Hide Article Text (OCR)
AI.AMANCK NOTEBOOKItv Don Hnlilenir«».—MHappy Face Local BeginningIt seems that everywhere we turn today.there is the smiling little happy face.It’s on buttons, on T-shirts, on stationary, necklaces, cigarette lighters, and one manufacturer has even put it on toilet seats—in a variety of colors.The little smiling face today is perhaps one of the most universady circulated symbols in existance now.Much of the material circulated today comes from a couple of brothers in Philadelphia who first showed the first smil.ng fact items in a gift show in 1970 .However, there are some who distribute smiling face items who credit a Burlington business executive with starting the whole thing.Back in 1938, when Bill Price movedto his new business location on Huffman Mill Road, he decided that the happy face would be the face of his business, so to speak. In February of that year, he ordered the big sign which now stands in front of his business.But the face had its beginning even further back than that. /Mr. Price’s daughter was away in school in the North in 1985, and she used the little face characters in her letters home in the place of punctuation. The happy face would pop up in place of periods,BOLDENetc. But when she received a grade on a test which was not to her liking, she would reverse the smiling mouth and make it a sad face to show her displeasure.Aso at home, she would slip into her father’s office and draw the face on his calendar pad or leave on in his drawer where he would see it when he came to work. It was her way of getting his day off to a pleasant start.When the time came for the moving of the business, Mr. Price decided to use the face as an image for the auto dealership for a number of reasons.“We used it because there was so much unhappiness in the world then, and so much worry. Also, we felt that the autobusiness had become too impersonal, and we wanted to make the customer feel happy and important.”So the happy face was born here.As the seasons change, one side of the sign changes with it, ear muffs for w-inter, flowers for spring, sun glasses for summer and a jack-o-lantem for autumn.Apparently the face is just as popular all over the nation as it is in this area, and it is keeping button and novelty manufacturers hard at work to keep up with the demand for smiling face products.And for many people, the first time they saw the face was here in Burlington.Mr. Price just hopes that everytime anyone anywhere sees the happy face, they get the message—cheer up and smile back.
Newspaper Details
Burlington Daily Times News
Burlington, North Carolina, US
Tue, Nov 23, 1971
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
LA, USA 23 Sep 2022
Other Publications Near Burlington, North Carolina
Burlington Daily Times News
Burlington Daily Times
Burlington Saturday Times News
Burlington Sunday Times News
Burlington Daily News
