Smiley Faces

Next month marks the 30^th anniversary of the electronic lexicon of the horizontal smiley face.  The symbol, at that time was a colon, a dash and the right parenthesis, was first posted by a Carnegie Mellon University professor, Scott E. Fahlman.  He posted to an online electronic bulletin board on September 19^th, 1982 during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly.  It was used to convey humor and/or positive feelings with a smile.  Click here to view this information. 

Today, we now have ‘emoticons’ to convey our emotions available in our emails, chat sessions, and our social networks.  Most emoticons consist of a bright yellow face with black print for the face.

However, the picture of the smiley face starts much earlier than 30 years ago.  According to Wikipedia the first appearance of the ‘happy face’ was recorded on film and can be seen in Ingmar Bergman’s 1948 film “Hamnstad”.  Later in 1953 and 1958, the happy face was used in promotional campaigns for motion pictures ‘Lili’ and ‘Gigi’, respectively.  Of course, this was way before my time!  Click here to view this information.

All this started with the message, to ‘have a happy day’, which mutated to ‘have a nice day’ and ‘keep smiling’. 

Personally, my first memory of the big yellow ‘smiley face’ or ‘happy face’ as it was called back then, was in the early 1970’s while on vacation with my parents.  They bought a Winnebago motor home, which to me, was a big deal back in those days.  I suppose that my parents got full use of that thing because for several years we took many vacations.  My parents were adamant about vacationing two weeks in the spring and two weeks in the summer.  The two weeks in the spring was always welcome because we (me and younger brother) always got out of school at least one week, and of course, the other week was ‘spring break’.  The spring trip was always to Florida.  The two week vacation in the summer was wherever my parents wanted to go and they would mix it up each year.

Anyway, it was during one of these trips, we were cruising on the highway…well actually Dad was cruising, we were just riding and I assumed one of my many positions on this Winnebago.  This position was a couch in the very back of the Winnebago which made into my parents bed when we finally settled down for the night.  I would sit on this couch and watch the world go by from the rear of camper.  While everyone was driving forward, I was looking backward.  One of my favorite things to do was to watch others drive up to our camper, move to the passing lane, and proceed to pass us up.  You see, we were on vacation, and not in a hurry. 

It was actually kind of a boring day, we were on our way home and I was watching the cars go by.  I could not tell you which trip this was or which state we were in for there were many trips across many states.   What I can tell you that one man’s action resonated in my mind for many years and I have not forgotten. 

I must have looked really gloomy.  We did not have tinted windows in the motor home as they do now, so he must have seen my face bright and clear.  In the short time that he was in that passing lane, he picked up a bright yellow plastic lid with a smiley face printed in black, and waved it at me!  As you can imagine, he caught me off guard, and it brought a big smile to my face, which was what he intended! 

In reciprocation, I’m sure I brought a smile to his face.  He, being the driver, actually had to duck his head down to peer through the passenger car window to look up at me to see my reaction.  The thought that he took the time to bring a smile to someone else, a total stranger, stuck with me all those years. 

  

These bright yellow lids came from what I believe to be Maxwell House coffee cans.  My mom and my older sister could not remember these coffee can lids, but because of this memory, I sure do!  It was a novelty marketing gimmick and I remember saving them but I’m sure Mom threw them out at some point. 

Since that day, I never pass up an opportunity to make a total stranger smile on the road whether it be waving to kids in the back of a motor home, waving to the Amish children in their buggies, opening the door for the next person coming through in a public place or helping someone who is struggling with placing an awkward item into their car.  It just takes one small action on the part of one person to bring about a lasting memory.          

So, Happy 30^th Anniversary to the electronic smiley face…in many people’s minds, you go back further than the electronic era!  : )