Around 1937, a smile school came into existence as a result of a suicide wave in Budapest, Hungary, that was allegedly connected to “Gloomy Sunday,” a song known as the Hungarian suicide song. "Gloomy Sunday," written in 1933 by Rezső Seress, was a melancholic lament for a lost lover, and it expressed a desire to join them in death. The song became popular in Hungary and abroad, but it also gained a notorious reputation for being linked to many suicides. The song somehow gave hope to all the people who wanted to reunite with their loved ones who had passed on in World War I. According to some reports, people who listened to the song or had references to it in their suicide notes were found dead. Some sources claim that the song was banned in Hungary and other countries because of its association with suicide. Some researchers have argued that the song was merely a reflection of the social and economic hardships that Hungary faced in the 1930s, and that the suicides were not influenced by the song but by other factors. In an effort to put a halt to suicides, the Hungarian government decided to open a smile school. They thought that teaching the people how to smile would make them happier and finally forget the pain. At the school, students could learn the smiles of world-famous people such as Clark Gable, Dick Powell and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They claimed to charge up to $500 for teaching the Roosevelt smile in six weeks. Tuition fees were determined by the difficulty level of the smile chosen. Professor Jenő Sarkady said it was a great opportunity to use the methods used in the school to make Budapest a city of smiles. Needless to say, suicides continued and the school was soon proven to be nothing more than a money-making scheme.
