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Well, the bronze statue of "The Fonz" has been installed here in Milwaukee. Fonzie was a character in a old TV show, Happy Times or Happy Days or something like that. I actually watched this show occasionally back when I was a little kid, but I can't remember much. Apparently the show was set in Milwaukee, which I was unaware of at the time I was watching it, but decades later, when I moved to Milwaukee, long after most people forgot the show ever even existed, people here still remembered it was set in Milwaukee.
Apparently a number of the actors from the show have been in town, including someone named Anson Williams, who played Potsie Weber. Every time I see the character's name "Potsie" in the news paper (and this has gotten extensive news coverage...) I wonder how that was pronounced. Presumably it's a French name, right? Roughly like Poe-zae or something like that? Couldn't be pot-zee, that would be silly. Unless the character smoked a lot of pot, of course. Beats me, I can't remember a thing about the show. All I can remember is the gang always gathered in that run-down restaurant or bar or whatever it was, and Fonzie would start the juke box playing by smacking it with his arm, a move none of the other characters could master. Other than that, I don't recall a thing. Perhaps when the Fonz wasn't around to start the juke box they all got out their guitars and sang hilarious parodies of the pop songs of the day? That might have been a great show. Maybe they did different, ever more elaborate musical productions that way, culminating in the famous "shark jumping" episode, in which the entire cast wrote, rehearsed, and performed an elaborate arrangement for chorus, woodwinds, and pipe organ of the theme from the movie Jaws. Maybe.
As far as I know the Fonz statue was designed by someone who actually remembers the show, which is probably for the best, but imagine what could have been designed by someone like me, creativity uninhibited by any actual memories of the show. Imagine a stirring tribute to that iconic HappyTimes Days episode: The Fonz, playing his clarinet, and, standing beside him, his buddy the pot-smoking Frenchman, holding the papier-mâché shark. It would be unforgettable.
Apparently a number of the actors from the show have been in town, including someone named Anson Williams, who played Potsie Weber. Every time I see the character's name "Potsie" in the news paper (and this has gotten extensive news coverage...) I wonder how that was pronounced. Presumably it's a French name, right? Roughly like Poe-zae or something like that? Couldn't be pot-zee, that would be silly. Unless the character smoked a lot of pot, of course. Beats me, I can't remember a thing about the show. All I can remember is the gang always gathered in that run-down restaurant or bar or whatever it was, and Fonzie would start the juke box playing by smacking it with his arm, a move none of the other characters could master. Other than that, I don't recall a thing. Perhaps when the Fonz wasn't around to start the juke box they all got out their guitars and sang hilarious parodies of the pop songs of the day? That might have been a great show. Maybe they did different, ever more elaborate musical productions that way, culminating in the famous "shark jumping" episode, in which the entire cast wrote, rehearsed, and performed an elaborate arrangement for chorus, woodwinds, and pipe organ of the theme from the movie Jaws. Maybe.
As far as I know the Fonz statue was designed by someone who actually remembers the show, which is probably for the best, but imagine what could have been designed by someone like me, creativity uninhibited by any actual memories of the show. Imagine a stirring tribute to that iconic Happy
