{"id":88695,"date":"2025-09-27T10:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T10:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88695\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T10:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T10:59:08","slug":"happy-days-stars-share-memories-from-on-set-during-fanx-reunion-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/88695\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Happy Days’ stars share memories from on set during FanX reunion \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHappy Days\u201d stars Henry Winkler, Anson Williams and Donny Most reunited in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday afternoon during a FanX convention panel. <\/p>\n

The group started their appearance with a special celebration. <\/p>\n

It was Williams\u2019 76th birthday, and Winkler came prepared with a chocolate cake to share with a select few and led the crowd through a squeaky rendition of \u201cHappy Birthday.\u201d <\/p>\n

The singing didn\u2019t end there. <\/p>\n

Most and Williams \u2014 who both sang on several episodes of \u201cHappy Days\u201d \u2014 duetted a mashup of \u201cPut Your Head on My Shoulder\u201d by Paul Anka and \u201cSplish Splash\u201d by Bobby Darin, as the audience clapped along. <\/p>\n

Once the three aging sitcom stars had all taken an opportunity to sing, they shared a few behind-the-scenes memories from the decade they spent filming \u201cHappy Days.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fonz\u2019s leather jacket <\/p>\n

During the early episodes of \u201cHappy Days,\u201d Winkler\u2019s character, Fonz, was not allowed to wear a leather jacket because ABC associated leather with crime, Winkler told the FanX audience. <\/p>\n

So, as an alternative, he wore cloth jackets. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to be cool in cloth,\u201d Winkler said. <\/p>\n

In search of a solution, Garry Marshall, creator of \u201cHappy Days,\u201d convinced ABC that while Winkler was riding Fonz\u2019s motorcycle, the leather jacket offered him protection from potential falls. <\/p>\n

ABC agreed, and told Marshall that Winkler could wear the leather jacket only during scenes with the motorcycle. <\/p>\n

Immediately after the meeting, \u201cGarry (Marshall) went down through the lobby, went into a pay phone, called the writer\u2019s room, said \u2018Never write another scene without his motorcycle,\u2019\u201d Winkler said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Anson Williams, left, and Donny Most, right, take part in a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \"\"Kristi Compton, left, and husband Jerry Compton, right, from Salt Lake City, listen as members of the \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion sing to them at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \"\"Stephanie Goodman, from Orem, center right, speaks with Donny Most, center left, after a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \"\"Teresa Norvick stands up to be recognized because it is her birthday during a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \"\"Henry Winkler, center, holds his book while posing for a photo with fans after a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \"\"Stephanie Goodman, from Orem, right, hugs Donny Most, left, after a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \"\"People line up to ask questions during a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News Garry Marshall\u2019s baseball team<\/p>\n

When asked if there were ever any tense moments between \u201cHappy Days\u201d cast members while on set of the series, Williams responded with a resounding, \u201cNo.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that all the actors on the series \u2014 including Winkler, who he described as \u201cthe biggest star in the world\u201d \u2014 prioritized the show and its cast, which strengthened their friendships off set. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what really helped too was, Garry (Marshall) had a baseball team,\u201d Williams added. \u201cThat played a huge part.\u201d <\/p>\n

Being part of a sports team helped encourage the cast to support each other because, \u201cyou are always going to have the back of your team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Later in the panel, all three of the actors shared more on their 50-year ongoing friendships with each other. Winkler described the group as a \u201cfamily.\u201d <\/p>\n

The group still speaks very highly of each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were doing this show, I think we were looked upon as kind of, teenagers goofing around. It was fluff, and it wasn\u2019t taken seriously,\u201d Most said. \u201cBut I would always tell people that we had very talented people who work very hard to make it look easy. And that\u2019s the truth.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Stephanie Goodman, from Orem, right, hugs Donny Most, left, after a \u201cHappy Days\u201d panel discussion at FanX Salt Lake Pop Culture and Comic Convention at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News \u2018Jump the shark\u2019<\/p>\n

Winkler grew up as a waterskier. His father, who Winkler described as a \u201cvery short German,\u201d repeatedly told Winkler he should tell Marshall he waterskied. <\/p>\n

When he finally had enough of the pestering, Winkler recalled telling Marshall, \u201cMy father wants you to know I waterski.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing I know, I\u2019m waterskiing,\u201d Winkler told the audience, laughing. <\/p>\n

In the famous \u201cHappy Days\u201d episode where Winkler\u2019s character Fonzie \u201cjumps the shark,\u201d Winkler did all the waterskiing himself \u2014 except for the jump, because if anything happened, there were no understudies, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI come up on the sand, I step out of the skis, and they freeze frame on my smile,\u201d Winkler said of the waterski scene. \u201cHalf that smile is Henry (Winkler) going, \u2018Oh my gosh, you did it!.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cThe other half of the smile is (in the Fonz\u2019s voice), \u2018Hey look at that, I did it.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHappy Days\u201d stars Henry Winkler, Anson Williams and Donny Most reunited in Salt Lake City, Utah on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,19,17,2274,2273,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-88695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-news-division","13":"tag-news-feed-national","14":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}