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

Question

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

Answer 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.

Answer 2

It may have its roots in an arrangement for the violin titled, "Hearts and Flowers" (from Wiki):

Published in 1893, though its melody originally appears in a collection called "Wintermärchen" written by the Hungarian composer Alphons Czibulka in 1891. Through its use accompanying certain silent films, the instrumental violin version has come to symbolize all that is melodramatic, sentimental or mock-tragic. Indeed, the humming of the tune is often combined with the miming of violin-playing to indicate mock-sympathy at someone's misfortunes.

By the 1970s we have evidence that it is viral, per this scene from M*A*S*H2:

Showing Winchester her thumb and forefinger rubbing together, Houlihan responds: "Charles, do you know what this is? It's the world's smallest violin, and it's playing just for you."

Answer 3

apparently it's from Ron Graham, screenwriter for "Your Hit Parade" but arguably there should be an earlier reference:

I'm far from certain it's the original source, but the earliest use of the "world's smallest violin" phrase I am aware of is in an episode from the sixth season of the American sitcom "M*A*S*H." The episode, "Your Hit Parade," first aired on January 4, 1978. In it, Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers) complains to Maj. Margaret Houlihan (Loretta Swit) that Winchester has been displaced from his tent, "The Swamp," by cots full of post-operative wounded soldiers. Showing Winchester her thumb and forefinger rubbing together, Houlihan responds: "Charles, do you know what this is? It's the world's smallest violin, and it's playing just for you."