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the best-known smile since the Mona Lisa
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 Dayh 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 womenfs 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.
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.
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 peoplesf 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 wasnft 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.
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: "Youfd 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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