Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

This article is about the theatrical short. For the song, see Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!
Production company	Harman-Ising Productions
Distributor	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	September 5, 1931
Run time	7 minutes
Starring	Johnny Murray Rudolf Ising
Producer(s)	Hugh Harman Rudolf Ising Leon Schlesinger
Music composed by	Frank Marsales Abe Lyman
Story by	Bob Clampett
Animation	Isadore Freleng Max Maxwell Bob Clampett Larry Martin
Director(s)	Rudolf Ising
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Title card
File:Smile, Darn Ya, Smile title card.png

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! is the second Merrie Melodies theatrical short. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Vitaphone Corporation on September 5, 1931. It was written by Bob Clampett, produced by Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger, and directed by Ising.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Foxy	Johnny Murray
Roxy	Unknown

Locations

• Earth
  • United States

Vehicles

• Trolley

Production

Development

The short was developed as a remake of Trolley Troubles, a Disney short starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, whose creation Harmon had once been involved with.

It is the first Warner Bros. cartoon, as suggested by Bob Clampett, to feature a gag where characters from inanimate objects come to life. This type of gag would become a recurring element across Merrie Melodies.

Filming

In 1992, a colorized version was commissioned by Ted Turner, and was done by tracing over the original animation. The colorization was done in South Korea.

Music

The music was composed by Frank Marsales and Abe Lyman, and as with the case with early entries in the Merrie Melodies series, the cartoon was to promote a Warner-owned song. The title song, "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!", was also written and composed by Marsales and Lyman.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: September 5, 1931 in theatres

Behind the scenes

• This is the second of only three Merrie Melodies cartoon to star Foxy; the other two being Lady, Play Your Mandolin! and One More Time.
• The short fell into the public domain in 1959, due to United Artists failing to renew the copyright at the time.

Everlasting influence

• In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the title song of the short is featured twice, first by the citizens of Toontown when Eddie drives to the place, and again by various characters near the end.
• In the Pee-Wee's Playhouse episode "The Gang's All Here", a portion of the cartoon was presented by the King of Cartoons.

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • October 21, 2008: Warner Home Video releases Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6 on DVD.