The Glorious Pool

by Thorne Smith

First Edition. Illustrated by Herbert Roese.

Speculative, although, very likely that this is the correct cover for this edition. (Cloth/Jacket color, embossed cloth illustration/ inside illustration point to possible correspondence).
Not 100% Verified. Edition cloth detail does not scan well to color.

Verification needed for dust jacket.

[Summary]
60 year old Rex Pebble inadvertently discovers that the fountain of youth happens to be in his back yard swimming pool. A magical statue of a nymph by the name of Baggage, an ornamental pool decoration, has playfully endowed the Pebble swimming pool with the power to reverse the aging process. Typical Thorne Smith fun ensues when Pebble, his wife, and his mistress take a dip and take 20 years off their lives. One of the funniest scenes concerns a book dealer wanting to display his old and rare to Pebble's unresponsive mistress.

The Ron Howard movie Cocoon borrowed the theme from the Glorious Pool with many of the same humourous results.

The Glorious Pool, published in 1935 after Thorne Smith's death was completed by his wife, Celia. This is the last novel that Smith had a direct part in writing.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Fantasy

240 pages

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

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 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.

Reviews

[Henry Avila · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the backyard of Spray Summers's house, (I'm not making these names up) there is a green pool on the wonderful garden, a statue of a naked pretty nymph on a pedestal in the middle of the water, standing there alone but not lonely is Baggage, she's called that by Mr.Rex Pebble who bought it I mean her and put in the pool. A frequent visitor by his longtime mistress to Spray's home the married, wealthy man has two females in his life , Miss Summers and the wife (in name only, as they called it back then, the 1930's) Sue. Both of course hate the other woman with a passion, all are old tired and sad, Rex 60 and the not quite charming ladies let's say they will never see 50 again...On a warm , calm, summer night a gentle cool breeze materializes right after the yellow Sun has set, the moonlight's silvery glow making the green garden and aqua pool a beautiful, magical heavenly place the last time in the book a peaceful situation occurs! Rex is alone drunk as usual, fun loving Nockashima the old Japanese "houseboy", keeps everyone including himself well supplied with the Nectar of the Gods, not believing his bleary eyes Rex sees Baggage step down into the water and floats to him, she has not a drop of liquid on her unclothed amorous body, greeting and speaking to Mr. Pebble who's just a little startled putting it mildly. She has the very reluctant Rex, jump quickly in the swimming pool half naked, something strange, unnatural happens as the man swims around, feeling strong, healthy and vigorous leaving the water he's 35 again, the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon never found Mr.Pebble has. Spray arriving on the scene is more astonished than jealous, seeing two naked people including the man she loves the young Rex again, also what appears to be an attractive nude woman, in the yard is she really the missing statue come alive, unbelievable, impossible... Spray thinks so. And now where did that nymph Baggage go, in a short time Spray takes a dive and presto, she too turns not 35 but 23 others will follow, meanwhile back in the kitchen the sly Nockashima has an unfortunate dinner accident, starting a small fire which his old bloodhound Mr.Henry can't smell, the dog has lost the touch the owner maybe also. The fire department comes but where are the flames, smoke continues to pour out of the house and no fire is located (look in the stove gentlemen). A drunken party ensues, soon after firemen and house guests are having a great time destroying the smoky home , Sue decides to drop by making for more turmoil if that's possible, everyone loses their clothes and the fun begins. They take out the firetruck for a terrific joy ride...Screwball, risque comedy of the 30's when being intoxicated was thought to be both hilarious and sophisticated some people still do, we today know better, maybe .....But nevertheless good sleazy fun , not too dirty this is after all a Thorne Smith of Topper fame, book . P.S... If anyone wants the location of The Glorious Pool, it's at... sorry folks I need to answer the phone right now, I'll get back to you real soon... I promise...

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother's edition, read decades ago, remembered fondly.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been collecting Throne Smith books for the past two years. What an incredible writer and super hysterical. His stories usually have drunks, living statues and lots of nudity. The lighter side of F. Scott - but still really twisted. Bring all his books back to print. Right now!

[Jeffrey Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this. "The Glorious Pool" is Smith's last completed novel("The Passionate Witch" being completed after his death by Norman H. Matson). In "The Night Life of the Gods" Hunter and Hawk and Mageara end the book in a last and lasting embrace, frozen for all time in stone. Here Rex Pebble is left running after the enchantress known as Baggage, eager for what will come next. Smith's inconclusive ending deprives us of yet another courtroom scene, but leaves us with a richer appreciation of life and its wonders. "Rain in the Doorway" has ever been, and still is, my favorite of all Smith's works, but "The Glorious Pool" is certainly a great read. The usual hi-jinks ensue after elderly Rex Pebble and his mistress Spray Summer take a dip in Spray's pool which has lately been enchanted by Baggage a stone statue brought to life and in pursuit of fleshly desires. While most of this is territory Smith has explored, and certainly his earlier characters were given to introspection on occasion, this book just sails off into the night with one outrageous and unlikely scene after another. But the ending leaves one on just the right note. We are chasing, with Rex Pebble, after our dreams and thus will we ever chase them alive to possibilities and all the magic life offers.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the weakest of Smith's comic fantasies, after a highy enjoyable start it goes downhill and never really gets anywhere.
After finishing I discovered that it was actually completed by Thorne's wife after his premature death I don't know if she just polished the manuscript or how much she wrote but I found myself getting rather bored after they depart on the fire-engine and only occasionally enjoying what came after.
The book is however vastly better than "The Passionate Witch" which is almost entirely the work of Norman Matson who doesn't capture the spirit of Thorne Smith at all.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Distinctly disappointing Thorne Smith. Seemed forced and disjointed. Luckily, it's easy to skim. The usual barrage of cocktails and hijinks -- imagine the sort of banter from a Thin Man movie with Smith's much-used device of statues that come to life... well, that worked in Nightlife of the Gods but it fell short here.

[Chris Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man, you really need to be a lot funnier than this if you're going to be so outlandishly racist on like, every single page.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago. Thorne Smith has such a way with his humor in his writings. I laughed so hard at parts of this book that family members asked what was so funny!

[Descending Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the other smith book i read, but i enjoyed it.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Ron Howard's 1985 film "Cocoon," a group of seniors becomes rejuvenated as a result of taking a dip in a swimming pool whose waters had been infused with "life force" by some extraterrestrial visitors. But as it turns out, this was not the first time that some aged adults had discovered a Fountain of Youth of sorts in such a place. Thus, over half a century earlier, we find a similar setup--although with a completely different explanation--in Thorne Smith's remarkably madcap fantasy "The Glorious Pool."

"The Glorious Pool" was originally released in 1934 as a $2 Doubleday hardcover. It was Smith's final completed novel, his 14th out of 15; sadly enough, the Maryland-born author would die of a premature heart attack later that year, at the age of 42. (Smith's final novel, "The Passionate Witch," would be released posthumously in 1941, after being completed by Norman Matson. It would serve as both the inspiration for the 1942 Veronica Lake film "I Married a Witch" as well as the television sitcom classic "Bewitched.") The 1934 first edition of "The Glorious Pool" featured comedic illustrations by Herbert Roese, and the book would see almost a dozen incarnations over the years. I believe the most current edition is the one from Camp Press from 2013, although several ebook editions are available today, if that's your thing. The edition that I was happy to experience was the 1945 volume from Sun Dial Press called "The Thorne Smith Three-Bagger," which not only includes the novel in question, but also Smith's first comedic fantasy, "Topper" (1926), and his 13th novel, "Skin and Bones" (1933, and which I just read last year). And, even better, that 1945 edition includes the same Herbert Roese illustrations that had graced the original over 10 years earlier; a worthy investment, if you can find it online today.

Now, as for "The Glorious Pool" itself, the book introduces us to one of Smith's constantly bickering couples, Rex Pebble and Spray Summers. But unlike Tim and Sally Willow in the author's "Turnabout" (1931) and Quintus and Lorna Bland in "Skin and Bones," Rex and Spray are not a married couple, but rather, a 60-year-old man and his 45-year-old mistress. When we first encounter them, the two are celebrating the anniversary of their 25th year as an item together, in the home that Rex has provided for her. Sadly enough, however, it's hardly a festive occasion. The two have lately begun to feel their years, to put it mildly. Spray, although still randy enough, suffers from terrible foot problems, while Rex has some unspecified heart ailment and what I suppose we would today call erectile dysfunction. But things begin to, uh, pick up before long. Spray's Japanese houseboy Nockashima keeps plying the pair with drinks, as is his wont, and before long, Rex, walking by the swimming pool in the moonlit backyard and contemplating the seminude naiad statue that resides in the pool's center, sees that statue come to life! The naiad, who he has long called Baggage, engages him in lustful conversation and then practically rapes the poor man, before running off to have her way with the neighbor's chauffeur! Not a little startled, Rex nevertheless suggests a midnight swim to Spray, and you might imagine the results. After a few laps in the pool, a full 25 years seem to fall from their bodies, leaving the two celebrants standing in the night air in their naked, physical prime!

And that is just the beginning of what turns out to be one of the wildest nights of drunken revelry on record. Before long, an oven mishap in Spray's kitchen brings the entire fire department to the scene, all the men of which promptly join in the bacchanalia with Rex, Spray, Nocka, the French maid Fifi, and an elderly gentleman named Major Lynnhaven Jaffey, a conman and swindler who'd been recommended to Rex by a friend for possible employment in his ad agency. (Thorne Smith, it will be remembered, was also at one time an adman, as was Quintus Bland, and Darrin Stevens in "Bewitched.") As the drunken shenanigans continue, Rex, Spray, Nocka, the Major, and Gus, one of the firemen, decide to steal one of the hook and ladders and go for an inebriated spin. More wackiness ensues, leading to our sodden heroes being chased through a darkened department store by the cops. As the long night continues, our band encounters a pair of young muggers, who decide to join the party. Back at the house again, in the wee hours of the morning, the revelers are startled by the arrival of Rex's wife, Sue, in tow with his nephew, Kippie, the spitting image of Rex when he was 35; in other words, as Rex is now. Mistaken-identity hilarity thus ensues, and the loopiness continues when Spray's hard-of-smelling bloodhound Mr. Henry takes a few drinks himself and jumps into the magical pool. And when Baggage, the lustful naiad, returns to the scene and convinces Sue to take a nighttime swim also, well, that's when things really start to get interesting! But just when the reader begins to think that Smith cannot possibly pull any more zaniness out of his hat, kerplop goes the swizzled Rex into the pool again, to emerge as an infant...but one with a foul temper, a gutter mouth, and a decided taste for more of Nockashima's cocktails....

Now, I have already used such words as "madcap" and "wackiness" in describing the contents of this particular Thorne Smith outing, and indeed could easily have taken things further. This book, in truth, is just screwy, crazy, wild, insane, nonsensical, wackadoodle...well, you get my drift. Back in the 1930s there was a cinematic genre known as the "screwball comedy," featuring unlikely characters in outlandish situations that kept piling up at a breakneck pace--some outstanding examples of the screwball comedy would be "Bombshell" (1933), "Twentieth Century" (1934), "My Man Godfrey" (1936) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938)--and it seems to me that "The Glorious Pool" might have been made into the screwiest screwball comedy of all time! ("This is better than a musical comedy. It's more like a burlesque," the Major understandably remarks at one point.) It might also be Smith's most booze-drenched novel of any of the four that I've read, and that's really saying something, as all four have featured staggering amounts of liquors consumed. The book can almost be seen as a giant raspberry at hated Prohibition, which had just been repealed several months earlier. Here, practically every single character that we encounter is something of a dipsomaniac...including, as mentioned, the pet dog! ("Very intoxicating evening. Stimulating to all concerned," Nockashima drunkenly opines. "The morals of this family would tax the English language," as Kippie puts it.) Indeed, after our leading characters' impressive consumption of "whisky and highballs and gin and brandy," this reader couldn't help but think of Number 6's famous bar request for "Brandy. Whisky, vodka, Drambuie. Tia Maria, Cointreau, Grand Marnier" in a classic hour of the TV show "The Prisoner." Had the entire contents of this book turned out to be just an episode of the DT's on the part of Rex Pebble, it would not have surprised me. But no. One can almost imagine Thorne Smith, himself reportedly an alcoholic, half in his cups while chortling his way through the writing of this book. Did Smith know where he was going when he penned this affair, or was he just winging it? It really is impossible to say, and the book, to its great credit, is completely unpredictable from one page to the following one. ("One does not know what to expect next," declares the Major toward the end of a very long night.)

"The Glorious Pool" is often undeniably silly but still often very funny. How amusing it is when Spray tells Rex "I think you should be chloroformed," and when baby Rex starts sounding tough ("You get me a drink, you pop-eyed, evil-minded old wreck, or I'll batter your face to a pulp...."). Nocka's mangling of the English language is a perpetual source of amusement, as are the book's numerous puns and misunderstandings. Here's a typical example:

"Say, officer," continued the voice, "let's waive the dog for a moment."

"Don't see what good that's going to do," grumbled the sergeant. "It certainly won't help the dog any to go waving him about. He'd hate it more than sitting on a nail."

"I don't mean to wave the dog like a flag," protested the voice. "I mean, let's drop the dog."

"If you want to drop your dog," said the sergeant impatiently, "go right ahead and do it, but damn me if I'm going to help you...."

And on and relentlessly on. At times, the humor can feel forced, and at other times dated (as when Baggage makes a reference to "Nurmi"...Paavo Nurmi being a Finnish Olympic runner in the 1920s), but most of it works quite well even today. Smith, on the other hand, also provides his readers with several passages featuring quite lovely prose, as well as scattered words of wisdom here and there. Thus, Rex's assertion that "birth...is a demoralizing transition. Much more so than death, which has at least the dignity of something definitely accomplished." And oh...speaking of dogs, which I believe we were just a moment ago, all canine lovers should certainly get a kick out of the unfortunate Mr. Henry in this book; a poor bloodhound with an inferiority complex due to his inability to smell. How wonderful it is, thus, when the revitalized animal--comparable in a way to the dopey dog Busy in "Skin and Bones"--is finally able to sniff the world around him!

So yes, the book is undeniably funny, occasionally wise and assuredly entertaining, and yet, it does not seem nearly as clever as the other three Thorne Smith titles that I've experienced, or as focused. I suppose the reason for this is that here, the fantasy element at the core of the book takes a backseat to the drunken escapades; the concept of a Fountain of Youth seems to operate as a mere vehicle to get on with the party. In "The Night Life of the Gods" (1931), the coming to life of the Roman gods from their statue prisons was at the heart of the novel, and the seeming miracle explained by an invention of Hunter Hawk. In "Turnabout," an Egyptian idol had definite reasons for putting the souls of Tim and Sally Willow into each other's body. In "Skin and Bones," another fantastic invention caused Quintus to become an animated skeleton. In those three fantasies, the amazing central occurrence was explained, farfetched as it may have been, and all the following events flowed logically as a result. Not so here. In "The Glorious Pool," we never learn how Baggage escapes from her statue prison, or what her back story is. And once Rex and Spray quickly recover from their initial surprise at being young again, they leap unthinkingly, and with no self-reflection, into party mode. In addition, Smith's story here concludes with matters still very much up in the air, unlike the wholly satisfactory denouements of those other three books. Yes, Baggage does ponder humans' inability to fully enjoy their youth toward the book's final pages, but still, the whole matter of rejuvenation here seems to boil down to a greater ability to simply party all night long.

I should probably set down my other beef with Thorne Smith's work here, and that is the unrelenting un-P.C. treatment (by today's standards, anyway) of the Nockashima character. Yes, the following lines are uttered mainly for laughs, but still, constant references to the houseboy as a “Jap” will grate. Spray calling him "an hysterical high school girl with a case of yellow jaundice" and a "wizened yellow idiot," Sue calling him a "slant-eyed Fu Manchu," and Smith himself describing Nocka as having "the agility of a monkey" and as a "little yellow man" will likewise cause modern-day readers to wince. Still, Nockashima is also probably the most resourceful and shrewdest character in the book, which does tend to redeem matters somewhat. At bottom, I suppose, "The Glorious Pool" is a somewhat lesser Smith affair, and one that will likely exude a whiff of familiarity for anyone who has read several of the author's previous works. But you know what? This book also provided me with some genuine laughs when I was struggling through another case of COVID-19, and for that I will be forever grateful....

(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....)

[Dekaydreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this decades ago, some time in my early teens; my memory of it was that it was hilarious. This recollection mostly centered on the statue come to life, and the scene with the party climbing the ladder into the department store, featuring Nockashima and "Pist". I'm sure I wasn't old enough to understand the majority of the story when I first read it, and my sophomoric humor level at the time probably enhanced the experience, plus, pretty sure the edition I read was an illustrated paperback version.
While I enjoyed it this time around, it didn't live up to my memory of the original experience. Some of the situations still struck funny, but without the ignorance of youth, I found the overall alcoholic haze and the irresponsibility of every character detracted from the fun. A series of Three Stooges/Pink Panther/Mel Brooks/Monty Python-esque vignettes strung loosely together with the amount of coherence and social awareness one would expect of a blind drunk; would probably fit better into video comedy bits than a novel...

[Brent · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, awful book. I stopped about a third of the way in. I just couldn't go on.

Rex Pebble has a wife and a mistress (Spray Summers - the names of the characters are ridiculous) who know about each other, and are apparently OK with the situation. Rex keeps his mistress in a separate home with a backyard pool that becomes magical after their 20-30 year relationship. After a dip they're both about 25 years younger!

What makes this book unreadable is the awful, awful, awful dialogue. It's as if the book was written by a horny pre-teen trying to be sophisticated and yet dirty at the same time. What was also surprising is the casual racism evident in the book. Spray has a Japanese servant who is continually referred to as "the Jap" and worse. This book was written in the early 1930's, before WWII, so this casual racism was a surprise.

I very rarely toss a book aside before I finish it, but this one was just too poorly written.

[Willem Myburgh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious joy ride with brilliantly mad characters. I absolutely enjoyed the humour and language used.

[Rosemary Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish to quote the author he says it better than I could:
" Like life itself my stories have no point and get absolutely nowhere. And like life they are a little mad and purposeless...
Quite casually I wander into my plot poke around with my characters for a while, then amble off, leaving no moral proved and no reader improved. "

I have enjoyed every one of his books I have read. At this point I have read 3 and will be starting on 4 next.

[Neal Fandek · Rating 2 out of 5]

A screwball comedy mixed with the fountain of youth, in this case the pool of youth, runs out of steam long before it ends. It’s one screwball scene after another, with Japanese houseboys, fireman, cops, department store hide and seek, befuddled gangsters, mistresses and wives… Very entertaining in 1934 perhaps.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into it, even tried 100 pages and still not enough interest to go on. A lot other books on my list to not waste my time on this one.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fantasy element here is a swimming pool that becomes enchanted, and rejuvenates anyone who uses it. Quite a nice idea that could form the basis of an amusing story.

Unfortunately, this story is of a drunken party that seems endless and pointless. Thorne Smith’s books tend to be alcoholic and not strong on plot, but this was published in the year he died, and he wasn’t at his best.

It’s readable enough that I was able to finish it, and I don’t actively dislike it, so I’ve generously awarded two stars rather than one, but I don’t think it was really worth reading.

Some people seem to like it, probably because the writing style can be amusing if you have a compatible sense of humour.

A couple of reviewers seem shocked by the ‘racism’ in it, apparently because the protagonist has a Japanese servant who is frequently insulted. I imagine that Smith just wanted a frequently-insulted servant, and thought that making him Japanese would add to the comic effect. I wasn’t born in the 1930s, but as far as I know racism hadn’t been identified as a Bad Thing in those days. If you choose to read books that old, you shouldn’t be surprised by it.

The servant is somewhat over-insulted, but it slides off him like water off a duck’s back, and I wouldn’t have bothered to mention it except that some readers seem particularly sensitive to it.

The long-suffering servant of foreign origin turns up in more recent fiction than this: offhand, I remember Manuel in the Fawlty Towers television series and Cato in the Pink Panther films. Not very recent, but at least within my lifetime!