Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Rudolf Ising.[1] The short was released on September 5, 1931, and features Foxy, an early Merrie Melodies star.[2]

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!
Directed byRudolf Ising (uncredited)
Story byBob Clampett (uncredited)
Produced byHugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Leon Schlesinger
StarringRudolf Ising (uncredited)
Music byFrank Marsales
Abe Lyman
Animation byAnimated and Drawn by:
Isadore Freleng
Max Maxwell
Bob Clampett
Larry Martin (both uncredited)
Color processBlack-and-white (later redrawn colorized in 1992)
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • September 5, 1931 (1931-09-05)
Running time
7 minutes
LanguageEnglish

This is one of only three Merrie Melodies cartoons to star Foxy; the other two are Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (August 1931) and One More Time (October 3, 1931). This short is a remake of Trolley Troubles, a Disney short featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in whose creation Harman had once been involved.

For the first time in a Warner Bros. cartoon, the short uses a gag suggested by Bob Clampett that has characters from the trolley's advertising posters come to life and perform a bit of business. These gags would soon become recurring.[3]

Synopsis

Foxy is a trolley engineer whose problems include a fat lady hippo who can't fit into the trolley and a set of wheels that detach from the trolley car when Foxy gets the trolley moving. Foxy picks up his vixen girlfriend and gives her a ride, but along the way, the car is blocked by a cow wearing a dress, and glasses, and who won't get off the track. A group of nearby hobos sing the title song while Foxy tries to move the cow; he finally runs the car underneath the cow and goes on his way.

The trolley then goes down a hill and runs out of control; Foxy tries to stop it, but the brakes don't work. Finally, the trolley runs off of a cliff, throwing Foxy right into the camera... and then he falls from bed, waking up from what has turned out to be just a nightmare. The radio by his bed is playing the title song, and the annoyed Foxy smashes the radio with a bedpost upon hearing it.

Reversed audio clips

At the scene where Foxy starts trying to fit the fat lady hippo in the trolley, she said something “I haven’t had any fun since I was at Manny Felders, what’s ya think?” The information about Manny Felders is not verified but according to an OSI, he said that it could have been an operator of a speak-easy in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area. The last clip of the scene where after Foxy deflates the fat lady hippo with a needle, she said something like “Where’s my doll?” and “looks like at the register!”

The song

In 1931, English bandleader Billy Cotton covered the song.

It was used in the finale of Robert Zemeckis' 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, segueing into Porky Pig's famous "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!".

In 2013, actor Christoph Waltz sang "Smile, Damn You, Smile" during his hosting duties on Saturday Night Live.[4]

Colorization

A colorized version was produced in Korea. Made by re-drawing the cels and backgrounds, this animation is inferior, since many drawings were left out, causing jerky movement.

Home media
  • DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6
  • DVD - Return of the 30s Characters

Streaming
  • HBO Max

References
  1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 5. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 83. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  3. Schneider, Steve (1988). That's All, Folks! : The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt and Co. p. 40. ISBN 0-8050-0889-6.
  4. Slezak, Michael (February 17, 2013). "Christoph Waltz Hosts Saturday Night Live: Watch Video of the Best and Worst Sketches". TVLine. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
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