In Fiction and Film
- In Harry Turtledove's alternate history Southern Victory Series, in which the Confederate States of America wins the American Civil War, Al Smith becomes the third Socialist President of the United States in 1936. In 1941, during his second term, the Confederacy invades the US, starting World War II. Smith is killed by a Confederate bomber in 1942 in his bunker in Philadelphia, then functioning as the nation's capitol.
- Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt were filmed by Lee DeForest in his DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process during the 1924 Democratic Convention, which ran from June 21 to July 9. This film is now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress.
- In a flashback scene in Frank Capra's 1946 classic movie It's a Wonderful Life, the character of Bert can be seen with a newspaper whose front page headline reads "Smith Wins Nomination."
- Smith was portrayed by Alan Bunce in the 1960 film Sunrise at Campobello.
- Smith is featured in several chapters of Michael Chabon's 2000 novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, in his role as "President" of the Empire State Building.
Read more about this topic: Al Smith
Famous quotes containing the words fiction and/or film:
“The purpose of a work of fiction is to appeal to the lingering after-effects in the reader’s mind as differing from, say, the purpose of oratory or philosophy which respectively leave people in a fighting or thoughtful mood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)