Folks often ask me, what was it like being Chachi on Happy Days. Then I have to remind them that was Scott Baio, they usually still punch me in the mouth anyway just to be sure. And that was just Henry Winkler’s reaction.
Speaking of the Fonz, during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s there was nobody cooler that the Fonz. While the show came out in the 1970’s it took place in the 1950’s. So right now in the world of Happy Day’s it is around the year 2004. Joanie is a grandmother, Richie doesn’t come back to Milwaukee, and their older brother Chuck is still missing. Yeah, the Fonz fixed Y2K by just bopping the monitor of his iMac.
There is no greater lesson on the fragility of coolness than the fate of the Fonz and Henry Winkler. Henry Winkler is now 78 years old, and no one under 40 knows him as the Fonz, but they probably recognize him from Barry. Here is a pic of alternate universe Fonz in 2004:
Now when I was growing up there were three Latino role models on TV: Ponch (CHIPS, Erik Estrada), Ricky Ricardo and Arthur Fonzarelli. I know what you’re thinking, Fonzie wasn’t Mexican. But trust me, for 1950’s Milwaukee, the Fonz being I-talian, was pretty ethnic for the Cunningham’s. Some of their neighbors even stopped talking to them because there was an ethnic living in their garage. Mr. C also faced a lot of tough questions about it at the Leopard Lodge. Also the Fonz was pretty promiscuous for 1950’s Milwaukee. However, the Cunningham’s were Midwestern nice and made the Fonz part of their family.
Oh, and Speedy Gonzalez, but that’s a cartoon.
Just to be clear I’m not telling you to watch Happy Days now, it was amazing when I was a kid. However, I tried to watch an episode the other day and it was just so…awful. The Fonz was still pretty cool and he even jumped a shark. Which is where the saying “jumped a shark” comes from when a formally good show has gone over the edge.
Now I know I haven’t taken the time to write in a while, because things are going so well over here. It’s like they always say “life gets in the way.” Sometimes we have to make room for the things we love, family, and for me writing something that only two or three people will ever read (including, by marital obligation, my wife). But maybe, just maybe, Henry Winkler will be one of them.
3 gritos