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! | |
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Directed by | Rudolf Ising (uncredited) |
Story by | Bob Clampett (uncredited) |
Produced by | Hugh Harman Rudolf Ising Leon Schlesinger |
Starring | Rudolf Ising (uncredited) |
Music by | Frank Marsales Abe Lyman |
Animation by | Animated and Drawn by: Isadore Freleng Max Maxwell Bob Clampett Larry Martin (both uncredited) |
Color process | Black-and-white (later redrawn colorized in 1992) |
Production company | Harman-Ising Productions |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 7 minutes |
Language | English |
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. This type of gags would soon become recurring.[3]
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 Roxy 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.
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]
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.
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