He wrote a book about the experience called Say, Darling, which chronicled the ins and outs of a Broadway musical production and featured characters based on those (such as Harold Prince) he worked with; this book was also turned into a musical, also called Say, Darling, in 1958.

In 1938, he married Marian Van Patten Grilk, returning to Dubuque, and living on a Mississippi River houseboat, then worked for the family clothing manufacturer business, H. B. Glover Company.

[6] The Bissell family moved to the East coast so he could turn his book, 7½ Cents, into a Broadway musical, which later became a motion picture.

Bissell wrote works about his experiences on the Mississippi River, including, novels: A Stretch on the River, High Water, Goodbye Ava, The Monongahela, and the non-fiction: My Life on the Mississippi or Why I am Not Mark Twain, that had some critics comparing him to Mark Twain.

Bissell's 7½ Cents was based on his experiences in the garment industry, written while he was the vice-president of his family's Dubuque pajama factory.

On February 15, 1938,[3] he married Marian Van Patten Grilk, an editor, who he met at Phillips Exeter Academy, raising a daughter, Anastasia, and three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel, and Samuel,[2] and living in a 1909 Fairfield, Connecticut, home designed by Stanford White.

Bissell belonged to 11 historical societies, spent his summers in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, collected antique cars to saloon pianos, and a majestic 11-foot mirror from Mark Twain's New York home.