In creating The Smart Set, Mann initially sought to offer a cultural counterpart to his Town Topics, a preceding gossip magazine which he used for political and social gain among New York City's elite, which would include works "by, for and about 'The Four Hundred'" [REF].
His replacement, Charles Hanson Towne, was the magazine's first editor to actively push to publish new literary talents, such as O. Henry and James Branch Cabell.