| 1. SMILE NEWS |
July 8, 1996; TELEGRAM |
| Worcester Throws a Party and Congratulates Harvey
Ball on His 75th Birthday |
| Harvey Ball, the man behind the bright yellow smiley
face, turns 75 on July 10. In honor of this occasion,
there will be a birthday party from 3 to 7 pm at the Worcester
Common Fashion Outlets. Mayor Raymond V. Mariano will
proclaim July 10 gHarvey Ball Dayh in recognition of Ball,
a Worcester native. A related historical exhibition, "Have
A Nice Day: Harvey Ball and the Smiley Face," is
being displayed through August 18 at the Worcester Historical
Museum. |
| September 12, 1971; BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE |
| The Smile Seen Across the World |
| Everybody knows what a smile button is. The simple
disks with dot eyes and a curved line mouth popping up
on everything from suit lapels to sweat shirts and womenfs
underwear. The company that first made the smiley badge
was in Worcester. Two affiliated insurance companies based
here used this smiley badge for more than seven and a
half years and the creator of this smiley face was commercial
artist Harvey Ball. |
| January 18, 1972; NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
| The Amazing Story of 50 Million Smiles |
| There is every evidence that the smiley face was
created and drawn eight years ago and the identity of
the original creator of this smile is now clear. It all
began in December 1963, in Worcester, Massachusetts, when
Joy Young, an employee of Worcester Guarantee Insurance,
decided her company needed a morale boosting campaign
to start the new year. This would include posters, desk
cards and buttons. She called on Harvey Ball, a local
48-year-old commercial artist to design the material. |
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| February 12, 1989; ST PERERSBURG TIMES |
| Smiles Are Back in Style |
| The smile face craze of the 1960s is gaining
popularity all over again. Their sunny faces are
showing up on t-shirts, boxer shorts and socks,
and are a huge hit. Most of the smiley face fans
this time around are aged between 25 and 35. Some
manufacturers have reported that smiley face has
been the cause of their highest-ever sales records. |
| April 19, 1993; TELEGRAM AND
GAZZETTE |
| Searching For the Truth About Smiley Face |
| Just as it was 30 years ago, authors appear
on the scene as claimants, but this time it is
clear that the smiley face was created for the
first time in the 1960s by Harvey Ball. |
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| September 20, 1992; SUNDAY TELEGRAM |
| Are We Happier? |
| The smile began here. Remember the smiley button?
For nearly 30 years it has put smiles on peoplesf faces.
Created in 1963 by Worcester commercial artist Harvey
Ball from an idea by Joy Young and Lorraine Copian, staff
members at two local affiliates of State Mutual Life Assurance
Co. (now Allmerica), the logo fulfilled a company campaign
to promote cheerfulness among employees. It wasnft long
before it became the best-known smile since the Mona Lisa. |
| July 10, 1996; TELEGRAM |
| The Smile Face Launched a Sensation |
| Smile artist Harvey Ball will celebrate his 75th
birthday today, with celebrations being held for the man
whose smile is now more famous than that of the Mona Lisa.
The smiley face created by Harvey Ball in 1963 spread
like a virus, turning up on just about everything that
could be mass-produced and spreading throughout the whole
country. In recent times the smile has even appeared in
"Forrest Gump." Every now and then there arise
pretenders claiming to have created the smiley face, but
a little research always proves that Ball did in fact
draw what we recognize as the smiley face long before
anyone else. |
| July 11, 1996; TELEGRAM |
| Smiley Celebrity |
| Brittany Murphy of Worcester gets an autograph
from Harvey Ball, creator of the smiley face.
Ball celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday with
a party at the Worcester Common Fashion Outlets.
Mayor Raymond V. Mariano proclaimed yesterday
"Harvey Ball Day" in honor of his role
in sparking a fed that swept the nation. |
| July 11, 1996; USA TODAY |
| Worcester City has proclaimed itself the birthplace
of the yellow smiley face, saying resident Harvey
Ball, 75, first drew it in 1963 to help quellthe
bitter aftermath of a corporate takeover. |
|
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| January 19, 1997; THE BOSTON GLOBE |
| Are We Happy Yet? |
| A coast-to-coast journey in pursuit of happiness
and what it means. Harvey Ball knows how to put on a happy
face. In December 1963, the State Mutual Life Assurance
Company of America was having morale problems because
of a merger, so they asked Ball, a Worcester commercial
artist, to draw a smile to be used as a button in an interoffice
campaign. No eyes, no nose, just a single-line smile.
"I had a choice," Ball says. "I could have
used the compass and made it as neat as possible, but
I drew it freehand. Give it some character." |
| July 29, 1966; THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE |
| Insurance Company Adopts a Smile Button |
| The smile is being used as their symbol by a group
of insurance companies. The Worcester Mutual Assurance
Co., The Guarantee Mutual Assurance Co. of America and
the State Mutual Life Assurance Co. of America, all of
Worcester, Massachusetts, comprise a group that is becoming
known as "The Smile Group." |
| September 10, 1971; BOSTON RECORD AMERICAN |
| The Originator of the Smile Button |
| In December 1963, Joy F. Young, an assistant director
of sales promotion with Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance
Co. and Guarantee Mutual Assurance Co. of America, developed
a campaign to increase cheerfulness among employees. Seven
years later it had become a nationwide rage. She took
her idea to Ball, a commercial artist in Worcester, and
together they came up with a decision strikingly like
the one seen everywhere today. The companies can document
their claim that the button goes back at least to February
1964. A company publication of that date shows firm President
John Adam Jr. wearing the smile button. |
| Early 1970s; WORCESTER MASSACHUSETTS TELEGRAM |
| Unique Smile Button Catches Public Fancy |
| Miss Mary F. Kulakusky, a receptionist at State
Mutual Life Assurance Co. of America, keeps running out
of smiles. Miss Kulakusky said to a fellow employee: "Youfd
be surprised how may times I have to fill this thing.
People come in and take them." A State Mutual spokesperson
anticipates it will pass out 10 million of its buttons
this year just to politicians, and a total of 30 million
buttons this year, an increase of 13 million from last
year. Before long the smile will be spread throughout
America and possibly the whole world. |
| January 27, 1980; SUNDAY TELEGRAM |
| Memories for Harvey Ball |
| Harvey Balls' creation: the original golden smile.
That simple line design ? two eyes and a smiling mouth
? born right here in Worcester back in 1963 and reproduced
millions of times. The best-known smile since the Mona
Lisa. |
| September 2, 1981 WORCESTER MAGAZINE |
| The Yellow Smile That Became a Hit |
| Remember the yellow smiley face that was so popular
during the early seventies? Harvey Ball of Worcester certainly
does. The 60-year-old commercial artist designed the smiley
face in 1963 for an affiliate company of State Mutual. |
| June Issue 1996; YANKEE MAGAZINE |
| Worcester's Inspiring Achievement |
| It's unclear whether residents of Worcester, Massachusetts,
were so happy that they inspired Harvey Ball or whether
he thought they really needed it, but in 1963 the graphic
artist designed the once-ubiquitous yellow face to promote
a "smile attitude." |
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