Fonzie

"Who's cool, and has two thumbs? This guy!" - Fonzie

Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, popularly known as The Fonz or simply Fonzie, was a fictional character in the American sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984) played by Henry Winkler. He was originally a secondary character on the show but became the de facto lead rather quickly, dwarfing the other characters in popularity by the mid-1970s. He would eventually receive top billing on the show once Ron Howard left in 1980. He is known globally for his catchphrase "Aaay!" whilst clicking his fingers and forming a thrust-forward double thumbs up.

Character traits and development

Fonzie is a leather jacketed mechanic who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sometime in the late 1950s. Although he is a high school dropout and is seen by the establishment characters in the show as a rebel, he has a number of skills and qualities such as womanizing, strong loyalty, and sexual attractiveness. Despite the low opinion of the authorities, he commands tremendous respect throughout much of Milwaukee for his well-deserved reputation for fighting (in one episode, he outduelled an expert fencer; in another, he literally mangled a gangster's prosthetic iron hand with one fist), his skills as a ladies' man and mechanic, his history of romantic involvement with virtually every attractive woman in Milwaukee, and his imperturbable "cool." Opponents far larger and more dangerous-seeming than himself back down from confrontations with him. Those who do confront him never come out on top, leaving 'The Fonz" without a scrape.

Fonzie usually exhibited a characteristic sangfroid during times of challenge, stress, or annoyance (although as the series progressed he became more susceptible to irritation). Fonzie's "cool" occasionally manifested as the ability to make mechanical objects function with a single touch, implying that he knew so much about how they worked that he could set the works in motion via one "Technical Tap"; he frequently started and stopped the jukebox at Arnold's diner by this process. This knack eventually became almost supernatural in nature when he proved able to achieve similar effects by snapping his fingers. In one episode, he is on the phone to Al, who is by the jukebox in Arnold's Drive-In. Al holds the phone up and Fonzie's fingers are heard snapping, causing the jukebox to cease playing. At the end of the phone call Fonzie snaps his fingers again, causing the jukebox to start playing once more. In another episode, while camping in the woods with his friends, he became so annoyed by the repeated sounds of wildlife around him that he shouted "Cool It!" into the woods, silencing every animal in the vicinity. "Let's see Tarzan do that," he mused to himself as he settled into sleep.

Occasional facts about the Fonz's past emerged throughout the series: As a child, he and his mother were abandoned by his father. The only words of advice Fonz ever remembered his father giving him were "Don't wear socks in the rain." When he disappeared, he left behind a locked lockbox for his son, but not a key; the young Arthur did everything he could to open the box, finally running over it repeatedly with his tricycle. The contents? "The key, and that's it!". In a later episode Fonz meets a woman who he believes is his mother. She convinces him she is not but in the end she looks at a picture of Fonz as a small child and sighs.

As a youth, the Fonz dropped out of high school and ran with at least two gangs, the Demons and the Falcons. His "redemption" began in an incident that occurred months before the series began, when he intervened in a rumble to which gang members had challenged high school student Richie Cunningham, who, to his challengers' surprise, actually showed up for the fight in spite of his obvious fear. Intervening to save Richie, Fonzie developed a respect for him from that moment on, and despite their many differences, the two developed a close friendship. While the naive Richie learned much about the ways of the world from the Fonz, Fonzie in turn learned about the value and benefits of a tight-knit family from the Cunninghams, from whom he eventually rented an attic room. Even Richie's father Howard ("Mister C" to Fonzie), a would-be pillar of the community who was initially quite concerned of his son's streetwise friend, came to regard Fonzie with respect and familial affection. Despite his seeming aloofness, Fonzie had his more whimsical traits, most notably his utter devotion to the Lone Ranger. While he was always confident with the women, he would still blush when Mrs. Cunningham (Mrs. C.), who became like a surrogate mother to him, kissed him on the cheek. Mrs. C. was the only one whom Fonzie allowed to call by his real name, which she always did affectionately.

During the course of the show, the Fonz finished his high school diploma at night school and became an auto mechanic instructor, and later school teacher. In later seasons, he went from being a womanizer to having a single long-term girlfriend at least twice. Though he never married, he also adopted a son in the final season, completing the transformation from rebel to family man.

The Fonz started as a minor character in the first season of Happy Days, but became a regular due to his instant popularity, and eventually became one of the definitive pop culture icons of the late 1970s. Viewers liked his personality, his characteristic "Heyyy!" catch phrase, and his habit of snapping his fingers or striking the jukebox to make it play. Along with his dress sense, and being seen in the company of many different women during the show, the Fonz represented the epitome of "cool" for many.

Production details

Fonzie's leather jacket is now in the Smithsonian Institution.
ABC's censors initially refused to allow Fonzie to wear a leather jacket, thinking that it made him look too much like a hoodlum. Garry Marshall got them to compromise, agreeing to allow Fonzie to wear his leather jacket when in close proximity to his motorcycle. To ensure that Fonzie would wear the leather jacket at all times, Marshall instructed the writers to put him near his motorcycle as often as possible, even going so far as to have him ride it into Arnold's. Even so, for some first season episodes, he wears a white jacket. Eventually, the censors relented, and Fonzie was allowed to wear the leather jacket even when not near his bike.
Originally Fonzie was also to wear penny loafers. Henry Winkler replaced them with the leather boots he wore in the movie The Lords of Flatbush .
According to Happy Days creator Garry Marshall, he originally created the character with the surname of Marsciarelli (Marshall's birth name), who was nicknamed "Mash." However, ABC insisted that he change Mash's name in order to avoid reminding viewers of the series M*A*S*H on rival network CBS. Thus "The Fonz" was born.
Fonzie was a frequent guest on Laverne and Shirley, a spin-off of the show.
On an episode of Happy Days, Fonzie met Mork, a wacky alien. Played by Robin Williams, the Mork character proved so popular that he received his own spin-off series, Mork & Mindy.

Fonzie was one of three Happy Days characters (along with Richie Cunningham and Ralph Malph) who starred in a Saturday morning cartoon spin-off, where the characters, along with a female character named Cupcake and a "Fonz dog" (an anthropomorphic dog named "Mr. Cool" that imitated the Fonz's thumbs-up "Heyyyy" catchphrase), traveled through time.
Fonzie later appeared in the Laverne & Shirley animated series, with all of them in the army, answerable to a pig sergeant voiced by Ron Palillo.
Fonzie's choice of motorcycle is an English Triumph even though Milwaukee where the series is set, is the home of Harley-Davidson

References in popular culture

Television

Fonzie jumps over a shark while on water-skis.

As part of an in-joke, the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World pokes fun at Happy Days, particularly in an episode where Cory and Shawn go to a rival school's dance and Shawn insists that Cory "be cool" and Cory puts on a leather jacket and walks up to some girls, going, "Ayyyyyyy!" with his thumbs up, like Fonzie. Shawn quickly comes over and tells him he's doing Fonzie, not Shawn, and that he should be doing Shawn. The in-jokes of Boy Meets World being a "modern" Happy Days was a repeated theme throughout the show's run. Also, this particular episode features a very young Mena Suvari as one of the girls dancing with Cory as Fonzie/Shawn.
In the animated television show Clone High, during the episode "Litter Kills: Litterally", the clone of Ponce de Leon is portrayed with many qualities similar to Fonzie.
In the animated television show Futurama:
- In the episode "Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV", one of Professor Farnsworth's inventions is the hand-held Cool-O-Meter, which measures the coolness of an object in units of "MegaFonzies".
- In the episode "I, Roommate", Fry fixes the TV by banging on it, then he says "Aaaay!" and puts his thumbs up.
The show Family Guy has featured several references to Fonzie, including:
- In the episode "The Son Also Draws", where Peter Griffin goes on a native vision quest, his spirit guide is The Fonz.
- In the episode "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz", Peter starts the Church of Fonzie. The church decor contains a number of objects associated to Fonzie and the rituals incorporate his catchphrases.
- In the episode "Let's Go to the Hop", Peter attempts to turn on a jukebox by slamming it with his fist. Unlike the Fonz, though, his fist breaks the glass and he is badly lacerated.
In the sitcom That 70's Show (which has a number of parallels with Happy Days):
- In the episode "I Love Cake", Michael Kelso gets a leather jacket, and everyone mocks him for dressing like Fonzie. Steven Hyde & Laurie Forman make fun of him by saying Fonzie's legendary lines, Eric Forman asks when Fonzie moved to town, and Fez taunts him with the line "A gang of toughs has taken over Arnold's. Help us, Fonzie; you're our only hope!" (This is additionally a reference to Princess Leia's line from Star Wars.)
- In the episode "Holy Crap", Pastor Dave compares Fonzie to Jesus. "Fonzie says Ayyy, and Jesus says Ayyyy-men!". The boys then ask, "Yeah, but can Jesus fix a jukebox by hitting it?", and Pastor Dave's weak defense is "well he could, but he doesn't like to hit things".
- In the episode "Jackie Says Cheese", Fez imagines himself jumping over a shark on water skis. In his fantasy, people call him "The Fez". When the dream ends, however, Fez remarks that he never really watched the show after that episode.
In the TV show The Simpsons:
- In the episode Homer the Moe, Homer Simpson attempts to fix Moe's jukebox (when Moe allows Homer to run the bar while he goes back to bartending college) by punching the jukebox in a "Fonzie-ish" fashion. Unfortunately, he smashes through the glass and receives a "hemorrhage-a-mundo". When asked by a fellow barfly if he was okay, Homer responded "Aaaaaay", snaps his fingers (spraying blood everywhere), displays two thumbs-ups and faints, presumably from blood loss.
- In the episode Papa's Got a Brand New Badge, the elementary school installs air conditioning during a heat wave in order to attract students. The plot works so well that one of the teachers comments that "(she's) seeing students (she) hasn't seen in years". The next shot shows a number of famous TV show school drop-outs entering the school, including Fonzie.
- In yet another episode, the Simpson family visits a Smithsonian traveling exhibit, and see Fonzie's jacket, which is the single most heavily-protected artifact in the museum (less important and less protected artifacts in the museum include the Bill of Rights).
- In The Simpsons episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", the cartoon dog Poochie sings a rap song including the line "I'm half Joe Camel and a third Fonzarelli".
- Frequently, characters—both recurring and guest—address to Homer and Marge as "Mr. S" and "Mrs. S," much like how Fonzie and other teenagers addressed Howard and Marion Cunningham as "Mr. C" and "Mrs. C," respectively. Episodes where this happen include "The Otto Show", "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", and "Take My Wife, Sleaze" (the latter an episode where Winkler was a guest voice).
- In the Simpsons episode The Edge when Homer and Marge get an invite to the class of 1974 reunion Homer says It will be great to see the old gang again. Richie Ralph malph The Fonz. additionly the sign for the reunion says aaaaaaay.... Sit on it. two of Fonzies cathphrases

In an episode of Scrubs, J.D. fantasizes about doctors with miracle cures. In the fantasy, he walks in wearing a leather jacket and hits a comatose patient in the chest, causing a full recovery; this of course mimics Fonzie's ability to work the jukebox.

Henry Winkler played Barry Zuckerkorn on Arrested Development (a show created and produced by Ron Howard). In the episode "Altar Egos", Barry briefly does the Fonz pose in a bathroom mirror. Another reference occurs in the episode "Motherboy XXX", in which Barry jumps over a shark.
A character named Funzie who is from the show The Oblongs is a spoof of Fonzie.
In the Friends episode "The One with the Triplets" the gynecologist who is supposed to deliver Phoebe's triplets has a Fonzie obsession.
In the Season 1 episode of Newsradio, "Smoking", Dave Nelson says "Thanks Fonzie" in response to Joe fixing his laptop by hitting the bottom of it.
In the South Park episode "City on the Edge of Forever", the kids reminice falsely about previous experiences in flashbacks. One such flashback involves Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny in a crowd watching Fonzie jump over a line of buses on a motorcycle. Fonzie ends up running Kenny into a brick wall and killing him.
Fonzie is one of two characters, with Howard Cunningham, to appear in every episode in the Happy Days running.
In the Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide episode "Photo Day", when giving tips for school photo day, Ned gives the tip, "Do not dress as someone you see on TV." One of the kids is dressed as Fonzie, and even does the pose.

Other media

XBXRX sing a song named "The Fonz".
Smash Mouth also have a song named "The Fonz".
In the SIRIUS Satellite Radio Covino and Rich on MAXIM 108, they commonly use the "WWFD" (What Would Fonzie Do).
In the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction, during the last scene in the coffee shop, Jules and Yolanda (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Amanda Plummer, respectively) hold the following dialogue:
- Yolanda: You don't hurt him!
- Jules: Nobody's gonna hurt anybody. We're gonna be like three little Fonzies here. And what's Fonzie like? Come on, Yolanda! What's Fonzie like?
- Yolanda: Cool?
- Jules: What?
- Yolanda: He's cool.
- Jules: Correctamundo! And that's what we're gonna be. We're gonna be cool.
In the Quentin Tarantino's segment of the film Grindhouse, Rose McGowan's character calls Kurt Russle's character Stuntman Mike a Fonzie.
In the film Scream, a character played by Henry Winkler goes to a mirror to comb his hair, then subtly pauses, as if to say "why mess with perfection?" This is a reference to a classic Fonz move from the credit sequence of Happy Days. At one point during this scene you can also see Fonzie's brown jacket hanging up on the back of the door.
The song "A Pack of Dogs" by Lightyear contains the lyrics "Hello, hey now, the Fonz is cool, the Fonzie don't cry".
In the film 2 Fast 2 Furious a character played by Tyrese Gibson said to one of the Carter Verone's boys: "Real funny, Fonzie".
In the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, White Goodman likens Peter Lafleur" to the Fonzie of his gym. He also imitates Fonzie with his trademark "Ayyyy." He also makes the comment 'Joanie Loves Chachi' when two of the characters say they love one another.
In the Unicorn Tales film The Magic Hat, the characters sing about "being the Fonz" and do his trademark "Ayyyy!" and stick out their thumbs.
In the film The Benchwarmers the midget that is made fun of can be seen wearing a red Fonzie shirt with the catchphrase on it.
Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song" makes a reference to Arthur Fonzarelli.
Appears in Say Anything's Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too video.

Character traits and development

Production details

References in popular culture

Television

Other media

See also