I really enjoy these books. Not because they’re any great literature – but because I get to have another little adventure with probably my favorite sitcom characters of all time. This is my third Happy Days book, and while one of them was a novelization of an actual episode, the other two were original stories based in the Fonzieverse.
I really wish I coined that phrase, but apparently I did not. I didn’t copy it from anywhere, but there is proof it has existed before today.
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by u/WillKillForPeace from discussion
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This one came out in 1975 in the middle of the 2nd season. What’s crazy is that, if Goodreads publication dates are correct, the first tie-in novel came out just as the series was premiering. So there years and years of characters and story to build off of. Hell, Chuck is still here in these seasons – and Ralph is not as prominent a friend to Richie just yet.
I would love to read a story that took place around season 4 or 5, where the show had already found its footing, the Malachi Crunch had entered pop culture, and Fonzie was getting reading to go water-skiing in a leather jacket.
But alas these are still the early days of the show – and speaking of the Malachis. It was one of those actors, a young Ken Lerner, who I pictured as the main antagonist in this story, Bull – leader of the Dozers.
Bull. Dozers. Get it?
I probably did this because he was on 10 episodes of Happy Days not only as Rocco Malachi, but also as another Rocco and first as a character named Frankie. Ah, the good old days of network television where continuity of guest actors was meaningless.
The main plot of this story is – a motorcycle gang comes to town and causes trouble for Richie and his friends who just want to play baseball in the park. It comes down to a big fight planned between Richie and Bull, and since Fonzie is friends with both of them he tells them all that he cannot take sizes.
But come on, of course he’s really siding with Richie the whole time and does everything he can to help him.
Meanwhile, Fonzie is spending time with this girl named Eloise who seems to have an incredible fetish for violence and just wants to see these boys fight. Wants blood. Wants broken bones.
Oh, and she knits.
Fun, quick read. Not enough Ralph. Not enough Mr. & Mrs. Cunningham, but still enjoyable.
This book is available on the Internet Archive.