Where did the expression 'playing the world's smallest violin' come from?

Where did the expression 'playing the world's smallest violin' come from?

Solution 1:

Not being aware of the origin, I had to do a little searching and, to my amusement, came across a an entry on wiki.answers that references the A-Team using this in a T.V episode; you can check the link for complete text if you wish, but the following information is all we need to take from that article:

...interesting but you may rest assured the expression goes back a lot farther than a late 1970's episode of M*A*S*H. In fact the show writers may have been trying to tell us that the expression was around in the early 50's when the show is set. I don't know for sure about that but definitely an older expression.

From there I found a answer I guess I could swallow. It stated that a variation of the phrase exists as "The world's Smallest Violin Playing Hearts and Flowers" - while that doesn't quite ring the same senses, it could go to explain the origins more plainly, namely by giving us a link to Theodore Moses Tobani:

It's also referred to occasionally as "The world's Smallest Violin Playing Hearts and Flowers". Hearts and Flowers, is a song composed by Theodore Moses Tobani (with words by Mary D. Brine) published in 1899. Though the melody for the song originally appears in Alphons Czibulka's Wintermärchen compilation.

A purely instrumental version of the song Hearts and Flowers on violin was used as an accompaniment to a multitude of silent films and began to represent melodramatics and mock-tragedies. This was a contributing factor in the origin of the phrase "Break out the violins" as a sarcastic expression of sympathy.

The first reference to playing the smallest violin in popular culture I'm aware of is in an episode of M*A*S*H from 1978, in which Maj. Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit) rubs her thumb and forefinger together and states "It's the world's smallest violin, and it's playing just for you."

As you can see, this also captures the usage in M*A*S*H too, which was apparently in 1978. The composition mentioned is from 1899 (according to this source, but 1893 according to Wikipedia), 1893 sounds like it might be the earliest so far.

Solution 2:

Here's a 1964 reference to the world's smallest violin in Travel magazine:

RIPLEY GOES TO CANADA New Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum in Niagara Falls, Ont., is located on Clifton Hill, boasts possession of such unusual oddities as world's smallest violin — presumably for playing saddest song.

It's just a snippet and Google Books often gets dates wrong, but here's confirmation the museum opened in 1963, so could still be considered new in 1964.

Here's a 1952 snippet in The Idaho Forester (Volumes 34-45 - Page 14):

Noted for telling his troubles on the "World's Smallest Violin" and for his big black buick. Ward's activities include the Associated Foresters, Newman Club, and the Society of American Foresters. Brookwell hobbies are women, hunting, fishing ...