oscaralbert Review of Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! (1931)

Warner Bros. was no friend of Big Lingerie . . .

[6/10 · 6 October 2016]

. . . as documented by this early 1930s animated short, SMILE, DARN YA, SMILE! Until the Great Depression, surveys indicate that the plurality of American Women traipsing around in Public "Commando Style" ranged North of 60%. However, when Domestic Manufacturing crashed along with the Stock Market a couple years before SMILE came out, Business Bigwigs got the bright idea that they could get their Gravy Train of Profits back on track by Brainwashing U.S. females to provide themselves with extra covers for their "sideways smiles." As one Big Lingerie ad asked, "Why buy your family a soup bone that's Gonna Be Gone Tomorrow, when Playform Panties are Forever?" With SMILES, Warner tries to warn Americans that there's nothing wrong with an occasional wee little wink (think Sharon Stone in BASIC INSTINCT) by slapping the sort of frilly fancy pants then in vogue (according to Madison Avenue) on rodents, cows, hippos, birds, and all manner of ludicrous wearers to highlight the absurdity of expending scant family resources on an extraneous effort to Gussie up God-Given Pudendums. At one point Roxy flaunts her panties at Foxy as if to say "Don't you think that these are really stupid?" At another juncture, Foxy "pops" his would-be female hippo passenger to show her that her elaborate lingerie is holding up the line. As Warner commands U.S. fashion leaders such as Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus, SMILE, DARN YA, SMILE!