15 January: Happy Days

On this date in 1974 Happy Days premièred on US TV. 10 things you might not know about Happy Days:

1. When Garry Marshall was first approached by Paramount executives Michael Eisner and Tom Miller in 1971 to create a new sitcom, they requested one set in the 1920s or ’30s. Marshall’s response was that he didn’t know anything about flappers, but he did know about the 1950s, when he himself grew up. The producers went along with that, but not the suggested name: COOL, because test audiences said it reminded them of cigarettes. Producer Carl Kleinschmitt suggested, “How about calling it Happy Days? That’s what we’re going to show.”

2. Fonzie’s real name is Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli. The only two characters who get away with calling him Arthur rather than Fonz are Marion Cunningham and Fonz’s girlfriend Ashley. To begin with, Fonz’s real name was going to be Arthur Masciarelli, nicknamed “The Mash”. That was changed, not only because Fonz sounded cooler, but because it might remind viewers of a show on a rival network: M*A*S*H.

3. Some more about names: Marion Cunningham's maiden name was Kelp. Joanie Cunningham's middle name was Louise. Ralph’s parents were called Mickey and Minnie Malph. Potsie's real first name was Warren. He was called "Potsie" because he loved to work with clay as a kid. Arnold is really called Mitsumo Takahashi, but when he bought the restaurant it was already called Arnold’s, and it was cheaper to change his own name than that of the business.

4. Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie, didn’t like motorcycles much at all. Most of the scenes of Fonzie riding the motorcycle were shot with the bike attached to a platform, and being pulled by a truck. Winkler could waterski, though, and in the famous “jumping the Shark” episode, performed a lot of the stunts himself, although not the actual shark jump as that was considered far too dangerous to risk one of the major actors on.

5. Talking of which, it was after this episode that some critics believed the show started to go downhill and run out of ideas. This resulted in the idiom ‘jumping the shark’ entering the pop culture vernacular, for when a show takes a sharp drop in quality, has strayed from its original premise or has writers insert desperate attempts for ratings. Another idiom Happy Days is responsible for is “Chuck Cunningham Syndrome”. In the first few episodes there was a third Cunningham child, an elder brother called Chuck, played by Gavan O’Herlihy, who disappeared without a trace with no explanation. While it has been said that he left home to pursue a Basketball scholarship, Chuck was never mentioned again, and in the final episode when Howard Cunningham breaks the fourth wall to thank the audience for their support, he says that he is proud of his “two kids.” There’s a spin off idea – what did Chuck do that was so bad that his family disowned him?

6. For the first few episodes, the theme tune wasn’t Happy Days with music by Charles Fox and lyrics by Norman Gimbel, performed by Jim Haas on lead vocals. It was instead a version of Rock Around the Clock specially recorded by Bill Haley for use on the show.

7. Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz auditioned to play Fonz. He and Henry Winkler were both called for a second audition and Winkler thought, “Oh crap, Micky Dolenz is here. I’ll never get it!” However, Winklet proved the better fit in the end, as Dolenz, at 6 feet tall, towered over the rest of the cast.

8. Marion was an archaeology major in college.

9. Tom Hanks appeared in one episode as an old rival of Fonz, who’d taken martial arts lessons and had come back to settle an old score. Happy Days also featured Robin Williams as Mork in three sci-fi themed episodes. Hence, Mork and Mindy was actually a Happy Days spin-off.

10. One time a suicidal teenager called the studio and asked to speak to The Fonz. Henry Winkler took the call and persuaded the kid not to end it all.