Spirit of America Bookstore
H. Allen Smith
[Harry Allen Wolfgang Smith, 1907-1976]
 | short profile |
"It was not the most intelligible piece ever written, but it had words in it."
"Personally, I never admired communists because they operate on the theory that
human beings are nice people.”
"We believe in healthy, hearty laughter – at the expense of the whole human race, if needs be. Needs be.”
![signature of humorist H. Allen Smith [1907-76]](images/sig-HAllenSmith.jpg)
B I O
t e x t
h e r e
H. Allen Smith spent eight months in Hollywood, working as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures, and wrote about the experience in "Lost In The Horse Latitudes" [1944 bestseller]
Using his usual chicanery, H. Allen Smith was able to take the first historical drink of whiskey after the repeal of Prohibition.
H. Allen Smith entry at Wikipedia
search H. Allen Smith books {200+ results} at Amazon
browse H. Allen Smith Store {only 11 results} at Amazon
H. Allen Smith credits [1949-64] at Internet Movie Database
Primary Works
NOTE: none of H. Allen Smith's books are available as Kindle editions {2014}
"Robert Gair: A Study" [Dial Press 1939] /B00085KZF2/
by H. Allen Smith, Introduction by Lewis Mumford
"Mr. Klein's Kampf: or, His Life As Hitler's Double" [1939]
Illustrated by Harry O. Diamond
"Low Man On A Totem Pole" [1941 bestseller]
Introduction by Fred Allen
syndicated column "The Totem Pole" published for roughly six months
"Life In A Putty Knife Factory" [1943 bestseller]
"Lost In The Horse Latitudes" [1944]
Smith worked as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures in Hollywood for eight months, and wrote about that experience
http://archive.org/details/lostinhorselatit00smit
"Desert Island Decameron: An Unconventional Anthology of Humor" [1945]
"3 Smiths In The Wind" [1946] omnibus/collection of the three prior bestsellers: "Low Man On A Totem Pole" [1941],
"Life In A Putty Knife Factory" [1943], and "Lost In The Horse Latitudes" [1944]
"Rhubarb: The Outrageously Funny Story of The Cat Who Inherited A Baseball Team" [1946 novel]
led to two sequels and a 1951 film adaptation
"Lo, The Former Egyptian" [1947] Illustrated by Leo Hershfield
"Larks In The Popcorn" [1948, reprinted in 1974]
"Low and Inside: A Book of Baseball Anecdotes, Oddities and Curiosities" [1949]
 | by H. Allen Smith & Ira L. {no relation} Smith, Illustrated by Leo Herschfield "A fascinating and hilarious collection. [This book] should be sandwiched between Marcel Proust and Forever Amber on every bookshelf." — Tallulah Bankhead Breakaway Books 7¾x5½ pb [4/2000] for $11.29 Doubleday & Co. 7½x5¼ hardcover [1949] out of print/many used |
"We Went Thataway: Adventures In The Wild West" [1949] Illustrated by Leo Hershfield
"People Named Smith" [1950]
"Three Men On Third: A Second Book of Baseball Anecdotes, Oddities and Curiosities" [1951]
 | by H. Allen Smith & Ira L. {no relation} Smith, Illustrated by Leo Herschfield
Breakaway Books 7¾x5½ pb [4/2000] for $11.09 Doubleday & Co. 9x6 hardcover [1951] out of print/used |
"Smith's London Journal: Now First Published From The Original Manuscript" [1952]
"The Compleat Practical Joker" [1953, reprinted in 1980]
"The Rebel Yell: Being A Carpetbagger's Attempt To Establish The Truth Concerning The Screech of
The Confederate Soldier Plus Lesser Matters Appertaining To The Peculiar Habits of The South" [1954]
"The Age of The Tail" [1955]
"The World, The Flesh, and H. Allen Smith" [1955]
Edited by Bergen Evans /B002BRXFTS/
"Write Me A Poem, Baby" [1956] Edited by H. Allen Smith
"The Pig In The Barber Shop" [1958]
"Don't Get Perconal With A Chicken" [1959]
http://archive.org/details/dontgetperconelw012337mbp
"Let The Crabgrass Grow: H. Allen Smith's Suburban Almanac" [1960)
"Waikiki Beachnik" [1960]
"How To Write Without Knowing Nothing" [stories 1961]
"A Short History of Fingers & Other State Papers" [stories 1963]
"Two-Thirds of A Coconut Tree" [1963]
"Poor H. Allen Smith's Almanac" [Fawcett Gold Medal 1965]
"Mister Zip" [1967]
"Son of Rhubarb" sequel novel [1968]
"Buskin' with H. Allen Smith" [1969]
"The Great Chili Confrontation: A Dramatic History of The Decade's Most
Impassioned Culinary Embroilment, With Recipes" [1969]
"Rude Jokes" [1970 paperback]
"The View from Chivo: The Third In The Hilarious and Quite Mad Rhubarb Series
From Our Most Outrageous Humorist" [1971]
"The Art of Wasting Time" [1971]
by Clifton Fadiman & H. Allen Smith
"The Best of H. Allen Smith" [6/1972]
"Low Man Rides Again" [1973]
"Return of The Virginian" [1974]
Secondary Works
NOTE: this section includes books where H. Allen Smith participated as contributor of a story or article
or of an Introduction or Foreword
"Second Carrot From The End: A History of Hollywood's Farmers Market" [1946]
by Fred Beck, Illustrated by Emax, Foreword by H. Allen Smith
"The Old Hokum Bucket" [1949] by Ernest Rogers, Foreword by H. Allen Smith
"Let's Go Naked: Love and Life In A Nudist Camp" [stories 1952]
stories by Erskine Caldwell, H. Allen Smith, Thorne Smith, Louis-Charles Royer
http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Naked-Love-Nudist-Stories/dp/B002NY2JUK/
"Stuffed Shirt In Taxco" [1960] by Leslie Cortes de Figueroa
Illustrated by Juan B. Meana, Introduction by H. Allen Smith
"My Mexico City (and Yours)" [Dolphin Guide 1962] by Pepe Romero
Introduction by H. Allen Smith, Cover Design by Asdur Takahjian
"think small" anthology of short stories by various authors [Volkswagen 1967]
includes H. Allen Smith short story "Far Out Drivers I Have Known"
"Lowell Thomas: The Stranger Everyone Knows" [1968] Edited by Norman R. Bowen
Biographical profiles by H. Allen Smith, Russel Crouse, Francis Yeats-Brown, Dale Carnegie, and others
"The Playboy Book of Humor and Satire" [Playboy Press 1968)
Jammed with hilarious works of the most gifted contemporary talents: Woody Allen, Richard Armour, Art Buchwald,
Dan Greenburg, Harvey Kurtzman, Shepherd Mead, Roger Price, Ray Russell, Jean Shepherd, Allan Sherman,
H. Allen Smith, P.G. Wodehouse, and many more
http://www.amazon.com/The-Playboy-Book-Humor-Satire/dp/1199270083/
http://www.amazon.com/THE-PLAYBOY-BOOK-HUMOR-SATIRE/dp/B000JWDRHW/
"Lady Scatterly's Lover" [1973] by Gene Fowler
collection of Gene Fowler's writings edited by H. Allen Smith
 | "Fielder's Choice: An Anthology of Baseball Fiction" [1979] Edited by baseball historian Jerome Holtzman [1926-2008] 27 stories by Andre Dubus, Wm. Price Fox, Paul Gallico, Mark Harris, W.C. Heinz, Ring W. Lardner, Bernard Malamud, Hoke Norris, Chaim Potok, Mordecai Richler, Philip Roth, Damon Runyon, John Sayles, H. Allen Smith, James Thurber, P.G. Wodehouse, many others Mariner Books/Harvest/HBJ 8x5¼ pb [3/91] out of print/many, many used Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 9¼x6½ hardcover [1979] out of print/many, many used |
Movies & Television, Other Media
H. Allen Smith credits [1949-64] at Internet Movie Database
"Armchair Detective" TV series 1949 episode "The Hobo Millionaire / The Warehouse Murder" /tt1544089/
http://www.archive.org/details/ArmchairDetective1949
"Majority Rules" half-hour game show [ABC-TV 1949–50] /tt0204096/
Smith was guest host during 1950
"The Colgate Comedy Hour" episode #1.11 [19 Nov 1950]
Smith appeared with his friend Fred Allen as host
"Rhubarb" feature film [Paramount Pictures Aug 1951] /tt0043967/
starring Ray Milland, Jan Sterling, Gene Lockhart, William Frawley, Leonard Nimoy
"Playhouse 90" TV series episode "One Coat of White" [21 Feb 1957] /tt0675594/
interviewed twice by Edward R. Murrow on CBS-TV's "Person To Person"
Episode #4.42 (28 June 1957) /tt1033954/
Episode #6.43 (26 June 1959) /tt0673450/
"Low Man On A Totem Pole" [1964 TV movie] /tt0446389/
"Rhubarb" sitcom pilot [1967 TV] that starred Groucho Marx
"The New Pilot" [??] by H. Allen Smith
Works About H. Allen Smith
"To Hell In A Handbasket: The Education of A Humorist" autobiography [1962]
"H. Allen Smith: Reporter of The Human Farce" unpublished biography by Elton Miles of Alpine, Texas
Family & Friends
wife Nelle Mae Simpson Smith [1902-93] - married 1927, widowed 1976
two children
his friend Fred Allen [1894-56]
his friend Bennett Cerf [1898-1971]
his friend Gene Fowler [1890-1960]
"The Life and Legend of Gene Fowler" [1977] by H. Allen Smith
Wm. Morrow hardcover [1/77] out of print/many used
his friend H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
L i n k s
H. Allen Smith entry at Wikipedia
search H. Allen Smith books {200+ results} at Amazon
browse H. Allen Smith Store {only 11 results} at Amazon
H. Allen Smith credits [1949-64] at Internet Movie Database
H. Allen Smith papers at SIU
WH's H. Allen Smith fansite
http://www3.telus.net/pagerweb/hallensmith/
http://webpost.atwebpages.com/smith/
H. Allen Smith [1907-76] Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
top of page • short profile • primary works • secondary works • movies, TV, other media •
works about H. Allen Smith • movies, TV, other media • family & friends • links
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