By Rita Charleston For the Times
Goodbye, gray skies; hello, blue. Happy Days - A New Musical will make its Philadelphia premiere for six days at the Academy of Music, starting March 24.
Based on the hit television series that debuted in 1974, the musical reintroduces the Cunninghams of Milwaukee, one of America’s best-loved families.
The 1950s time capsule is complete with familiar friends - Richie, Potsie, Ralph Malph, Joanie and Chachi, Pinky Tuscadero and, of course, the king of cool, Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli.
Garry Marshall, who has created, written and produced some of television’s most popular situation comedies, including Happy Days and so many more, recently discussed his origins and that of his new musical.
Bronx-born Marshall said his original ambition was to play shortstop for the New York Yankees. “But those ambitions were soon cut off prematurely when I discovered I really couldn’t play that well,” he said.
One thing Marshall did have in his favor, however, was the ability to write and make people laugh. Majoring in journalism at Northwestern University helped develop both talents, so after graduation and a stint in the military, Marshall headed for California. He began his career as a joke writer for such comedians as Joey Bishop and Phil Foster, later becoming a writer for the Tonight Show with Jack Paar.
Teaming with fellow writer Jerry Belson, the pair worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Joey Bishop Show, The Danny Thomas Show and The Lucy Show. On his own, Marshall created Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley (starring his sister Penny) and Mork & Mindy.
Moving on to try his hand in film, he hit it big as the writer and director of The Flamingo Kid. As the years wore on, Marshall eventually donned many more hats that have brought success and suited him well.
A producer, director and writer, he admits to loving live theater, a love that began early in his career and has never left him.
“I bet you can’t tell me the show that opened at the Winter Garden in New York right before Cats, can you? Of course not. It was called Roast and I wrote it. It lasted three nights. Then Cats came in and ran for eighteen years,” Marshall said. “That’s how well I did in the theater, but I still do it and still love it. I built my own theater (The Falcon Theater) where I can put on my own shows and where they can run a little longer.”
Of Happy Days, now touring the country, Marshall is especially proud.
“There’s a certain innocence about it,” he said. “In the beginning, they wanted it to be set in the early seventies. But I was against that which would mean writing about the drug culture and so on. So the best way to keep that innocence was to make it nostalgic and set it in the fifties. It was all about my growing up in the Bronx, but no one thought that was interesting enough.”
With a producing partner who came from Milwaukee, the sitcom was set in that location. But again it failed. It wasn’t until a Ron Howard pilot was sent to George Lucas, who’d hired him for the film American Graffiti, and Grease came out on Broadway that the ’50s started looking good as a backdrop.
So the show was pulled off the shelf, eventually made it to television, and became part of broadcast history. Happy Days aired for a decade, ending in 1984, on ABC.
Today, after years in the business, does Marshall have a favorite project?
“Well, the clichŽ is they’re all my children, but some children are cuter than others,” he said. “In my mind, the best picture I ever did was The Other Sister, a film that came out exactly the way I envisioned it would.
“And now there’s Happy Days, a show for all ages everywhere. The cast is great, and I was helped out by some of the original cast members. And as corny as it sounds, for me, this is like a dream come true.”
Source: philly.com