I had forgotten that Happy Days actually gave Fonzie his own dance.
This is from the 1979 episode “Stolen Melodies,” and the setup is pure Happy Days. Leather Tuscadero, played by real-life rocker Suzi Quatro, has written a song called “Moonlight Love.” After auditioning for the television show National Sok Hop, the song suddenly turns up credited to another group.
Naturally, Fonzie isn’t going to let that slide.
He shows up at the TV studio, confronts the people involved and eventually takes over the microphone himself. Instead of letting the other band introduce its new dance, Fonzie brings out Leather and announces a brand-new one:
“Do the Fonzie.”
And then the Fonz actually has to dance.
The song was written especially for the show by Jim Dunne and performed by Suzi Quatro. The dancing was choreographed by Shirley Kirkes, so somebody really did have the job of figuring out exactly how Fonzie should dance without making the coolest guy on television look completely ridiculous.
Quatro was already a successful rock singer and bass player when she joined Happy Days as Leather Tuscadero. She later recalled that she was touring Japan when the show called her back to audition for the role.
By this point Fonzie had become such a pop-culture phenomenon that Happy Days could invent an entire dance around him and it somehow made perfect sense.
And just about a year later, one of Henry Winkler’s famous Fonzie leather jackets went into the Smithsonian.
Do you remember “Do the Fonzie” — and would you have tried this dance at a sock hop?
Tag: Ron Howard
Cocoon: The Movie You May Need a DVD to See
I’m posting the trailer for Cocoon, and it is strange to say this about such a well-known 1980s movie, but today the trailer may be easier to find than the movie itself.
Released in 1985 and directed by Ron Howard, Cocoon was one of those movies that felt different. It was science fiction, but not the laser-blasting kind. It was warm, funny, and surprisingly emotional — a story about growing older, feeling young again, and wondering what you would do if life suddenly offered you more time.
The cast was loaded with familiar faces: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Jack Gilford, Gwen Verdon, Maureen Stapleton, Brian Dennehy, and Steve Guttenberg. The story followed a group of seniors who discover that swimming in a certain pool gives them new energy, thanks to alien cocoons hidden beneath the water.
For a movie about aging, it had a magical feeling. It made older characters the center of the story, not the background, and that helped make it stand out.
What makes it even stranger now is how hard Cocoon has become to watch. It was released on DVD, but it is not currently streaming in the U.S. and is not sitting there waiting on the usual rental or purchase services like so many other ’80s movies. For most people, that old physical DVD is still the only practical way to see it legally.
Why? No one seems to have given a clear official answer. The likely reasons are the usual modern mess: old rights agreements, possible music clearance issues, studio ownership changes, and maybe simple corporate neglect. It was a 20th Century Fox movie, and after the Fox library ended up under Disney, this Oscar-winning hit somehow became one of those films that just fell through the cracks.
That makes Cocoon a perfect reminder of why physical media still matters. If you have the DVD, you can watch it. If you do not, you may be stuck waiting and wondering why a hit movie with this cast has almost disappeared from everyday viewing.
Do you remember watching Cocoon?
American Graffiti Trailer
Is it just me or is it impossible to find American Graffiti on TV anymore? The 1973 coming of age movie was directed and co-written by George Lucas of the Star Wars fame. American Graffiti is one of the most profitable movies of all time, produced for just $777,000 and has an estimated return of $200 million at the box office, not including TV reruns which we don’t see anymore!
Where were you in ‘62? The movie follows the lives of four friends in 1962 in Modesto, California. Many say this movie launched the TV show, Happy Days but its success renewed an interest in a script ABC already had called Love and the Television Set from their already hit show Love American Style.
American Graffiti star studded line up included Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams, and Wolfman Jack. There were many cameo appearances like Suzanne Somers as the elusive blonde in the T-bird.