James 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 ghosts. With racy illustrations, these sold millions of copies in the 1930s and were equally popular in paperbacks of the 1950s.
Constance Campbell Bennett was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Bed of Roses (1933), Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).
General Spanky is a 1936 American comedy film produced by Hal Roach. A spin-off of Roach's popular Our Gang short subjects, the film stars George McFarland, Phillips Holmes, Rosina Lawrence, Billie Thomas and Carl Switzer. Directed by Fred Newmeyer and Gordon Douglas, it was originally released to theaters on December 11, 1936, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Roland Young was an English-born actor. He began his acting career on the London stage, but later found success in America and received an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film Topper (1937).
Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award in 1952 and 1964 and inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Merrily We Live is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and written by Eddie Moran and Jack Jevne. It stars Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne and features Ann Dvorak, Bonita Granville, Billie Burke, Tom Brown, Alan Mowbray, Clarence Kolb, and Patsy Kelly. The film was produced by Hal Roach for Hal Roach Studios, and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as The Laugh Factory to the World, it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on July 23, 1914. The studio lot, at 8822 Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, United States, was built in 1920, at which time Rolin was renamed to Hal E. Roach Studios. The first series in Hal Roach Studios were the Willie Work comedies, with first short being A Duke For A Day.
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom television series based on the 1937 film Topper, which was based on two novels Topper and Topper Takes a Trip by Thorne Smith. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9, 1953, to July 15, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role. It finished at #24 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1954–1955 season. Topper also earned an Emmy nomination for Best Situation Comedy in 1954.
Zenobia is a 1939 comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison, Jean Parker, June Lang, Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel. The source of the film was the 1891 short story "Zenobia's Infidelity" by H.C. Bunner, which was originally purchased by producer Hal Roach as a vehicle for Roland Young.
The Phantom President is a 1932 American pre-Code musical comedy and political satire film. It was directed by Norman Taurog, starred George M. Cohan, Claudette Colbert, and Jimmy Durante, with songs by Richard Rodgers (music) and Lorenz Hart (lyrics).
Topper Returns is a 1941 American supernatural comedy thriller film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis and Billie Burke. The third and final installment in the initial series of supernatural comedy films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith, it succeeds Topper (1937) and Topper Takes a Trip (1938).
Topper Takes a Trip is a 1938 supernatural film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It is a sequel to the 1937 film Topper. Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, and Alan Mowbray reprised their roles from the earlier film; only Cary Grant was missing. A ghost tries to reunite a couple who she had a hand in splitting up in the prior film. It was followed by another sequel, Topper Returns (1941). The movie is in the public domain.
Slightly Dangerous is a 1943 American romantic comedy film starring Lana Turner and Robert Young. The screenplay concerns a bored young woman in a dead-end job who runs away to New York City and ends up impersonating the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Charles Lederer and George Oppenheimer from a story by Aileen Hamilton. According to Turner Classic Movies film historian Robert Osborne, one sequence early in the film – in which Lana Turner's character does her job at the soda fountain while blindfolded – was actually directed by an uncredited Buster Keaton.
Our Betters is a 1933 American pre-Code satirical comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Constance Bennett, Anita Louise and Gilbert Roland. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Harry Wagstaff Gribble is based on the 1917 play of the same title by Somerset Maugham. Tommy Atkins worked as assistant director, while the sets were designed by the art director Van Nest Polglase.
Rockabye is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, and Paul Lukas. The final version was directed by George Cukor after studio executives decided that the original film as directed by George Fitzmaurice was unreleasable. The screenplay by Jane Murfin is based on an unpublished play written by Lucia Bronder, based on her original short story.
Treasure of the Golden Condor is a 1953 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Delmer Daves, starring Cornel Wilde and Constance Smith, and released by Twentieth Century Fox. The film is a remake of the 1942 film Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake, which starred Tyrone Power. Both films were based on Benjamin Blake (1941), a novel by Edison Marshall.
There Goes My Heart is a 1938 American romantic comedy film starring Virginia Bruce and Fredric March, and directed by Norman Z. McLeod. Bruce plays a wealthy heiress who goes to work under an alias at a department store owned by her grandfather, and March the reporter who tracks her down. The film is based on a story by Ed Sullivan, better known for his long-running Ed Sullivan Show. The film was nominated for a Best Score Oscar for Marvin Hatley.
William Sidney Stanton was an English-born American character actor, whose career spanned the first 25 years of the sound films. Stanton broke into the film industry at the end of the silent film era in 1927, appearing in several film shorts for Hal Roach Studios. He appeared in 70 films, mostly in supporting roles.
Clarence is a 1937 American comedy film directed by George Archainbaud and written by Grant Garett and Seena Owen. The film stars Roscoe Karns, Eleanore Whitney, Eugene Pallette, Johnny Downs, Inez Courtney and Charlotte Wynters. It is based on the play Clarence by Booth Tarkington. The film was released on February 12, 1937, by Paramount Pictures.
In Old Sacramento is a 1946 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and written by Frances Hyland and Frank Gruber. The film stars Wild Bill Elliott, Constance Moore, Henry H. Daniels Jr., Ruth Donnelly, Eugene Pallette and Jack La Rue.
