Sorria

This is the third of the three Foxy cartoons, an obnoxiously, relentlessly cheerful short that probably hastened the retirement of the lead character. Notable for the title tune and for Friz Freleng serving as an animator, this is a curio more than anything else. A few cute bits, but not terribly special or memorable in and of itself. Worth watching and recommended if you really like old black and white animation.

The second Foxy cartoon after 'Lady, Play Your Mandolin!', 'Smile, Darn Ya Smile' may not be a great cartoon but of the two cartoons it is the better-faring one.

Again, the story is thin, sometimes senseless and agreed derivative of other cartoons. While the animation is better this time round, there are still a few crude moments especially in the character designs. The very end is pretty corny and feels like a cop-out.

However, much of the animation is crisply shaded and very nicely detailed with flexible movements. Standing out especially is some interesting perspective visuals as Foxy loses control of the trolley. The music is suitably peppy, with an irresistibly infectious title song (which people will recognise as the ToonTown theme from 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?').

'Smile, Darn Ya Smile' boasts a few good gags that are quite funny, especially the hippo being deflated. Foxy, even with a still derivative character design, is a more compelling leading character this time round and more expressive.

On the whole, decent cartoon and hard not to smile along to regardless of its imperfections. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Smile Darn Ya Smile is a cartoon that has some plot similarities with Trolley Troubles, a 1927 Oswald film Harman-Ising worked on along with Disney. Both cartoons involve a cow blocking the track but both trolley operators were able to get pass. The only difference is this one has more improved graphics and makes clever use of the music.

One notable gag in the film involves Foxy using a pin to deflate a hippo, making her fit in the trolley. This gag has been branded by critics of the character as a so-called "Disney Swipe." I don't think Harman-Ising can be blamed for applying that, considering a similar one also appears in Spooks, a 1930 Oswald cartoon. Plus, it's probably not possible to patent a gag the way it's possible to copyright a film.

Due to Foxy's appearance resembling Mickey who is much more famous, a number of film fans are so quick to criticize the fox as a cheap copy of the latter. However, a document from a book called The Hand Behind the Mouse gives a much different story. In it, Hugh Harman drew pictures of mice on a portrait of Disney in 1925. A few years later, Disney and Iwerks used this idea as their basis for creating Mickey. Therefore, I guess it is true to say Harman and Ising were never imitating Disney or anyone in particular.

Why Foxy was short-lived in the Merrie Melodies series? As logical of a reason I can suggest, it's possible that he was only created as an experimental character, along with Piggy and Goopy Geer. In other words, they were intended to be just curtain raisers for Harman-Ising's main character Bosko. Bosko was a character whose popularity once rivaled Mickey until some flawed redesigning cause that guy to end up in the scrap.

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Foxy is running a train when he cheerfully agrees to take on a hippo who happens to be too large for his riding space. This event leads Foxy on a ride range of action. SMILE, DARN YA, SMILE! is an okay entry for the series. When the film started I'm sure many might mistake Foxy for Mickey Mouse because they share a lot of similarities and I think it's safe to say Merrie Melodies was ripping off Walt Disney with this character. For the most part this film is innocent enough, although there's certainly nothing here that really stands out or turns the film into a classic. The animation is a little crude but it works just fine to bring out the charm of Foxy.

This Merrie Melodies cartoon from 1931 is actually pretty nice. The character are a lot like Mickey & Minnie Mouse, although his voice is much lower. He is a conductor on a train, she is a passenger. On the road they have trouble with a cow on the rails and the breaks that stop working. The whole time we hear the characters sing the title song.

I liked 'Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!' because its simplicity, I guess. They do not try very hard to make it special. The animation and the music fit perfectly, enough to make it very enjoyable. The part where the breaks are not working anymore gives us some good animation combined with nice laughs. If you like the old cartoons, this one will not disappoint.