Wessel Smitter(1892-1951)

American novelist Wessel Smitter was born in Plainfield, MI, the son of Dutch immigrants. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1922, and went to work in the advertising department of one of the "Big 3" auto makers in Detroit. He stayed there for a few years but grew to detest the "industrial machine" way of life in general and the auto industry in particular, and abruptly left, moving to Hollywood. He finished a novel, "F.O.B. Detroit", which was the story of a young man stuck in a factory job who yearns to escape. It was well-received--the "New York Times" review said it "places him shoulder to shoulder with John Steinbeck"--and was made into a movie, Reaching for the Sun (1941), with Joel McCrea. His second novel, "Another Warning", did not do as well.

Wessell Smitter died on Nov. 7, 1951.