“Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!” Merrie Melodies (Foxy title) Released: September 5, 1931 Length: 6:57 Starring: Foxy and Roxy

Credits:

Supervision by – Rudolf Ising
Drawn by – Isadore Freleng, Max Maxwell
Musical Score and Direction – Frank Marsales
With Abe Lyman and his Brunswick Recording Orchestra

Summary:

Foxy and Roxy go on a wild trolley ride.

Description:

Foxy is a trolley engineer, singing the title tune while pulling on his trolley bell string (which is actually a cat’s tail, yanking up the cat’s behind which hits the bell). An incredibly fat female hippo tries to get on, but she’s too big to fit in. Foxy tries pushing and shoving her in, but to no avail. He finally pulls out one of her hat pins and pokes her with it, deflating her. The tiny hippo storms off angrily. The wheels of Foxy’s trolley leave without the carriage, so Foxy picks it up and runs to catch up with the wheels, hopping back on. Foxy’s next passenger is his girlfriend Roxy, who sings “Good Morning to You” as she boards, and then sings the title tune with Foxy. Several of the billboards in the trolley come to life and join in. The trolley’s path becomes blocked by a  lazy cow chewing its cud. Foxy rings his trolley bell hoping the the cow will move, but the cow then spits at Foxy. A group of hobos nearby begin singing a new verse — “Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! That dear old bossie doesn’t want to move at all!”. When their chicken dinner pops out of its pot and starts singing too, one hobo whacks it and shouts “Boil, darn ya, boil!”. Foxy backs up his trolley and runs it right under the cow, which hikes up its behind and walks away, it’s bell clanging under its neck. Foxy then falls off the trolley just before it starts racing down a hill. He throws a rope onto the trolley and ties it to a tree. The trolley pulls Foxy and rope around the tree, and Foxy lands back on runaway trolley. “Stop, oh stop!” Roxy yells. “I can’t stop!” yells Foxy, who can’t get the brakes to work. The trolley runs off a cliff throwing Foxy right into the camera. He wakes up from this dream falling onto the floor as his radio sings “Make life worthwhile, c’mon and smile, darn ya, smile!”. Foxy smashes the radio with a bedpost, and laughs.

Notes:

• The hippo speaks backwards English.

• The ads seen inside the trolley reference real ads of that era:
  –“Narrow Collars” refers to Arrow Collars and Shirts. An original ad of theirs can be seen on this site.
  –“Sniff Brothers Cough Drops” refers to Smith Brothers Cough Drops.
  –The woman whose clothes are blown off by the sneezing “Sniff Brothers” is the woman from the “Old Dutch Cleanser” ads. The actual ad being parodied can be seen by clicking here.
  –“Risk Tires” refers to Fisk Tires, whose famous slogan was “Time to Re-Tire”. A series of Fisk ads can be seen on this site.
  –The picture of a grave with the tag line “Ask the Guy Who Owns One!” refers to the slogan for Packard automobiles: “Ask the Man Who Owns One”.
  [EOC, WBCC]

• The pot the hobos are boiling their chicken in disappears for a shot.

• The song “Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!” is probably best remembered from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988).

• This cartoon is very similar to Walt Disney’s Oswald the Rabbit cartoon Trolley Troubles (1927), which Harman and Ising likely worked on. [OM&M]

• Disney Swipe: In both Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! and in Disney’s The Opry House (1929), a fat hippo is deflated with a pin:Thanks to Jon Cooke for discovering the swipe and for providing the Disney image.

Memorable Scenes:

Video Availability:

VHS: Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1: 1930s Musicals
VHS: Golden Age of Looney Tunes 5-Tape Boxed Set
VHS: Inside Termite Terrace, Vol. 2
Laserdisc: Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1