Part 1 Originally Aired September 13, 1977 on ABC (60-minute episode)
Part 2 Originally Aired September 20, 1977 on ABC
“I have cooked veggies for a Hollywood star!”
That’s Mrs. C’s reaction when Chachi tells everyone that The Fonz was discovered at Arnold’s by a Hollywood talent scout. Before long Potsie and Ralph Malph are planning to tag along to Tinseltown with the Fonz. And after some cajoling from Richie, Joanie and Marion, Mr. C agrees to give up a Leopard Lodge function to join the gang on their California adventure.
At the Hollywood Palms Hotel, Howard’s loud Hawaiian shirt gets him a healthy dose of the west coast razz. And then, who should enter in full Cartwright regalia but Lorne Greene himself! His blink-and-you’ll-miss-it (or sometimes “cut-for-syndication-and-you’ll-miss-it”) cameo gives him just enough time to joke-compliment Mr. C on the Hawaiian shirt.
Howard doesn’t fare too well on the beach, either, stepping on a sandcastle and bumping into sunbathers. Things go much better for Joanie, surrounded by surfing-type hunks. Fonzie–still wearing his leather jacket on the beach–is tailed by Richie who is tasked with getting Fonz to rehearse his screentest lines. Fonz begs off and Richie bumps into Nancy, a pretty oceanography student.
Then….(cue music that sounds like “Jaws” but ain’t quite “Jaws”)…SHARK!
This seems like a good point to wallow into the whole “jump the shark” thing. Speaking in terms of the entire “Happy Days” series, this “Hollywood” 3-parter is in no way a legitimate “jump the shark” moment. Even if Fonzie jumps the shark. Even if “jump the shark” is named after Fonzie jumping the shark in this episode. This episode does not represent a measurable low point from which the series never recovers. In this writer’s opinion that legitimate shark-jumping point is the departure of Ron Howard as Richie, the true hero of the series. There are many really great episodes between “Hollywood” and the end of Howard’s final season.
Now, having said that, this is an incredibly flawed pair of episodes. The shark story point is just bonkers…and The California Kid and his weird friend…well, we’ll get to that. There’s also the frequent imperfections of the “Happy Days” timeline…by this point in the series we’re supposed to be in the late 1950’s. James Dean died in 1955, and even with all the red tape and such one has to believe Hollywood would no longer be looking for a “new James Dean” by then. Potsie sings “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” at the beachside weenie roast, a song from 1961. So we’re kind of all over the map here. Which is par for the course for “Happy Days”. Their young 1970s audience couldn’t be expected to notice these sorts of things, which is why they eventually all-but-discarded the attention to period, letting characters have feathered 70s hairdos and Mr. C wear plainly 1970s sunglasses. It’s just that for a multi-part story with obvious effort put in location filming, stunts, etc, it would just be nice to have the primary story point rest even a year or two within the timeline.
But I digress.
The shark! They caught him, fortunately, and put him in a cage. Meanwhile, surfer dude (again, this pushes the timeline to early 60’s) The California Kid challenges Fonzie to a water-skiing contest. But that will have to wait, because it’s time for Richie and Fonzie to go to Paramount Studios and shoot a screentest!
This 2-parter, like most of the epics, switches back and forth between location filming and a studio audience filming session. Richie and The Fonz show up at the real Paramount Pictures gate…as do a bunch of other guys in leather jackets. We switch to studio audience footage as Fonzie’s screentest is filmed by a loud, bellicose director. Fonzie emotes the hell out of it (“Pow-ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”) but when Richie returns to the hotel Mr. and Mrs. C have some shocking news: Fonzie was passed up for the film contract in favor of Richie!
Richie reveals to The Fonz that “freckles” and “apple pie face” are what Hollywood wants. Fonz, stunningly, does not take the news well (“You’re my best frrr-r-r-rr-rr…”) and decides to have Ralph Malph drive the boat for him in the big water-skiing race.
RALPH: My middle name is Moby DIck!
POTSIE: I thought it was Hector.
Unfortunately Ralph’s middle name is “mud” because he forgot to untie the boat from the lifeguard’s station. Fonz begrudgingly takes Richie back as driver. And then the California Kid arrives with his driver, Georgie, who wears a baby blue bathrobe and a yachting cap.
BIKINI GIRL: “He pretends to be Jack Benny.”
RALPH: What a weirdo!
Okay. “He pretends to be Jack Benny.” I would LOVE to have been in the “Happy Days” writers’ room when someone pitched this, and more than one other person went along with it.
For starters–it’s not funny. Nobody loves a good Jack Benny impression more than I do, and David Agress, who has this as one of four credits on IMDB, does a perfectly serviceable Benny. But it’s just a guy doing mild Jack Benny schtick. Also: this is not a thing. In all 13 years of my pre-college education I did not encounter a single student who walked around in the physical and vocal guise of a celebrity. Did this used to be a thing? Did teenagers in the 1930s walk around dressed in loincloths and “pretend to be Johnny Weismueller’? It’s just a really shaky premise for a character–a character, I remind you, who gave The California Kid the plot-twisting suggestion to challenge Fonzie in a tie-breaking shark-jump-off. I suppose it could be fun to come up with alternate reality explanations for Georgie’s non-conformity. Mental issues, perhaps. Ah well, the shark-jumping challenge has been issued and we must move on.
Part 2 (Part 3 if you’re watching syndicated reruns) begins with–Al! Al reads a postcard to Chachi over the phone detailing all the events of Part 1. Poor Big Al and Chachi. Left behind.
Okay, Part 2! Lotsa plot threads to wrap up here! First–Richie’s summer fling, what’s her name–Nancy! She’s going on an oceanography cruise to Pango Pango (“Great, great” replies Rich). The relationship is over…but on the following week’s episode Richie will meet his eventual girlfriend, steady and bride, Lori Beth.
Ralph and Potsie are stunned to hear that Fonz has accepted The California Kid’s challenge to jump the shark. Richie is also aghast. Everyone–Mr. & Mrs. C, Joanie, Potsie, Ralph–lines up to see the potential carnage. The California Kid wimps out but Fonzie, still stinging from losing out on the movie deal, refuses to accept a ceremonial victory. With Richie behind the wheel again, Fonzie…jumps the shark.
Next untied plot thread-Richie’s movie deal! Will our apple-pie-faced protagonist give up the simple pleasures of Arnold’s, Inspiration Point and Milwaukee for Musso and Frank’s, Griffith Observatory and Los Angeles? No. No, he will not. The scene where Richie discusses all this with his parents is quite lovely. Tom Bosley really knew how to deliver those Dad lines. “You’re my son and you’ve never given me cause to be anything but proud.” Sitcom “awwwww” moments became sickeningly frequent and unearned in the TGIF “Full House” era, but the emotional beats always play well on “Happy Days”, thanks in no small part to Bosley and Marion Ross.
Fonzie and Richie meet up on the beach and discuss Richie’s decision. Richie knows that acting is not his thing; he wants to be a journalist. And episodes in this 5th season like “Nose For News” will follow that storyline.
The Cunninghams are back in Milwaukee, with gifts for Al and Chachi. And thus concludes the notorious Hollywood trip.
Random Notes:
“You get your legs bit off by that shark…don’t come running to me!” -Richie to The Fonz
Catchphrase Watch: Richie gets a chorus of “I found my thrill” on the beach, and inserts several uses of “bucko” into his lines for Fonzie’s screentest. Mrs. C tells Howard to sit on it.
-Warren Berlinger, appearing here as the screentest director, appeared in no less than five “Happy Days” episodes including his role as Sgt. Betchler in the “Army Physical” episode, and– a couple of seasons following this appearance– as a similarly overbearing director in “The Hucksters”.
Next: Oh, those Tuscaderos…they’re a caution.
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