Bronze Fonz Charms Milwaukee

Erv, the bartender at Miss Katies, talks about when the cast of Happy Days dropped in on the diner. (Mrs C. has held up the best, said Erv.) The cast—minus Ron Howard—hit town for the dedication of the Bronze Fonz statue last August.

Milwaukee tried for years to play down its reputation as the fictional home of the Cunninghams and Laverne and Shirley. People resented the beer-town image of Milwaukee portrayed by the shows, particularly Laverne & Shirley. So no surprise that the proposed Bronze Fonz kicked up some local controversy--a couple of art galleries threatened to close if the statue was installed.

In the end, time and celebrity visitors turn the shame into pride. The unveiling as described by onmilwaukee.com:

They came to see the Fonz. They lined the Wells Street bridge. They lined the Riverwalk across the river and south of the ceremony on the river's left bank. They watched from windows, terraces and rooftops and they watched from pontoon boats on the river, itself.

Fans lined up along Wells Street to the east of the river, where they couldn't even get a glimpse as actor Henry Winkler and sculptor Gerald Sawyer unveiled the much-discussed Bronz Fonz Tuesday morning in Downtown Milwaukee.

The spokesman of Visit Milwaukee, the group raising the money for the installation defended the decision in a jsonline.com article:

"This isn't a statue of 'Laverne and Shirley,' " [the spokesman] said. "This is a statue of a TV icon who remains the epitome of cool."