Jane-DoH:
I just thought of something -- why didn't anybody (before area rule was implemented in the traditional sense) think of the idea of flattening the fuselage in between the wings?
It would make the carry-through area more "wing-like" and generate more lift out of the fuselage.
Several Beechcrafts - Models 18 & 35 e.g. - have a flat fuselage bottom from the wing aft. Don't know what this equates to aerodynamically.
Inverting the thought - The Monocoupe high-wing of the late 20s onward had a flat fuselage top continuous with the wing upper surface. Race pilot Benny Howard deduced this was the reason he "kept seeing the Monocoupe from the wrong end", and stole the idea for his highly successful
Mister Mulligan.