George Tyler, a New York producer with whom Tarkington was long associated, urged him to adapt the Penrod stories into a play. The author was skeptical. He insisted "The detail — not plot — is what has made it a best seller." Despite his objections, Penrod was dramatized, and later, in the 1930s, adapted to film.

Tarkington was right. Of the three films involving the characters from Penrod, none became an outstanding movie. The first appeared in 1931, Penrod and Sam. Seven years later, two more films were produced at Warner Brothers Studios, Penrod's Double Trouble and Penrod and His Twin Brother.

This second film especially irritated Tarkington. Since he had provided no real plots for any of the Penrod books, the studio had had to invent some. For Penrod and His Twin Brother, however, they simply borrowed the plot of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper (1882). Warner...