Happy Days: "The First Thanksgiving"

Premiered November 21, 1978.

"Thanksgiving is a time of family togetherness, a time of sharing and working together toward a common...uh... common turkey!"
-Marion Cunningham

It's Thanksgiving Day in Milwaukee, 1950-something. The Cunninghams and their guests Fonzie (Henry Winkler) , Potsie (Anson Williams) and Ralph (Donnie Most) are glued to the TV, watching a football game.

Meanwhile, Marion Cunningham (Marion Ross) is slaving away in the kitchen, preparing their Thanksgiving feast.  She asks various family members for assistance and is ignored, they can't take their eyes off the game.  Marion reaches the end of her rope and turns off the TV.

She says they have forgotten what Thanksgiving is all about and "insulted the memory of our forefathers."  Marion decides it's a good time to tell them the story of the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

We see the story acted out, with the Cunninghams and friends playing pilgrims:

Howard (Tom Bosley) is a blacksmith in Plymouth, where he lives with his wife Marion and their kids Richard (Ron Howard) and Joanie (Erin Moran).  Marion suggests that the community should celebrate a very successful harvest by organizing a feast of Thanksgiving.

Richard's friend "Master Fonzie", shows up at the house.  Howard doesn't like him due to Fonzie's "strange ways."  Fonzie has also broken the elders' rules and made friends with the Indians.

"Master Fonzie" arrives on his "motorcycle."

Later at the inn owned by Alfred (Al Molinaro), two trappers named Wolfstalker and Bearslayer (Potsie and Ralph) stop in for cider.

Fonzie confronts them and accuses the trappers of taking pelts from the Indians in exchange for "counterfeit wampum."  The Fonz brings the Indians in seeking justice.

But Howard says that inviting Indians into their compound violates the law, and Fonzie must be put in the stocks.  Richard believes this isn't fair and petitions for Fonzie's freedom.  

Mistress Joanie arrives at the inn with her foot caught in a trap.  It's the work of Wolfstalker and Bearslayer, but they don't know how to open it.

But "Pilgrim Fonzie," just like his 1950s counterpart, has super powers and uses them to free Joanie.  Howard is grateful, realizes he was wrong about the Fonz and invites him to Thanksgiving dinner.  But Fonzie has already been invited to dine with the Indians.  Howard says they may come too, and Thanksgiving Day is born!

But what about Marion of 1950s Milwaukee?  Will her family help her with food preparation and cleanup?

J.A. Morris' says:
I saw this when it first aired in 1978, so I bring some nostalgia to this review.  I should mention that "The First Thanksgiving" ran a season after  Fonzie (and Happy Days itself) famously "jumped the shark", but it's a solid, entertaining Thanksgiving episode.

It's funny to see familiar characters dressed up in Pilgrim "drag."  Fonzie's 15th century "motorcycle" is especially amusing.  Marion's garbled definition of "the meaning of Thanksgiving" is also funny.

"When Master Fonzie talks, EVERYBODY listens."

This episode will be released on dvd this December 2 as part of of Happy Days:Season 6.  But it is currently (at "press time") streaming for free at Hulu.

Ralph brings a bucket of "Plymouth Colonel" chicken to Thanksgiving dinner.

"The First Thanksgiving" is not classic television, but it's an enjoyable holiday episode and a humorous retelling of how the tradition of Thanksgiving began.  If you enjoyed Happy Days, it's a nice excuse to revisit the series. 

J.A. Morris' rating:

 3 pumpkin pies.


RigbyMel says:

Unlike J.A. Morris,  I have never seen this particular Happy Days episode before this year.
I found it to be amusing but not especially great.

I also think that a little of the "Ye Olde Speechifcation" goes a long way.   It is rather overused by writers who seem to have thought it much cleverer than it really is.   How many times can we hear "Greeteth" and "Master Fonzie" before it gets old?   (Not very many, in my estimation.)

I did enjoy "Master Fonzie's" wooden motorcycle and the message about tolerance of people who look different.  This episode is okay, but probably not worth going out of your way to watch unless you are a die-hard fan of Happy Days.  

RigbyMel's rating:

2 pumpkin pies

Happy Days: "Haunted"

Premiered October 29, 1974.

"Everyone knows about old Magnolia Simpson.  Ever since she lost her head, anyone who goes in there gets THEIR head chopped off too!"
 -Joanie Cunningham

The kids decorate Arnold's for Halloween

It's Halloween in 1950s Milwaukee.  Ralph Malph (Donny Most) has a plan for his Halloween party.  He wants to hold it in "the old Simpson House," an abandoned house that many believe is haunted by the headless ghost of Magnolia Simpson.  Ralph figures "chicks think it's haunted, they get scared, they need comforting."  Ralph tells Richie (Ron Howard) and Potsie (Anson Williams) not to tell anyone their plan.

Ralph tells Richie & Potsie that his Halloween party will take place in a "haunted" house.

He especially doesn't want a local gang called the Demons to know about the party.  The Demons' leader Bag Zombrowski (Neil J. Schwartz) has a history of crashing parties.

Arnold's carhop Marsha (Beatrice Colen) tells Bag she has no time for him & his gang, the Demons.

Ralph asks Richie to check on the house before the party, to make sure it looks appropriately scary and dusty.

Richie & Joanie check out the Simpson house.

Richie and his sister Joanie (Erin Moran) stop by the house to inspect it.  Joanie believes the house is haunted and doesn't want to go inside.  She says everyone who enters gets their head chopped off, adding that four people disappeared inside the house last year.   Richie scoffs, but upon entering the house, he opens the closet and sees something that scares him.  Richie freaks out (much to Joanie's amusement) and runs away.

Howard & Richie get scared while watching a horror movie.

Richie tells his father Howard that he saw a "headless body."  Howard says his "mind must have been playing tricks" and that these stories have been around since he was a kid. Richie's father says he needs to look at things logically, but adds he "wouldn't be caught dead" at the Simpson house.

Fonzie bristles when he hears Richie mention the Simpson house.

At Arnold's the next day, Richie seeks advice from Fonzie (Henry Winkler) about his spooky experience.  The Fonz tells him he must face his fears to get over them.

Gloria & Richie nervously walk through the Simpson house.

On Halloween night, Richie and his girlfriend Gloria (Linda Purl) set out for the Simpson house.  They're both a bit edgy, but Richie refuses to give in to his fears.  Richie and Gloria walk through the house, trying their best not to be afraid.  They see a coffin in front of them...it starts opening from the inside!

  But it turns out to be a Halloween gag from Ralph!
 

Potsie and the rest of their friends emerge and the party begins.  It appears that Richie's has conquered his fears...but the Simpson house has some more Halloween surprises for Richie and his friends...

Potsie, Ralph & Richie encounter...Magnolia Simpson?!

J.A. Morris says:
This episode is good, not great, but it's grown on me after multiple viewings.

Fonzie draws glasses on a skull decoration.

It gets the spookiness of Halloween right.  Director Garry Marshall and Cinematographer Richard A. Kelley do a nice job creating the atmosphere of a horror movie.  It's got a lot more jump cuts than the average episode. 

When I was a kid, every town I lived in had a "Simpson House", allegedly haunted by ghosts. Even hardcore skeptics like myself can get creeped out by such houses, so I can identify with Richie here.  It seemed like every year, some kid would talk about breaking into the local "haunted" house on Halloween, but they always chickened out.

Ralph shows off his "Alfred Hitchcock" costume!

I watched Happy Days religiously when I was a kid, but I can't say I remember watching "Haunted" before I "discovered" it a couple years ago.  I thought Ralph's "Alfred Hitchcock" costume was a nice touch.

Potsie bobs for apples; Ralph asks "Weren't you the main course at my last Hawaiian luau?"

There aren't a lot of big laughs in "Haunted", but it's still an entertaining Halloween episode. Erin Moran gets the funniest lines here as Joanie, relentlessly mocking Richie for being afraid of ghosts.  At one point, Joanie says that Richie looks like "Bela Lugosi sucked all the blood out of you!"

Fonzie and Cloris dressed up as "Lone Ranger & Tonto".

"Haunted" is also interesting because it was made before Happy Days became the show most of us remember.  Fonzie has a fairly small role here, this was before "The Fonz" broke out and became a national sensation.  But Henry Winkler still makes an impression in the two scenes where he's featured.

Marsha runs through a gauntlet of water balloons & Halloween pranks.

Characters Bag and Marsha were recurring characters in early seasons, but both disappeared by season 4.

This was the last season that the series was shot with a single camera, with a laugh track.  The first two seasons feel a lot like the film American Graffiti, one of the series' inspirations.  The famous Happy Days catch phrases "Sit on it!", "I still got it!" and "AAYYYY!" are notably absent from "Haunted".  These days, I find these earlier, quieter episodes more enjoyable.

Now we get to the not-so-good parts of "Haunted": The music.  In the original edit, this episode opens with Fats Domino's classic "I'm Walkin'".  Another scene prominently features "Bird Dog" by the Everly Brothers.  But currently, the only "official" release replaces these with generic music that sounds like it was recorded in the 80s or 90s.  It's very distracting, it took me out of "the moment" and sucks the fun out of several scenes. 

Fonzie shows the gang how he "bobs" for apples.

Here's some trivia about "Haunted" :
Two kids come to the Cunningham house to trick or treat, one dressed as a cowboy the other dressed as a princess.

They're played by Scott and Lori Marshall, the children of Happy Days creator, Garry Marshall.

And another of Marshall's kids, Kathleen Marshall, plays one of Joanie's friends, dressed as a witch:

Also, Linda Purl plays Richie's girlfriend Gloria here and in several other season 2 episodes.  Purl would later join the cast (in season 10) as another character, Fonzie's live-in girlfriend Ashley Pfister.

"Haunted" is a generally fun episode, but the music replacements cost it a jack o'lantern or two.  So for the 1st time in this blog's history, I'm giving a program two different ratings:
J.A. Morris' rating:
For the version that contains the original music:

3 jack o'lanterns.

For the version that contains the "new" music:

2 and a half jack o'lanterns

RigbyMel says:

This is a okay episode of Happy Days, but not one of the best.   The Halloween decorations and mild mayhem are enjoyable, but the episode feels a little bit flat to me.

A coffin buffet

As regards the music substitutions in this episode, I agree with J.A. Morris that this really detracts and distracts from the overall atmosphere -- the exact opposite of what good soundtrack music is supposed to do.

Happy Days is always worth watching, but "Haunted" is not on my list of required annual holiday viewing.

RigbyMel's rating:

 2 jack o'lanterns

An American Christmas Carol

We continue Dickensfest 2012 with our first ever Guest-Review, from Joanna Wilson who runs a fantastic blog called Christmas TV History .  We happened to meet her by accident back in 2010 and learned that she blogged about Christmas specials, episodes, movies, etc.  Meeting Joanna inspired us to restart this blog after two years of dormancy. 

Joanna is the author of three books, including the just-published Merry Musical Christmas Vol. 1, available in both Kindle and print.  We're delighted to have one of the foremost experts on Christmas pop culture participate in Dickensfest, take it away Joanna!:

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of author Charles Dickens, it’s the perfect time to once again reflect upon one of his most popular works, A Christmas Carol.  I’m sure that one of the reasons that A Christmas Carol continues to remain popular is due to the seemingly endless number of adaptations that have been and continue to be made.  One adaptation that stands out to me is the 1979 made-for-TV version, An American Christmas Carol.

 

I’m one of those people old enough to remember when this movie first premiered on television in 1979.  It was well advertised by the network to promote the actor playing the lead role, Henry Winkler, who was extremely hot at the time playing the motorcycle-riding, ladies’ man, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on the hit TV series Happy Days.  I think today’s TV audiences would more likely recognize Henry Winkler from his role as the incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn on TV’s Arrested Development.  No matter, Winkler as Ebenezer Scrooge--here named Benedict Slade--is almost unrecognizable under the thick make-up (and a latex facial prosthesis, I assume) used to create a much older man in need of a Christmas attitude change.

Henry Winkler as Benedict Slade, aged to look like a mature businessman.

There are two particular elements of this adaptation that make it noteworthy.  The most significant is the change of setting, from Victorian-era London to Depression-era New England, more precisely New Hampshire.  This change, I believe, makes the story and its message more clear and accessible for American TV viewers.  Gone are the references to prisons for the poor.  Modern audiences can more clearly connect with the pain of enduring unemployment known throughout the Depression.  Tiny Tim’s mysterious ill health is also changed.  Now the character, re-named Jonathan, suffers from infant paralysis, or polio, and his health and future well-being can be improved with treatments from a far away clinic.  Another change made to communicate Slade’s (Scrooge’s) more hopeful attitude adjustment is his willingness to put his money where his mouth is: investing in re-opening the recently closed quarry.  This business decision will not only benefit Slade’s pocket but will provide jobs once again for the entire community.  While An American Christmas Carol, much like the original book, is filled with charity-giving, it seems uniquely American to adapt the story to include the use of capitalism, and Slade’s business acumen, to invest in the community’s well-being too.  At the film’s end, we also see the transformed Slade select one troubled boy from the orphanage and offer him an apprenticeship with his business, much like the young Slade was offered by a local successful businessman when Slade was living at the orphanage many years ago.  This offering of a leg-up--not a hand-out--seems to reflect certain American values as well.  I find this American business aspect of the 1979 story utterly fascinating.

Slade with the shop owner (David Wayne) examining a first edition of Dickens' Christmas Carol.

The second element in An American Christmas Carol that makes it a noteworthy adaptation is the casting and characterization of the Spirits of Christmas.  The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future that come to haunt Slade on Christmas Eve are the same characters introduced in the beginning of the story.  Each one is a member of Slade’s community and a person he visited earlier in the day in order to repossess something from their homes due to a debt created by their inability to keep up with their payments. The Ghost of Christmas Past is the University Shop owner, played by David Wayne, whose bookstore’s inventory Slade seizes in order to re-claim some minor worth in value from the leather bindings.  Cleverly, the elderly shop owner begs Slade to  not destroy one leather-bound book, a heirloom first-edition of Dickens’ Christmas Carol.  Obviously ignorant of the book’s contents, Slade refuses to respect the shop owner’s pleas, ignoring the recommendation to read the book.

Mr. Jessup, the orphanage director (left) as Slade's Ghost of Christmas Present, making a surprise visit on Christmas Eve.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is Mr. Jessup, the director of the local orphanage.  Slade had stopped by earlier on Christmas Eve in order to repossess the piano the children were eager to use as a part of their meager Christmas celebration.  Even though Slade himself had lived in the orphanage at one time, his heart is hardened to the need of these children who already have nothing of their own, but want to raise their voices in celebration of the season.  

The Ghost of Christmas Future (Dorian Harewood) takes Slade on an emotional journey to the cemetery.

And, the Ghost of Christmas Future is a farmer, played by Dorian Harewood, from whom Slade had repossessed a pot belly stove, a rocking chair, and a radio--clearly the only domestic items owned by this poor farmer and his wife.  I think that the use of the shop owner, the orphanage director, and the farmer characters repeated as the three Spirits of Christmas more directly connects Slade in a personal way with his heartless actions earlier in the day.  Slade is forced to look at himself and his actions during that long Christmas Eve night by the very individuals he has been insensitive to as well as harmed.  The resolution in the film’s end of Slade returning the repossessed items from a new sense of holiday goodwill ties the the whole story together.  I like the balance that brings to the story.

Lucky for us, An American Christmas Carol is being released on Blu-Ray this holiday season, making it even more accessible for audiences.