#351 Celebrating 50 Years of Happy Days with Brian Levant and Fred Fox, Jr.

Jeff Dwoskin 0:00

All right, everyone. I'm so excited to introduce my two guests, both legends in their own right, but today, they both joined me for one reason, because their years were filled with happy days as story editors, supervising producers, they have come together to write the greatest book ever, 50 years of Happy Days of visual history of an American television classic. The only correction I have is I think it should be called a visual feast. A visual feast would be my only correction. There it is an insanely amazing book. Oh, man. So all right, let's see. We got Fred Fox Jr, Brian Levant. We're going, we're gonna rock around the clock. We're talking happy days. We're just, this is it? We're just, we're diving in. We're diving in anyway. I'm so excited to hang out with you guys. I had just interviewed Linda Pearl, who was, I believe that was the first year that you guys were show runners. Yes,

Brian Levant 0:54

running the show, although she had been on the show in the first and second season, is Gloria Bill Bickley, who ran the show in those days, made her a composite of every woman who had ever hurt him. Now, yes,

Jeff Dwoskin 1:08

he was Richie's girlfriend and then, years later, became fonzie's fiance. Fonzie's

Brian Levant 1:16

First steady, first steady girlfriend, or any relationship that lasted longer than a three parter, yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 1:23

and that's how I found out about the book I had posted, the Linda pearl. She's not she's in my feed. She posted that book. I'm like, What the heck is this? And then reached out to Brian, and here we are. So I'm and I'm so glad that I did. I'd love to start by asking this question, which is, what is each of your Happy Days origin stories like, how did you come into play with Gary Marshall, happy days and that whole

Brian Levant 1:48

Go ahead. Freddie,

Fred Fox, Jr. 1:50

my father was a very successful writer, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, etc. And growing up, I just thought it was so great that my father was a writer. Never entered my mind that I would follow in his footsteps. My first real job was for I was an executive at hertz truck rental, which is very exciting. And then I went to high school with Cindy Williams and Sally Field. And Sally Field called me New Year's Eve, 1975 said, Fred, I'm doing this new show. I don't know how successful it would be, but if you'd like to be my gopher assistant, and then after I leave rehearsal, you could go to the writers room. And I was, I was thrilled. She got me a meeting with Gary Marshall. I walked in to see Gary, he goes so you're Freddie Fox's kid, and when Gary Marshall and his partner came out to write one of the first shows they got on was the Joey Bishop show. And fortunately, dad was very nice to him and encouraging. Gary said. Then he said, Now, Fred, I know you want to write. And I almost went really and then he said, but we really need Cindy to focus on the set and rehearsals. So if you could get her car wash, taking her dry cleaning. You know, that would be great. And it was, wasn't all bad, because a car wash was a great car wash, and I gave out a free hot dog on Wednesdays. So it was very exciting. Kind of a long story, make it short, but went to the writer's room at the beginning, the new, new writer person what? Couldn't just pitch out a joke, you had to kind of write it down a slip of paper. You'd hand it to a real writer. If it bombed, they wouldn't say, oh, that's stupid. Fred's joke, but if it got a big laugh, it would give me credit. End up writing an episode where Ron Howard and Anton Williams guest starred. That worked out very well. Gary Marshall asked me to join the Happy Day staff, which I was thrilled, but I felt kind of allegiance to Cindy. So I went to Cindy. I said, I have this opportunity. He said, Oh, Fred, take it. It's a wonderful opportunity for you. But I felt a little guilty for so I still wash your car for 20 years.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:56

Well, because of the free hot dog. Let's talk about the real motivation, exactly,

Brian Levant 4:01

and Brian's story is fantastic. Well, unlike, unlike friends, my father did not write for Bob Hope and Lucille Ball and George Burns. I knew Fred's, Fred's Father's name when I was 12 years old. You know, I watched Dobie Gillis religiously, and I think, I think his old man wrote over 50 of those. Not quite that. No, my father was in the costume jewelry business, but from the time I was four years old, I knew what I wanted to do and be in the entertainment industry, and built everything towards moving to LA after I graduated college and I started selling stories to the Jeffersons to a Danny Thomas series, wrote for David Steinberg, sold something to a National Lampoon. And Steve Zacharias, who wrote a lot of very good early Happy Days episodes, was the older brother of a guy I grew up with and played football with, and he took me to Gary Marshall's house on a Saturday morning to play basketball in order for me. To meet him. This was a really great gift. And Gary had a game for probably 40 years on Saturday mornings, a half court game. The first time was there, Elliot Gould and Jimmy Khan were playing along, you know, along along with writers and electricians, it was a very interesting group, and they played rough and hard, and I guarded Gary for a few games, and gave him everything I had and blocked a few of his shots. And afterwards, he came up to me and said, So what do you do? And I told him, I was in The Guild, and you know how much I wanted to be a comedy writer. And he they gave me a story meeting. And when I was still 23 years old, I climbed the 27 steps of K building for the first time, and it would be eight years later when I came down them for the last time. You know, working on Happy Days was certainly, I think, the most impactful thing that happened to either of us in our lives that provided the foundation for everything that followed, and we were so lucky because we came in on the fourth season right they're number one all the first season of the success, and then the second season, almost going down the tubes, and then all of a sudden, recentering the show as a three camera show in front of an audience, and put Henry in the center of the show, and Fonzie exploded worldwide, and we come in, and we just, we didn't have to fight our way through the the other surfers, we just cruised on their success and did it everything we could to perpetuate their success. And we felt the tremendous allegiance to the show, and that's why I think we, more than anyone, was capable and would get away with writing a true history of the show. And those who made

Fred Fox, Jr. 6:52

it, yeah, it was kind of it was a love letter to the show, pretty much. Yeah, no.

Brian Levant 6:56

I mean, Happy Days was my first full time job. Honest to God, I just figured that out today. Oh, my God,

Jeff Dwoskin 7:05

mine was working for the Fraternal Order of Police. So we went down different paths. Oh, you're excellent. What I love about the book, what I think you guys did really well is if I take your name off the cover or no other, and also knowing that you wrote it, because we're talking it's written as a very it's a great history. Doesn't feel like you're reading your telling of it. That you did a really great job putting together the history and just laying out the history as the history of the show. You guys didn't really work yours. I mean, your names don't really pop in it that often. I mean, it comes in like,

Brian Levant 7:41

no, no, we, we tried to be we tried to be reporters. You know, it's very interesting. Our friend Richard Gehrman, who was the executive producer of married with children, and who worked for a couple of years on Happy Days and other shows with us, and he wrote the married with children book. I think he was on your show,

Jeff Dwoskin 7:57

wasn't he? He was on my show, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So that

Brian Levant 8:01

book is very much written in the first in the first or third person, and it's very much we, or I, you know, I started writing as a, as a cub reporter on, you know, for my local paper, so, so my discipline was not to be part of the story. This wasn't George blimpton. And

Fred Fox, Jr. 8:22

also you'll notice there are no pictures of us, except in the softball photos and the

Brian Levant 8:27

250th picture and the cast and crew picture. It's my fault. Fred looked great in those days. I look like a schlub, and there was not one decent picture of us together.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:41

Oh, you look fine. I know you kind of went through the first few years pretty quick. But let's, oh yeah, please. Let's, let's recap. Because, like I was telling you before the show, I was on tick tock, and someone goes, Yeah, happy days was a spin off. Was a spin off show, which isn't true. No, that beginning origin story of Happy Days is both interesting and confusing and has lots of dots along the path.

Brian Levant 9:04

It is because Happy Days premiered as we know it on january 15, 1974 however, the seeds were sown in January of 1971 when during a snowstorm and the plane for to La didn't go out. Paramount development had Tom Miller and ABC programmer Michael Eisner started a conversation about the kind of shows that ABC really wasn't making anymore. The family shows that had boosted them throughout the 50s and the early 60s, and they also had a peculiar affection for this show, Mama, which was an early TV show the television adapt, adaptation of George Stevens. I remember mama about a Norwegian family, an immigrant Norwegian family in the 30s living in San Francisco as seen through the eyes of their teenage daughter, and they thought this was the vehicle that they could trans. Sport into the generation that they grew up in the 50s. And they take it to Gary Marshall, who had the odd couple on the air there, and the Brian key show later or earlier, the little people, and they pitched of it. And knowing that the head of the studio, rather the network, was interested, of course, he wanted to take a swing at this. But there was one problem, as he said in one of his books, I didn't know how to write for guys named Lars and Nels. So the concept was rejiggered for to be a story about the middle child of a middle class family living in the middle of the country and the middle of the 20th century. And it was called new family in town originally, and then it was called Cool. And when it finally was previewed, it was called the happy days. It starred Ron Howard, who really took the job, kind of, he really wasn't interested in doing a series after Andy eight years on Andy Griffith, two years on the Smith family, which wasn't a great experience for him. And he was accepted at USC film school, and he was rare to go. And then he got a really bad draft number, anything if I, if I'm on a TV show, they'll get me in the reserves or something. And he did the show, and Marion Ross was cast as his mother, and Anson Williams at the last second, braved a rainstorm, literally hours before filming began, and got himself in there and got himself the job as Potsie Weber, a big

Fred Fox, Jr. 11:30

reason Manson got it Gary Marshall, he played softball. He goes, Yeah, I play. Are you good? Oh, yeah, I'm really good. And that, that sealed the deal for Gary, yeah, all right,

Brian Levant 11:42

okay, then you got the job. So I guess the the acting answer said that the answer the acting must have been secondary to him, and let's see. So those are the three people who we know from the show. Harold Gould later wrote his father was Howard Cunningham and Chuck and Joni were played by other actors, as they would be, so like 75% of all pilots, it didn't sell, right? Paramount stuck it in the last episode of love American style to help get some of their money back. And that's where people think it's a spin off from love American style, no, but that's where, that's that's where people saw the original pilot. And so Ron Howard goes from there to American Graffiti, where George Lucas first looked at the original Happy Days pilot before he ever met with them. Ron had to endure six auditions. He gets American Graffiti. It becomes a billion dollar enterprise, the networks are scrambling to get a youth driven retro show, and Gary Marshall calls a baby. You already made the show with the kid in the movie right

Fred Fox, Jr. 12:50

now. So Cindy Williams was a big star in it, too. That's right.

Brian Levant 12:53

So they got a deal for another pilot. Gary brought on his then brother in law, Rob Reiner, whose writing partner was Phil Michigan, and the three of them wrote all the way a new pilot episode. And Paramount made Ron Howard ABC as well. Made Ron and Anson audition again to get the parts, which Gary kind of tilted the whole endeavor to favor them, because he wanted them. And they got the parts, and Marion Ross was asked back Harold Gould. They wanted him. He was in England doing a play we're moving on. Tom Bosley had just been canceled on the sandy Duncan show. Is her boss, and so they brought him in, and he was reluctant to do it. It took a couple meetings with Gary and to have Gary convention that is really, really about the father, which was kind of a not quite on the level, but Tom always felt that. Then the ABC, in order to capitalize on Paul lamacque, you know, drag racing character in graffiti, wanted a biker gang, which got whittled down to a biker, and they wanted a six foot tall brawling Italian. And the person who who knocked everybody out was a five foot six Jewish kid from the west side of Manhattan with a with a degree from the Yale Drama School, Henry Winkler. And

Fred Fox, Jr. 14:15

also one was very interesting in the audition of just before Henry went in, he thought, you know, saw so many people there to audition. Said he decided he'd change his voice, his attitude. He walked in, he kind of pointed the casting director, hey, you sit down. Oh, you over there. Hey, nice, nice hair. And then he kind of tossed the script in the air and soldered out

Brian Levant 14:36

Tom Miller told Ron Howard he took over the room. He's He's a Pacino, he's a Dustin Hoffman, and indeed he was, I think what he came up with in the spur of the moment was the first true version of comedic method acting that he has burrowed so deep in this character. But to comic effect, right? I

Fred Fox, Jr. 14:57

guess there's one story Brian wrote. This great episode called stolen melodies, where a group called Freddie in the red hots steals a song from Leonard Tuscadero, and Brian was very nice, suggested that I play Freddie. The only reason I mentioned this at the end, I have a confrontation with Henry Fonzie, and I'd worked with him for two years. Actually scared me during this confrontation. Afterwards, I jumped him in the parking lot. But anyway, it was just, he's just you had that he radiated

Brian Levant 15:29

intensity. The one of the great things about watching the original pilot was that Henry didn't speak a line for the first 24 and a half minutes, but his presence is all over this. You all he had to do was look at you and you okay. Okay, got it. And Bill Bickley, who wrote and produced the first couple seasons there, you know, he really felt that Fonzie was a tragic character who, you know, was kind of stuck and was gonna be left behind by all these guys. And it really was, you didn't see characters like that. And Henry was great, and his intensity was incredible, actually, when the show to when the audience came in, you know, Fred did the warm up, Gary Marshall did the warm up for years, and introduced the cast, and everybody comes out. And Aaron and Marion do a little dirty and, you know, Donnie and Hanson and Ron give away. Henry came up glare at the audience, recoil, you know, and that's why, if you look at the cover of the book, we didn't use a smile, a shot of him smiling. We used to. We had one where he was smiling, but he said, No, no, that's not the way that he chose to introduce himself to the audience every week, right? Is that, stay away from me if you know what's good for you. I

Jeff Dwoskin 16:46

was gonna say it's interesting too. How you mentioned that Gary Marshall created this show, really all his show is a sort of a counter to Norman Lear's shows. Exactly, yeah, in terms of their depth. But then you kind of subtly throughout, you show the comparisons, like they debuts against mod, as we kind of come out of season one, and while it's sparked in season two, it's good times it kicks their ass.

Brian Levant 17:10

Yeah, we got dynamited

Fred Fox, Jr. 17:13

with Jimmy Walker.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:15

I see. I didn't know that. It's, it's, it's fun to, like, learn, like, some of the little things that were the driver, it was the, just the explosion of JJ Walker and Dino might, right? And I guess just by thankfully, you guys ended up happy days. Ended up with their own right, the font, and they were rather than counter. But it's like,

Brian Levant 17:36

right? Well, you know, Gary Marshall, The Odd Couple. I don't know if it was after the first or second season began life as a single camera movie style show, and it wasn't getting the ratings they wanted. So he converted that into an audience show, which returned the concept to its theatrical roots, gave its players more room to, you know, to really work an audience, and they could work an audience. Believe me, that was a difficult show to work on, but I'm sure that you would never suspect that watching it. So when Happy Days was in trouble, Gary tried to do the same thing, take it from a single camera show, rebuild the sets, bring in bleachers for an audience. And the thing that really made it different, though, was Henry's popularity had been growing that that was obvious is, you know, in the first season, he wasn't even in the main title. He was in the second season, and everything he did work. And Fred Silverman, you know, had taken over on ABC, and he declared, If the show's going to go on, then he give this guy some more room. And so the final episode of season two, Fonzie is getting married, written by Laverne and Shirley co creators, Mark Rothman and Lowell ganz and they were brought over from the odd couple, because no one, on Happy Days, except for Bob Brunner, had ever worked on an audience show. So they did the show where Fonzie is engaged to this girl who he thinks is a librarian. And, you know, there's a great scene, you know, and Howard recognized her laugh from seeing her perform at a hardware convention. So, you know, there's a great last scene where, you know, Fonzie pretends that he's not hurt when she, you know, is revealed to be the stripper, and marriage is off. And you know, it was a great illustration of Henry's range and the warm and comforting nature of the Cunninghams, and how important they were to Fonzie, how important their approval was to him. You know, when he brings a girl home to meet them. And it was an explosive episode, and it worked great, and it got him 13 more episodes,

Jeff Dwoskin 19:43

right? And the finds his defense, he was wearing a mask, so

Brian Levant 19:51

the lone stripper is x, go. It wasn't very good

Jeff Dwoskin 19:58

season one. It's doing great, you know? Mixed reviews, but it finishes number 16. It's tanking out of 48th, place. JJ Walker is just kicking everyone's ass, and then they make all these changes. Has there been right besides the eye couple, which it sounds like they kind of use this playbook? Has there ever been such a turnaround in a show like this? Well, all

Brian Levant 20:17

in the family. First 13 episodes were not successful with the audience. It took time to catch on as well as Seinfeld. Remember the first six episode run when it was the Seinfeld Chronicles did not catch fire. And I actually, I don't believe that the first season of Dick Van Dyke was all that successful. Also,

Fred Fox, Jr. 20:38

when Seinfeld, when they went to a preview, audience hated it

Jeff Dwoskin 20:44

terrible, and those examples and like cheers almost got canceled season one too, right?

Brian Levant 20:48

I don't know about that. I think I

Jeff Dwoskin 20:51

thought, Okay, well, it's but, you know, you know. But

Brian Levant 20:54

that raises something that we haven't really talked about on the road, and that is that Paramount was the king of Comedy. And so while we're doing Happy Days, you know, on Friday night dinners, we're sharing the kind of the commissary with family ties and taxi, and you got Laverne and Shirley and Mark and Mindy and Angie. And don't forget that taxi begat the Charles brothers who begat cheers, which beget Fraser, which is still running. I mean, those two shows were 23 years combined, and 30, if you if you throw taxi, and there was just so much, so many comedy writers, and it was so happening. And, you know, we all worked on, what were some of the other shows you worked on, on the lot? Fred, Oh, geez.

Fred Fox, Jr. 21:42

You know, Webster, just Yes, grandpa goes

Brian Levant 21:45

to Washington. Grandpa goes and then I did. I did mark and Mindy. The good time. Girls, oh God, one night we they said, Come see this run through of this pilot. They brought in Mia and eisenstock and mints, and they said, Just take a look. And we ended up writing an entirely new script. From way honest to God. Thursday morning, they came in for camera blocking, and they had a new script, but totally different story. It was unbelievable, but Boomer, I worked at Gary Marshall was the voice of Boomer and

Fred Fox, Jr. 22:21

I wrote a, wrote a boomer episode. Jack Elam was the guest star. Wrote it with rich,

Brian Levant 22:28

just so many people who worked on Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley who just, you know, there's a list, a short list, of of the many, many, many shows and films that were produced by alumni from the show. And it's kind of staggering. It is,

Jeff Dwoskin 22:45

Oh yeah, well, if you count, oh yeah, go ahead, Jeff. I was gonna say if you count Rob Reiner, because he was a writer, right? And then you count Gary Marshall, Penny Marshall,

Brian Levant 22:55

and Tom Miller and Eddie milkus, who produced, and Ryan

Jeff Dwoskin 22:59

Levant, yeah, just those.

Brian Levant 23:04

Dennis Klein who created The Larry Sanders Show, and Michael Leeson co created The Cosby Show, and Ron Levitt who created married with children. Seriously, it's just huge, huge in the movies. You can't, you'd be stunned. Really, it

Jeff Dwoskin 23:21

is incredible, though. I mean, just even it's just cherry pick a few. You just cherry pick your favorite ones and like, it's unbelievable. The the movies and TV shows you can come up with. All right? So Fonzie mania is happening just before you guys get there, right? You're season four, season three. They retool the show now, three. Camera, live audience, so popular. John Lennon's just swinging by.

Brian Levant 23:41

Oh, that, no, actually, that was the first season.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:44

Oh, that was okay, yes, no. Julian

Brian Levant 23:47

was an earliest, early, very early supporter of the show. And I don't know if you caught it. It's, it's in one of the caption boxes. So John Lennon spent the day on the set, which is an event Anson Williams still calls unreal, and they spent all day there taking pictures, signing autographs, and every Alba cast still has those pictures on the wall in their offices. But Henry's wearing, Henry's not wearing a leather jacket. That was before the network let him protect himself while riding a bike. So that's how we know when that was, but 20 years later. So this is in the caption, Henry told us Julian Lennon was doing a video for his first album, you know, had the big single, volatile, and he was shooting it on the Paramount lot. He knocks on the door and Henry's office and says, Remember me,

Fred Fox, Jr. 24:38

and also one of our rap parties, Mick Jagger and John balusi got by. Oh, yeah, always fun.

Brian Levant 24:45

That was the two, no, that was the 200th part episode party at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which Gary Marshall quit. They're having, they're having a party at the Beverly Hilton too, for all the real estate agents who sold everyone here a house. I. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 25:01

all right. So what I do think is this season

Brian Levant 25:05

three. Season three.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:07

Okay, so fearless Fonzarelli is this season right? Okay, so he jumps 14 garbage cans and Evil Knievel outfit this is now is considered one of the top 100 moments from Entertainment Weekly, greatest TV moments. So tell me what the difference between this was culturally. Then, when you flash forward a couple years and Fred, you're writing the jump the shark episode, which is literally called the jump the shark episode. It's not later the term came to apply. We call it Hollywood part three. Hollywood. Hollywood part three. And I like, Why do you think they were like treated so differently?

Fred Fox, Jr. 25:43

Was right? Of that episode. It was interesting. We we did a three season opener called Hollywood. The main story talent scout agent breaks down, goes into Arnold's, sees fonzie's magic with the ladies. Said he can be the next James Dean Fauci goes out for a screen test. The whole family goes, that was the a story. The B story was this cocky beach kid, the California kid type meets Fauci. They don't get along at all. They have a water skiing race. As you remember, it's a tie so we had to come up with something for a tie breaker. And it's so funny. Brian and I can remember who wrote a joke 50 years ago, but we honestly don't remember who came up with the jump the shark payoff. So we write the episode. Oh, the reading. No one said anything bad. They really reading went well. Later, I found out. We found out. Donnie Mo said, What the hell is this? Years later, a gentleman named John high and his roommates at University of Wisconsin are watching Nick at Night. You know, they're drinking beer. One of them says it, what? What was the moment when your favorite TV shows started going downhill? Someone said, Oh, it was this Flintstones episode. No, no, no. There was this Love Boat episode. And then one guy says, Wait a minute. It was when Fonzie jumped the shark. There's kind of silence. John I comes out with a website talking about jumping the shark. And it turns out it later went to athletes, singers, everything. And then in 2000 got about 10 years ago, Lee Markes, it wrote for the LA time, LA Times, for 40 years, asked me to write an article about jump the shark. It turned out, because when that happened, is the writer of that I felt like I should wear a scarlet F on my chest. You know, I just felt kind of so embarrassed. And then it just, it turned out it was you started hearing that the jump the sharp reference for for years, and even last week on a sports show I heard it. But anyway, I wrote this article. It would turn out to be kind of in defense of jump the sharp is it wrote that in 78 we did 164 more episodes, some of our best episodes are always in the top 10 for years, as we said in the book, it may be having to start to get some gray hairs, but that wasn't,

Brian Levant 28:03

not really. And number one, the, I believe we had realized this was the first episode I was on staff, on that aired. We, I believe it was a 68 share of the audience, you know, and like, like a 26.8 rating or so it might be. These are super bowl now we had 30 million people watching the show. I think last year, young Sheldon was the top comedy and they had less than 2 million watching every week. Just compare and contrast. So when you reach that level of success of becoming an international overnight sensation, then the show wasn't just number one in America. This was like one of the first true international hits Australia, the English speaking world, France, Italy. Oh, my God, Italy is so they're still, they're still crazy over there for fun, the rally. Yeah, those also

Fred Fox, Jr. 28:57

to answer your question, Jeff, I think when Fonzie jumped the bells and stuff that that was more inherent with his character. I think, you know, he's a motorcycle guy. He's a tough guy. Right to see him on skis. I think through some people

Brian Levant 29:11

we also, but making the book, we got the story from Henry on how the whole thing started. His father kept budget. Hello, Gary Marshall, your water ski. Tell Gary Marshall you taught water skiing at overnight camp. And he finally did. And then the next thing I know, I'm on skis.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:30

I mean, if I were to just guess and keep my I like, I live doing this. We all live doing it. But, you know, I mean, like, I was watching it, right? So to me, it was it, until years later, they go, Oh, that. And I'm like, Really, I don't mean I didn't, you know, to me, I was just loving happy days. But if I were to look back, anytime I look back at it, I go, why is he wearing the leather jacket?

Brian Levant 29:51

The same reason Batman was surfing in shorts and a cow cape and cow. Who it's who they are.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:01

This is only research based on your book, right? I didn't go any further, but in your book, you define jumping the shark. There's two. One is noticeable decline or quality, which arguably, you can make, probably from here to the end of the episode of this episode, that that's not true, that you guys did many amazing, amazing things, and like you said, it went 164 more episodes. But the other is it feels the show has undergone too many changes to retain its original charm, and just from your book alone, as I was looking at it at this exact same time, this is when Scott Baio joins right. This is where Ralph Patsy and Richie graduate high school, right? They're older now. Richie meets his future wife, so he's kind of moving on in life. Pat Morita al

Brian Levant 30:42

bow and arrow joins the cast as well.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:45

Yep, Arnold. Arnold is sold to Al. Right. Gary Marshall is pulling away. That wouldn't be noticeable, but that could be not, you know, subconsciously noticeable, and you're moving into the 60s, not the 50s, right? Really, whether people think it's that jumping of the shark or not, I think there was a lot a

Brian Levant 31:03

transition. There was a transition, and there would be more in the series, you know, but I think one of the things that allowed Happy Days to endure was its ability to shift when needed. And Gary was very cognizant of constantly adding new wrinkles and new people, new ideas and keeping it fresh. And, you know, I mean, you look at who he is, Ed McGinley and Scott bail. He wanted girls. This is way off, but, but, you know, you can't discount the fact that we had a tremendously wide audience that grandpa and grandma and mom and dad, sis and their kid brother all could watch Happy days together, something that shortly after the show ended, this is when Nickelodeon and Disney came to the fore, and all the women's networks and ESPN and the audience was fragmented, but this was a time where everybody could watch together. And I always look at the Big Bang Theory, which started like, happy days is so, is so such a male dominant series, and how they gradually added, everybody got a girlfriend, and then they got married, bad kid, you know. And it really became, you know, they really did a great job of holding a a wider audience that way. When you look at Happy Days, some of it was defensive and some of it was offensive.

Fred Fox, Jr. 32:31

A fun story about Ted McGinley. He, you know, loved the show. Watched it one week. He watched it the next week. He's on the show,

Brian Levant 32:38

which he said, with no training, no training,

Jeff Dwoskin 32:42

right? When he was brand new. I love him. I think he's awesome. He's great.

Brian Levant 32:47

I am so thrilled to see him in shrinking, and to see him standing toe to toe with these people, and given as good as he gets. I mean, really, I mean he's done, I would say he's probably in the top five of number of appearances on TV, lifetime, seriously, married with children. The four years on Happy Days, three years on the love book, couple years on dynasty Sports Night, the one with Kelly, Ripa, Charlie, whatever is sports now shrinking. Come on.

Fred Fox, Jr. 33:21

Yeah, a great person as well.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:24

The other coolness in season four, when you guys joined, was Pinky Tuscadero, and I was cool about that. I mean, everything I know in the book, it says no one liked her, that

Brian Levant 33:35

I will tell you what Paramount made us cut out that Henry Winkler said, for the book, she had no talent. I hated her.

Fred Fox, Jr. 33:46

We said, explain yourself. We don't understand.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:48

I did like leather better. I did like, like, oh, we loved Susie. Susie Quattro is great. She is still performing, and they wanted to change it to fonzie's Happy Days, which cause, yeah, well,

Brian Levant 34:03

this is, you know, we weren't is cognizant of how Ron had felt, not by anyone on the series, but by the media, by the studio, the and the network. You know that that he was perceived as is not starring in his own show anymore, even though he was truly starring in the show and carried the whole thing on his back. Yeah, really, and, you know, and it did, it bothered the hell out of him. He was Bill Bickley, told us a story how he showed up one night at his house, and basically said how upset he was about how upset he was, but him and Henry had never discussed it. Henry told us a whole story. He's given a ride home from from the demolition derby in his 1970 Volkswagen. And Henry says, you know, we've never talked about this. And they from. Day one, they became really, really close in life. They loved working with each other. And I don't think Ron had ever really worked with anybody whose work emanated from from such a different place. You know, it's not Andy Griffith or or Don Knotts or Henry, you know, this is somebody who Ron, and Ron said, you know, his choices were so incredibly creative and you know, and he had that luster and sophistication that, you know, that Ron, I think, longed for and his life didn't want to just be a kid from Burbank.

Fred Fox, Jr. 35:35

Jeff, one, one example what Ron was going through. It one of the run throughs, Paramount executives are there, and ABC were there, and they're all gathered around. Ron and Henry walks in. They all scatter, run up, run up to Henry.

Brian Levant 35:51

Yeah, yeah, no. Arthur silver told us a story. Said it was just it turned his stomach. How they fond over their golden boy. You know, together, they were a great team. Ron, like we said, Ron had applied, was accepted at USC film school shooting the pilot in 71 he kept going to film school until Happy Days was picked up for the second season, and it was still his ambition to direct the film before he was 20, and to direct one when he was 100 and he almost got the 20 when he started directing, you know, TV movies like cotton candy and and skyward, which came later. That really paved the way for him to leave the series when his contract expired, take a deal at NBC to produce, direct and star in films, which led to Ron becoming a feature director, first with Roger Corman and then with the succession of films, starting with night shift starring Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton, Written by Happy Days veterans Babalu Mandel and Lowell Ganz, as was splash. But Tom Hanks, who had, who Ron had wanted Tom sell it for splash, believe it or not, and he wasn't available. And I said to him, you know, Tom Hanks did an episode of Happy Days two weeks ago. It was really good. You really should look at it. And that's what he looked at that got him in the room with Tom Hanks.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:28

You know, you think Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, those are your immediate things. But then, if you give it a pause, and then you go, Oh, wait, that John Candy and Eugene Levy were both, I mean, it was a lot great. Yeah, and

Brian Levant 37:40

Howard Morris, who was on Andy Griffin,

Jeff Dwoskin 37:45

yeah. My favorite from night shift is Michael Keaton being like, here, I got an idea, right? We feed the mayonnaise to the tune, yeah.

Fred Fox, Jr. 37:54

He, he was, it was great.

Brian Levant 37:56

No, no, my favorite line from night shift is Michael Keaton looks at at Henry's fiance and says, nice frame.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:06

Anyway. Oh, Shelly. Long was in that too, and she Yes. Okay, so the other big thing in season five, which I guess you both witnessed, which I love asking people about, is is the birth of Robin Williams. Mr. Williams, Anson, kind of told me the story. Like, I was like, this is garbage. It was garbage. And then, like, you know, pre, you know, like, the original script, and like, we need something like Star Wars. And, you know, like, right? Well,

Brian Levant 38:32

this is very, very quickly, Gary Marshall walks into the writer's room one day. There's always an ominous sign, and he goes, Scotty has an idea. Scotty was his eight year old son, and this is the summer of Star Wars. And he says, let's put a space man on Happy days. And when he walked out of the room, he's gonna ruin the show the garbage and poor Joe glauberg Finally volunteered to write this. Excuse me,

Fred Fox, Jr. 39:02

Brian, Joe did not volunteer. Joe had to expect whenever he had to do something he didn't like, he said, I'll do it, but it'll be kind of painful. And Brian was writing a script where Henry and Fonzie and Richard first meet. I was writing a script where finally falls in love with the ballerina, so they assign it to Joe, as usually goes, I'll do it, but it'll be kind of painful. And he ends up getting co created, credit for Mark and Mindy and retiring.

Brian Levant 39:30

True, true, true story. But anyway, this was the guy, the guy, the guy they cast, quit after, after the first reading. They're scrambling truck people turned it down. They're scrambling all over on the phone. Send us somebody and Ronnie Hallen, our associate producer, Gary Marshall's sister, found Alan Iceman, an agent who said he represented a young comic who did a Martian as part of his act. Send him over. They took one look at him, called Jerry Paris from the state. H Jerry didn't even wait for a contract to be offered. He just took the guy by the arm, dragged him to the set. And three and a half hours later, the writers came down to run through expecting a debacle, expecting it's all it's over. We're all going to get fired. There's no hiding from this one. And instead, we witnessed the birth of a comic genius, the cast of Happy Days, you know, as he says, you know somebody, some guest star, does a line, you know, changes a line. You go, oh, what's with them? Robin had free reign. He ran with everything. He was brilliant. He was explosive. And the cast of Happy Days, they said, Go ahead, take center stage, and we're here with you. And Jerry Paris was always at his best when there was opportunity to be great. He never missed it. And between all of them, they put together the most dynamic introduction you could ever imagine for a performer. And we all left the stage going, spin off, spin off. And indeed, yeah, four months later, there it was, ham. Daughter found out in

Fred Fox, Jr. 41:05

variety, right the Yeah, the audience just went just wild and just just loved it, yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 41:10

I came in imagine, and then Brian, you went to more community. For a while you were doing both,

Brian Levant 41:17

oh yeah, 2022, and since this I did like 42 episodes there or something. What we discovered when we left Happy Days, this island of happiness and joy and success, was that every day, every day was war and between the network, the studio and you and budgets and the cast doesn't like this. And, you know, Robin, Robin was out all night.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:45

You know, those are wild years, right? I mean, like,

Brian Levant 41:48

yeah, no, it was crazy, man. And, yes, a lot of it was drug fuel. I don't know how it all got done. All the time. Robin wore out some damn talented people. I mean, when I by the time I got there, they I'm amazed they could stay awake through through a late night session anymore, because there had been so many. And Robin was, if the joke worked, he's give me something different tomorrow, and then he give me something different tomorrow, like on everything. So you write five jokes basically for every line that he had. And then one of his gifts was an amazing memory, and he'd give them all back in four or five more.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:31

That's amazing. That is amazing. Yeah, no, it

Brian Levant 42:34

wasn't one in the final season when we married them and had them honeymoon on orc and and Robin laid an egg that would grow and expel Jonathan Winters as their son mirth. Remember, on, on, orc, you age backwards the elder. Remember the elder the first couple years was like six, and that was, that was double dynamite, that was wild. And I felt sorry for PAM Dauber.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:04

Pam went to my high school. We went to the same high school, not the same time, Michigan. Where do you where did you go in high school? And Robin Williams went to private school around here, too, right?

Brian Levant 43:16

Yeah, yes. Father was a GM, yeah. Alright. So you

Jeff Dwoskin 43:19

guys say season six was the least memorable, so we'll skip over that well

Brian Levant 43:25

memorable. Bob Brunner, the last of the original writers left, and the baton was handed to Walter kempley, who was an experienced guy who first met Gary working on the jack part show in 1959 or something. He was a Carson guy, too, and they had a big falling out, and he got back with Gary, and Gary liked him and trusted him. He was a, you know, he was, yeah, we're kids, you know. I mean, we were still playing basketball three days a week during lunch and coming back, you know, covered in sweat, you know, he needed an adult and but Walter didn't have a great affection for the series, and a lot of the stuff he did really varied from the playbook about growing up and about relationships between the guys and the family and Fonzie and stuff. And we're lucky it didn't hurt the series worse than it did, and what really kind of put the show back on track was the return of Lowell ganz after launching, turning Laverne and Shirley into the number one show in television. And then he and Rothman had a deal with CBS that it yielded busting loose and the TED Knight show, neither of which worked, and they broke up and Lowell was kind of really happy to come home and found kind of a different show that it and his words, he didn't have the same youthful energy, but it was replaced by a more experienced group who could take better advantage of every opportunity. All

Jeff Dwoskin 44:59

right, so. Then low low GaNS comes back, and Season Seven is has a few kind of milestones. Chachi and Joni finally start actually dating. Chachi burns down Arnold's Richie. Oh,

Brian Levant 45:12

that's an accident. It wasn't arson. It's an accident.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:17

The executives need to re redecorate. It's an accident. And and then this is the season. This is Ron and Don most. Ron Howard and Don most last season, right? So they leave right?

Fred Fox, Jr. 45:29

When Ron called the stage, told Henry on the phone that he wasn't coming back, and Henry admitted, I'm dead,

Brian Levant 45:39

he did. But you know, Scott really grew up. I think in season six, you know, where we taught, he told us some amazing stuff about him and his relationship with Aaron and and a lot about how Wally was doing Happy Days and who's watching the kids cross the lot. He thought he was pretty hot shit, and he was just blowing through stuff. And Eddie milk is our executive producer, wanted to get rid of him. Thought he wasn't the he was. He had too big a head and he wasn't. He wasn't really comporting himself with the kind of behavior consistent with happy days. And he got a good talking to and he was lost. Elmo and arrow took him aside and really helped him to understand what he wasn't doing. And Scott told us a story about how he improv the line one day at a rehearsal, and I got a big laugh, and he said, it's like, all of a sudden the light went on, that if I said this this way, and if I did this this way, it could be funny. And in just in that moment, it just, it changed him. And so when the opportunity came to step up hire, you know, in the show, and be Henry Winkler's foil and companion, that he was really ready and attuned to it, that he came

Fred Fox, Jr. 46:56

through. And Henry, Henry was thrilled with Scott, yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 47:00

Chachi was awesome. I love, you know, watching the show, when I was watching the show, Chachi was great. And then this, this season, season eight, because now it's different show, right? You've kind of a debt. It's, it's you got, because this is where Ted McGinley comes. Roger Phillips, right,

Brian Levant 47:14

Ron, left, Don, left. Don felt that, you know, with Ron leaving and his contract was up, and there wasn't any real opportunity to grow his character. And, you know, and it affected Anson Williams as well. There wasn't as much for him to do. We put him to work for Howard, let him go to ball games with Howard instead of Richie. But, you know, by the last season, season 11, Anson only did two episodes, the last of the originals really well, period. So it was up to Lowell and Gary, and we said, Did you ever discuss pulling the plug? You know, there are people on the show said, and the show is about Richard growing up. Richie's gone. The show's over, right? They Gary Marshall Lowell ganz never considered doing what Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke done and go out on top. They retooled the show. They brought in TED as Marion's nephew. Roger Phillips. Jenny piccolo had been an off stage character, and Kathy Silvers won the part over some tough competition. Heather Thomas, Heather lock layer, Demi Moore and and she was, the writers love Kathy silvers. Kathy silvers, you know, was not afraid, not afraid to throw a big joke. You know, in her blood, she always hit it out of the park. Tremendous confidence for such a young person. And you know, Ted, in his mind, he thought he really came along slowly. He did. He had a lot to learn, but Henry really took a liking to him and helped him, and like doing scenes with him. So, you know, we were very lucky that that chemistry succeeded, you know, pull somebody off of a USC water polo calendar. You're not comedy gold, but we're lucky.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:06

Yeah, he was a diamond in the rough. I mean, because he would go on, like we said earlier, it's so much, no, but

Brian Levant 49:12

once again, where did he get that training? Where did he learn the discipline? Where did he get the experience in front of an audience to learn what he was capable of doing with a lie or a scene. Yeah. Guys

Jeff Dwoskin 49:25

weren't around for John Lennon, but there for the Lone Ranger.

Brian Levant 49:31

Fred wrote that,

Fred Fox, Jr. 49:33

yeah. We wrote up Yeah. We wanted to get the original we ended up getting John Hart, which is fine, but yeah, it was, it was a fun, fun episode Clayton

Brian Levant 49:43

Moore, who I later met, like, six months before he died. And, you know, everybody thought he was crazy, and that's why they didn't bother he probably thought he was the lone ranger. But it's, it should be noted that John Hart did play The Lone Ranger on ABC. Be in the 50s, Clayton Moore held out for money one year, and they said, Well, if the guy's wearing a mask, we'll get somebody else. And finally capitulated the next year.

Jeff Dwoskin 50:11

Well, Fred, you also wrote the episode where Tom Hanks gets into a fight with the Fonz also, oh,

Fred Fox, Jr. 50:17

yeah, right, yeah. It's funny. A lot of times we're asked, you know, how do you come up with your stories? And a lot's based on our childhood growing up. But um, one day Brian I are driving in a car, and we thought, God, it'd be funny if, um, when flying he was little, push a guy off the swing, and a guy comes back 1012, laters for revenge, and Thomas shooting bosom buddies for sure. There was a high this week, and he got, he was just just fantastic. And he and Henry together. I mean, the whole cast was great, but it was just just so much fun to work with Tom. And he, he really enjoyed it, I think. And it turned into,

Brian Levant 50:54

he'd also come with us on a couple baseball trips, right, the softball team, which we should talk?

Fred Fox, Jr. 51:05

Go on for No, I just wanted Jeff had any questions about that episode or they go on and what do you think of the episode

Jeff Dwoskin 51:13

i It showed up. There's one of those clips that was rotating on Tiktok. It's just fun. Yeah, no, but

Brian Levant 51:20

I think that's where Tom met. Rita Wilson, well, certainly on the lot when she was she did two episodes of Happy Days as different characters. I think they might have met on their second appearance. There they were also matchmakers.

Jeff Dwoskin 51:36

Don most met his wife there, right? Morgan Hart, yes, yes,

Fred Fox, Jr. 51:39

yeah. Morgan was my father's ex writing partner, step daughter, and I got her on the show and bam, that was, that

Brian Levant 51:49

was, yeah, turn a one week gig into a five, five decade.

Fred Fox, Jr. 51:53

Yeah, yeah. Wonderful lady. They're

Brian Levant 51:56

very happy, yeah, living in Colorado, near near their kids. Alright,

Jeff Dwoskin 52:01

so season 10, they turn to these shining stars, Levant and Fred Fox Jr, to be show runner. And you guys were show runners for season 10 and 11. Yes,

Brian Levant 52:13

yes, yes, yeah, we were like the relief pitchers brought in to mop up the game.

Jeff Dwoskin 52:21

Okay, so this is the season with Tom Hanks. And then he didn't come back. Though I read in the book, he wanted him to come back, but he didn't hate each other, don't they hate each other? Tom Hanks, Winkler, didn't they get into a thing with one of the much, much

Brian Levant 52:35

later, much, much, much later. But that, no, that was all very copasetic and but so when Tom didn't want to come back, we changed the character. Someone cast Peter Scolari.

Jeff Dwoskin 52:50

Quite a juggler. Peter Scolari was,

Brian Levant 52:52

well, that's, that's how I met. First met Tom. I was working on a show with Peter the good time girls, World War Two show and Peters and Lucy park in front of the old Desi Lu office building that doubled his happy days Jefferson High and a few times they're throwing pins and hoops.

Jeff Dwoskin 53:14

That's amazing. All right, so now you bring in Linda pearls. Now we've come full circle. Right, right, yes.

Brian Levant 53:19

Now this was starting in season we wrote the season nine opener, which was called home movies. In it, we tried to really begin to show the maturity of the series and the characters in home movies that Fonzie learns that he's really not cut out to be a gang guy anymore. He owns half a Arnold. He owns the garage. He's teaching, you know, summer school, instead of in it. You know, he's growing up, and the Cunninghams are going to become, are going to become grandparents, and Joey and chachi's relationship takes another step forward. And we thought that season 10 in Fauci evolution that he really needed. How would he respond in a real relationship? How would he respond with a woman who has a child and Linda? Linda was very good, very strong, and they really do like each other, and we were very fortunate, as her daughter, to get, god damn it, I'm I can't Heather O'Rourke, Heather, yes, a sad, a sad, very sad story. But we love Heather. Heather was crazy about Fred. And do you remember her audition? Fred? Oh, the tea cup. Well, that's yeah. No, she Henry, and her came in, and Henry didn't want her to read. He wanted to see, you know, he didn't want some wind up doll, so he just had a pretend tea party with her, and that's how he wanted to get to know her and see what she was capable of. And she passed with flying colors. We got a lot of episodes, you know, in the tent. C. When you've done 200 episodes, you know you've done Richie's first car, joni's first car, you'll run out of first so it was important to try and do some new things and have Fonzie fail at getting Ashley back together with their ultra rich family, and, you know, trying to build a relationship with the little girl and stuff. I barely remember the episode, but every time I see the joke, I love it, where he had, you had everybody he knew over to kind of approve of her. And he had, you know, he had bikers and teachers and the line, I like it. Ted McGinley said, I haven't seen this diverse a crowd since the Yale glee club played Attica. Great line.

Jeff Dwoskin 55:51

That's so funny. So you the quote from the book, your book is Fine's relationship didn't sizzle, and finds kind of lost his cool little bit. So for the final season, you kind of moved away from that. And then, oh, you also introduced Casey Cunningham, Crystal Bernard, yeah, who'd gone to a lot of great things, wings. She came

Brian Levant 56:11

to us first from Gary's movie, or was it the other way around. She was in young doctors, and loved Gary Marshall's first feature that year, remember, you know, we barely covered Laverne and Shirley, which was probably the most successful spin off of all time. Mark and Mindy went the number one. Joni Loves Chachi debuted very, very strong in the summer after ninth season. But then 10th season, they moved it opposite, into morgue soul time slot opposite Magnum PI, and they got their asses kicked and came home for season 11, which meant that there was no room for Casey or flip Rogers little brother. We kind of thought of it as, like, what let it be was supposed to be for the Beatles. Let's just get back, you know, the nucleus of our group here, keep it together. I think that we did some very nice stuff in the last two seasons. I'm very proud of a lot of what we did, even though, a couple episodes, when I, you know, when we started looking at, I didn't remember him at all, I said we did this.

Jeff Dwoskin 57:13

Well, you're doing so much, right? Yeah, it's been 40 years. We've,

Brian Levant 57:18

you know, yes, we can still tell you who wrote a joke or something? But it's been 40 years. It's been a

Jeff Dwoskin 57:24

while. Yeah, it's been a long time. Yeah, because this season, well, Ron Howard comes back for a two parter, not including the the final season, the final episode, yes,

Brian Levant 57:32

uh, our favorite show, both of ours, was, of the whole series was, welcome home. You know, when Ron, this is how long Happy Days was on. So he leaves in the seventh season. Takes a four year deal somewhere. It's over. Happy Days is still going. And he wanted to come home. We wanted to have him come home and not be happy. And you can't go home again. His ambitions as they were in personal life, lie lay in Hollywood and doing something big and saying goodbye to his family and his friends. Don most Linda, Linda, good friend, came back too, and just when these people walked in the door, the audience screamed and wept. You know, so many times you see just how how much the characters mean to each other and how much they mean to the audience and welcome home. Was certainly a great example of that.

Fred Fox, Jr. 58:30

Yeah, there's a scene where between Richie and Fonzie, when Richie's going to Hollywood to be a screenwriter, was just very emotional. They kind of said how much they love one another. It was very, very the audience was very impressed with it, I think,

Brian Levant 58:45

yeah, we shot two episodes in a week, right? I'll do it a week. I won't stretch it out that long, but he promised to be in the very last episode. Always ran in at the last second for our grand finale of season 11, which was called passages. And in it, Joni and Chachi discovered that when they're dating people who look exactly like each other, that it's time for them to get back together, and they finally agree to get married, and and the Cunningham stand up for Fonzie, and he's successful in adopting a little boy. We wrote the last half hour with Bill Bickley and his partner, Michael Warren, because he was there at the beginning, as he was in a different capacity on the show the last several years. And Lowell ganz did a lot of work on the very final scene where Tom Bosley gave a beautiful speech about, you know, about his family and watching them grow up, and then turned to the camera and said, Thank you for being part of our family, and hoisted his glasses said to Happy Days and everybody toasted. And went to Elvis Presley's memories with a little montage of sweet moments from the show. And that was it had a very subdued rap party, because it was basically hard to believe that the engine that had provided so much for so many for so long, and finally, just kind of run out of gas. You know, it was the beginning of other things. But my God, I don't know how to compare the experience what we learned there things we were exposed to. It was a, you know, as a teaching hospital, and a lot of ways. And we learned our craft, and took what we learned there with us. So all the work that we did subsequently,

Fred Fox, Jr. 1:00:42

and then after the next morning, the cast and some others myself hopped on a plane, went to Okinawa and played the US troops and a series of softball games

Brian Levant 1:00:54

and went undefeated.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:00:58

Amazing. Yeah, I know it's softball they all talk about, I remember Marion Ross, when I interviewed her too, that she all finally talk about the softball part of the culture of Happy Days. It's

Brian Levant 1:01:09

what, it's what really kept people together, more than anything. You know, Marion once said, Gary started a team to build the team. It was an illustration of their trust and support of one another, right?

Fred Fox, Jr. 1:01:24

And we got to know them a lot, you know a lot better on those trips too.

Brian Levant 1:01:28

Yeah, it was tremendously bonding, and it wouldn't have been so great had the team been losing. I was there for six years. We lost five games total. One was in Germany on a USO tour, playing five games in five days, and they lost one by a run, and two of them were to the to the Showtime Lakers, magic Kurt, Rambus, Michael Cooper, Pat Riley, and we had him going into the last inning twice, and then they pulled it

Jeff Dwoskin 1:01:58

up. Oh, man, too much. Yes, we did not talk about Laverne Shirley, but there was, we could spend a whole hour just on blonsky's Beauties, I'm sure. And

Brian Levant 1:02:06

no, you can't the

Jeff Dwoskin 1:02:10

failed Pinky spin off potential speed, which became kind of that. And then the one that I pilot for Lenny and squidgy in the army. And then the there was, it would have been interesting to see Ralph and Patsy get one that would have been interesting.

Brian Levant 1:02:23

We both wrote backup scripts for that series that didn't go and

Jeff Dwoskin 1:02:28

then the Fonz and the happy days gang, uh, time travel cartoon, yeah. And

Brian Levant 1:02:32

the the Laverne and Shirley and the army and the Laverne and Shirley Mork and Mindy funds hour.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:02:41

Yes, yes, yes. And then I think the only thing we didn't cover is the entire world getting their library cards because of the

Fred Fox, Jr. 1:02:50

That's right, very, very key. Just,

Brian Levant 1:02:52

you know, there once in a while, you could see the power of the show. And that was an example. Fauci got a library card dismayed how easy it was, and it set off a wave of people getting library

Fred Fox, Jr. 1:03:03

cards. It wasn't even an episode. He just mentioned that on the way out. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 1:03:09

a whole episode on just going to the library. So of the 255 episodes, Henry Marion and Tom going to IMDb Elise, the only ones that clocked in all at 255 and then everyone, I think Henry was in all of No, Henry, Henry Marion and Tom, yeah, yeah, right, right, yes. And then each one had a different amount. Pat Marina was only in 27 I would have guessed more than that. I Yeah,

Brian Levant 1:03:33

Pat Morita, yeah. Well, remember Pat Morita left the show after the fourth season. He got his own series, Mr. T and Tina on ABC, which lasted, I think, a month, you know, he took off the apron Al Molinaro, who was Murray, the cop on the odd couple, wore it very well, and was spun off with spun off with Joni and Chachi, and really kind of lost his place in the show. And and Marita came back for several episodes.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:04:01

Amazing, amazing. So what do we got? I'm gonna hold up the book. What Look at that. All right, Maria, 50 years of Happy Days, of visual history of an American television classic. This is, it's as much a history book as it is, like, just a photo book. Like, I hate, I'm like, I'm not doing they're not paying me to sell their book. But, like, I mean, it is, like, amazing. If you love happy days, it's got photos like this. Yeah, no,

Brian Levant 1:04:24

it should be no, it should be noted. The vast majority of those photos did not come from Paramount, and we paid a lot of money for their photo library, but didn't have one. They came from Ron Howard and Henry Winkler and Marion Ross and Jerry Paris's kids and Anson and Donny and Linda and Jimmy Dunn Everybody pulled together to help us make the book and gave willingly of their time. Ron's been promoting it lovingly on all his social media, and everybody's just been so great. And it's, it was just wonderful for us to work on Happy Days again.

Fred Fox, Jr. 1:04:58

It was, it was. Know, always we say it was a family show, but it is, and still is today. I mean, we keep in touch. And all the interviews they did was just help the book tremendously, you

Brian Levant 1:05:10

know, there, there's a strong, strong bond there, you know. And Logan said in the book, he said, you know, he never wanted the show to end. He thought it should just keep going on, and you should just keep following him. But he said, you know, it was the thing that made it different was being so so close to people. He said, Henry and Ron in particular, but all of them, and everybody had kids at the same time, and the baseball trips. And he said, You know, it's not wrong to say it was a family. It was a family. And

Jeff Dwoskin 1:05:40

still is. It's amazing. You captured it so well in the book. You really did. It was just thank you. It was easy to read, very visually pleasing, and I learned a lot. So that was it hit all my buttons. Talk to you guys. So, I mean, that doesn't come with that doesn't come with every book, by the way, you don't get to everybody. Good an hour with Brian and Fred, but I do appreciate you hanging out with me guys. Thank you so much.

Brian Levant 1:06:09

Thank you so much. So much fun. Thanks.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai