Harvey Ross Ball (10 July 1921 – 12 April 2001) is famous for his invention of the Smiley.^[1] Image File history File links Smiley. ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The smiley has gone through many incarnations over the years, but it consistently retains the same features. ...

Harvey Ball was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. During his time as a student at South High School, he became an apprentice to local sign painter, and later attended Worcester Art Museum School, where he studied fine arts.   Nickname: The Heart of the Commonwealth, The City of the Seven Hills, Wormtown Settled: 1673 â€“ Incorporated: 1684 Zip Code(s): 01608 â€“ Area Code(s): 508 / 774 Official website: http://www. ... South High School is the largest public school (state funded) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ...

Harvey Ball served 27 years in the National Guard, and was based in Asia and the Pacific during World War II. He retired as a Brigadier General in 1973 and then served six years in the Army Reserves. He retired as a full colonel in 1979. Ball was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism during the Battle of Okinawa. He was awarded the Veteran of the Year award from the Worcester Veterans Council in 1999. The United States National Guard is a component of the United States Army (the Army National Guard) and the United States Air Force (the Air National Guard). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Combatants United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia Empire of Japan Commanders Simon B. Buckner†, Joseph W. Stilwell, Ray Spruance Mitsuru Ushijima† Strength 548,000 regulars, 1300 ships,  ? aircraft 100,000 regulars & militia,  ? ships,  ? aircraft Casualties 12,513 dead or missing, 38,916 wounded, 33,096 non-combat wounded... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

After World War II, Harvey Ball worked for a local advertising firm until he started his own business, Harvey Ball Advertising, in 1959. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The invention of the Smiley came about in 1963. The State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts (now known as Allmerica Financial) purchased Guarantee Mutual Company of Ohio. The merger resulted in low employee morale. In an attempt to solve this, Harvey Ball was employed in 1963 as a freelance artist to create a smiley face to be used on buttons, desk cards, and posters. In less than ten minutes the smiley face was complete. The smiley has gone through many incarnations over the years, but it consistently retains the same features. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...   Nickname: The Heart of the Commonwealth, The City of the Seven Hills, Wormtown Settled: 1673 â€“ Incorporated: 1684 Zip Code(s): 01608 â€“ Area Code(s): 508 / 774 Official website: http://www. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...

The use of the smiley face was part of the company's friendship campaign whereby State Mutual handed out 100 smiley pins to employees. The aim was to get employees to smile while using the phone and doing other tasks. The buttons were highly popular, with orders in lots of 10,000. More than 50 million Smiley Face buttons were sold by 1971, and the smiley has been described as an international icon.

Ball never applied for a trademark or copyright of the smiley and earned just $45 for his work. State Mutual, similarly, did not make any money from the design. Ball's son, Charles Ball is reported to have said his father never regretted not registering the copyright. Telegram & Gazette reported Charles Ball as saying "he was not a money-driven guy, he used to say, 'Hey, I can only eat one steak at a time, drive one car at a time'". The Worcester Telegram & Gazette is Worcester, Massachusettss only daily newspaper. ...

The associated "Have a Nice Day" tag line was not part of the original design. Brothers Bernard and Murray Spain later trademarked the line and the smiley face design in the early 1970s. The Spain brothers and later marketers earned millions of dollars from Harvey’s initial icon.

The World Smile Corporation was founded by Harvey Ball. The corporation licenses Smileys and organizes World Smile Day. World Smile Day raises money for the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation, a non-profit charitable trust which supports children's causes. World Smile Day is held on the first Friday of October each year and is a day dedicated to "good cheer and good works". The catch phrase for the day is "Do an act of kindness - help one person smile".

Harvey Ball died on April 12, 2001, aged 79, as a result of liver failure following a short illness. April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Liver failure is the final stage of liver disease. ...

He was survived by his wife, Winifred, three sons and a daughter. He has a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Harvey Ball did not invent Harvey Balls. Harvey Balls are round pictograms used in comparison tables to indicate the degree to which a particular item meets a particular criterion. ...

Trivia

The movie Forrest Gump fancifully shows Harvey Ball getting the smiley concept from the title character. Ball is seen following Gump near the end of the movie. He offers him a yellow shirt, with which Forrest rubs his dirty face. When he hands the shirt back to Ball, a smiley face is imprinted on it. Forrest Gump is a 1985 novel by Winston Groom, a 1994 film adaptation, and the name of the title character of both. ...

Reference

1. ^ Honan, William H.. "H. R. Ball, 79, Ad Executive Credited With Smiley Face", The New York Times, 2001-04-14, p. C6.

The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 14 is the 104th day of the year (105th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 261 days remaining. ...

External link

• http://www.worldsmile.org/