Wessel Hyatt Smitter was an American novelist. He was born in Plainfield, Michigan and attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1912 to 1917. Smitter worked the early part of his career in advertising for one of the "Big 3" auto makers. He soon left that career and moved to California, where he worked selling and transplanting trees and wrote on the side. In 1938, he published F.O.B. Detroit, which was made into the 1941 movie, Reaching for the Sun, starring Joel McCrae and Ellen Drew.[1]
Wessel Hyatt Smitter | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 9, 1892 Plainfield, Michigan |
| Died | November 7, 1951 Eureka, California |
| Education | Calvin College |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Spouse | Faith |
| Children | 3 |
Smitter's anti-industrial views, particularly of the auto industry in Michigan, where he began his career, permeate his creative works. His obituary was published in the New York Times on November 9, 1951 (p. 27)[2]
Partial bibliography
editNovels
editShort stories
edit- "The Hand", republished in Timeless Stories for Today and Tomorrow
- "A Lady Named Bess" published in The Saturday Evening Post
References
edit- ^ "Wessel Smitter Collection, 1934-1973, Heritage Hall, Hekman Library". Calvin College. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "Wessel Smitter, 59, Novelist, Succumbs". The New York Times. November 9, 1951. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ "A Dramatic Novel of Industry; In "F. O. B. Detroit" Wessel Smitter Writes With Power of Men Pitted Against Economic Forces". The New York Times. November 6, 1938. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ "Settlers in Alaska; ANOTHER MORNING". The New York Times. April 20, 1941. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
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