I don't mention my day job very often on this site, since it has nothing to do with films and everything to do with selling kids' books.Today I shall make an exception, however, because last Friday these two halves of my life fused in the most noteworthy of ways.
I spent the afternoon in a primary school in the company of Henry Winkler.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's right.
I'm talking about the Fonz.
.
He's a children's author these days, and I was with him while he gave a talk to a bunch of North London six- and seven- year olds, the majority of whom, oddly enough, claimed to be familiar with Happy Days.
Obviously, I didn't have time to ask him much about his career, due to the constant interruptions of little people wanting to get their books signed. I wasn't able to ask him anything about Night Shift, for example, or enquire whether he had any good anecdotes about the making of Cop and a Half.
I did manage to ask him why he wasn't in the credits of Scream (he was friendly with Wes Craven - they used to go out and eat sushi together - and Wes asked him if he'd like to be in the film so he agreed, but Dimension Films thought the known participation of the Fonz would "knock people out of the story" and create misleading expectations so they insisted he appear incognito; later when the film was a hit they came and asked him if he'd do promotion for it; he said no).
I was also able to ascertain that Fonzie's original leather jacket is now in the Smithsonian, he couldn't ride a motorcycle, and he wasn't able to start a jukebox by hitting it.
The rest was mainly about kids' books but, as I say, that's my job.
.
So all that remains is to show the photographic proof that this really happened outside of my head and I am not just some Fonz-obsessed fantasist:
Ladies and gentlemen: may I present the world's coolest man... .
... and on the left: Henry Winkler from Happy Days.
6 comments:
How neat is that?? Growing up watching Happy Days every week still remains a fond memory. Even as a young girl, I had a crush on the Fonz...or was it Popsie...or maybe Chachi? Oh well, regardless. Fabulous that you met Arthur Fonzarelli. Kudos Matthew and thank you for sharing and bringing a smile my way.
Sandra
This sounds like it was so much fun. Even if you did have to talk about children's books part of the time. Incidentally, I had no idea you worked in the children's book field. I just did a project for one of my classes involving children's books. :)
How would six and seven year olds in London know about Happy Days? Is it very popular over there? I'm pretty sure it doesn't even play on TV Land anymore over here. I've seen Fonzie's jacket at the Smithsonian. They have absolutely everything there!
btw- I gave you an award on my blog. :)
Matthew: What can one say? I think that the leather jacket is in the Smithsonian says it all. How many actors can claim that kind of icon status? Damn few. Sure, he jumped a shark, but he was also the king of cool. thumbs up! -- Mykal
Damn! I forgot to ask him what it was like to jump a shark! I knew there was something else!
Matthew,
It's very cool that you got to meet Henry Winkler. I got to hear him as a banquet speaker a few years back, but didn't get to meet him in person. Apparently, the model car kit you showed at the beginning of your post was a complete anachronism. It's based on a 1967 Pontiac GTO and Happy Days was set in the 50s. The car is actually the Monkeemobile, built for the Monkees TV series. Guess AMT thought they could get some more use of the tooling for the Monkeemobile model by adding a plastic figure of Fonzie and putting a new picture on the box. i don't believe the car actually appeared in Happy Days.
Ha! Love all this about the car. Brilliant. Those little tricksters!
How do you know these things???
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