James Thorne Smith, Jr. was born on March 27, 1892 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. His father, Commodore
James Thorne Smith was supervisor of the Port of New York during the First World War. His mother Florence (Rundle) Thorne
Smith was the granddaughter of coffee grower Don Jose Maxwell, the namesake for Maxwell House Coffee. Following their mother’s
death in 1896, he and his older brother Skyring were left in the care of various aunts in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina
while the Commodore was serving aboard the U.S. Yosemite in the Spanish-American War.
He attended boarding school at the Locust Dale Academy in Virginia. Unhappy there, he transferred to St. Luke's School
in Wayne, Pennsylvania but was apparently no happier there. An average student he took no interest in any classes other than
English and was apparently a disciplinary problem, Reportedly, he came close to being expelled but hung on and graduated in
1910 at the age of 18. That fall he matriculated at Dartmouth, where he maintained an active social life -- joining Psi Upsilon
Fraternity and running for the cross country track team. He dropped out of Dartmouth in June of 1912.
After leaving college, he took a job in a New York advertising agency where he wrote advertising copy for Dr. Lyon’s
Tooth PowderŪ. While writing copy he often used the name T. Horn Smith -- perhaps to distinguish himself from his prominent
father.
Night Life of the Gods was loosely adapted into a film in 1935 starring Alan Mowbray
Turnabout was filmed by Hal Roach in 1940 starring Carol Landis and John Hubbard as the bickering couple and giving
Adolphe Menjou top billing for his supporting role as the husband’s boss.
