seemed so necessary and important. Topper had released it immediately. How busily it had flown away.
June 16, 2014
A bestseller in the late '20s, and very much a book of its time, a time when Prohibition held a quite tenuous sway over the land.
George and Marion Kerby, a bon vivant couple who recently died in a car wreck, come back to inject some rabblerousery and dissipation into the life of a stodgy, frustrated banker who rejoices in the name Cosmo Topper.
The book is quite different in many ways from the Cary Grant movie. For one, Grant's character, George, is gone for most of the book. For two, there is a lot more genteel hell raising than I remember in the movie.
Topper is a light, amusing read, if you don't find Marion Kerby's antics too irritating. (Sometimes I felt irritation begin to stir, but it never rose to a level anywhere near the tooth-grinding irritation I felt watching Barbra Streisand in What's Up Doc.)
I read Topper for free through Goodreads (via feedbooks). A number of other Topper books followed this one.
George and Marion Kerby, a bon vivant couple who recently died in a car wreck, come back to inject some rabblerousery and dissipation into the life of a stodgy, frustrated banker who rejoices in the name Cosmo Topper.
The book is quite different in many ways from the Cary Grant movie. For one, Grant's character, George, is gone for most of the book. For two, there is a lot more genteel hell raising than I remember in the movie.
Topper is a light, amusing read, if you don't find Marion Kerby's antics too irritating. (Sometimes I felt irritation begin to stir, but it never rose to a level anywhere near the tooth-grinding irritation I felt watching Barbra Streisand in What's Up Doc.)
I read Topper for free through Goodreads (via feedbooks). A number of other Topper books followed this one.
December 29, 2012
I liked this. It reminds me a lot of 50s and 60s sitcoms.. which makes sense (even though it was written in the 20s) because Bewitched was apparently based on one of Smith's books.
I definitely need to see the Cary Grant movie. I was thrown when I started reading because I knew Grant was in the movie, but I couldn't picture him as the title character. Further research shows Grant plays George Kerby, which makes so much more sense.
Anyway. Smith was a contemporary of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the book kind of reads like "Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan die in a car accident and then haunt George Wilson, who has bought Gatsby's car from the estate. Hilarity ensues."
I definitely need to see the Cary Grant movie. I was thrown when I started reading because I knew Grant was in the movie, but I couldn't picture him as the title character. Further research shows Grant plays George Kerby, which makes so much more sense.
Anyway. Smith was a contemporary of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the book kind of reads like "Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan die in a car accident and then haunt George Wilson, who has bought Gatsby's car from the estate. Hilarity ensues."
Read
August 11, 2011If PG Wodehouse had written Beetlejuice,the result might be something like this novel.A buttoned down henpecked banker finds that his new car is haunted by the free spirited (pun intended) ghosts of it's previous owners. They proceed to have many adventures while overcoming the problems associated with finding alcohol during Prohibition.Witty with endearing characters If you enjoyed this you might enjoy the works of PG Wodehouse,James Thurber,and especially The Lunatic at large by Clouston, J. Storer.
January 23, 2026
Light fun from an author that passed too early. Spawned film and TV adaptations, and spawned a genre that I greatly enjoy.
Chapters are very episodic, alcohol is ever present. Cosmo grows some in the novel, but he relies on the ghosts to get him out of scrapes (which they largely got him into). Mrs. Topper plays a minor role in the beginning and end, regretting who she has become and to a point how she has treated her husband.
A sequel was released 6 years later. I may stumble across it, but doubt I'll seek it out. Next step - a Cary Grant film :)
Chapters are very episodic, alcohol is ever present. Cosmo grows some in the novel, but he relies on the ghosts to get him out of scrapes (which they largely got him into). Mrs. Topper plays a minor role in the beginning and end, regretting who she has become and to a point how she has treated her husband.
A sequel was released 6 years later. I may stumble across it, but doubt I'll seek it out. Next step - a Cary Grant film :)
January 3, 2017
Okay, I suppose the style might tend to come off a bit mealy-mouthed at times. But it was doubtless quite amusingly ribald for its era (with its lawless spirit presaging the 1960s), and the character of Marion Kirby is I think all the stronger now.
Want to Read
August 26, 2009The movies are great. I'd love to read the book.
September 9, 2010
What an odd, drunken tale... I enjoyed much of the language, but found some of the humor a tad old fashioned.
May 1, 2016
Wow I love your book
May 5, 2017
Barrett Whitener did a good job narrating this 1920s satire.
For my thoughts on the book itself, see my review of my Kindle edition.
For my thoughts on the book itself, see my review of my Kindle edition.
February 8, 2026
3.5 Enjoyable but one of those books where you’re better off watching the movie adaptation!
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