- Happy Days is also the name of a play by Samuel Beckett. See Happy Days (play).
Happy Days was a popular United States television sitcom that originally aired between 1974 and 1984 on the ABC television network. It showed an idealized window on life in 1950s and early-mid 1960s America.
Happy Days often developed storylines from timeless human conditions such as friendship, courage, sacrifice, love, loyalty, etc. Its characters not only dreamed of growth but succeeded despite their limitations. They also knew failure and loss. Many viewers found the characters easy to relate to.
Cast and Characters
- Howard (Tom Bosley) - Hardware store owner
- Marion (Marion Ross) - Homemaker
- Richie (Ron Howard) - High school student
- Joanie (Erin Moran) - Younger sister of Richie. Marries Chachi Arcola in series' last episode.
- Chuck (Gavan O'Herlihy Randolph Roberts) - Eldest Cunningham son. Written out of series with no explanation
- Warren "Potsie" Weber (Anson Williams) -
- Ralph Malph (Don Most) -
- Arthur "Fonzie" / "the Fonz" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler). Offered friendship and guidance to all. First written in as a minor character. Became hugely popular, and made a series regular.
- Al Delvecchio(Al Molinaro) - Diner owner/cook 1976-1982. Left to become a priest and retuned to marry Joanie and Chachi in the last episode.
- Matsumoto "Arnold" Takahashi (Pat Morita) - Early diner owner 1975-1976. Returned after Al Molinaro departed 1982-1983.
- Marsha Simms (Beatrice Colen) - Carhop in first season
- Leather Tuscadero (Suzi Quatro) - Musician. Sister of Pinky Tuscadero.
- Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly) - Former girlfriend of Fonzie.
- Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio) - Fonzie's younger cousin. Marries Joanie Cunningham in series' last episode.
- Jenny Piccolo (Cathy Silvers) - Joanie's best friend 1980-1983
- Lori Beth Cunningham (Lynda Goodfriend} - Richie's Wife 1977-1982
History
The show originated during a period of 1950s nostalgia in film, television, and music. It began as an unsold pilot called "Love and the Happy Days" shown on the TV anthology series Love, American Style. Then, in 1973, George Lucas released a film with a similar theme, American Graffiti (co-starring Ron Howard and Cindy Williams). The success of the film caused series creator Garry Marshall and ABC to reconsider the unsold pilot and make Happy Days as a series.
The first season was markedly different from the rest of the series, as it was filmed, as opposed to being a three-camera live production.
Happy Days also spun off five different live-action series: Laverne and Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi and the animated series Fonz and the Happy Days Gang and Laverne and Shirley in the Army. The most successful of these, Laverne and Shirley, co-starring Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall, also took place in 1950s Milwaukee. Joanie Loves Chachi was a short-lived show about Richie's younger sister Joanie (Erin Moran) and Fonzie's younger cousin Chachi (Scott Baio)'s relationship. Robin Williams made his first appearance as "Mork" on Happy Days.
Ron Howard, who had starred as a child actor in The Andy Griffith Show, went on to direct several critically acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind. Tom Bosley (Richie's father) continued acting and appeared in other sitcoms.
Early seasons of the series used a specially recorded version of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets as the opening theme song. This recording, as of summer 2004, has never been commercially released, although the original 1954 recording returned to the American Billboard charts in 1974 as a result of its use on the show. Eventually, the show's closing theme song, "Happy Days", became a major hit in its own right and replaced "Rock Around the Clock" at the beginning of the show.
Cultural Influence
The show underwent several changes over the years, two of which have resulted in new phrases entering the lexicon of TV. There was originally an older Cunningham brother, Chuck, who went away to college and disappeared from the show. His disappearance is often referred to as Chuck Cunningham syndrome. The cast regularly jokes about Chuck's disappearance in interviews.
Fonzie, perhaps best described as a hood with a heart of gold, was originally a minor character, but the show focused increasingly on him over time. Creative differences with ABC helped boost his popularity. Executives did not want a sympathetic character to appear in a leather jacket, and decided that Fonzie could only wear it if his motorcycle was in the scene. The show's producers responded by placing the motorcycle in all of his scenes, even indoor ones. Unfortunately, his popularity led the writers to take too many risks with his character, such as the infamous "jumping the shark" episode.
Happy Days became one of the first series to have earlier seasons syndicated while the series itself was still producing new episodes (a common practice with long-running shows today). For a time, the syndicated version carried the title Happy Days Again.
In 1995, the band Weezer recorded a music video for their song Buddy Holly, which featured the band playing on the original Arnold's Drive-In set mixed with footage from the series. The video begins with the band being introduced by Al Molinaro as Al Delvecchio, who announces: "...from Kenosha, Wisconsin: Weezer!". The video featured footage from episode #53 (They Call It Potsie Love) as well as several other episodes.
The first season of the series was released on DVD in August 2004.
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