
"All The Smurf's A Stage" is a Season 6 episode from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Timid Smurf/Actor Smurf
- Poet Smurf
- Papa Smurf
- Tailor Smurf
- Painter Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Brainy Smurf
- Smurfette
- Grandpa Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Vanity Smurf
- Grouchy Smurf
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
After being rejected in an audition for Poet's play, Timid imitates Painter, Handy, and Tailor to prove his acting abilities.
Plot Summary[]

Timid gets to shine on stage as a star, while the supporting cast gets to "shine" as "stars".
All the Smurfs are gathered outside Poet's house in anticipation for the village muse to reveal his latest work, which Papa Smurf says to Timid will be the longest poem he ever wrote. Then Poet steps out with a stack of sheets containing that work, which turns to be a play that he wrote, and one that will feature Smurfette as one of the leading roles. He says that auditions for the other role will be held at the Smurf Theater, which makes everyone eager to get in line to give their best performance... all except for Timid, who feels very uncertain that he will ever get the part. Grandpa Smurf notices this and tries to give a bit of encouragement to the young Smurf, saying that with his training he will perfect for the role. When Timid admits that he hasn't had any training, Grandpa takes him under his wing and gives him some acting lessons to beef up his confidence.
During the auditions, as Poet is going through each of the Smurf's performances, Brainy offers himself to Poet as an assistant director to help his play be a success. Poet tells Brainy that he needs sets, scenery, costumes, and a Smurf to play opposite Smurfette. Before Brainy could offer any solutions, Timid comes up and humbly asks to have an audition for the part, but Brainy automatically shoots him down, saying that he needs confidence and that he isn't called Timid for nothing. Poet also tells Timid that he needs experience in acting, and as Brainy and Poet walk away looking for a stage crew, Timid says to himself that there's got to be a way to prove to his fellow Smurfs that he can act.
Hiding behind the stage, Timid watches as Brainy brings forth the stage crew that Poet asked for -- Handy, Painter, and Tailor -- promising to make them stars, although Poet tells Brainy that his play doesn't have room for more than two actors. Nevertheless, Poet gives his stage crew a brief summary of what he wants done for the play and that it must be done today -- a demand that has the three Smurfs in the stage crew up in arms as to how they're going to accomplish all that work in a single day. After Poet and Brainy walk off the stage, Timid decides to make his appearance imitating Poet and telling the stage crew that they could take the day off, which the three Smurfs gladly accept. Timid realizes how easy it was that the other Smurfs believed he was Poet, that once Poet sees how he can act like the other Smurfs, he is sure to cast Timid in the play.
And so, throughout the day, Timid goes about imitating the three Smurfs who are part of the stage crew, though he does have problems as far as imitating their unique skills. As Tailor, he has Smurfette bound up in measuring tape as he tries to take her measurements for her costume. Poet then calls for Painter, and so Timid leaves Smurfette all tied up (literally) while he goes offstage to switch to wearing Painter's jacket and carrying his paint palette. He arrives on stage to meet with Brainy and Poet just as Clumsy is carrying buckets of paint and spills a bucket of red all over Brainy's head. Then he goes offstage to switch to Handy's overalls, visor, and tool belt when Handy comes to look for his tool belt, forcing Timid to hide it and simply tell Handy that Poet told him to remind Handy to take the day off. Handy remembers this and passes by Poet and Brainy on his way off the stage, only for the two Smurfs to see him again coming from the other direction, saying that it's like he's in two places at once. He goes up to the balcony of a backdrop and almost starts to bang a nail into a wooden handrail using a paintbrush, which Poet and Brainy notice much to Handy's embarrassment (only because it's Timid imitating Handy). Then after Poet and Brainy walk away, Timid remembers that he needs to tend to Smurfette's costume making and so he returns to her struggling in an oversized dress as Tailor, though he forgets that he is still carrying Handy's hammer.
Meanwhile, Painter, Tailor, and Handy stretch after their siesta, feeling glad that Poet had given them the day off, when Poet and Brainy run into them, with the former saying that he's glad that they've got the work done in time. The three Smurfs are left wondering what they have done as they follow Poet and Brainy back to the Smurf Theater, where the village muse ends up seeing that the stage sets and scenery are a complete disaster, and that Smurfette's costume was badly designed. Poet angrily asks the three Smurfs how they could perform such poor workmanship when he clearly had seen them at work, and all three of them deny that they had any hand in doing the work Poet had seen them do. Just as they are beginning to wonder who's responsible for the work, they heard a noise behind the stage which was caused by Timid trying to back away so he couldn't be seen. Brainy goes backstage to find out and finds himself staring into a mirror image of himself that follows him away from the frame that was thought to be a mirror, revealing that Smurf to be an impostor. Timid, who was imitating Brainy, quickly runs off the stage.
Brainy, Poet, Handy, Painter, and Tailor report to Papa Smurf that there's an impostor running loose in the village, which the elder Smurf listens to intently but doesn't say anything other than "hmmm". Brainy wonders if Papa Smurf is feeling like himself lately when another Papa Smurf steps out of his house, and the Smurfs now see that there is two Papa Smurfs, both saying "Amazing, simply amazing" as they look at each other. Brainy tests out which Papa Smurf is really Papa Smurf by pulling on the beard of the Papa Smurf that just stepped out of the house, soon realizing that he is the real Papa Smurf. They all look at the impostor Papa Smurf and he removes his beard, revealing himself to be Timid and apologizing for the things he had done because he wanted to prove that he was a good actor. Papa Smurf tells Timid that he certainly had him fooled, but before anything more can be done, Poet announces that he has already chosen who will play the leading role opposite Smurfette in his play -- and that will be himself.
On the night of the play, as Handy, Tailor, and Painter get dressed up in their costumes to become "stars of the play", the leading star Poet peers through the stage curtains at his audience, takes a look at his lines, and then faints. Papa Smurf sees that Poet now has stage fright, which means that someone else will have to take on his role, and since Timid is the only Smurf available who could act, he is chosen to take Poet's place on stage. Soon the play commences, and all the Smurfs in the audience found Timid's performance so convincing and captivating that Clumsy accidentally lets the "stars" fall from the sky as he watches from the rafters.
With the play finished and the audience lined up to get Timid's autograph, Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf see how confident the young Smurf is when it comes to acting, with Papa Smurf saying that from now on they will have to call him Actor Smurf. Smurfette asks the newly christened Actor what he intends to do next, and he says that he will do what every great actor does -- to direct. This response makes Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf slap their heads in disbelief.
Trivia[]
- The title of the episode is based on a line in William Shakespeare's As You Like It, which starts with "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players..."
- In the syndicated version of the episode, the entire soundtrack was in 2x higher than usual in pitch octave.
- Toward the end of the episode, Grandpa says "...the show must go on!", that's not only an idiom meaning in event or activity must continue even if there are problems or difficulties.
- Upon investigating a noise backstage of the theatre, Brainy gets into a quick false mirror trick with Timid.
- Timid perfectly imitates the voices of Poet, Tailor, Painter, Handy, and Brainy, just like Lieutenant Commander Data, Peter Pan, Jane Hudson, and even Alfred Pennyworth at one point.