Happy Days With Mr. Cool And The Fonz

Before Family Guy, there was another animated TV series that featured a time-traveling talking dog and Donny Most and the Fonz.  Mr. Cool starred in Hanna Barbera's 1980 Saturday Morning cartoon, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang.

Model sheets for the show reveal that Mr. Cool was originally named Chopper.

Looking at the development artwork, it is interesting to see the changes made before the show ultimately aired.

The design for the Fonz himself changed, presumably to make him easier to draw.

Mr. Cool's character design always stood out to me, and I could not figure out why.  Then I learned about the way he was designed.  According to The Animation Anecdotes #101 by Jim Korkis on Cartoonresearch.com:

 In 1980, when Hanna-Barbera decided to develop an animated television series based on the popular “Happy Days” sitcom, they were faced with a problem. They needed a “cool” dog character to add to the cast but all the submissions they got from HB artist resembled previous HB dog stars like Scooby-Doo. As a joke, animator Scott Shaw! who was amused at the fact that no artist could come up with a truly different looking dog character, decided to use his vast knowledge of cartoons to create an outrageous character. He took the head of Wile E. Coyote and grafted it onto the body of Walt Kelly’s Pogo Possum and submitted it. The design was accepted and after some reworking it became Mr. Cool, the dog companion of the Fonz.

The Happy Days live action show, created by Garry Marshall, debuted in 1974.  Henry Winkler's cool Fonz quickly became the most popular character on the series.

The Fifties were big in the Seventies, and characters similar to the Fonz could be found all over TV.

Mandy Patinkin played a similar (though ghostly) character called Teen Angel in 7Up ads in 1970 (yes, before Happy Days!).  The Trix rabbit dressed up like "King Cool" in 1975.  A suave dude named "Rocky" sang in 1977 commercials for 5th Avenue candy bars (complete with swooning backup singers).  A Fifties motorcycle riding "Big Bully" tried to take cereal from kids in 1977 ads for Honeycomb Cereal.

Also in 1977, Hanna Barbera launched a Saturday Morning cartoon series called "Heyyy, It's the King!" which mixed Jungle Animals and Happy Days-type situations and characters.  The Fonz type character was represented by a lion, "The King."

Another very similar character called Chopper could be found in a famous nutritional Public Service Announcement (animated by DePatie Freleng) in the Eighties singing "Exercise Your Choppers" on ABC Saturday Mornings.

The Fonz could be found on all sorts of merchandise, including Halloween costumes, action figures, and comic books.

There was a small amount of merchandise created for the Hanna Barbera cartoon, including the puffy stickers that I have here (stickers were really a big deal in the 1980s).

Hanna Barbera's Fonz merchandise was nothing spectacular.

Carded, plastic "dime store" items were the focus of the Hanna Barbera toy line.

Cupcake, a new character for the Hanna Barbera cartoon, was from the future and voiced by Didi Conn (Frenchy from 1978's Grease).

Jeff Conaway (Kenickie in Grease) appeared in an episode of the live action Happy Days.  Grease and Happy Days were both projects from Paramount Studios.

Ron Howard voiced Richie in the cartoon.  Donny Most was Ralph Malph.  Henry Winkler, of course, was the Fonz.  Mr. Cool was voiced by Frank Welker.  Potsie (Anson Williams) was not part of the Gang for some reason.

These days, you can find Henry Winkler and Ron Howard on Arrested Development.

Happy Days spin-off shows were also given the Hanna Barbera cartoon spin-off treatment.  Laverne and Shirley in the Army (complete with a cartoon pig sidekick, Sgt. Squealy) aired in 1981 and Mork and Mindy (with an alien dog sidekick) debuted in 1982.

These cartoon Garry Marshall shows were animated by Hanna Barbera's animation studio in Sydney, Australia.  When Hanna Barbera closed this studio, it morphed into Walt Disney Animation Australia (they produced many Disney Afternoon shows and films like The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride).  Then Disney closed the studio.

Interestingly, American animator Jon McClenahan (founder of StarToons Animation in Chicago, which worked on Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs for Steven Spielberg and Warner Brothers) got his start on these Happy Days spin-off cartoons in Australia.  Check out this very informative interview with Jon McClenahan for some behind-the-scenes dirt.

The Hanna Barbera Happy Days cartoons are owned by Paramount (Warner Brothers owns nearly all the other Hanna Barbera shows), so we will probably never get to see The Fonz appear in any new cartoons with Jabberjaw the shark.

In 1990, Hanna Barbera essentially brought back the Fonz in the form of vampire Vinnie Stoker.

Vinnie Stoker was the "cool kid" in NBC's Saturday Morning Cartoon, Gravedale High.

Vinnie Stoker Gravedale High Cel

 Gravedale High starred Rick Moranis as a teacher in a school of monsters.

Vinnie Stoker was voiced by Roger Rose.

Vinnie Stoker Gravedale High Cel

Gravedale High was short-lived, but there was a McDonald's Happy Meal toy tie-in for the show.

The Gravedale High toys became part of my Halloween decorations.  Check them out at Trick Or Treat, Smell The Halloween Decorations.

The Happy Days gang can currently be found in a stage show called Happy Days A New Musical.

Trick Or Treat, Smell The Halloween Decorations

With a witch air freshener, your can fill your home with the smell of a wretched old woman.

This Wizard brand witch air freshener has survived years of storage in hot attics without melting. This (wax?) figure is missing a sliver of her back, but considering she is from the early 1980s, that's not too shabby. She only has a tiny bit of fragrance left. This kind of air freshener used to be quite common, and there were other holiday pieces to "collect."

For some reason, my Halloween decorations have a very distinct "Halloween" aroma. I cannot explain this phenomenon. Accordingly, my Easter decorations have an "Easter" scent, and my Christmas decorations have a "Christmas" aroma.

Of course, my Halloween decorations include fast food toys. Among my favorites are a set of small, stuffed characters from Hardee's that can be squished into their plastic environments.


This Cat, Goblin and Ghost were created by Hallmark Cards and distributed in Hardee's kid's meals in 1989. There was also a Bat, but I did not get him. Yes, I frequently had the cat's eyes peering out of the pumpkin's eyes.

In 1991, McDonald's had a Happy Meal featuring the animated NBC Saturday Morning series, "Gravedale High." I actually got these at a flea market around the time they were first released.


This short-lived show starred Rick Moranis as a teacher at a high school populated by monsters. The vampire is Vinnie Stoker, a cool "Fonzie" type character, and with the turn of a knob, he swivels back into his coffin. Frankentyke sticks out his tongue when you push his arms. Cleofatra the mummy is a weeble-wobble style toy. Sid the Invisible Kid's hands and feet move when you push a lever on the back of his locker.

In 1984, a company called Mark 1 in Chicago released Scratch & Sniff Iron-ables. These have "3M Microfragrance Coatings."


This Werewolf and Frankenstein Monster still smell like---something. I could never pinpoint what the scent was supposed to be. I got these from a long-closed dime store chain called TG&Y. Mark 1 did a lot of great character artwork, including cards and stickers for Q*bert and other characters.

Scratch 'n sniff stuff was really big when I was a kid. The most popular item was easily stickers. The ones people remember the most were Stinky Stickers from Trend Enterprises.


This checklist is from a time when the line had 88 stickers. All sorts of holidays were represented, including Halloween. The Ghost had a coconut smell (of course!). The Witch had a Licorice Stick scent (I'm not a fan of licorice). The Skeleton allegedly smelled like "Bone" and the Bat smelled like "Cave." Um, what?!?!

I did not encounter all the stickers on this list. Click on the picture, then click again to zoom in. My "WTF?" list includes "Space," "Phone," "Crab," and "Rope."