I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the long-running TV sitcom Happy Days was one of my favorites, but I certainly liked the show very much. Ironically, it was meant to memorialize the simpler times of the a bygone era known as the 50’s – but to me it represents another era long gone…the 70’s! I didn’t much watch the show during its first run, but I caught the reruns during the 80’s and it made me fondly reminisce about the previous decade. I now own three of the available seasons of the show on DVD and have enjoyed watching them. And even though the show eventually ‘jumped the shark’, I’m hoping that all eleven eventually come out.
Since the show is a classic, I am naturally interested in collecting autographs from folks from the show. In the past, I acquired signatures of Henry Winkler (as seen here) and had a personal encounter with Erin Moran (seen here), but other than that I had only got a few autographs through other sources. One of the cooler (and rarer) of these can be seen below – Al Molinaro, who played Al Delvecchio, the cook and owner of Arnold’s. I got this in a trade with my pal Steve Cox.
Yeah, yeah, yeah
But my big Happy Days break came on Saturday, July 18, 2009, when the Hollywood Show in Burbank was featuring a Happy Days reunion of sorts. Lined up at one long table were Henry Winkler, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Anson Williams, Don Most, and Erin Moran – all signing autographs for a fee. Unfortunately, although it was hoped that Ron Howard would show up, it never panned out.
I had Henry Winkler add his signature to the photo previously signed by Erin Moran in October 2008
I went down the line, conservatively hitting a few of the cast members up for signatures and photos. My photo with the Fonz can be seen here. I had Marion Ross and Tom Bosley sign a portrait photo of the two of them. Although the ‘handler’ was pretty adamant that they weren’t taking pictures with the fans (at least not for free), this didn’t stop the lovely, kind, and talented Marion Ross from willingly posing with anyone who wanted a photo. How this woman at the age of 80 could look as good – or even better – than she did thirty years earlier is beyond me.
The head of the Cunningham clan: Tom Bosley and Marion Ross
With the awesome Marion Ross
The ‘handler’ nixed my photo op with Tom Bosley, and then Anson Williams decided to be a putz and ‘ask’ what the handler’s policy on photos was. Naturally any money making opportunity was there for the taking. So the deal ended up being this: for $100 they would assemble the cast and take a photo of you with the six stars of the show who were present ($90 if you used your own camera).
Anson Williams added his signature to the photo that Don Most and Henry Winkler had previously signed
It was pricey, but truth-be-told, it was really a no-brainer. When on earth else are you going to be able to get a photo with six of the original cast members of Happy Days – not to mention that it seemed the only way to get any photo with the fabulous Tom Bosley.
So here it is: an expensive, but lovable shot of me with Ralph, Potsie, Joanie, Mr. and Mrs. C, and the Fonz. This day was ours.
Goodbye grey sky, hello blue…
Encounters from the Summer 2009 Hollywood Show will continue…
That’s a great cast photo! If one squints, you could be confused for the great director himself.
Erin Moran still looks great. Tom Bosley is the skinny one, now!
Dave Chasteen
August 25th, 2009
That’s a really good one Brad. Very nice.
Peter
August 26th, 2009
Henry Winkler is still one of my all time fav’s…looks like a killer day Brad!
staceysoleil
August 30th, 2009