SKIN AND BONES is the story of Mr. Quintus Bland, the eminent photographer, whose attempts to perfect X-ray film had the effect of leaving Mr. Bland in the position of being an X-ray film himself. In other words, he suddenly found himself no more than a skeleton! Mr. Bland seeks solace in the company of Pauline and Claude Whittle, a cheerful if slightly inebriated couple who promptly assist the fleshless hero from the frying pan into the fire. For sheer cockeyed humor, Thorne Smith has never been more brilliant than in this tale of an unwilling skeleton in society . It is full of the hoarse, gamy laughter of the Topper stories, the same sly observation and warm understanding of life.