What do you think?
Biltmore Oswald: The Diary of a Hapless Recruit
James Thorne Smith Jr. (1892-1934), was an American writer of humorous supernaturnal 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. His other works include: The Stray Lamb (1929), Turnabout (1931), The Night Life of the Gods (1931), Topper Takes a Trip (1932), The Bishop's Jaegers (1932), Rain in the Doorway (1933), Skin and Bones (1933) and The Glorious Pool (1934). He died of a heart attack while vacationing in Florida.
- GenresHumor
124 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1918
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 11, 2019
2.5★
Ugh. Originally the page count on GR was around 85. By the time I figured out it was much longer than that I was at around the 60% mark. I made it to 66% before -heh- abandoning ship!
This book was originally a series of comic stories written for the Naval Reservist journal The Broadside while Smith was in the Navy about raw recruit Biltmore Oswald. My (admittedly free) copy doesn't make this clear, so I was baffled by the disjointed approach. My copy also is shown as being illustrated & I think maybe Dick Dorgan's black & white sketches may have given the story more charm. Frustratingly though the table of illustrations is on my copy, but not the illustrations themselves.
Source of cartoon:Gutenberg
This flippant yet, naive exchange was so typical of the later works Smith became famous for. Smith was my parents' favourite humorous writer - that in itself was pretty funny if you knew my parents who were both really straightlaced . Just talking about the skeleton dog in
scratching for nonexistent fleas would reduce my mother to tears of helpless mirth!
But this first work of Smith's while riotously funny at the beginning (the scenes with Oswald and his mother reminded me -a lot! - of Private Pike and his overprotective mother in Dad's Army - right down to the scarf!)
I may download the Gutenberg copy (which does have the illustrations) at some point and try again. Luckily I have already read some of Smith's funniest works (he is best known for
but some of his other books are better) and know Smith was only in his early twenties when he wrote this.
I wouldn't make this a first Smith read. Try
or
first.
Ugh. Originally the page count on GR was around 85. By the time I figured out it was much longer than that I was at around the 60% mark. I made it to 66% before -heh- abandoning ship!
This book was originally a series of comic stories written for the Naval Reservist journal The Broadside while Smith was in the Navy about raw recruit Biltmore Oswald. My (admittedly free) copy doesn't make this clear, so I was baffled by the disjointed approach. My copy also is shown as being illustrated & I think maybe Dick Dorgan's black & white sketches may have given the story more charm. Frustratingly though the table of illustrations is on my copy, but not the illustrations themselves.
"'Do you enlist for foreign service?' He snapped. 'Sure,' I replied, 'It will all be foreign to me"
Source of cartoon:Gutenberg
This flippant yet, naive exchange was so typical of the later works Smith became famous for. Smith was my parents' favourite humorous writer - that in itself was pretty funny if you knew my parents who were both really straightlaced . Just talking about the skeleton dog in
scratching for nonexistent fleas would reduce my mother to tears of helpless mirth!But this first work of Smith's while riotously funny at the beginning (the scenes with Oswald and his mother reminded me -a lot! - of Private Pike and his overprotective mother in Dad's Army - right down to the scarf!)
I may download the Gutenberg copy (which does have the illustrations) at some point and try again. Luckily I have already read some of Smith's funniest works (he is best known for
but some of his other books are better) and know Smith was only in his early twenties when he wrote this.I wouldn't make this a first Smith read. Try
or
first.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
March 15, 2018
A comic diary about entering life in the Navy. Published in 1918, it is a series of short vignettes poking fun at the culture of the time in general and the military in particular. Biltmore Oswald, a recruit with no appreciable talents besides befriending animals and getting into trouble, is something of a Beetle Bailey of his day. His period of waiting for a posting is extended due to an unerring series of mishaps.
Of the many books I’ve read by Thorne Smith, this is the weakest one ... although it follows his penchant for situational humor. In other works, he would let his imagination fly as crazy fantasy situations came into play, such as a married couple unwillingly inhabiting each other’s bodies, or Greek statues coming to life with the qualities of the gods they represent. This one is much more grounded and the opportunity for humor is more limited to reworkings of repeated situations.
There was an obvious error in an entry date ... April 31. In other works, the writer seemed to throw in bits almost to see if the Reader was paying attention. I wondered if this was a genuine error, or an instance of the writer “breaking the fourth wall.”
I wouldn’t recommend this one as an introduction to Thorne Smith. Other works were much more fun. It is worth the read to see another aspect of the writer, though, and it moves along at a brisk pace.
Of the many books I’ve read by Thorne Smith, this is the weakest one ... although it follows his penchant for situational humor. In other works, he would let his imagination fly as crazy fantasy situations came into play, such as a married couple unwillingly inhabiting each other’s bodies, or Greek statues coming to life with the qualities of the gods they represent. This one is much more grounded and the opportunity for humor is more limited to reworkings of repeated situations.
There was an obvious error in an entry date ... April 31. In other works, the writer seemed to throw in bits almost to see if the Reader was paying attention. I wondered if this was a genuine error, or an instance of the writer “breaking the fourth wall.”
I wouldn’t recommend this one as an introduction to Thorne Smith. Other works were much more fun. It is worth the read to see another aspect of the writer, though, and it moves along at a brisk pace.
February 17, 2013
eh. I like Smith, but this dragged. A collection of columns, as I understood it - and was probably fine taken in periodic chunks.
July 4, 2017
Long before the play and film, No Time for Sergeants, with its country bumpkin in the Air Force that gave Andy Griffith’s career a big push, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. with its hillbilly in the Marines, Biltmore Oswald was a Yankee nincompoop in the Navy of World War I. The hapless naval recruit was the brainchild and first publication of J. Thorne Smith, a comedic writer best known for Topper. The latter spawned a successful movie and a delightful television series where only the protagonist could see the ghosts of a young couple who died in an auto accident and felt like they still had some high living to accomplish. In addition to Thorne Smith’s own humor, Biltmore Oswald was illustrated by Dick Dorgan, a New York City cartoonist (New York Call, and both the Adams and Bell Syndicates) who published his cartoons in everything from The Lamb: A Magazine of Fun and Finance to PhotoPlay magazine. He met and started collaborating with Smith on The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force and Biltmore Oswald found its genesis there.
The eponymous Biltmore Oswald is certainly one of the densest recruits ever and his story, written in the conceit of a diary, goes to great lengths to prove it. Oswald doesn’t have a clue even in retrospect. The navy can’t figure out what rating to give him. He fails at everything. At one point, a petty officer chews out his unit for five major mistakes during a “review.” Alas, Biltmore made all five! They couldn’t even punish him properly because he did the punitive chores with such incompetence that no one even wanted him to shovel coal or do laundry. Even when he is on leave, he ends up in rotten circumstances. He ends up hitching a ride with a wealthy family along with a friend with a penchant for prevarication. Said friend creates a story that both sailors are originally from California, but Biltmore messed things up when the daughters of the family recognized him as the person who had spilled tea all over them at a dinner party.
He even fares poorly with the animal kingdom. A dog he called Mr. Fogarty befriends him and sticks so close that he gets Biltmore in hot water during morning muster and during the day. Then, the dog abandons him because of a female. Hope that’s not too much of a spoiler.
My favorite part of the book was when he was anxious about what the navy was going to have him do. His colleagues suggest that he will be a Submarine Provoker (yep, as ridiculous as it sounds), Powder Taster (as bad as it sounds, that one gets worse), or a Mine Checker (so bizarre one wonders how anyone could fall for it). My second favorite portion of the book was a wild tale about a mermaid told to him by an officer. It didn’t go where I thought it would. Finally, I loved the scene where his girlfriend Polly visits the camp and he overhears another sailor trying to convince her that Oswald took “liberty” instead of waiting for her at the camp as he promised.
To be honest, Biltmore Oswald is rather too ridiculous to completely hold one’s disbelief in abeyance. Yet, readers can experience some of the raw humor that Smith will refine over his career. I enjoyed it and look forward to finding the second collaboration between Dorgan and Smith, Out o’ Luck.
The eponymous Biltmore Oswald is certainly one of the densest recruits ever and his story, written in the conceit of a diary, goes to great lengths to prove it. Oswald doesn’t have a clue even in retrospect. The navy can’t figure out what rating to give him. He fails at everything. At one point, a petty officer chews out his unit for five major mistakes during a “review.” Alas, Biltmore made all five! They couldn’t even punish him properly because he did the punitive chores with such incompetence that no one even wanted him to shovel coal or do laundry. Even when he is on leave, he ends up in rotten circumstances. He ends up hitching a ride with a wealthy family along with a friend with a penchant for prevarication. Said friend creates a story that both sailors are originally from California, but Biltmore messed things up when the daughters of the family recognized him as the person who had spilled tea all over them at a dinner party.
He even fares poorly with the animal kingdom. A dog he called Mr. Fogarty befriends him and sticks so close that he gets Biltmore in hot water during morning muster and during the day. Then, the dog abandons him because of a female. Hope that’s not too much of a spoiler.
My favorite part of the book was when he was anxious about what the navy was going to have him do. His colleagues suggest that he will be a Submarine Provoker (yep, as ridiculous as it sounds), Powder Taster (as bad as it sounds, that one gets worse), or a Mine Checker (so bizarre one wonders how anyone could fall for it). My second favorite portion of the book was a wild tale about a mermaid told to him by an officer. It didn’t go where I thought it would. Finally, I loved the scene where his girlfriend Polly visits the camp and he overhears another sailor trying to convince her that Oswald took “liberty” instead of waiting for her at the camp as he promised.
To be honest, Biltmore Oswald is rather too ridiculous to completely hold one’s disbelief in abeyance. Yet, readers can experience some of the raw humor that Smith will refine over his career. I enjoyed it and look forward to finding the second collaboration between Dorgan and Smith, Out o’ Luck.
March 4, 2013
When I started this short story I didn’t really know what to expect. It didn’t take long before I was attracting strange looks by unsuspecting people around me (I was in a doctor’s waiting room). I couldn’t control the urge to laugh as the story took form in my mind. Being a retired seafarer I could identify with some of the sketches (although this story dates from 1918; long before my time). For Europeans (especially Brits) Biltmore Oswald resembles Frank Spencer (Some Mother’s Do Have Them) and for the rest of the world Mr. Bean. You can’t help loving him and feelings of empathy overflow from the readers. I came across this book purely by accident and picked it up on a whim. I have since learned that in 1919 he followed this book with a sequel, Out O’ Luck: Biltmore Oswald Very Much at Sea. If (and my instincts say it is) it is like its predecessor, it will be well worth the time, money and effort to acquire it. You don’t have to be an old salt to find this book hilarious and it is sure to brighten your day!
Read
June 5, 2015I love it when I find myself chuckling straight away when I open a Thorne Smith book. The complete bewilderment of this recruit and the funny conversations that Thorne Smith is so good at are a delight. Reading the stories at intervals as they initially appeared when they were in a series is probably a good way to go. Fun light relief.
May 4, 2014
Thorne Smith's first book, a fairly amusing, disjointed "Diary" of life in the US navy around the time of the first world war. It hints a bit of his more familiar style and there is, rather out of place in the rest of the book a story about a mermaid that is a pure Thorne Smith comic fantasy.
December 16, 2020
Vintage Naval Tomfoolery
I am a former Marine and I thoroughly enjoyed this sad sack account of military life. Dated but funny as hades. I love Thorne Smith's offbeat sense of humor.
I am a former Marine and I thoroughly enjoyed this sad sack account of military life. Dated but funny as hades. I love Thorne Smith's offbeat sense of humor.
March 1, 2023
A barrel of laughs, but it was worth reading just for this line —
”What's a hackamatack?" asked the next guy. Thinking he was either kidding me or given to using baby talk, I replied:
"Why, it's a mixture between a thingamabob and a nibleck."
”What's a hackamatack?" asked the next guy. Thinking he was either kidding me or given to using baby talk, I replied:
"Why, it's a mixture between a thingamabob and a nibleck."
February 12, 2026
As much as I feast on mid-century novels and forgotten works, this one deserves to remain forgotten. The very few flashes of color that Smith supplies through contemporary commentary is bleached out by poor structure, dialogue, and character development.
October 6, 2021
This is quite well written, in an endearing and droll style, and is furthermore an historical document, dating from the last year of the First World War. I was tempted to give it three stars, except that it doesn’t really go anywhere or achieve anything, and I may not feel the urge to reread it.
It’s a semi-autobiographical diary of the author’s experiences as a US naval recruit, presumably exaggerated for humorous effect. Being an unreliable diary rather than a genuine work of fiction, it has no particular plot and just stops whenever he leaves off writing.
Thorne Smith later became better known for humorous alcoholic fantasies, but this was his first publication; it has no element of fantasy and remarkably little alcohol in it (the Prohibition Era had not yet started). It turns self-deprecation into an art form; if we can identify the protagonist with the author, he was the worst naval recruit ever.
It’s a semi-autobiographical diary of the author’s experiences as a US naval recruit, presumably exaggerated for humorous effect. Being an unreliable diary rather than a genuine work of fiction, it has no particular plot and just stops whenever he leaves off writing.
Thorne Smith later became better known for humorous alcoholic fantasies, but this was his first publication; it has no element of fantasy and remarkably little alcohol in it (the Prohibition Era had not yet started). It turns self-deprecation into an art form; if we can identify the protagonist with the author, he was the worst naval recruit ever.
April 7, 2023
Originally issued in 1918, this is a comical narrative of a Navy recruit's being. Taking place during WWI in a Navy Boot Camp. It tells the struggles of empty-headed social climber Biltmore Oswald, who has rashly enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Now he must learn to adjust to a life he never dreamed of. The story is written in diary form, fun to read….I chuckled and laughed all the way through it. It’s hard to believe the Navy survived!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews