Anonymous, “How to learn to smile” (Dutch: “Hoe leer ik glimlachen”)

Article published in the Dutch illustrated weekly Het Leven (“Life”), issue number 39, Saturday
September 25, 1937, page 1254 (and not on or around April 1, for Het Leven was well known for its
April Fool jokes, which ran in a similar vein as the present article, but usually were set in Holland).
Het Leven was published in Amsterdam by Scheltens & Giltay from 1906 till 1941 when it was forced
to close by the German occupiers.

On the back of the original prints is a green stamp: “Photoscoop; 9, Eötvos-ucta Budapest, VI;
Telephone: 119-868”.

There is no further information on the photo, no captions, only the article in Het Leven, by an
anonymous Dutch editor of the magazine. It is not possible to say what part of it has been translated
or not from the original text which must have accompanied the series of photos.

In short, the article asks where the modern world would be without a smile. What would statesmen
from ministers to members of parliament, film stars from Hollywood to Duivendrecht [the Dutch pre-
war ‘Hollywood’] and sports champions do without an engaging smile on their face? Without a
proper smile one can pack it up. A beaming face is worth a fortune, so in that case, for those who do
not possess a natural smile, it is worthwhile to learn to smile.

That’s why a Hungarian psychologist [no name is mentioned] in Budapest decided to start a school
for everybody who needs a good smile for their profession. He designed, following the example of
the notorious ‘mustache binders’, a ‘smile binder’, which can keep a face smiling for hours by fixing
the mouth and its surrounding muscles into a smile until the desired effect can be accomplished
without the aid of the smile-binder. His school is flourishing!

The pictures show a class with the binders and classic examples that are being used to teach how to
smile. The smile binder is mainly worn during the night and people can choose from several examples
they want to follow.