Happy Days Epics: “Fonzie’s Funeral” Parts 1 & 2

Part 1 Originally Aired February 20, 1979 on ABC
Part 2 Originally Aired February 27, 1979 on ABC

In my very first “Happy Days Epics” I said that “Happy Days” is one of my favorite sitcoms in spite of the fact that it is one of the most tonally uneven series of its kind. For example: The 1978-1979 season, which began with “Westward Ho” (our last epic) features stone serious episodes like “Fonzie’s Blindness”, “Christmas Time” and “Kid Stuff” (where the Fonz becomes chummy with his girlfriend’s little boy but is forced to separate from the kid when his real father re-enters the scene); off-the-charts whackiness like “Fearless Malph”, “The Evil Eye” (“The flip side, oh fiendish one!”), and “The Claw Meets The Fonz”; and episodes that seem to stay on a more even keel like “Ralph Vs. Potsie” and “Married Strangers.”

“Fonzie’s Funeral”, you might suspect just by the title, is firmly in the wack-a-doodle category. I suppose this is the kind of thing that happens when you write about the same set of characters for over six years. The more basic, believable plots start to get used up and things get bigger and broader. Of course, an epic by nature is going to be “big”, so we should not be surprised that a two-parter story involves crooks, counterfeit money, a fake funeral and surprise guest stars. We’ll get to all of that right along.

As we look in on Arnold’s, Fonz calls Big Al to have him send Richie over to the garage for an emergency convo. Meanwhile, Potsie and Malph–currently studying Sherlock Holmes– listen to Chachi’s pitch for “Inspiration Point Bad Weather Insurance.”

CHACHI: How many times have you gone to Inspiration Point…right, everything’s going just great? You got the top down in the car so you can count the stars…you’ve got her in the mood…and bam!
RALPH: I don’t usually get as far as “Bam.”
CHACHI: I mean “Bam” it starts to rain!

Potsie takes the bait. Ralph is a “pass.” Richie shows up and gets Al’s message to see Fonz. At the garage Fonzie shows Rich a wad of cash, and bricks of bills in a casket in the back of a hearse left at the garage for repair. It’s “funny money”–counterfeit bills. Fonzie leaves, planning to drive the hearse back to the funeral home then contact the police.

RICHIE: Fonz, just do me one favor…don’t make a mistake.
FONZ: The Fonz don’t make mistakes.
(While backing out with the hearse Fonzie runs over the roller he was using to get under the vehicle)
RICHIE: But Fonz, you already made a…..(to himself) I don’t like the look of this.

Potsie and Ralph–still decked out in Sherlock Holmes regalia–visit Richie at home where he tells them Fonzie is missing. They go to Arnold’s and still can’t track Fonzie down. Richie thinks he knows where their friend is. Ralph: “I’m not going to any funeral parlor! Everyone there is dead!”

Fonzie, it turns out, already made the drop at the funeral home, then provided some sample fake bills to a man from the Treasury Department. Another T-Man finds Fonzie at the Cunninghams and explains to them all that a diabolical criminal mastermind called The Candyman (Fonz: “Is that plain or almonds?”) is running the counterfeit ring.

The T-Man says the printing press is needed to nail the Candyman and his team…Fonzie offers to go to work but the T-Man warns that these are dangerous criminals: “Whatever you do, you stay away from them and the Heavenly Slumber Funeral Home!”

Cut to Richie, Potsie and Ralph at the Heavenly Slumber Funeral Home.

They’re in the dark (literally and figuratively) and when someone appears to be coming in, the boys remove dummies from display coffins and hide in them. The Candyman’s two dullard assistants (one of whom is played by Richard Moll of “Night Court” fame) threaten to throw the “dummies” in the furnace but the Candyman walks in and spoils their fun.

CANDYMAN: Good news!
HENCHMAN: No cavities!

When Richie and the guys realize Fonz isn’t in the funeral home Richie runs out to find him. Potsie and Ralph stick around and get caught up in a rotating wall straight out of an Abbott and Costello-meet-the-monster movie. Eventually they get entangled with the crooks and are tied up in a back room.

Richie runs home, and learns Fonzie is at the garage. Richie heads over there, just in time to see—an explosion! TO BE CONTINUED!

Part 2 begins with a traditional Part 1 recap, featuring clips of episode one with announcer narration. We resume Richie’s arrival at the garage, the harrowing explosion, and……….Fonzie’s okay! Fortunately he was standing behind his “little black book”, 6 filing cabinets filled with contact info for the ladies of Milwaukee and the greater Wisconsin area.

Potsie and Ralph are still tied up. They’re allowed to call a parent, so they call Mrs. C. While Mr. and Mrs. C try to figure out why Ralph was calling them Mom and Dad, Fonz and Richie come in to share the shocking news.

RICHIE: There was a blast tonight.
MRS. C: You two! You always have such a good time together.

Moments later the T-Man visits the Cunningams to share the sad news that Fonzie has died. Fonzie walks into the livingroom to inform the T-Man that reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated. In trying to figure out the best way to capture the counterfeiters, the T-Man snaps up Fonzie’s suggestion that, since everyone thinks he’s dead, they hold a funeral for him.

And this is where things get truly goofy. First of all, Fonz can’t resist attending his own funeral (and, well, he needs to be there to help spring Potsie and Ralph loose) so he drags it up as “the widow Fonzarelli”, dressed in black complete with grey wig and mourning veil. Henry Winkler always took advantage of a chance to change up the typical Fonz portrayal…he’s hilarious in this part, as he is in other episodes where The Fonz has to disguise himself– or 1980’s “Welcome To My Nightmare”, in which he plays a robot with The Fonz’s looks but no cool. (It’s a dream sequence…obviously.)

First up in our cavalcade of mourners: Lori Beth and only a fractional percentage of the girls Fonzie has taken to Inspiration Point. The widow Fonzarelli gets a little too affectionate with one of the girls (“We-a comfort each other”) and has to be pulled back by Mr. C.

Next, Pat Morita returns for another cameo as Arnold. He and Al exchange a few lines, and bemoan how lousy business at the hamburger stand is.

And here comes Officer Kirk, making his final appearance in a Happy Days Epic.

RICHIE: Come to pay your last respects, Officer Kirk?
KIRK: I came to make sure you bury the troublemaking hood.
(WIDOW FONZARELLI starts a very Fonzie-like “Ayyyyyyy” but raises the pitch before Kirk gets wise)

And it’s here in the funeral scene that we experience that great sitcom tradition, the crossover. Although nothing new by 1979–Lucy and Ricky Ricardo guested on “The Danny Thomas Show”, the “Mary Tyler Moore” gang dropped by for Rhoda’s wedding–Garry Marshall made the crossover an almost routine occurrence. Characters from “Happy Days”, “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork and Mindy” swapped appearances frequently. But the most memorable for my money has to be the cavalcade of “Laverne and Shirley” characters coming to show their respects.

Carmine, aka The Big Ragoo, dances into the funeral. Lenny and Squiggy enter bearing a flower arrangement with a sash that says “GOOD LUCK AT YOUR NEW LOCATION.” Squiggy on Fonz: “He was the nicest guy what ever beat me up.”

And then, Laverne and Shirley themselves make the scene. Laverne: “He’s the only guy who ever hickeyed his initials on my neck.” Laverne tries to leave her sweater as a gift to Fonz but Shirley, always the chaste roommate, convinces her to leave her giant cursive L.

MR, C (to “Laverne and Shirley” cast): This is the widow Fonzarelli.
LENNY: Does she know?

The funeral scene ends hilariously as the “Laverne and Shirley” gang, in preparing to exit, stop en masse, turn back and take a good luck at the widow Fonzarelli. Could it be?? Nah. They all resume making their way out, but all stop, turn and look one final time. When you use the phrase “meta reference”, meaning a winking nod to the home viewer that yes, this is just a TV show, series like “The Simpsons” come to mind. But this episode of “Happy Days” has a couple of pretty good meta references going for it. In addition to the “L & S” cast double-checking the widow Fonzarelli, the funeral home organist plays the theme song to “Laverne and Shirley” when the girls enter the funeral home.

Things are really pretty anticlimactic after the funeral. The Candyman is captured, Potsie and Ralph are set free, and in the episode’s tag Fonz is offering an apology kiss to all the gals at Arnold’s.

This is the final epic of the classic era of “Happy Days”. There are three more left, and two of them feature the return of previously departing characters. So some good stuff on the way!

Random Notes:

-I’ve noted before how “Happy Days” writers and producers seemed very aware that a large part of their audience were younger viewers…it comes out in lines here and there…and in this episode, during the funeral, Joanie bemoans that she’ll “never hear the word shortcake again.” Mr. C reminds her that the funeral is fake. It’s just a simple little line but with kids watching that kind of reminder might be necessary,

-Tom Bosley continues to be a great all-around utility player…wonderful with the sentimental and serious material, but also great with a little one-liner. Richie comes in aghast that Fonzie is missing, runs out, closes the door. Mr. C: “He is getting so hyper.” It’s one of those lines that doesn’t read in print the way it does in performance, but trust me: Hilarious.

-Catchphrase Watch: Ralph Malph is the all-star here with such favorites as “You’re such a Potsie!”, and “Even in panic I’ve still got it!” I don’t think Ralph’s terrified squeal counts as a catchphrase but boy does he get a lot of mileage out of it here. Also: Big Al tosses in a “Yeah, yeah yeah yap yap yap yap” at the funeral.

-I think I mentioned in a recent post how I paid $15 for the 6th season of “Happy Days” to get review copies of “Westward Ho” and “Fonzie’s Funeral”. To my chagrin, the DVD version of “Fonzie’s Funeral” has replaced the organ music at the funeral with generic (read “cheap”) organ music. The people who own “Happy Days” and “Laverne and Shirley” were too cheap to pay for the use of the “Laverne and Shirley” theme on a “Happy Days” DVD. Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaathetic! But rest assured, dear reader, I’ve been watching “Happy Days” reruns since 1980 and the original organ music did slyly comment on the characters–I think it was “Rags To Riches” for Carmine, “Personality” for Lenny and Squiggy and of course the “L & S” theme for Laverne and Shirley. When this episode comes around again on MeTV I may have to shoot some janky cellphone video of that scene just to prove myself.

Next Time: Something for all you Joanie and Chachi ‘shippers…