A 1970s Time Capsule from #AtoZChallenge – H is for Happy Days

BLOGGING FROM A TO Z

A 1970’s Time Capsule

POP CULTURE

Be sure to visit my News and Noteworthy post today as well.

The A to Z Challenge has dueling decades going on.  Check out the 1980s theme from a fellow blogger HERE

Happy Days is an American television sitcom that aired first-run from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in the mid-1950s to mid-1960s United States.  Happy Days was one of the highest-rated shows of the 1970s.

In the first two seasons, the theme song was an existing 1950s hit, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets.

For seasons 3 through 11, the song that was used at the closing of the show became the theme song, Happy Days performed by: Jim Haas (1974–83) and Bobby Arvon (1983–84).

Set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the series revolves around teenager Richie Cunningham and his family: his father, Howard, who owns a hardware store; traditional homemaker and mother, Marion; younger sister Joanie; Richie’s older brother Chuck (seasons 1 & 2 only) and high school dropout, biker and suave ladies’ man Arthur “Fonzie”/”The Fonz” Fonzarelli, who would eventually become Richie’s best friend and the Cunningham’s upstairs tenant. The earlier episodes revolve around Richie and his friends, Potsie Weber and Ralph Malph, with Fonzie as a secondary character. However, as the series progressed, Fonzie proved to be a favorite with viewers and soon more story lines were written to reflect his growing popularity, and Winkler was eventually credited with top billing in the opening credits alongside Howard as a result. Fonzie befriended Richie and the Cunningham family, and when Richie left the series for military service, Fonzie became the central figure of the show, with Winkler receiving sole top billing in the opening credits. In later seasons, other characters were introduced including Fonzie’s young cousin, Charles “Chachi” Arcola, who became a love interest for Joanie Cunningham. Each of the eleven seasons of the series roughly tracks the eleven years from 1955 to 1965, inclusive, in which the show was set.

A to Z on the Music Charts

Hotel California by the Eagles reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 7, 1977 and although it only stayed there for one week, this song has longevity in the hearts of music fans.

A to Z At the Movies

Halloween from 1978 is a genuinely scary, extremely well-crafted slasher/horror classic from young film director John Carpenter.  The exploitative, low-budget film (filmed in about twenty days) invented many of the “slasher” film clichés we expect today.

Halloween, 1978

 

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